I'm finally ready for winter beekeeping activities. I got a new front drive shaft on the Jeep so the 4-wheel drive is in working order to cross snow covered fields, and I just got the last of the winter covers on my hives. Each colony got a sugar disc as well, although none of the bees in the 8 home hives were at the top of the frames. (I was especially pleased to see the 2-deep hive has the upper deep still full of honey.) I chose to put the discs in now to serve as moisture absorbers which will soften them by the time the bees need them. Now all of the hives are ready with upper entrances in the winter cover, three ventilation holes per cover, and mouse guards on a few that looked like they could use one. Only the one reducer that I had mentioned awhile back has gnaw marks, but some lower entrances looked inviting. Now it's just occasional listenings to check the cluster positions in the hives, and lifting the winter cover to check on their food reserves. I've been thinking about doing an oxalic acid vapor treatment, and today is a great day for it at 45 degrees, but I'm still on the fence. The battery minder is keeping the deep cycle battery charged, but the spirit just hasn't moved me. The colonies had (3) mite treatments during the active season with the last one ending mid-October. I'm thinking the mite level is low and why subject them to another treatment? They're going to have to live with some mites regardless. And I think the majority of losses last winter were due to Nosema cerenae (a fungus that reproduces in the midgut), which I didn't treat for. I learned about it too late. According to some researchers, Nosema cerenae is in every bee colony in the world, and although not fatal at low levels, if the spores multiple to a high level it is. The disease causes the bees to eat less and to not be able to digest efficiently what they do eat. If a queen gets a high spore count she will be superseded, and I saw plenty of that this summer, with some colonies replacing the queen 3 and 4 times (although that could be due to other factors). That, among other things, affected my honey crop. If they try to supersede in winter, it's game over. Unfortunately, we no longer have Fumagilin-B to treat for Nosema. The only thing purported to treat the disease, that I'm aware of, is Hive Alive. I started using it in spring by spraying my package bees with 1:1 syrup containing Hive Alive. As I used frames from dead outs, I sprayed them heavily with the same syrup mixture before putting them in a hive. Then, in fall, all of my feedings contained it. So now I'm curious to find out what the survival rate is this winter. But Hive Alive isn't cheap. Current prices at Mann Lake are $28.95/100ml (3.38 ounces), $94.95/500ml (16 ounces), and $215.95/2L (67.62 ounces) Broken down, that's $8.56/ounce, $5.93/ounce, and $3.19/ounce, respectively. 1 ounce will treat 3 gallons of syrup at 2 teaspoons per gallon, the recommended dosage. The most bang for the buck is the 2L bottle, which will treat 202 gallons of syrup. About $1.00/treated gallon. I thought about investing in a 2L bottle, but there's a caveat. Hive Alive needs to be used within 6 months of opening the bottle, and there's a 2 year expiration on it in the unopened bottle. I know other members are also using Hive Alive and we have talked about going in together to save money. I'm mentioning this so that anyone that's interested and wants to join in the "Buyer's Club" can let it be known so we can purchase larger quantities and distribute it among ourselves. An ECWBA "Buyer's Club" might be an idea that we want to consider for buying other of our supplies as there's typically quantity discounts offered by beekeeping suppliers. I know because I have items still in boxes when I overbought to save money. It's the American way. Buy more to save more. This is an item we can discuss at our December meeting, and if we are to do something like this, we will need a coordinator. Another thing that may help our bees has to do with mushrooms. Relatively recent research is showing that certain mushrooms actually help bees fight viruses as well as Varroa. It looks like Washington State University is on the forefront of the research, and here's a couple of links to get you started on this topic: https://news.wsu.edu/2018/10/04/fungus-provides-powerful-medicine-fighting-honey-bee-viruses/ https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/how-mushrooms-might-save-honey-bee.html Winter is a good time to read, study, and prepare for next season. I will be resuming learning how to use a microscope this winter to identify Nosema cerenae spores. I didn't feel confident enough to do any diagnosis this summer, but I hope to be there by next summer. Some members mentioned that they'd like to do a pot luck at our December 15 meeting, and Linda DeNell (Caestecker Library Director) said that that would be fine as long as we clean up and have no alcohol brought in (Library rules). So the mead stays home. Pretty much everything else is allowed. We will need to decide at our December meeting if the ECWBA will be offering beekeeping classes. I think February is the latest we'd want to hold classes as new beekeepers would need to know what they'll be needing for equipment and bees. Maybe it could as late as March, but the sooner the better. I find that January and February are good months to assemble boxes and frames. Membership dues are payable now. It's still the very low $10.00/year and gets you a vote on ECWBA matters. Dues can be paid at a meeting or sent to Patti. Ways of sending dues to Patti are in the attached newsletter. Also attached is the current Apparel Brochure. To order, contact Laurie at [email protected] or call her at 920-948-9794. Tim Wilbanks of Heritage Honeybees will be our January speaker. Tim has offered to talk about commercial queen, nuc and package bees' production. For more on Tim and Heritage Honeybees: Heritage Honeybee Heritage Honeybeepreserving a legacy and love of beekeeping That's it for now. All of you opening day deer hunters can read Patti's Minutes to see what you missed, and hopefully you'll be able to join us at the December meeting. Bring whatever pot luck items you wish. Hopefully we still have plates, napkins, and such. Next meeting: December 15, Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m.
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ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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