2018 Report on ECWBA Club Hives
In late 2017 the club decided to reclaim the two hives that we had donated to Ripon College when Liz Walsh was a student there and was active in the EGOR program. After Liz advanced to Texas A&M these hives sat in storage for several years, and the ECWBA exercised its option to reclaim the unused equipment. NOTE: Ripon College students are considering resurrecting the beekeeping program in 2019 as part of their Sustainability Initiative. Two ECWBA members have volunteered to be mentors, but we will not be providing equipment or bees. Mark and Patti retrieved the equipment and the ECWBA decided that it would be nice to utilize the hives at the Rushford Meadery and Winery, home of our club’s 12-frame radial extractor. The membership agreed to buy (1) package of bees with hopes that a swarm would be captured for the second hive. Joe Walsh contacted Tim Wilbanks of Heritage Honey Bee LLC to purchase a package, and Mr. Wilbanks donated a package of Buckfast bees with the caveat that it be used for educational purposes and mentoring new beekeepers. Since the club had approved purchasing a package, a second package was purchased, and the packages were installed in the hives at The Meadery. So, in spring of 2018, the ECWBA started two colonies, which were set up to allow the side by side comparisons we preach to all new beekeepers, as part of the ECWBA’s outreach on beekeeping. ECWBA members contacted several local 4H organizations in the area, and several club members had volunteered as mentors, but we were not able to gain interest in the mentored program from those contacted. The hives were used during the club’s annual field day to give new beekeepers hands-on instruction on how to inspect a hive’s health and, if the colonies survive winter 2018-2019, they will make for a good training tool should we proceed with beginner beekeeping classes. The original site at the Meadery, as specified by Shane Coombs, was in the woods where they were in dappled sunlight all day. Our club inspection of the hives made it apparent that the colonies weren’t thriving. Back side, looking south It was agreed that the bees needed more sun, and Shane suggested several sites along the south edge of the woods, and they were relocated. The hives now get full sun from early morning until late afternoon. Front side, looking north The purpose of these hives is threefold; educational, potential honey production for club fund raising, and finally as a part of the public tour for the Meadery to highlight production of honey for use in making mead. The yellow hive produced approximately one (1) super of honey; the green hive did not produce any honey for harvesting. The hive caretakers (Pam and Gerard) decided to leave the one super of honey on for the bees. This is similar to other hives in our area where honey production was down by 2/3 from last year. The hives received several varroa treatments throughout the summer; FormicPro, oxalic acid vapor and Apiguard. The FormicPro treatment was applied just prior to the field day and the witness boards were presented at the field day. At last inspection both hives appear strong enough to winter successfully. Both hives also received a fall feeding of 2/1 sugar syrup. The hives will be monitored throughout the winter. Provisions have been made to allow emergency feeding of sugar if needed. The caretakers will inform the club mid-winter if replacement bees will be required in the spring.
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Well, I had a newsletter going, it was in Drafts, it isn't anymore. As a matter of fact, that Folder is completely empty, as is the Trash folder (I checked in case I deleted it by accident). It is now in cyberspace as unrelated bits. It was really good too. Oh well. :) I'm going ahead and sending this out with Patti's meeting Minutes attached so that those that couldn't make the meeting can get a flavor of what was discussed. One important item is that Jack Rademacher volunteered to chair a committee to decide if the ECWBA should teach beginner beekeeping classes. Jeff Champeau, past President and Founder of the ECWBA, had already made contact with several entities and has done some of the groundwork. The ECWBA (Jeff, Denise (D) and Andy (and others)) had taught beginning beekeeping classes before municipality ordinances allowed beekeeping within municipalities. The ECWBA discontinued teaching beginner classes as ordinances came into being that decreed that new beekeepers needed instruction from a certified teacher through the auspices of the University or its extension, and as members lost interest. D carried on with the blessing of the Fond du Lac fire department, but D is ready for a break after many years of sharing her knowledge. So it's come full circle, and it is being considered to once again pick up our hive tools and smokers and teach those that want to learn how to keep bees. Jack will look into whether the Fond du Lac fire department will consider us to be qualified instructors, but whether they do or don't doesn't really matter. If the committee decides that there's a need and a desire, and enough volunteers, we can proceed with offering classes. There was other good stuff in that newsletter that is no more, maybe it will come back. I'll let you know if it does. Gerard
I checked the club hives this afternoon and there's about 5 seams of bees in both, top and bottom. The super on the green hive was untouched, so I removed it. The super on the yellow hive was about 45% honey so I left it on for now. Both hives have "okay" heft, but not really as heavy as they should be. Both will need sugar this winter, unless Buckfasts don't consume much. This is my first year with Buckfasts so I don't know their winter tendencies yet. (My home Buckfasts have more weight in 8 frames.)
