Hive Report, January 2013

Because we’d been having near freezing temps lately, the temperature of 60 degrees F was such a treat recently.  We were out in the front yard garden pruning, weeding, and planning our spring garden.  Of course I had to check in on the bees and see how they were enjoying the weather…

Hive 2, January 2013

Hive 2, January 2013

Hive 2 was doing great.  There was much activity around the entrance and I even spotted some pollen going into the hive which is a good indication there were babies inside.  We knew that Hive 2 would make it through the winter as they had 5 frames of closed brood, still many drones, and lots of honey when we closed up the hive.

Hive 3 was a different story, though.  When we did our last inspection before closing up the hive. there was a noticeable lack of brood–less than a frame’s worth.  We tried to find the queen to reassure ourselves that she was there, but could not find her.  Worried, I contacted our teacher, Serge Labeque, and he suggested that we set up their winter hive as a nuc box. Using follwer boards (FB), the frame of brood (B), the frames of nectar/pollen (NP), and honey (H), we set it up in a deep hive box like this:

FB  H  NP  B  NP  H  FB

Of course, we had put a box of honey right above for the bees for the bees to feed on during the winter.

When we saw that Hive 3 had no activity, compared to Hive 2, during the warmer days before Christmas, we knew something was amiss.  Last year, when Hive 1 died, we had denied it thinking they were clustered inside; they were just cold.  I had no such illusions this year. When I took the picture above, the eerie silence of Hive 3 in the background, contrasted mightily with Hive 2.

Always live and learn, yes?  How are your hives doing?  Please let me know by leaving a comment below.  Thanks.

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Irresponsible Beekeepers, Part 2

photo by lunaranja

I was finally able to set up a meeting with the property owner with the two abandoned beehives in his backyard early December.  I wasn’t able to go, but my beekeeping partner kept the appointment.  This is what she found:

  • I had suspected that a certain beekeeper in the area had been the one who abandoned the hives, and surprise, surprise, I was right.
  • The bees had survived last winter without any winter preparations.
  • The hives had swarmed three times last spring.

We will see if the bees survive the winter as it has been a cold one, but frankly, I am not willing to take these 2 hives on as the homeowner is a 30 minute drive away.  If we lived in the country, I don’t think I’d mind a 30 minute drive on less-traveled streets, but I don’t like driving and hauling equipment through an urban area.  I was hoping he would let us manage the bees in our backyard, but he wants to keep these hives on his property which is understandable.

Would you manage these hives?  What do you think?  I welcome your input as I am still of two minds about this issue.  Please let me know your opinion by leaving a comment below.  Thank you.

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A Wet Weather Tip for Your Beehives

I wanted to share an idea with all of you that Greg, a reader and friend of this blog, shared with me.  Greg, a longtime beekeeper, has written me in the past with book recommendations.  He actually was the person who recommended one of my now-favorite beekeeping books, Mastering the Art of Beekeeping by Ormond Aebi.  Greg had the fortune of meeting Aebi and had told me what a wonderful and generous man and beekeeper Aebi was.

Recently, Greg sent me a photo showing an innovation he created and incorporated into his apiary.  Take a look below.

Photo courtesy of Greg Smart

You can see that Greg’s hive covers are modified in winter to include a sheet metal covering cut to overlap the hive’s periphery and weighted to stay put during stormy and windy weather.  When I looked out the window at my own hives during a recent heavy rain, I noticed that the back of the hives were getting the brunt of the downpour and looked soaked through.  Although we have follower boards on the sides of our hives which act as barriers to any water seepage, I did worry about all the water hitting the rear of the hive.  Greg’s sheet metal roof would go a long way toward helping protect the top boxes of the hives from the worst of the wet.  I was very intrigued by this simple and inexpensive modification and thought all of you might enjoy it as well.

What innovations have you used with your hives?  Please share them with me and the readers.  Thanks.

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Beekeeping Donkey is a Honey Farmer’s Best Friend

I don’t know why, but I love this picture! From Treehugger.com I just had to share it with you.

 

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Irresponsible Beekeepers, Part 2

 

beehives

photo courtesy of AYakuban

Well,  I spoke with the homeowner of the yard with the abandoned beehives.  If you will recall from my last post, the beekeeper basically stopped checking in on the beehives she placed in his yard FOR THE LAST YEAR.  I had tried to find a good day, weather-wise for the bees, to visit the hives. Unfortunately, we are supposed to have showers/rain the next couple of days which would not be good for opening the hive.

I did ask the homeowner some questions:

  1. Were the hives treated with any chemicals?
  2. What’s the temperament of the bees?
  3. Do the bees have any known pests or diseases?

He wasn’t sure about questions 1 and 3, but he thought no to both questions.  As we spoke on the phone, he kept telling me when bees entered the hive. As for the general mood of the bees, he thought they were mellow as he had young kids underfoot.  I heard the kid crashing around in the background.

