To all, First off, I hope that everyone is regularly visiting the ECWBA blog at http://ourbeeblog.blogspot.com/ Fred is doing us a great service by posting interesting, informative, and timely information. And thanks to everyone that is contributing to the site and posting comments. Together we are accumulating a lot of knowledge, information and tips. Package bees should be well along now and should be inspected for laying position within the hive. If the queens are laying in the top brood chamber box it is a good idea to reverse the hive bodies. Remember that she works up and if she runs out of room it’s time to swarm. By reversing the bodies you’re putting the frames with emerged/emerging brood on top so the cells will be empty for more eggs. If left below the bees may fill them with honey so she will have nowhere to lay, and she rarely travels down anyway. This applies not just to new colonies but to any colony. I had to reverse two overwintered colonies yesterday for the third time this season and had already split one of them. I’m not complaining. If your upper brood chamber box is 80% or more drawn out it’s time to add a honey super. I put a queen excluder (some beekeepers refer to them as honey excluders and don’t use them) between my top brood chamber box and the first super to prevent the queen from laying eggs where I want the honey, and add an upper entrance so the bees don’t have to travel as far to the supers. Some beekeepers bore a ¾” hole in the front of every super, and some beekeepers use Imirie shims between supers, to allow rapid access to the supers. Some beekeepers simply stack supers. Try different methods on different hives and see what works best for you. Stay ahead of your bees as they draw out and begin to fill the supers with honey. Some beekeepers remove capped frames as they become available and replace them with foundation or drawn comb. Some beekeepers stack supers (see Fred’s pic on the blog) and harvest at the end of the season. Some beekeepers put the empty supers on top of the stack and build up, and some beekeepers put them on the bottom of the stack and lift up. Whatever you decide to do stay ahead of the bees so they don’t run out of room and think that their work is done in their hive and that it’s time to cast a swarm, unless you want them to. Varroa control is a big deal. If you’ve been keeping up with Fred’s posts you know the damage they will do. Hopefully everyone is monitoring mite levels and taking action if the mite count is above an acceptable level. I monitor with sticky boards under screened bottom boards and if there are more than 4 mites in a 24-hour period I treat them. There are other monitoring methods, sugar shake and alcohol roll are two, but I can’t speak to those. Hopefully there are members among us that can talk about those methods at our July 23 meeting when we will be talking bees and beekeeping. Maybe someone has the equipment to demonstrate? If you need to treat and choose a chemical treatment, follow the label directions. There are different products and application methods for different times of the year and different circumstances. Mites are a serious problem and they need serious attention if you hope to keep your bees healthy and overwinter your colonies. Become informed on the different methods of mite control. We will discuss mite control in more detail on July 23. Another topic for discussion at the July 23 meeting is winter preparations. Like everything else beekeeping, there are different methods with varying results. Although there is no one bullet proof method, some things have come to light as essential. Without applying the essentials chances are slim that a colony will survive our winters. All we can do is take our best shot, and that depends on shared experiences and data. There are many aspects to beekeeping and many methods. I hope that everyone can attend the July 23 general discussion meeting at the Ripon Public Library starting at 9:00 a.m. to share experiences and knowledge. We will also need to finalize preparations for the Green Lake County Fair on August 4 – 7. Jack Bremer is heading up the committee and will be looking for members to volunteer some time to represent the ECWBA at the Fair. I hope that every member will volunteer a couple of hours. See you July 23. Sincerely, Gerard Schubert ECWBA President
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ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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