Hive Update & National Pollinator Week

No news is good news right? Since my last post I've done two hive inspections and both were pretty uneventful.  No beetles.  No moths.  No robbing.  No sign of mite infestation.  No errant queen cells. Just slow and steady drawing out of comb and laying of brood.  All of this is great news, but it still seems like my colony is small.

In terms of hive management, the only change I've made is to remove their feeder.  Clover is blooming strong here right now and I'd like them to start storing more nectar.  They have already stored an abundance of pollen, but they don't have much capped honey built up so far.  At the Northern Kentucky Beekeepers Association meeting last evening, the presenter was talking about his annual Labor Day ritual of removing honey supers and treating the hives.  Labor Day?! I had planned to try to wait until at least mid-October to determine if there was enough honey to harvest a few frames.

In other exciting news, I received a reply from the Governor concerning my request to proclaim Kentucky an official participant in National Pollinator Week.  To say I was shocked and delighted would be putting it mildly.  Below is a photo of the official signed, sealed, and stamped proclamation he sent back. 

I'm eager to keep momentum going, so I emailed this news to the president of our beekeeping association.  She seemed pretty happy to hear about the proclamation as well.  I may try to write a short article for the local community newspaper about the proclamation and some basic pollinator facts.  Perhaps next year, with more time, the association could procure a teaching hive or other materials and make a presentation at one of the local libraries.  I think it would be interesting to tie Pollinator Week into the Kentucky Proud agricultural movement somehow.  Here's to geeking out about bees, bats, butterflies and all other little busybodies that make our agriculture thrive.

Where's Catherine?

Here are two photos from last week that I took during routine hive inspection.  This was the first time I've been able to spot the queen on my own and it was pretty cool!

Can you spot her?

Look at the "court" trailing behind her.

Hive Top Feeder = Drowned Bees

I'm upset.  I'm sad.  I'm confused.

Here's what happened ...

As I previously mentioned, I ordered a float style hive top feeder about two weeks ago.  It came last week and I installed it last Thursday.  Today, Tuesday, I went back to check on the feeder and how the bees liked it.  I was totally shocked when I found roughly 40 bees had drowned in it over the course of five days.  I immediately removed the feeder, because with a colony as small as mine, I can't afford to lose that many bees.  Period.

Thankfully, the clover nectar flow is strong right now and the hive has been staying fairly busy, so the removal of this feeder should be no big deal.  Also the entrance reducer is still in and I'm watching carefully for pests/robbing.

I'm just disappointed.  I made sure that the floats were installed correctly and have pictures showing that they were.  I plan to email the company and ask if this is normal or if there is some trick to the feeder that I am missing.  It's hard for me to understand how so many bees could have drowned in such a short time.  In the photo below, you'll see sticks that I was using to try to save a few half alive bees after removing the feeder.

If anything positive can be said, it seems that the bees have begun to draw out comb in the second super.  I do a full break down inspection on Thursday, so I will post an update and more photos then.

The feeder and floats before I installed them last Thursday.

The hive after putting on a second super and the feeder.

What I found today when checking the feeder.

This is the feeder after I removed it from the hive today.

2012 Pollinator Week Petition

I started doing some research about 2012 Pollinator Week and was surprised that Kentucky has yet to officially participate.  Being that Kentucky has some pretty amazing agricultural programs in place, I thought it would be worth a shot to send Governor Beshear a letter to request his support.  Of course I understand that one letter from one person probably won't get much response, but I'm hoping that the seed of the idea of a Kentucky Pollinator Week will at least get planted.

Yes, petitioning for Kentucky Pollinator Week may seem less important than raising awareness for global hunger, illness, war, abuse, or global warming, but I really feel like this is something small that I can do as a hobbyist to generate interest and remove myths surrounding pollinators, and specifically honeybees.

I'll post any response that I get.

May 19, 2012

Governor Steve Beshear

700 Capitol Avenue Suite 100

Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Dear Governor Beshear:

Five years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of the final week in June as “Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations.  Last year 37 states declared their own state Pollinator Week.  With your help, we hope to reach 100% state participation this year.  The popularity and public enthusiasm for Pollinator Week has been overwhelming.  In 2012 we can continue to build on the tremendous success of this movement with your involvement.