Both hives need an upper entrance and winter cover. If anyone has extra 10-frame Imirie shims and/or winter covers that they could loan/donate for the club hives, please bring them to Saturday's meeting. Winter covers will need to provide space for sugar disks, about 1 1/2" minimum free space above the top bars. If no one has any to lend, we will need to purchase some. (I can loan the one I'll be bringing to the meeting (the Honey Bee Ware two piece contraption) since my 10-frame hive is vacant. And I will get some of that free sugar from Fred for them. On another note, I removed all of the remaining feeders from my hives today. Since I hadn't fed any for a week I figured they would be empty and I'd be able to just pop them off, put on the inner cover, put on the top cover, and that would be that. The first one had bees all over the empty feeder and on the top bars. Didn't go so well. Bees everywhere in the air, bees on the ground that crawled up my pants legs, kind of chaotic. I did shake the bees out without getting stung, but lesson learned......again. So I put on the barn boots and fired up the smoker to smoke the bees down in the remaining 7 hives, but of course the other 7 had no bees in the feeders. I just popped them off, did a little scraping, and put the inner and outer covers on. But I was prepared! I did manage to get stung on a finger though. I picked up one of the feeders that had a couple of bees on it, gloveless. I guess I squeezed a bee and she did what she had to do. I took a Benadryl right away and it's not swelling or throbbing too much. And I'm sure the benefits of Bee Venom far outweigh any little discomfort now. Some people pay good money for what we beekeepers get for free! Just one more benefit of keeping bees. The hives are now ready for an oxalic acid vapor treatment, and the deep cycle battery is on the charger. I'll give them a few days to adjust to the altered hive configuration, and then any day after that that I have off, it's sunny, and it's at least a mid-40's temp. That's it for now. I hope to see everyone on Saturday. Gerard Today was fit for stacking split oak firewood in the barn, although I would have preferred more of a supervisory role. My plan (it was going to be sunny according to yesterday's forecast) was to remove the rest of the hive top feeders this afternoon, but the bees don't like me messing around on overcast, gloomy days. I listened to several of the hives and there a was a low, contented hum in all of them, and there was no reason to disturb that. There will be other days that will be better suited for ripping off their roof and putting the inner covers back on.
