Greetings all ~ Patti, Mark, Paul and I enjoyed a very informative day at the Brown County Beekeeper’s Association’s Fall Seminar on Saturday, 10/15. The speakers were Dr. Meghan Milbrath from the University of Michigan (who was glad to be home in her native Wisconsin enjoying cheese and beer) and Professor (Dr.) Brad Mogen from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls. The main topics were Varroa, the Importance of Nucs and nuc overwintering techniques, and Varroa. Did I mention Varroa? We will be sharing our insights with members at the Dec. 3 meeting, but I thought I’d share some of the timelier takeaways now because they apply to production hives as well as nucs when it comes to overwintering. First and foremost is the fact that the bees need to be healthy (meaning virus-free). Winter bees need to not only survive winter, but they will be the nurse bees for brood in January and February. To be nurse bees they need protein to feed the larvae, and they store this protein in their bodies (if they’re healthy). In order to do this, the bees that raise the winter bees also need to be healthy and that means that Varroa levels need to be no more than 4% in early to mid-August (or any other time as far as that goes). For beekeepers that didn’t make sure of this, Dr. Milbrath suggested ordering packages now for next season because they’re on sale. Dr. Milbrath said that the sugar roll method is her preferred method of determining mite levels (the bees aren’t killed). She performed side-by-side tests with another researcher that used the alcohol roll method and they had identical results. There was no mention of sticky boards which is the method I’ve been using. Perhaps members that have done the sugar roll and/or alcohol roll will demonstrate the technique at a future meeting? Next was food, and I was surprised to learn from Dr. Milbrath that sugar is a very good and clean food and not just an “emergency” food. She said that it has been found that the bees readily use sugar and that it is “cleaner” than some of the nectar brought back from the field. (Although she didn’t elaborate, I assume she meant fewer pesticides and fungicides.) I’m feeling much better now about the 548 lbs. I fed my bees in the form of 2:1 syrup over the past 3 weeks. Professor Mogen took over and talked about nucs and overwintering nucs. What applies to overwintering nucs applies to production hives as well. In addition to healthy bees and food, ventilation and low moisture levels are necessary. To maintain ventilation, upper entrances are required because snow and dead bees will block the lower entrance. He prefers two 1” holes at the top for cross ventilation, but said that other hole sizes can be used but not less than 3/8”. (Dr. Milbrath added later that what we suspect is nosema when we open our hives in spring is usually not that at all. She said nosema is rare and what we usually see is just bee poop, because they couldn’t get out. Sometimes that’s due to extended periods of really cold weather, but more often because of blocked entrances. We need to keep them open.) Professor Mogen believes in candy boards as a means to absorb excess hive moisture, with a material called Bildrite above that for when the candy is gone. However, as he said, we should be checking our hives periodically and replacing empty candy boards. He also talked about the Mountain Camp method of feeding sugar and said that it should be started early so the sugar (which is hygroscopic) will absorb moisture and harden before the bees get to it. (Remember the bees typically start in the bottom and eat their way up). If the sugar hasn’t hardened into a clump before the bees get there, when the bees chew through the newspaper the sugar granules will rain down over the bees and on to the bottom board and the bees won’t be able to access it. The bees won’t go down. Another reason Professor Mogen believes in the use of sugar at the top (candy boards or Mountain Camp method (or candy bricks)) is that sometimes bees go into winter at the top of the hive and, again, won’t go down. Without sugar available at the top for them we can harvest the honey in spring and install a package of bees. Pollen patties were briefly mentioned, and it was suggested that they not be introduced until winter has set in because bees don’t consume pollen in winter, only carbs (sugar in some form). Professor Mogen said that it made no difference, in his opinion, whether winter patties were high protein (brood builder) or low protein (winter patties) because the bees will only use the protein when they need it, and since