He was concerned because he said some thing had been trying to get into the hives.  I asked him if he saw paw prints on the hive entrances.  He didn’t recall any muddy paw prints, but described the holes dug around the hives. Skunks!!!  I mentioned I hoped the hives were at least 16 inches (or about 40 cm) off the ground as the skunks would have to get u on their hind legs to snuffle around the entrances.  This would expose the skunk’s belly to the bees’ stingers.  He said he put a bunch of rocks around to discourage the skunks.

This issue had me thinking about the arrangements beekeepers might make with any potential home owners.  Someone had written a comment to my last post saying the homeowner had jurisdiction especially if the hives have been neglected for many months.

What kind of agreements should beekeepers make with homeowners?  Does anyone know of any contracts out there pertaining to this kind of arrangement?  If so let me know by leaving a comment below.  When we get to check out the hives, I will report on that too, of course. Thanks! ~Mil

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Irresponsible Beekeepers?

A while back, I received a comment concerning the influx of new beekeepers (scroll down to comments) who’ve gotten into the game because it’s the new urban cool. Sometimes, it is just a wish that never comes to pass, and other times, folks put a lot of energy into making it come true.

The commenter wrote of the problems she’s seen in the past couple of years as the newly eager flock to keep bees.  She is concerned about the fallout from so many people keeping bees who are inexperienced, ignorant, or not dedicated to learning well how to keep bees.  For instance, she worried that many new beekeepers would realize they don’t like it, leaving in their wake abandoned hives.  I admit I was in a bit of denial.  Who the heck would spend the money and invest the time to keep bees only to give it up after a year or two???

Enter my own close-to-home example.  After getting back from Europe, someone asked me if I wouldn’t mind harvesting the honey from her friends’ two backyard hives.  I asked, “Where’s the beekeeper?”  She said that the beekeeper wasn’t there, as it was one of those “honey for space in your backyard” deals, and the absent beekeeper wasn’t responding to her friends’ (the owners of the backyard) many phone calls and pleas.  In fact, she became angry at his requests!

I was hesitant.  I didn’t want the beekeeper to get angry with me for taking her equipment or “her honey” off the property.  I asked how long this beekeeper had neglected these hives, and I was told that she hadn’t checked the bees in a year.  Her friend was so angry at the beekeeper’s surly and irresponsible behavior that he was not going to let her onto his property anymore.  As far as he was concerned, the hiveware and bees were now his to do with as he pleased.

I am concerned about these bees. I was just out in my own bee yard recently getting our bees ready for the winter.  Were those other bees going to get through winter?  I asked my contact to ask her friend some questions:  Had the bees been treated with chemicals?  What is their temperament?  Do they suffer from any known diseases? Have the owners of the property really seen bees coming in and out of the entrance? She said the owners had seen bees at the entrance, so now I am waiting to hear answers to the other questions.

When I hear, I will let you know.  In the meantime, if you want to keep bees, please consider what beekeeper Rita wrote in my Beekeeping Tips post: Take a full year to fully explore this hobby before taking the plunge.  Very wise words indeed.

Share your wisdom with me.  What would you do in this situation?  Please let me know by leaving a comment below.

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Last Winter’s Beekeeping Mistake

getting the bees ready for winterWe’ve been thinking carefully this fall about how best to prepare our hives for winter.  Last week I reviewed last winter’s records to remember exactly what we’d done. Last year our efforts to prepare our hives for winter apparently didn’t work out so well–we lost our beloved Hive 1 after the last late freeze in early 2012. Hive 2 didn’t fare well either–by the time spring had arrived they were a very small cluster and it took a long time for Hive 2′s queen to rebuild the hive’s population.  Both hives had been very strong going into winter in 2011, and I had to wonder what had happened.

Climate change has done funny things to our winters in the Bay Area.  The latest trend seems involve a shift of the coldest and wettest weather from December and January to March and April.  Last year we reasoned that we would leave the girls extra honey to last them through a freezing spring, and so left 2 additional full deep boxes of capped honey on both hives.  This was the only real change in our winter hive preparations last year, which otherwise included our usual winter tasks of reducing the entrance and putting a heavy weight on the hive top.

Since both hives did not do well last winter, I had to wonder if it was due to beekeeper error–specifically our decision to leave those extra boxes of capped honey (which didn’t really get eaten) on the hives.  I thought it would be wise to put the question to our teacher, Serge Labesque, and ask his opinion.  In my area, best practice states that 30-40 pounds of honey be left on the hive for winter.  Please note that this number may be different for your area, and you should consult with local experienced beekeepers.

According to Serge:

 …excessively large amounts of honey are detrimental, because honey has a huge thermal mass.  Leaving too much in the hives stresses the colonies, and they may have a hard time developing at the end of winter…The trick is to leave enough honey to avoid starvation before the spring flow, without overloading the bees.  

