I'm sure everyone is wondering how the (3) Vermont mutt queens are doing. I'll tell you anyway. You know how it is when you get a scenario in your head, but life has a different plan?
Queen 1 was placed in a nuc that had one loaded queen cell that the bees were attending to. The beekeeper (me, in this case) figured they'd be really excited about a fertile, laying queen and would abandon their efforts to raise a queen and have to wait several weeks for her to start laying, if she even made it back to the hive. However, I found the queen, dead, on the screened bottom board and the queen cell capped. Apparently they're as big of gamblers as I am. Queen 2 is in a package hive that had a continuing chalkbrood problem. She replaced the original queen. I haven't seen any eggs or larvae that I know are hers yet, but I did see the queen, and she is marked blue. So the question is, does the producer mark all queens blue, or is she a survivor from 2015? I sent them an email asking that question, but have not received a response yet. I'll be checking for brood again in a few days. Queen 3 was introduced to a very large, but queenless colony. I found her, and larvae, in the bottom deep. Big, plump, golden, no blue mark. So, if the producer does mark all queens blue, where'd she come from? She now bears a red mark. Summary: Queen 1 - I should have left the colony alone, or destroyed the queen cup and waited a couple of hours to introduce her (caged). Lesson learned. Queen 2 - If she is, in fact, a 2015 queen and she lays enough eggs for a supersedure, I'd be okay with that. Genetics from a queen with that kind of survivability sounds good to me. But if she has stopped laying, the supplier and I will need to come an understanding. Replacement or refund. Queen 3 - To quote Meatloaf, "1 out of 3 ain't bad". (But I disagree.) So the story isn't over and I'm sure you'll all be watching your Inboxes for the next edition. I hope that everyone has done some sort of mite control by now so that you have healthy bees for the honey flow, which is underway. For my hives, I am on Day 9 of the 14 day FormicPro treatment. While cutting the grass and unwanted plants in the apiary to open the flyways, I checked several witness boards to take a look at the mite drop. One colony had 0, and they had had an oxalic acid spray treatment while still in the package. The other two had 3 and 4 mites. Those are large survivor colonies. The witness boards have been in for 9 days, is this stuff even working or are my colonies just nearly mite-free? I'll be doing sugar shakes after the treatment period. I had a great time at Walleye Weekend on Saturday afternoon talking to people interested in bees. I was able to point out to them what was happening in the observation hive, and they were impressed with how bees work, not ever having seen them in action. The typical initial question was "Where's the queen", but there was no queen so I pointed out the uncapped larvae being fed by the nurse bees, and talked a bit about how that works. Every so often a bee would climb on to the single drone cell to the left of the capped worker brood and fan her wings, so I could point that out and talk about how a bee larva needs to be kept around 94 degrees F to develop properly and that the bee was generating heat to keep it warm. The demo hive served as a very nice educational tool, as was the intent all along. I didn't make it to the Markesan June Dairy Days parade, but Patti said it was a good time. She said they kept a smoker going this time, and hopefully we'll hear more about the Event on June 23. Pictures Patti! I know you have some. June 23 is our next meeting, and it will be held at the Rushford Meadery and Winery, 8389 Liberty School Road, Omro, WI, 54963, 9:30 a.m. We'll take a tour of the place and everyone can see the extractor and the bees. If you want to go back to visit the bees, you should be prepared with your protective gear. (They are currently undergoing a FormicPro treatment but will be done before the meeting.) Shane has listed this as an Event on his website, so there may be interested folks joining us. July 7 is Field Day at D's apiary, N7928 County Road WH, Fond du Lac, WI, 54937.....Rain or Shine. A State Apiary Inspector (Dan) will be there to perform a hive inspection, and he usually demonstrates how to do a sugar shake or alcohol roll for mite counts. Demo time is 10:00. D has invited everyone to show up early and stroll the grounds, but do bring water, chairs if you want a place to sit, and any snacks you may want. Protective gear is a must if you want to get close to the inspection/demonstration. This is an "at your own risk" Event, as are they all. July 14 is the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association summer meeting and everyone is invited. There is a $20.00 charge which includes lunch. Sign-in starts at 8:00 a.m. with the proceedings beginning at 9:00 a.m.. The meeting will be held at Lions Hall, 145 Dearborn Street, Redgranite, WI. The keynote speaker is Dr. Dennis van Englesdorp from the University of Maryland and he will be speaking on bee health and Varroa control. For further information visit: https://www.wihoney.org/meetings-and-events/spring-district-meetings/meetings-events/ July 21 we will be returning to our regular meeting schedule on the third Saturday of the month at Caestecker Library in Green Lake at 9:30 a.m. August 2 - 5 is the Green Lake County Fair, and the ECWBA will be there! Hopefully Laurie will have a signup schedule available by our June 23 meeting so people can sign up for a time slot then, think about it, and then sign up for more at our July 21 meeting. BTW, while mowing the apiary the scent of honey was in the air. Keep an eye on your supers and add another as they get full of capped honey, or remove capped frames and add empty ones, or foundation. Stay ahead of your bees. Neglect doesn't cause only dead bees, it also causes swarms. Gerard
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ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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