Just a quick note to remind everyone of the frost danger in our hives. With this severe cold weather event the moisture from the bees’ respiration is freezing on the bottom of the inner covers. On Sunday the temperature is forecast to be in the 40’s, and that frost will melt and drip on to the bees. That is fatal.
My suggestion is to check your hives on Saturday and scrape the frost from the inner covers. If you have a spare cover, put that on while you’re scraping the frost, or else move quickly. The bees can survive the 15 seconds or so it should take with the cover off better than they can survive dripping water when it’s cold out. You can leave a little frost in the hive because the bees require moisture to thin honey and dissolve sugar in order to consume them. But scrape out what you can in short order and get the cover back on. Don’t trust that your well ventilated hive doesn’t have moisture. Err on the side of caution. And while you’re at it, add some sugar and a pollen patty (or half patty). We’re entering the period when the queens will start laying eggs to replace winter losses and begin the colony build up. Well, the sturgeon spearers got their ice again, as usual. I hope this weekend’s rain doesn’t muck it up too bad for them. Stay safe. Gerard
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As I had written earlier, I tried to take advantage of a Cyber Monday sale to procure Hive Alive at a savings to share with members that are interested in using it in their spring and fall syrup feedings. The purchase did go through with Mann Lake, but they sent bottles with no expiration date on them, so I sent them back on their dime. Hive Alive has a two-year shelf life, and according to Advance Science (the manufacturer), all bottles are date coded for that reason. Apparently some slipped by Quality Assurance.
That left me in a pickle so I searched and found a company in the U.K. with great prices and "sticker shock" shipping costs, but all told still well under domestic prices. (Part of the shipping cost was for the (8) 10-packs of Apiguard that I also purchased at a very good savings.) Due to snafus with this order, I currently have (7) 100ml bottles and the balance (they didn't send the right quantity or package sizes of Hive Alive), is on its way (on their dime)). I did the math and came up with the revised cost that I can offer Hive Alive to members. The original cost was planned to be $2.85 per ounce with the Cyber Monday plan, but it is now $4.45 per ounce, or $15.00 for a 100ml bottle (compared to $28.95 for a 100ml bottle from Mann Lake). This is a one time deal unless the ECWBA wants to pursue club purchases. Each 100ml bottle treats 10 gallons of syrup, and each ounce treats 3 gallons, at (2) teaspoons per gallon. The expiration date is 1/2020 and it is viable for 6 months after opening. And Hive Alive prevents syrup from getting moldy so you can save treated syrup from spring for fall feeding. (I use plastic gallon milk bottles to store and tote syrup to the bees, and noticed in the past that the empty syrup bottles would develop black mold dots over winter so I always needed to start over in spring. So far this winter none of the empty bottles that held syrup with Hive Alive have black mold dots.) The quantity of Hive Alive that I purchased is limited so it's first come, first serve, until gone. Those of you that contacted me in the past are on the list, but you can remove yourself if you've changed your mind since the price has increased. Currently the distribution date is our April 20 meeting because I will be attending the Marathon County Beekeepers Seminar in Wausau on March 16. Should anyone want to procure Hive Alive prior to that date, contact me and we'll figure out a meet. Gerard I checked all of my colonies and the club bees yesterday ahead of the polar vortex, and although it was only 18 degrees F at the time, the sun was shining and there wasn't any wind. Any colonies that had less than a full sugar disc on the top bars got 2 more discs. I figure this cold is going to be around for awhile and I don't want to disturb their ambience when it's really cold, and I don't want them running out of sugar. Most of the colonies were pretty quiet before I lifted the cover, and then got loud about 30 seconds after I closed them. I think they were generating heat fast to get the cluster back up to the desired temperature.