We had left a lot of honey on Hives 1 and 2–significantly more than 40 pounds.  My research has yielded varying numbers for the weights of a capped frames of honey.  For instance people say a medium frame of capped honey will weigh anywhere from 3-6 pounds (1.36-3.17 kg) and  a deep frame will weight from 5-9 pounds (2.26-4 kg). We probably left about double what the girls needed for the winter, so this year, we decided to leave 40 pounds max on each hive.  When we checked the hives last week, we discovered, as we had last year, that the girls had significantly more than 40 pounds stored up.  We had to remove some of their honey.

How do you decide how much honey to leave on your hives?  Share your experience by leaving a comment below.  Thanks!

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Beekeeping Adventures in Europe: Paris, France

Our last stop was Paris.  When I got to Paris, I wanted to make sure I got to La Maison du Miel, but while walking around Paris, I saw this place.mile et nature honey store parisThey had lots of interesting honeys for sale, but I did not buy any.interesting honeyOne of my “must-visit” places in Paris was Poilâne, a famous pâtisserie.poilane in paris We got there in the afternoon, so we did not have much of a selection to choose from.  What I did notice, though, was the number of honey bees buzzing around in the shop and landing on the apple tarts.  The bees helped me to decide what to order.

bees on apple tart

Can you see the bee?

We had two! (Apple tarts, that is, not bees…) Neither the employees nor the customers were bothered by the bees in the shop.  We found ourselves wondering where these bees had come from.  Were these some of the girls who live in the Opera House hives?

Next, we headed over to the Paris Opera House, where there are reputedly bee hives on the roof.  We didn’t get to see the hives, nor did we spot bees flying in the vicinity, but the building was very beautiful:paris opera houseDoes anyone know if there are tours to see the Opera House bees?

The next day, we headed over to La Maison du Miel:la maison du mielBesides all the different kinds of honey which line the shelves,honey in parismiel du paristhe store also offered a nice selection of honey-based edibles.  I bought some nougat.nougatThis nougat wasn’t quite as good as the artisanal lavender-honey nougat we bought at the Sarlat farmers’ market, but in a pinch, it would do. :)

The next place, Comptoir des Abbayes, we found accidentally.I looked inside and saw many jars of honey from different monasteries.  I had hoped to visit a monastery with beehives this trip, but this shop was the closest I’d get.monastery honey1monastery honey2If you have any suggestions for any must-see places in Paris, bee-related or otherwise, please feel free to share them by leaving a comment below.  Thank you!

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Beekeeping Adventures in Europe: Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France

three beehives in les eyzies de tayac, franceWhile I was searching for a geocache in the area of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France, I spotted what looked like beehives in the distance.  Could it be?  The only beehive I had seen during my travels was a nuc box in a garbage heap behind the tourist office in St-Cirq-Lapopie.  As an aside, I recommend visiting that village if you ever get out there as it is always getting voted one of the most beautiful villages in France.  It was getting near the end of our trip and didn’t think I would see any beehives, so I didn’t believe these would be viable beehives.

As I got closer, I noticed some bees coming in and out of the entrance of the hive.BeehivesIf you look closely, you can see some bees at the entrance, but there weren’t many!  The hives were in ragged shape, and I wondered how often the beekeeper visited these hives.  As I looked around the area, I didn’t notice much in the way of forage for the bees.

As I walked around the hives, it seemed that these hives were home-made.  Interestingly, the hives’ bottom boards were attached to the hives bodies with a simple, but seemingly effective apparatus.beehive apparatusThe beekeeper even put together a trap of some sort in front of the hives.  Was it for wasps?wasp trap in front of beehives

I am glad that at least I saw some beehives!  By the way, the area around Les Eyzies is famous for the number of cave paintings in the area.

What kind of bee stories do you have from your travels?  What have you noticed?  Share about your experience below! ~ Mil

 

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Update on the Bees in Telephone Pole, October

When I returned from Europe, one of my first tasks was to check on the telephone pole bees. Progress! This is what I saw:bees in telephone poleI was happy to see that the pole had been cut, and that the section the bees call home had been safely protected during our time away.  But last Friday, as I went to the market, I was alarmed to see that the metal protective covering was gone!  What had happened?  Did the bee harassers pull the metal off?  I hurried over there, and my worry turned to gladness when I saw this: sign explaining about the beesI was glad that a beekeeper finally extracted the bees and moved them to a safe place.  I was also glad to learn that the hive would be returned to the neighborhood–to a backyard where they would no longer be subjected to constant harassment.  Interestingly, you can see how much space the hive occupied when you look into the pole.bee hole in telephone poleWhen you look at the base of the pole, you can tell that the cavity which formed the the bees’ nest extended two feet below ground level, so perhaps the hive was about five feet tall!bees occupied this space below ground

I am glad the bees will have a new and safe home in an area they know well.  Good luck to the bees!

Again, many thanks for reading and please comment below and share everywhere.

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