How are your Bees?

[Ben Framed]

The Spring Flow is flowing in my area. Bees are doing well. I?m doing nothing special at this time .

After coming off of Winter, how are your bees? What?s going on in your beeyard?  Are you making splits? Are you raising queens?  Finding SHB?  Other?
Are they at a point that you are pleased with at this time?

[Caashenb]

The flow is on here also and the five hives I over wintered are doing well and putting up nectar.

I have caught four swarms this spring and have 3 more in traps to transfer so I am still feeding this years catch to increase population and build up comb.

All of my colonies are feral so I am looking to start re=queening them soon to make my life a little calmer when I work them.

[Ben Framed]

Thumbs up Caashenb, sounds good! It seems folks from Louisiana and South Mississippi who report on such, are in a honey hole area for catching swarms. Thanks for your repot, and keep up the good work!

[cao]

I was talking about this the other day with friends.  This year was a mild winter with an early spring that had no major cold snaps.  Now we are getting the rains that are delaying some of the farmers from killing the cover crops to plant.  So, there is an eighty-acre farm with crimson clover and some other white flower blooming that I can see the majority of my bees heading that direction when they leave their hives.  I had one hive swarm almost a month ago.  Having 40+ hives make it through the winter, I made the first round of splits 3 weeks ago.  Almost time to check if queen is laying.  I made another round of splits about a week ago.  Even with those splits I have caught 6 swarms, 3 of them today.  As of today, I have bees in over 110 boxes.  They are full hives with multiple boxes all the way down to 4 frame nucs.  Right now I have all my stands full and have nuc boxes sitting all over the place.  And the bad thing is I still have 8 hives that I still need to inspect (they are probably the ones that swarmed today).

[Terri Yaki]

Cao, you obviously have a fairly large operation. Would it be OK if I asked what you do with the honey?

[Ben Framed]

Cao you have quite an operation going! Very impressive! Have you considered transitioning from a hobbyist beekeeper to a professional Beekeeper? Your Bees might be in great demand because You do not Treat for Varroa Destructor . Thanks for your reply!

As a side: Since you do not treat for Varroa  Destructor. I have often wondered if the viruses carried by Varroa Destructor may be the main cause of colonies collapsing in relation to Varroa; Much more so than the Varroa Mite itself?  If that theory is correct, that may explain to an extent why you are so successful in your non-treating Beekeeping methods.  Is it Possible that your Bees are immune naturally from those viruses (is it possible that those viruses may have already ran their course through your apiary)? 

And you are not alone on you?re successful non-treating methods. Mr. Bush is as well. Which leaves me thinking you two are ahead of the game When it comes to Varro Destructor? These are just out of the box thoughts. I have no proof. But I have thought of contacting Cameron Jack once again for his thouhts on this as well. Have either of you considered this theory?

[cao]

Would it be OK if I asked what you do with the honey?

Well, the sad thing is that I try not to harvest honey, but obviously you have to.  I got 40 gallons last year (could have taken more).  I still have about ten gallons left.  Most is sold to friends, neighbors, etc.  Over the years, I have several regular customers that buy a quart a month.  Some is given as gifts or can be used in trade.  Some is sold at craft shows.  I got about ten gallons of mead sitting in my basement.  I'm always looking to get rid of it.

One last use for the honey is feeding back to the bees.  I have not fed any sugar for going on 4 years now. 

Have you considered transitioning from a hobbyist beekeeper to a professional Beekeeper? Your Bees might be in great demand because You do not Treat for Varroa Destructor . Thanks for your reply!

I have thought about it.  The main drawback is that this is a one-man operation.  I have no sales staff. Know anyone who works cheap(free)?  I would like to sell more honey and bees but I really don't have the time to put into it right now.  Got too many pans in the fire.

As far as mites, I won't deny that my bees have them.  I just never looked.  I have had the occasional hive die going into winter with a large population and no bees found left in the hive.  I think that is one of the signs.  I have the luxury of not being limited to the number of hives I keep.   So, when I lose one, I make two splits.  Whether my bees are immune of varroa may just not be bad here, I don't know.  I suffer about the same percentage of losses as others in my area, so I don't plan on changing my ways.

I understand need the hobbyist with a couple hives in the backyard treating their hives.  A single loss is a big deal to them.  A single loss to me is sad but it also means I have an empty box to put more bees in.  

[gww]

I put wax moths in all my dead outs.

[FatherMichael]

I was talking about this the other day with friends.  This year was a mild winter with an early spring that had no major cold snaps.  Now we are getting the rains that are delaying some of the farmers from killing the cover crops to plant.  So, there is an eighty-acre farm with crimson clover and some other white flower blooming that I can see the majority of my bees heading that direction when they leave their hives.  I had one hive swarm almost a month ago.  Having 40+ hives make it through the winter, I made the first round of splits 3 weeks ago.  Almost time to check if queen is laying.  I made another round of splits about a week ago.  Even with those splits I have caught 6 swarms, 3 of them today.  As of today, I have bees in over 110 boxes.  They are full hives with multiple boxes all the way down to 4 frame nucs.  Right now I have all my stands full and have nuc boxes sitting all over the place.  And the bad thing is I still have 8 hives that I still need to inspect (they are probably the ones that swarmed today).

Wow!  You've been busy!

[FatherMichael]

This is the first legitimate warm day we've had.  Great activity at the entrance of both hives.  Mesquite just starting to bloom.

[Terri Yaki]

This is the first legitimate warm day we've had.  Great activity at the entrance of both hives.  Mesquite just starting to bloom.

What constitutes 'legitimately warm' down there? Anything over 100F? 

[Ben Framed]

This is the first legitimate warm day we've had.  Great activity at the entrance of both hives.  Mesquite just starting to bloom.

Perfect timing! Take a look at when you reported Mesquite blooming 3 years ago! Thumbs Up!  👍🏻 (Wasn't this the year we in the South had the Big Deep Freeze in late February?)

Re: Crazy Spring Weather
<< Reply #1 on: April 19, 2021, 01:58:22 pm >>

The Mesquite are still alive and starting to leaf out.  What a relief.

It is still cold at night.

[AustinB]

After rolling through the past winters with virtually zero losses, I had some losses this year (about a dozen) about 50% of them were my fault due to some changes in my work schedule and availability that kept me from sufficient winter prep. We had a hard and prolonged cold snap here that was hard on the smaller nucs I was overwintering. That being said my other 30+ colonies are booming. We had an incredible yield of dead nettle this spring, which allowed the bees to buildup early and fast. Autumn olive just started popping a few days ago so its game on now. I'll be putting a 2nd outyard on a new piece of property that abuts a local orchard. My 10 yr old middle son has begun to work colonies and scooping swarms without gloves now, big deal for him Supers are going on, white wax and swarm control. The removals are starting to really pour in now, I have 6 lined up currently. Busy time of year!

[FatherMichael]

This is the first legitimate warm day we've had.  Great activity at the entrance of both hives.  Mesquite just starting to bloom.

What constitutes 'legitimately warm' down there? Anything over 100F? 

Our area is semiarid, influenced by the Chihuahua Desert, and we have a lot of wind, which keeps the4 heat from being unbearable.  I'd rather live here than Houston or Atlanta, for instance.  Yesterday was a normal, seasonally appropriate warm day - a good bee day!  But now it is time to look out for violent thunderstorms and hail.