Honey Bees in Late Spring

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1 Honey Bees in Late Spring Honey bees in late spring need a hive check to ensure that the new hives are thriving. No matter whether you start with a Nuc or a package with a queen, there are hives that do not do well. The queen may have died. The weather could have been all wrong. Often spring weather is unpredictable. If the early sources of pollen fail, the new hive may starve. In short, it is recommended that we take the time to check on a new hive after the first couple of weeks. What to carry while checking the honey bees in late spring When I picked up the new bee colony this spring, the beekeeper recommended feeding. He must have said it three or four times. Our spring was odd as usual. Our springs are always odd, but never the same form of odd! This year, we had an unusually rainy two months. The temperatures were much cooler than normal and everything was slow to grow and bloom. And

2 then it became unseasonably hot! One extreme to another is normal although a bit unsettling when trying to grow bees and gardens. Normal Hive Activity? During the rainy days I was getting things ready for being away from the farm for at least a week. I tried to find the time to check on the bees but it didn t happen. I did not have sugar syrup made to feed the bees either. When I observed the bees from afar, I saw what looked to be normal hive activity. When I left on the trip, I had not checked the hive or provided any extra food for the bees. Once again I felt that I was failing as a beekeeper. I really needed to check the honey bees in late spring, and it was almost summer. Returning home two weeks later, the bees were on my mind. Checking the honey bees in late spring was the first thing I did. First, putting on my protective clothing and gathering up the beekeeping supplies. I have my bee keeping tools in a bucket that makes it easy to carry everything to the hive. I

3 like to carry my camera along too, for documenting the hive progress. The camera also goes in the bucket. Why I use a Smoker I chose to use a smoker while checking the honey bees in late spring, for a couple of reasons. One, the bees aren t used to me yet. I don t know if that even happens, but the only time we have met was day one. I added the Nuc frames to the hive and closed up the hive! Two, it was getting late in the day and the bees would be heading back into the hive. This can be a time of more aggressive behavior. The smoker can help calm or distract the bees. As I removed the top cover I immediately noticed that a huge population explosion had occurred since starting the hive. Bees were everywhere, spilling from the top of the hive, and under the inner cover. Not only bees, but comb was being built on top of the frames and on the inner cover. Lots of comb was being built and some comb also had honey in it.

4 Adding a Second Super While Checking Honey Bees in Late Spring I was pretty sure that I knew what had to be done, but I checked with my local beekeepers to be certain. This is another good reason for taking a camera into the hive with you. I was able to show what the inside of my hive looked like and get reliable advice. It was time to add the second box, or super and ten more frames, to the hive. The bees had filled out most of the frames with comb. The comb being built on the top of the frames and on the cover would have to be scrapped off using a hive tool. It can be left nearby for the bees to eat.

5 The next day I suited up again, (don t you wonder about the beekeepers who only wear a hood?) and took the super with ten frames ready for the bees to build up the hive. While in the hive, I scraped the extra comb off with the frame tool. The bees seemed pretty upset with me for removing the comb so I worked quickly. I sure don t want to stress out 40,000 of my honey making friends! I didn t look for the queen bee this time. It is obvious at this point that she is happily

6 breeding and sitting on her throne. What to Look for with Honey Bees in Late Spring Hive Check The reason to do an inspection is to verify the health of the bees and the colony. If you see an active beehive full of drones and workers, and notice eggs in the cells of the comb, your hive is doing well. The Queen Bee usually stays in the center of the hive, but not always. Looking for and seeing brood confirms the presence of a healthy queen. In addition to eggs, look at how the cells are arranged. A healthy hive will have brood cells tightly packed. If you see cells capped but spread out all across the frame your queen bee might be older or not laying eggs, The queen can get sick or old. You might also notice nectar and pollen stored on the wax frames.

7 We have all probably heard of the term, bee swarm. There are actually signs in late spring that tell a beekeeper the hive might be getting ready to swarm. The presence of queen cells or cups is one sign of potential swarming. Can the Bees Get too Hot Yes the bees can get too hot and you will notice what is called bearding on the outside of the hive if that happens. Adding a bit of ventilation space under the lid will increase air flow throughout the hive. How Much Water Do Bees Need When it s hot a day. They idea to give while getting the bees will gather close to a gallon of water will fly miles to retrieve water so its a good them a shallow dish and something to float on a drink. Bees don t like to get their feet wet! How Often Should You Check The Hive? If you see normal activity around the hive once or twice a month may be enough checking. If activity seems to be less than normal for your hive, it would be important to get in there and take a look. The sooner you find a problem the higher chance you have of correcting the issue.

8 Bees are hardworking members of our sustainable farm. We are looking forward to that first spoonful of honey from a healthy bee colony right here at home. For more on the subject of pollinators and the plants that attract and feed them take a look at these blog posts How to Plant a Butterfly Garden Meet the Pollinators If you enjoyed this post please consider saving it to your pinterest boards! Thanks so much!

