buzzzzzzzzzz new adventure

[peter hillman]

dang...
http://www.kolotv.com/content/news/...r-hospital-breaks-out-in-hives-390557621.html

 

[addy1]

Those are valuable bees! They have survived mites, etc for 5 years without our help! Hopefully the bee keeps will breed the queen and save her genetics!

 

[peter hillman]

http://www.kolotv.com/content/news/...l-in--bee-attack-in-SoCal-park-392288381.html

 

[addy1]

Most likely africanized bees. They attack like that. We are out among 800,000 bees (around) mid summer, get a sting now and then, but the bees basically ignore us unless we are in their hive. Even then they quite often ignore us just keep doing their bee business. Every now and then we have a testy hive.

 

[addy1]

We were getting ready to go camping this weekend down near the Harpers Ferry. Well the day before we left one of hives decided they were crowded.

This hive came out of winter with one frames of bees (that is bad) a bit of brood (babies) and a queen. The bottom board full of dead bees. We figured the hive was going to die. This was 2/8/17.

This hive became our biggest and most productive hive. We have been monitoring them to keep them home, opening the brood nest, making room so they would think they still had room, watching for queen cells (indication they were thinking of leaving home).

Thursday we walked outside and heard the unmistakable buzzing of thousands of bees flying at once..............they were swarming.

This hive we have a scale on, watched the hive go from 321 lbs to 272 lbs as the bees left. 49lbs of bees.

We have two ornamental weeping cherry trees near the hives. We planted them where we buried my yorkie that died in 2013. The bees have picked these trees as their gathering spot, they gather before they head out to the home the scout bees have found for them. This is the 5th swarm, over the years, that have landed in this tree.
A great spot for us, eye level, easy to reach.

This was one massive swarm.

The queen is in the group of bees to the right. She will be in the biggest cluster of bees.
We quickly ran around the house, gathered up our last three brood boxes, frames, bottom boards etc to try and hive the swarm. If they leave they may or may not survive out in the wild.



We put a tub under the bees and give the tree a shake. Just this weekend met a lady with a PHD in entomology, she said to take a butter knife, the next time, and just "cut" along the branch, the bees fall as a mass into the tub.
I almost dropped the tub when the weight of the bees hit.

Tub of bees

We take that tub and give it a knock to get the bees all to the bottom and dump them into they hive we set up.
In a week or so we will check for brood, see if the queen is doing good. And was not lost during the hiving.

 

[MitchM]

Wow, how interesting!
Thanks addy for the update.

 

[tbendl]

Wow pretty exciting day for you. I hope they stay and survive.

 

[Lisak1]

Wow! What an adventure for you and them! Fingers crossed they decide to stay put!

 

[addy1]

We just did a quick check, they are drawing out the empty foundation beautifully. In about a week we will check to see if the queen is there and laying, the last hurdle.

 

[j.w]

That is wonderful how you guys are able to do all that for the bees. You just keep learning more and more all the time. Hope you are able to find the queen and the hive thrives and makes lots of honey!

 

[Mmathis]

Fascinating! @addy1 On your FB post, you mentioned mites. How do you know if you have mites and how can you get rid of or prevent them?

 

[addy1]

This s the first year we actually feel like we know what we are doing! Until of course we get smacked by something we have no clue on how to take care of.

You just keep learning more and more all the time.

 

[peter hillman]

Awesome display!
I went to swat a "yellowjacket" yesterday, stopped when I noticed it was a bee, a honey bee!!! My first this year.

 

[addy1]

Fascinating! @addy1 On your FB post, you mentioned mites. How do you know if you have mites and how can you get rid of or prevent them?

There are a few ways to test for mites. You can take a cup of bees, around 100 put them in alcohol and shake. The mites drop down below the screen we then count them. Under 2 is ok for 100 bees, 3 getting up there, over 5 you need to treat.

Or do the same but with powdered sugar, not as easy to count.

We also cut out drone brood, freeze it then shake the brood out of the cells and count how many mites you see on x brood.

This year I joined a research group out of MD U called the sentinel group. We send one hundred bees, in alcohol to them. They test the bees for mites, tracheal and varroa, also test the bees for nosema a bacteria that gives them diarrhea in the winter.

We grade the brood frames for them, attitude of the hives etc. We test eight of the hives.

No way to prevent them, they spread from hive to hive to hive. If a beekeep near us does not treat his bees can bring mites to our treated bees.
To treat, multiple ways. Expensive strips, most treatments done only after the honey supers are removed.

We use something called oxalic acid vaporization. OA is in the honey naturally, same with broccoli chard, etc.
We vaporize it, the acid crystalizes in the hives, it makes the mites feet release from the bees back, they fall out of the hive and die. When you have brood you need to treat every 6 days for 3-5 weeks to catch the brood hatching. The female sneaks into the cells before the bees cap the brood cell, there they make babies that come out with the bee.

We also use strips, after honey harvest, around $200-400 per treatment (for all the hives) dependent on how many brood chambers we have which ='s how many strips we need.

Any treatment we use is one that is found naturally in the hive and also does not contaminate the wax of the cells. We do our best to keep our hives and honey as pure as possible.

The mite would be like having a dinner plate size mite on your back sucking your fluids. They transmit viruses also, usually that is what kills the hive, to many mites the hive is to weak to make it through winter. The virus causes deformed wings, the bees then can not fly.

this is mites on a pupae (not my pic)


shiny brown spot the mite

 

[j.w]

Yuck on the mites, kill em all!