So far my 12 colonies, and the club's 2 colonies, are alive. This cold will be a test though. There's nothing more that I can do to help them, so their survival is up to their genetics, their health, their ability to stay in contact with their food, and their mite load. The next 6 weeks will be their toughest. Mine too. I just listened to my home 8 while walking Tucker, and they were quietly buzzing. It's the sound of silence that makes my heart drop. I always hate to lose a colony, but it happens, and last winter was devastating with a 75% loss for me. I'm hoping for, and worked toward, a much better survival rate this winter. I'm continuing to research the research on propolis, and am planning to rough up the hive body interiors on all new boxes and those that are reused after a die-out. It seems that somewhere during the millions of years that honey bees have been around, they learned to spread propolis on the rough walls of the tree cavities that they called home. Among other things, propolis is anti-bacterial and it killed off the bacteria that the bees picked up in the field. Due to this, the individual bees did not have to develop as many internal antibodies to fight disease. Still don't. Because propolis is the beekeeper's bane, making it difficult to separate the parts of the hive, breeders tried to breed this trait out at one point. Less propolis, less difficulty for the beekeeper. Those earlier bee breeders and keepers were unaware that propolis (bee glue) contains over 240 compounds and serves as a pharmacy for the bees. Bees will ingest small amounts, add it to comb and honey, and pass it on to the larvae and each other. Humans, as well, have used propolis for thousands of years for a variety of ailments and afflictions, but modern medicine helped us forget. But bees don't spread propolis on smooth surfaces, like the inside of most Langstroth hives, for some reason. I would think they would continue with the "social immunity envelope" wherever they are, but some researchers say spreading propolis is an instinct that is triggered by rough surfaces, from what their testing indicates, and not done otherwise. It's interesting, so that's why I'll rough up the interiors, see if they propolize them, and see if I can tell if it makes a difference. I kind of hate having the colonies assign workers to propolis collecting and spreading (rather than comb building and honey making), but if it helps them to be healthy it would be worth it. I talked about this a bit with Rick Schneider (Capital Bee Supply) and Wayne Gerdts (Honey Bee Ware) after our meeting yesterday, wondering if they had resources that produced boxes with rough interiors. They don't at the moment but are looking into it. Rick said he has contemplated embossing the interiors, and maybe we will start to see hive bodies with surfaces that will trigger the propolis spreading response to create "social immunity envelopes" in our hives. This also makes me think of Sue Dompke, the Russian Bee Lady of Washington Island that spoke to us a couple of years ago about Russians (and gets this newsletter ;). She makes her own boxes out of cedar, with rough interiors. I think it's time I contact her about her experience with rough interiors and how her bees are doing. Maybe I just did. We held the elections for Vice-President and Treasurer, and Mike Koeck was voted in to continue on as VP by an almost unanimous vote. There was (1) dissension, but Mike changed his vote so it became unanimous. Following a short discussion, it was decided to keep the Secretary-Treasurer positions combined for another year, and revisit it next January. Patti accepted the nomination to continue on as Sec-Treas, and it was unanimously approved. Thanks Mike and Patti! I want to pause here to thank George Weigel for his many years of service to the ECWBA as Treasurer. George was one of the Founders of the ECWBA, along with Jeff Champeau, and he kept track of the treasury until about 6 months ago when he stepped down and handed the books to Patti who served as interim Treasurer. Thank-you George! There was also an unexpected position change, and Laurie Koeck handed over the duties (and glory) of Events Coordinator to Leanne Doyle upon acceptance by Leanne and unanimous approval by the membership in attendance. Leanne hit the ground running as the beekeeping classes are already in process, the Fond du Lac Library Event on February 12 is on the calendar, and I handed her an inquiry from the Ripon College Sustainability Director requesting our presence at an Event in May. Thank-you Leanne! Tim Wilbanks was our guest speaker at the meeting, and he gave an outstanding presentation on commercial bee raising. Tim is 4th generation in the business of producing bees and queens for packages and nucs, and a wealth of general bee information. I envy a person that gets to work in the beekeeping field, but then again it's long days under a hot sun, and in a cold downpour, if that's what it takes. I do wish I had had his training at a young age to handle bees without any protective equipment, except a veil if absolutely necessary. Maybe I'll try to go gloveless a couple of times this summer. It's a start. Through his presentation I could see the dedication that commercial bee producers have to produce high quality, healthy bees, and on a very large scale. A few years ago we thought that our package bees' lack of thriving and queen supersedures were due to weakened gene pools and lack of quality control. Turns out that's not the case, at least with those that Tim interacts with, and the major factor for poor mating, etc., is weather. After queens emerge there is a very short window for them to mate, and the weather determines if they mate with 1 drone, or 2 dozen drones. The queens aren't caged unless they're laying worker brood, so they have mated, but how well can't be known. There are a lot of things that can affect the bees we get in packages or nucs, but those breeders that Tim deals with do their best to provide the best. I did take a step back when he mentioned that as bad as we know neonics to be today, it was a whole lot worse when pyrethrins were in vogue. Still don't like them though. As an aside, member Andy Krueger