9 Honeybees Late Fall Check Honeybees and Fall Care

10 Caring for honeybees is a learning journey. We have been beekeepers for only eight months. My neighbor and I started a hive together this past spring. We have learned a lot along the way and still feel like we still know very little about the care of honeybees. But, the hive is still alive, hopefully thriving, and so it was time to carry out the honeybees late fall check. First, let me share a bit of our first year in honeybee keeping. In April we picked up a nuc to fill our hive. The new colony did very well this summer. At one point we added a second super and ten more frames. The honeybees looked great each time we visited the inside of the hive. Comb was being formed and lots of cells were already capped by early August. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Bearding Honeybee behavior in the heat. At one particularly hot spell this summer, the honeybees were seen hanging in large clusters on the outside of the hive. After checking with the local beekeepers, we learned that the bees were most likely overheating and trying to cool off. A long time beekeeper asked how much ventilation we had for the hive. What? They needed ventilation? I guess we missed that

11 chapter. He patiently explained to me how he added small twigs or sticks between the layers of the super boxes to allow more air flow. Also,he explained how our weatherproof cover was not positioned correctly. It needed to have some ventilation also, and should have a slight tilt to it. After making the adjustments we had no further bearding of honeybees on the hive. Summer into Fall with our Honeybees Our fall weather can be very warm and then suddenly plunge into the 40 s overnight. This fall has been no different. We had fall, then a touch of cold, then a very long stretch in November of unseasonably warm days with most high s in the sixty degree range. The honeybees continued their normal activity. We hesitated taking out the extra ventilation because of the warm days. Feeding the Honeybees As the summer growth begins to get ready for fall, the honeybees might be looking for new sources of food. It would be good to begin offering them sugar water. This is actually a very thick syrup! I was surprised at how much sugar it took

12 to make the syrup. The syrup was given to the bees despite the fact that the temperature continued to be warm. Nothing much was flowering at this time of year, although a few plants here and there tried to make a comeback. So the honeybees enjoyed room service in a feeder contraption. The late fall check Finally, the weather report was again calling for cold temperatures and seasonal weather. So we decided we better do one last check on the bees and take out the ventilation, make sure everyone looked healthy, etc. On went the bee suits. The smudge pot was lit and we headed over to the hive.

13 The welcoming committee The honeybees seemed to be acting normally. A few came out to see what we wanted., granted access and flew away. More bees exited as they smelled the smoke. Carefully, I removed the cover and the inner cover. And then we noticed that something was wrong. The top super with then frames was now empty of honey. Earlier in the summer, after the original super was filled with honey, we added the second super. The full frames were put into that super and the lower super received new frames. The honeybees continued to work and build comb and honey and the next time we checked, both supers had a good bit of honey. At that point, we made a decision to wait to take any honey, until spring. With it being a new hive, we didn t really know how much they would need to sustain the colony

14 over the winter. Better safe than sorry was our reasoning. Where did the Honey go? Now there was no honey and much of the comb was dry and brittle. The bees seemed very healthy though. None of this was making sense and being new to the beekeeping, we had no idea what to think. But, winter days were fast approaching and the bees would be hungry!

15 Phone a friend Again, we consulted friends in the community who have much more experience than we do in beekeeping. They kindly came to take a look, and also they had a hive do the same thing recently. One thing we needed to look for was the presence of a Queen Bee. We needed to look for evidence of disease, and damage from other insects. Luckily, the queen was found. What I learned is that without a queen, the workers don t work very hard. They won t be as protective of the hive and could let robber bees enter without a fight. Also without a queen, the colony will quickly go to ruin, since the workers have nothing to work for. Apparently this queen bee is a big deal!

16 do you see the Queen? She looks different than the other honeybees. So since we option. We weatherproof of energy to do have a queen, feeding the bees is a viable are going to put fondant in the hive under the cover, which should give the inhabitants plenty survive the winter. Here is one recipe for bee fondant. This one, that a friend described to me, seems a lot simpler to me. Melt one bag of marshmallows in the microwave. Add in 1/2 cup of a liquid sweetener (a 2:1 sugar syrup will work), or water. Do not use honey as the liquid as it could contain spores of toxins from a sick hive. Add a few cups of powdered sugar and mix until a soft dough forms. Continue adding powdered sugar, possibly even up to two pounds of the sugar, mix by hand when necessary until a stiff pie crust consistency forms. When the dough is stiff and formed, roll it out with a

17 rolling pin and cut into strips or one large square that will fit under the weather proof cover. A feeder cover is recommended, as in this article on feeding fondant to bees. If you are concerned about using marshmallows made with GMO corn syrup, here is a recipe for homemade marshmallows, and this one for corn syrup free marshmallow fluff. I have talked to a few people about how they feed the fondant. Some use a screened inner cover to hold the fondant but allow the bees to feed through the wire. Some people have told me they just lay the fondant on top of the inner cover, or even cut the fondant into one inch strips and lay it on top of each frame inside the hive. I think I will try the marshmallow fondant first and see how it works. It seems to use less sugar than the first recipe I posted above. What could have happened to our Honeybee Hive?

18 Two theories have emerged as likely possibilities. One theory is that there are robber bees attacking the hive. Hopefully cold weather will control and correct this situation. Another theory and the one I feel is more likely is our original queen bee died or left the hive. It is a lot of worker bees to contend with and maybe she just had enough and flew off with a flashy yellow jacket. More likely, she died and while a new queen was developing, the workers became a little lazy. Hey, there s plenty of honey right here, I bet they said. Why are we making more?? Lets just chow down now. Another part of this same theory has to do with our crazy warm fall weather. The warmth could fool the bees into thinking it was spring. They went out to forage for the new baby queen, found nothing much, came back famished! Then feeling quite hungry from the foraging, they ate the honey stored for

19 winter. Since the comb was not destroyed or torn up and we had no dead bees, it makes the weather theory even more probably. According to a beekeeping friend, the robber bees will make quite a destructive mess of the comb. We did not see evidence of that. What ever the real reason, the bees have no honey and we will have to feed them through the winter. The fondant should last a good long time between feedings but since we are new to this, it will be important to keep a close eye on the hive and keep food available at all times until spring arrives. Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! NASV You might also enjoy Queen Bee and Our New Hive

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