Study confirms many of our suspicions

Article describing a study done by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and the USDA.  It is pretty much confirming what everyone has been suspecting.

http://qz.com/107970/scientists-discover-whats-killing-the-bees-and-its-worse-than-you-thought/

What can happen if a newly mated queen returns to the wrong hive

This video is incredible.  A newly mated queen returns to the wrong hive and the bees ball her.  The beekeeper found the ball outside the hive and was able to record it.

Bee AC

You can't really see it's wings, but this bee is really moving them and so are a lot of her friends.  There are several bees on the other side of the hive doing the same thing.  This picture is through the observation window and the bee is sitting on the window, not going any where.  This is helping to ventilate the hive.  With all those bees on the comb it could get really hot in there.  The bees maintain the temperature between 93-95 degrees pretty much year round.

Ow!

I got my first sting today since I started keeping bees in June.  It was entirely my fault, but I was wanting to get a sting sooner rather than later.  With bee sting allergies, you can develop an allergy if you are around them a lot and never get stung.  This really happens when the bees try to sting you, but your bee jacket and/or veil prevents the sting and venom is left on the surface.  The venom becomes airborne and after you inhale it, you develop the allergy.

Thankfully, I am not allergic as I can attest after today.  After refilling the feeder, I decided to rearrange some bars.  Because they seem to build comb a lot faster if it is towards the middle of the brood nest instead of towards the outside, I took a bar that was partially drawn and moved it to the center of the brood nest.  To do this, I had to pull a couple empty bars, slide some others down, move the bar I wanted to move, slide the other bars back and then replace the bars that I removed.  Well, all that is difficult to do without smooshing a bee or two.  After I had everything back in place, I notice a half of a bee lying on top of the bars.  As I moved to brush it off the bars, another bee promptly payed me back by stinging me on my thumb.

Now I do have all the necessary protective gear, but I generally don't like to use it when it is above 75 degrees outside--which is pretty much the weather when you are working with the bees.  The bees have been very docile, and I was really only planning to refill the feeder.  But then, I remembered that I wanted to move the bar of partially drawn comb.  That was where my plan fell apart.  I should have at least had my smoker, and a spray bottle of sugar water would have been great too.  Next time, I'll have at least one or the other before I start moving bars.

Oh, I did see the queen, too.  She still seems to be doing well.  She seems to prefer the newer comb, as that is where she is whenever I see her.  It could be a coincidence, but I would like to think that she prefers her nursery to be fresh and clean.  The population seems to be building really well and they are almost up to the minimum number of combs to get them through the winter.  Let's hope!

Bees still doing well

I've been feeding them a quart of 1:1 sugar syrup every other day.  I want to make sure they are doing well, but I also want them to get some of their food elsewhere so they get more complete nutrients.  The foragers keep bringing in lots of pollen so I know they have plenty of protein.  They haven't really been working on new bars lately, but they have been filling out the existing bars until there is just bee space between the comb and the sides.  Their numbers look like they have been building up, which makes me feel a little more comfortable.  They have about 8 bars of comb now and two partial bars filled out.  If they finish out those and maybe a couple more bars, hopefully they will be ready for the winter.

Moved some bars

I swapped the bar that was full of nectar/syrup with a partially drawn bar of comb, moving the full bar of comb further to the outside of the brood nest.  I'm hoping this will encourage the queen to lay more and increase the size of the hive.  They seem to have really taken to the new bar and are all over the comb.  I'm still feeding and will probably feed for a while yet.

My goal is to have at least ten to twelve bars of comb going into the winter.  They are really building comb so I am starting to feel more comfortable, and the new mesh on the bottom seems to have helped.

Queen is still doing great

Checked out the hive yesterday, and the bees are doing great.  There are larvae all over the place, and one bar was full of the syrup that I have been feeding them.  I'm going to move that bar to the end of the brood nest so they can keep building up.  I don't want the queen to run into a wall and not have anywhere to lay.  Looks like she likes the new comb!