is downsizing and is offering some of her unneeded hive equipment for sale to ECWBA members. I haven't received a list yet, but she can be contacted at [email protected] or 920-379-9840 if you have something in mind. She did say she has 10 frame deeps and supers, covers, and bottom boards, as well as frames. (It's important to be cautious when purchasing used equipment, but Andy has been a beekeeper for some time and knows if there's a problem.) I have no idea of what we're going to be talking about at our February meeting, and it may be a good time to have discussion on spring survivors (swarm control, reversals (or not), etc.) for those that may have survivors, and some of the basics for those just starting out on this adventure. A good topic would be bringing equipment that had a die-out back into service. How about die-out autopsies? General discussions are always good, and I doubt that there's any end to the learning in this endeavor. The next meeting is February 16 at the Caestecker Library in Green Lake, 9:30 a.m. The beekeeping classes are scheduled and staffed and all members are welcome to show up and lend a hand. Also, our presentation at the Fond du Lac Library, McLane Room, on February 12 at 6:00 p.m. is being supported by several members, but all are welcome to participate. The bee class schedule and tear-offs are attached. Feel free to print them out and post them wherever there's pedestrian traffic (and it's permitted). Patti's Meeting Minutes will be sent when received. That's it for now. Stay warm. Gerard It's winter, although it doesn't look like any winter that I can recall. I'm not complaining as I'm not a fan of cold, snow, and ice, but it certainly is unusual and I hope I don't get spoiled having such an easy time checking my hives. Here we are, halfway through January, and I haven't had to get the dogsled out once. (Actually, it's just boots, and trudging across a 40 acre field covered in snowdrifts is not pleasant, but necessary.)
I've also been less concerned about the bees with the relatively warm temperatures. I don't get too anxious until we have an extended period below 10 degrees F, and extended sub-zero temps gets me praying. When it gets that cold the clusters contract tightly and may not be able to reach food. And I know it's coming, we always get sub-zero temps for at least a week prior to sturgeon spearing season. I think the spearers either pray better than I do or have a more direct line of communication. Now is a good time for those who are thinking about being a beekeeper to read about beekeeping basics, and for those of us that have been at it for awhile to be reading about what's new in bee research, and how the discoveries may apply to hobbyist beekeepers. For sure, Meghan Milbrath's article on Swarms is one of the best articles I've read lately, and I have printed it out and set it aside to reread in the March - April period, prior to swarm season. Last year I had to do an emergency walk-away split ("dirty split" in the article) on April 28th, this year I plan to be aware of my survivors' condition by mid-April. Of course, that's if there are survivors. So far it's looking promising. One thing I'm looking into is the interaction between propolis and colony health. From the current articles I've read (2018 data), it's still pretty foggy. Some hives with propolised inner walls did somewhat better than those with standard smooth walls, some not so much. It seems at the moment that there's too many variables in the mix, and the researchers are winnowing their way through. But they are convinced that propolis is used by the bees to help fight disease. Bees, some say, do not have great immune systems, and it's believed that's because they enveloped their tree cavities with propolis for millions of years and that the propolis envelope served as the colonies immune system. Then, since Langstroth came along, most hives have smooth interiors so the bees instinct to smooth rough surfaces with propolis isn't triggered. Some researchers suggest roughing up, or cutting 1/8" kerfs vertically, on the inside surfaces of the hive boxes. (One of our members said he had roughed up his box interiors for that very reason last spring, and I hope we get a report on how that worked out.) As you're googling around for information, take the date that the article was written into consideration. If the internet had been around a couple of hundred years ago, we'd still be reading articles on how the king rules the colony. Once something is published to the Web, it is there forevermore. There's tons of articles on using Fumagilin-B in the spring to help combat nosema and help build colonies fast and strong. However; Fumagilin-B went off the market last year. Not an option anymore. Brushy Mountain Bee Farm.......gone. Things change. Knowledge changes. Most of us heard about the forthcoming USDA rule that honey and maple syrup labels would require "Added Sugar" on the label. I had read last summer that Sioux Bee (the USA's largest honey packer) had already started doing that. But thanks to the honey and maple syrup producers that sent in their comments to the USDA, the USDA reconsidered and that verbiage IS NOT REQUIRED. The new Farm Bill (which has not been implemented quite yet) states that "single ingredient, 'packaged as such' products" do not require it. I'm very interested in what Tim Wilbanks will be talking about next Saturday at our meeting. His world of being a commercial bee supplier is one that I know nothing about. I'm looking forward to it. Plus, we have elections for Vice-President and Treasurer, and reports on the upcoming beekeeping classes. We will start promptly at 9:30 with Tim taking the floor at 10:00. Meeting: Saturday, January 19, 9:30 a.m., Caestecker Library, Green Lake See you then and there, Gerard The holiday season is coming to an end and now comes that long, cold, relatively dormant period until spring. It's a time of little beekeeping activity except to check that the bees have food and that critters aren't moving in to the hives. I have mouse guards on several of my hives that seemed to be at risk earlier in the winter, but the majority are open for easier cleanout of dead bees, by the bees.