Looks like it's going to be cool for awhile. Right now Tuesday and Thursday are showing mid-50's, but otherwise in the mid-40's. The bees are staying inside, for the most part, and will be in a loose cluster at those temps. This is a good time to do a final oxalic acid vapor treatment (consider Varroa bombs coming to your apiary), but I won't be doing any until the feeders are off and the inner covers are on. One could also do an oxalic acid dribble, but the hive bodies will need to be separated to get to the bottom boxes and I, for one, don't intend to break any seals at this point. I refilled the repurposed Gatorade bottles with dry Ultra Bee powder after the storms, but the bees aren't visiting them today. I'll leave them up for awhile longer, then put them away until spring. I still have two supers of wet frames I'd like to have the bees clean out, but it might be too late for that and I'll have to store them as they are. I learned that paradichlorobenzene (Moth Crystals) inhibits mold and mildew, along with warding off moths, so I'm less concerned about storing them "wet". Now I'm in the process of cleaning up and putting the summer equipment into storage. I still have to count the winter covers because I think I'm short one. That's been gnawing at me lately, so either this evening, or tomorrow, I'll round them up. At this point I need 12. But I won't be putting on the winter covers for awhile yet. I usually wait until December and then put them on along with a couple of sugar disks and half of a pollen patty. Often they don't bother with the pollen patty until very early spring, but will consume the sugar if they're out of honey. Bees need water to consume honey as well as sugar, and they generate enough through respiration to do that during winter. They also generate enough moisture to create frost, mold and mildew. None of these are good, and frost can indirectly kill them. Frost will melt on a warm day, drip down on them, and that kills them. So it's good to have some form of insulation above the winter cover to help keep the inside surface warm enough to not cause frost to develop on it. Moisture boards and sugar (loose or candy forms) will absorb moisture, and vents will help to move it out of the hive. I personally use the winter covers with insulation boards that are sold by Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. The cover has a "deep" side and a "shallow" side. The deep side (bottom) can be used to make a candy board, but I prefer to just stick a couple of sugar disks and pollen patties into that space. The insulation board goes on the shallow side (top) and has a channel to allow the bees to leave the hive for cleansing flights. I bore additional 3/4" vent holes along the sides of the deep side and put in vent plugs to keep mice from entering. This system has been working for me. I also have a cover that I picked up at Honey Bee Ware for the lone 10-frame hive I inherited. It's a combination of a ventilation board and something else (can't remember what they called it), and it's super nice. (Don't bother asking them about their winter cover, when I did they didn't know what I was talking about, although they recognized my description of the ventilation board.) I keep thinking I'll make a bunch like that for my 8-frame hives, but so far haven't had the time. I'll bring it along to next Saturday's meeting. Did you notice that the word "mice" popped up? They seem to be plentiful again this year, and even with (3) inside/outside cats, and (3) full-time barn cats, I have trapped (6) mice in the house and the season has barely started. (At my house the term "trap-line" has every thing to do with fur bearing creatures, but the Hudson Bay Company just isn't interested.) I don't put mouse guards on unless I feel the need to, and that's when I see gnaw marks on the entrance reducers. But in order to see that, I need to check almost daily because they can get through in a short amount of time. Right now the bees are still active enough that if they detect gnawing they'll come down and sting the mouse away. And bees are very sensitive to vibration. But when it's cold and they're in a tight cluster, they won't break cluster and the mouse will gain access. She'll have a nice cozy home in which to raise a bunch of brood, and they'll all gnaw away at the frames and that valuable comb. So if you have hives that you can't monitor often, you may want to consider installing mouse guards soon. I'll be bringing a couple of winter covers to the meeting and I hope that other members will do the same. There's many ways of keeping the frost down and having a space for emergency sugar and patties. I remember Paul mentioning that he puts 2" styrofoam on top. I believe he uses some form of a moisture absorber as well, because Styrofoam won't absorb moisture, so hopefully he'll be there to describe his method again. We'll go over the important points of wintering (healthy bees, food stores, low mite counts, ventilation, upper entrances, etc.) so that everyone can be prepared. Winter will be here soon, and we all need to be ready if the bees are to have a chance. Also, Fred has scored more "free" sugar for club members. He will be posting a notice concerning this on our blog within the next couple of days so visit the blog if you're interested in picking up sugar at the meeting. http://ourbeeblog.blogspot.com/ Note, the meeting will be the only place and time that it will be available, and Fred is looking for a honey donation (to give to the person that provided the sugar as a thank-you) in exchange for the sugar. Bring 5 gallon pails, or whatever you have to carry the sugar in. Thanks again, Fred! That last batch saved me big time this fall! Next Meeting: Saturday, October 20, 2018 9:30am at the Caestecker Library, Green Lake. PS. I know that at least of two of our members will be vendors at "From the Land", just a few miles north of Green Lake on Cty Rd J, west of Hwy 49, and won't be able to make the meeting. Feel free to visit Pam and Deidre after the meeting. Good luck to you both on a good show! Gerard |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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