Pollinator Week has become an international celebration of the invaluable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles. The growing concern for pollinators is a sign of progress, but it is vital that we continue to maximize our collective effort.

Thus, I am writing to ask for your support in helping to protect pollinating animals, which are vital to our food supply, economy, and a key to global sustainability, by declaring “Kentucky Pollinator Week,” June 18-24, 2012.

Kentucky’s amazing “Kentucky Proud” program already promotes the unique diversity of Kentucky farm products, and with your help, Kentucky Pollinator Week will raise awareness and understanding for the vital pollinators that are an extremely important part of Kentucky’s agricultural system. 

In the landmark study, Status of Pollinators in North America, the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council recommends an immediate increase in public awareness of the vital roles pollinators play in our lives.  By declaring Pollinator Week in Kentucky, you will be helping to do exactly that.

Please consider joining this movement to protect one of the foundations of life that has been largely ignored. A sample proclamation is enclosed. Thank you for supporting the great state of Kentucky and its citizens through your advocacy for pollinators.

Sincerely,

Becky Anderson

Baby Bee and a Second Super

What started out as a quick and simple trip to the hive quickly turned into a full Becky-Get-Your-Hat hive inspection.  I just wanted to check the level of sugar syrup in their feeder, but imagine my surprise when I found that the bees had started building "chimney wax" over the top bars of their frames.  Being that they still had about three outer frames left to draw out in the brood box, I wasn't expecting them to begin expanding upward yet.  Although there were still a few half empty frames, and the colony still seems small, I quickly realized that it was time to put on a second super.

I put on my hat and gloves and got to work.  I decided to do a quick check for beetles again, and it was during this check that I got my second surprise.  I was able to see my first baby bee trying to emerge from its cell in the brood comb.  It was really exciting to watch her chewing through the wax cap.  I'm posting a short video of myself and my partner Stewart totally geeking out to this.

Oh, and happily, I didn't find any beetles.

The beginning of "chimney comb"

Honey, pollen, and larva - all looking good.

The super clean "chimney" comb.

Look for this cell in the video below.  It's a baby bee chewing through its wax brood cap.

Busy as a, well you know ...

The girls were really active today!  Of course, this activity came only after the day warmed up (we topped out around 75 degrees).  I took the opportunity to shoot a short video of activity at the hive entrance and you can see how a guard bee is wresting with a dandelion puff in the door way.  I'm happy to see them so active.

My apologies in advance for the lower quality due to the videos being taken on my iPhone.

Same video, in slow motion.

The Beetles - and I don't mean Paul, John, or Ringo

Hive beetles.  Tiny, annoying, indestructible hive beetles.  Today during my routine hive inspection I found three of them along the bottom board.  I was able to smash two and flick one into oblivion (I hope).

rAWr!

Being that my colony is still small (this Sunday marks three weeks since I installed them) I went ahead and placed an order for a product called Beetle Jail.  The Beetle Jail installs on the top bar of the hive frame, and I picked this type of trap because it seemed to be the easiest for me to handle while working the hive alone.  If you research traps on the internet, you'll find that there is some heated debate over the Beetle Jail trap versus the AJ Beetle Eater trap.  Both are top bar traps, but the AJ Beetle Eater requires more vegetable oil (the beetles fall into it and drown) and some reports said it was messy and harder to manipulate.  On the other hand, the most frequent con to the Beetle Jail trap that I saw was that the bees sometimes fill its openings with propolis.  This should be fairly easy to remedy with a quick cleaning during regular hive checks.  I'm hoping that since I caught the beetles relatively early, they won't be much of a problem. I want to keep my hive as "organic" as possible so non-chemical problem solvers are my preferred choice.

Additionally, I ordered a constructed hive top feeder with floats today.  The girls seem to LOVE inside feeding, so this new piece will make it easier for me to refill their feed without really disturbing them.

Much to my chagrin, the weather will be cold again over the next few days, however, I was at least able to refill their current feeder.

Beyond that, the bees were still working to draw out the outer brood frames with wax, the inner capped brood seemed to be progressing normally, and the workers have been storing pollen like mad.  I also noted a few cells on the outer frames now have eggs in them, so that is very promising.

The eggs are the "rice grain" items that appear in the bottom of the cell.