Above is a photo, taken this morning after the fresh snowfall, showing that there's quite a bit of critter traffic between my hives. They could be mice, shrews, moles, voles, whatever. They're around, there's no doubt, but they don't seem interested in taking up residence with honey bees. (There weren't any paw prints in the snow on the landing boards.) Not yet, anyway. Another photo taken this morning shows quite a few dead bees that have been removed from a hive by undertaker bees. It was a balmy 20 degrees when this was taken. (Notice the dead bees are on top of the fresh snow.) I wanted to share this because we often read and hear that bees stay clustered when the temps are below 30F, but obviously some stay busy with house duties. I heard one bee flying very close to my ear shortly after taking this photo. Maybe she was taking a cleansing flight, or maybe it was her time to die and she left the hive one last time. Who knows? I didn't lift any covers today because tomorrow is forecast to be better weather for that. The prediction is 36F with a clear, sunny sky. It's supposed to be breezy with gusts up to 23 mph, but I just wait for the gusts to pass before opening. I take a quick look under the cover and close it. If they need sugar I wait for next lull and put it in. In and out in a couple of seconds. And I've found that when the sun is shining, it feels a lot warmer than the thermostat says it is. Now is the time to prepare for the 2019 season. I think I'm in pretty good shape as far as extra woodenware and foundation is concerned, and I took advantage of Cyber Monday sales to stock up on supplies that I never seem to have enough of. Watch for after Christmas sales, and get on mailing lists. This can be an expensive hobby and a penny saved........ And if you're planning to replace equipment or increase your number of hives, winter is a great time to assemble boxes and frames. Now is the time to also consider package bee and nuc purchases. Fred has a list of suppliers on our blog and is adding more as he becomes aware of them. Note that prices have not gone down from 2018 (or any other year for that matter), and some sellers are sky high. For everyone that is taking beekeeping seriously, it's less costly if we can keep our bees alive over winter. We aren't always going to be successful, but if we do nothing to help them we will lose them. A huge benefit of being a member of a club is to hear from each other what seems to help and what totally doesn't. Queen markings for 2019 will be green. I usually see forest green markings, which I find hard to detect on a queen's back. It doesn't help me to spot the queen quickly on a frame, but it's fine if I just want to know that the queen hasn't been superceded. This year I had gotten a forest green paint marker because it was all I could find locally, but I returned it when I found a fluorescent green paint marker on eBay. My marked queens should be easier to spot this season, after they're marked. We will be having elections for Vice-President and Treasurer at our next meeting, and all members-in-good-standing (dues paid) are eligible for nomination and voting. We will hold these elections at the beginning of the meeting because I'm pretty sure we'll want to visit with Tim Wilbanks after his presentation on how nucs and package bees are put together on a commercial scale. All other business will also be addressed before Tim's talk. That includes where we're at with holding beekeeping classes and organizing our upcoming talk at the Fond du Lac library on February 12. Next meeting: January 19, Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m. Happy 2019 to all! May it be good and prosperous for us and our bees. Gerard |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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