Season’s greetings! Winter has arrived and I’m sure our bees were in tight clusters over the weekend. This is the season we prepared for since August and hopefully our bees will make it through healthy and strong. That said, my hive #5 was silent this past weekend while all others were buzzing just fine. They did not respond to multiple rappings on the side of the hive which they would have if they were alive. I will check again now that it’s a bit warmer, and if my suspicions are confirmed, I will try to determine what might have caused their demise. They were a very strong colony with plenty of honey and multiple Varroa treatments, the last one being an oxalic acid dribble in early November. While checking the hives, I used a twig and pulled dead bee bodies out of the bottom entrances and there weren’t very many. I was glad for that. I didn’t remove any covers to check stores since it needs to be at least 30 degrees F with very little wind before I’ll do that, and then very quickly. I try to be in and out within 15 seconds, and I think I have it down to about 10…..if I don’t slip. I have sugar disks and pollen (substitute) patties on hand to keep the hives stocked with emergency food. We’ve discussed Varroa a lot lately, and I imagine we will continue to do so, but I came across an interesting article recently by Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiaries. He’s been treatment free for over 10 years with a 10% - 20% annual loss rate and attributes his bees’ resistance to Varroa vectored diseases primarily to genetics and nutrition. He doesn’t check for mites because “I don’t care”. Sounds mighty bold, but it’s working for him. He believes his success is due in part to his mix of Russian, Carniolan, Buckfast, and wild survivor stock; and in part to nutritious forage in the area of his stationary apiaries. That article launched me on a quest for information on honey bee nutrition and I think that’s going to be a long road as one thing leads to another. We know the main sources of honey bee nutrition are nectar and pollen, but what are those? Nectar is primarily carbs (sugar) with trace minerals and vitamins; and pollen “contains at least 22 amino acids (protein), 18 vitamins, 25 minerals, 59 trace elements, 11 enzymes or co-enzymes, 14 fatty acids, and 11 carbohydrates” ….. (quote from envirobee). But different pollens have varying degrees of each, so which are the best? I don’t really want to study all the science involved in honey bee nutrition, I just want to know if the plants in my area provide enough high quality pollen to make year-round healthy, robust bees. I want to know what I can do as a hobbyist beekeeper to help my bees reach their maximum potential and stay there. My colonies are stationary too, and although there is a diverse array of flowering plants in my area, I don’t know if they offer everything the bees need. I’ve started looking for pollen analysis’ of the plants growing in my area and so far I haven't found much information. But even if I find a general analysis for each plant type, potency is dependent on climate and soil, so it’s variable. I have found that several of the commercial patties are very good in providing most of the bees’ nutritional requirements, lacking in just one or two amino acids, and that they all lack “Factor X”, which is something that is still a mystery to researchers. However, by adding bee gathered pollen to the mix the right stuff might be achieved. Okay, so why am I talking about this now, at the beginning of winter? It’s because I’m thinking about the eggs that will be laid within the next couple of weeks and if there’s enough protein (pollen) for the nurse bees to raise healthy bees. The nurse bees need protein to produce royal jelly to feed both the queens and the larvae. If they don’t have protein available either as pollen stored in comb cells or as a pollen patty they will use the protein stored in their bodies to produce the royal jelly……weakening the nurse bees over time. Remember the fall discussion about Fat Bees and the Vitellogenin molecule? If we were successful in helping our bees to become virus free Fat Bees they will now be successful nurse bees. If they contracted viruses and could not become Fat Bees, then they won’t be so successful. In the bigger picture concerning overall honey bee and colony health, nutrition is key. Sam Comfort believes it helps the bees to not contract the viruses in the first place. It also helps the colonies grow quickly during the spring buildup, and helps the colonies maintain large populations to produce honey that we can harvest. However, large populations in spring will swarm if left unchecked, but we can make splits before that happens and increase our number of colonies and replace die-outs. For now it’s wise to have sugar (candy bricks, candy disks, candy boards, Mountain Camp loose crystals, fondant, etc.) and pollen patties available in the hives at all times, located on the top bars above the brood chamber. The sugar is for adult bee energy and the protein in the pollen patties is for the new bees that will be coming soon. This upcoming season I will be keeping better notes on plant blossoming phenology, something Fred got me started on two years ago. I’ve got pretty good notes on what blossoms in my area when, but I’m going to try to be even more aware this season. Then, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to determine where the pollen is coming from, and if even luckier, the general composition of the pollen. And if I can convince my neighbor to plant Bee Balm and Sedum instead of soybeans and corn I might have something. On a totally different subject, are you aware that there’s a lawsuit against Sioux Bee Honey for labeling their honey as ‘pure’ when in fact traces of Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup®, have been found in it? Uh-oh, my label says ‘pure’ on it too. It seems strange to me that a legally undefined product (honey) can have a pending lawsuit for containing something when its contents aren’t defined to begin with. I’m not surprised or shocked that there are pesticides in honey, terrified maybe, but Monsanto has stated that we can consume a quart of that tainted honey every day for the rest of our lives with no ill effects. Feel better? Did you see the photo that Fred posted of the drone massacre? I had never seen anything like that and didn’t even realize what I was looking at in the field until I studied the photo later. To me it was a lot of dead bees jamming the bottom entrance, spilling over on to the ground, and my first thought was ‘major illness killed them all’! I brushed the bees away and poked inside with a twig to clear out as many other bodies as I could, and there weren’t any. I noted that as strange, but later the pieces fell into place. When I studied the photo I noticed that the bees were facing the entrance and trying to get INTO the hive. When I looked closer I noticed they were mostly drones (big eyes). Aha! They had been evicted and the workers had formed a blockade to keep them out until they froze. The workers then returned to the cluster which is why there were no dead bees on the inside of the entrance. This was a good lesson for me to pay closer attention at the time that I notice something and to gather evidence. I’m glad I at least shot the photo. I’m looking forward to the January 14th meeting especially since I had to miss the December 3rd meeting. I truly enjoy learning from everyone’s experiences, and sharing different viewpoints and techniques for keeping bees. See you then. Happy holidays! Gerard Next meeting: January 14, 9:30 a.m., Silver Creek Room, Ripon Public Library
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
|