the patties are mostly carbs, it’s good to have them available. So…healthy bees, plenty of food, ventilation, and moisture control. Those are the main ingredients for successful overwintering. There was a little talk about the age old question of ‘to wrap or not to wrap’ and Professor Mogen prefers to wrap nucs with a purchased sleeve after having tried a variety of materials. But whether we wrap our hives or not, wind blocks and hive top insulation helps, be it 2” Styrofoam, ½” insulation boards, or any other insulating material. Varroa control was highly stressed. Dr. Milbrath sees winter bees as the most important bees and talked repeatedly about the importance of mite control and what we SHOULD expect if we practice the ‘Live and Let Die’ method of beekeeping. We SHOULD expect to buy packages yearly. She did say that perhaps if you lived on an island and had Varroa tolerant bees, and no one else brought bees on to the island, then maybe you could go without treating for Varroa. (I don’t think she had anyone in particular in mind Sue, just sayin’.) Dr. Milbrath herself had 5 colonies that she hadn’t had to treat for 5 years, and then some people brought 4 hives into her area. That year 3 of the 4 of the neighbor’s hives died out (no treatments) before winter, the 4th one died out during winter, and Dr. Milbrath had to start treating because her hives suddenly had a huge mite load. Mites migrate. She further said that at this point in time if you want to be a beekeeper and not a bee-hadder then do periodic mite checks, treat for mites if you’re above 4%, then check again. Researchers are working on identifying and breeding bee strains that are mite tolerant (Caucasian, Russian and Mite-Biters (aka: Ankle-Biters, but mites don’t have ankles)) but as of now there are no silver bullets. Now it’s time for us to prepare for winter by making sure we have the parts and materials available. 1. Healthy bees: Hopefully everyone checked mite levels by mid-August and treated if necessary. Then checked again. This can be followed up now with oxalic acid treatments (dribble or vapor) to reduce the winter mite load, but it won’t help prevent viruses in this year’s winter bees. Most have already emerged. 2. Food: Hopefully everyone has been checking hive weights and supplemented with 2:1 syrup as needed. Syrup will no longer be taken by the bees when the daytime temperature drops below 50F. We want our hives to weigh around 130# - 160# (depending on race) here in Wisconsin going into winter. Now is the time to make candy boards and candy bricks, or prepare to use the Mountain Camp method, in readiness for winter. 3. Ventilation: Shim boxes with vent holes can be built, Imirie boards can be purchased from beekeeping supply houses, holes can be bored into the upper super. There’s many ways to accomplish this, it just needs to be done. A lack of adequate ventilation coupled with high moisture will be indicated in spring when the inside of the hive is green and the bees are a moldy mess (I know this for a fact). 4. Moisture control: Candy boards (purchased or homemade), Bildrite board, or any other non-toxic absorbent material should be gotten ready. Whatever moisture control method is used, it needs to be placed above the candy/sugar and the inside air needs to get to it. What we don’t want is for frost to build up on the bottom of any inner boards and drip down on the bees on a warm day. Mary brought in candy boards at our last meeting, provided us with her recipe, and talked about how she and Larry have been making candy boards. Paul talked about the Mountain Camp method. Both of these provide food and moisture control but an additional means of absorbing moisture is also recommended. Patti, Mark, Paul and I will discuss more in-depth what was presented at the BCBA seminar at our Dec. 3 meeting. This will include why nucs are a good idea to have in your apiary, overwintering configurations (stacked, side-by-side in pairs), and more on Varroa. Hopefully members will bring along their hive crafts to share the “how-to’s” of the craft, as well as bring things made using hive products. Next meeting: December 3, 2016 at the Ripon Public Library Silver Creek Room. 9:30 a.m. For those who have been keeping bees and nucs for awhile, here’s an idea thrown out by Professor Mogen. What if we reduced our production colonies to nucs over winter? Fewer bees, fewer food resources required, and ready to build up in spring? Of course we’d be sacrificing a lot of bees, but apparently there are beekeepers doing this. Gerard
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