The bees have drawn their first complete bar of comb

Well, at least from a top bar.  They were in a Langstroth temporarily after Larry caught the swarm.  When I cut down the frames so they would fit into my top bar hive, I left two empty bars between the frames, alternating the cut frames with top bars.  They really went to town on the top bar that was in the middle of the brood nest, and now they are really making progress on the other gap.

Beyond the last cut frame, I have the three bars that the package bees had started.  They aren't really looking at them at all yet.  Once the second gap is filled, I might swap these into the middle of the nest so that they keep filling these out.  With me feeding them all the time, I don't want them to get the idea that they need to swarm.  I also want to make sure that they have at least twelve frames before winter and can get some food stored so they don't starve.

Speaking of food, today was my first try at invert sugar.  Different forums have polar opposite views on the use of invert sugar.  Some forums even go as far as to say that it is toxic.  Others say that it is as good or better than feeding them honey.  From the different articles, what I can glean is this:  invert sugar syrup is good and probably even better than plain sugar syrup, but whatever you do, don't let it caramelize when you are making it.  It is at this point that it can become toxic.

You should really have a candy thermometer when you are making invert sugar syrup.  Some recipes call for it to come to a rolling boil for 20 minutes stirring constantly.  Other recipes call for it to cook to 248 degrees F.  I would probably stick with the recipe that said to take it to 235 degrees to be sure it doesn't caramelize.  But definitely stir constantly too so the mixture stays at a consistent temperature.

I don't have a candy thermometer so I brought the water to a boil, added the sugar and vinegar, and then brought it to a rolling boil while stirring constantly.  Then I turned it off.  The mixture probably didn't have time to react completely, but at least I didn't have any burned sugar in there to kill the bees.

The #8 screen I added to the bottom of the hive seems to be working well.  There were a lot of bees under the hive, and I bet many of them were interlopers hoping for another helping of my bees' sugar syrup.  There wasn't any fighting going on at the entrance either, so I am breathing a tentative sigh of relief.

I have a confession to make

I think I made a huge mistake when I built my top bar hive.  I was doing some reading today on Mike Bush's site and started thinking about when I put my hive together.  One of the features of the design that I used was the screened bottom board.  I was taking a beekeeping course at the time and we spent some time discussing the varroa mite problems.  When I read that people were having luck with screened bottom boards as an integrated pest management solution, I was excited to find a design that incorporated it.

The design that I used was David Bench's (http://www.wasatchbeekeepers.com/top-bar-hive-plans-david-bench/).  It is very detailed and easy to read and specifies the use of #8 hardware cloth for the bottom screen.  I read it several times and made my materials list.  Somehow when I came back from the hardware store, I had #4 hardware cloth and that is what went onto my hive.

For those of you who have used hardware cloth to restrict bee movement, you are probably saying a collective "Oh no" to yourselves.  Yes, when I came to the same realization today, I said the same thing.  For those of you who don't know, some worker bees may even make it through #7 hardware cloth if there are a couple loose wires.  #4 hardware cloth will keep out mice, but is an open door for bees.  I have a restricted front opening, but the entire bottom of the hive was basically wide open.

Now italian bees are known for robbing in the first place, but I have been feeding my bees like crazy--both the swarm side and the package side (before the package side absconded).  What do you think foreign bees were doing with the bottom of the hive wide open.  Could this have been a factor in my package bees absconding?  Well you learn from your mistakes, so I must be getting pretty smart.

The bees that were out foraging have to figure out where the front door is.  Notice the bee with its pollen basket full.  There was another one flying around with a pollen ball as big as its abdomen.

This little girl crawled out when I lifted a top bar to check the feeder.  It stood over the crevice between two top bars and kept fanning.  These top bars are upside down sitting on the cut down Langstroth frames that I first received.

Moved the partially drawn out comb

I moved the comb left behind by the package bees over to the colony from the swarm.  I'm feeding them every day too, so they should be able to finish drawing it out pretty well.  It's also been moderate for this time of year so that shouldn't stop them either.  There are at least six frames full of bees so it looks like they are still doing well.  Next weekend I'll do a hive inspection to see how things are going.  Hopefully, no more awful surprises this year.