What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[The15thMember]

I treated 3 of my colonies with OAV yesterday morning.  I was planning on doing them all, well except the small mean colony, but I ran out of time because it warmed up too quickly, and the traffic and irritated guard bees were making things difficult.  We're having highs around 70F and lows around 60F right now, so the bees are still flying, and I'd prefer to do OAV when they aren't, since then all the bees are at home to get treated.  Only one colony had any significant drop, and even that wasn't bad, so I think I may just wait to treat the rest until Thanksgiving like I normally do. 

I used 2g of OA instead of 1g this year, since I have an extra box of honey on, and in two of my colonies I had what looked like a grey melted lump, of what I'm assuming is OA, on the bottom board insert.  I've never had that happen before.  Is that normal when using a higher dose?       

[Terri Yaki]

Weather is in the upper 70s today and tomorrow and I was curious so I peeked inside my hive. All is still good in there. The queen is cruising around but slower than usual, there is some capped brood left, no eggs or larvae, still a bit of uncapped nectar and the bees look healthy and to me, in good numbers. I didn't see any mites on their backs and no signs of DWV or any pests. I am considering ordering the tools to give them an OAV treatment but I'm on the fence about that. I gave them some fondant yesterday and they were working on that. I put it on top of the inner cover but am wondering if I should put it under it. They were very calm and no smoking or stinging was involved.

[The15thMember]

I gave them some fondant yesterday and they were working on that. I put it on top of the inner cover but am wondering if I should put it under it.

I've heard people doing fondant both ways.  Once the bees are clustered, food right on the frames is generally easier for them to access, but before they are clustered, it doesn't really matter.  I'm curious why you are feeding them fondant already, since they seemed to have plenty of honey.  They can't store fondant (I don't think), so they are either eating it instead of honey, which I personally wouldn't want, or they are just wasting it by throwing it out the front door because they don't like the mess in the attic.     

[Terri Yaki]

I don't know what they're doing with it but I'll see if I can find evidence of it on the porch. I'm giving it to them now to try to stay ahead of the curve. If they save the honey for later, I won't have to open their hive and feed them when it's cold. So far, the honey in the medium super is unadulterated and if I can keep it that way and still have it in the spring. I can harvest it.

[The15thMember]

I don't know what they're doing with it but I'll see if I can find evidence of it on the porch.

I'm suspicious because, in my experience at least, bees prefer honey to sugar.  My colonies won't touch emergency feed unless they are very light on honey, and if they do, they usually are just removing it, not eating it.  But I'm feeding sugar, not fondant, so maybe they like fondant better. 

So far, the honey in the medium super is unadulterated and if I can keep it that way and still have it in the spring. I can harvest it.

If that is your plan, I don't know why you don't just harvest it now and feed them fondant.  I mean, you are feeding them anyway.  The only reason to leave the honey is so you don't have to feed them (and it's better for them nutrition-wise).   

 

[Terri Yaki]

If that is your plan, I don't know why you don't just harvest it now and feed them fondant.  I mean, you are feeding them anyway.  The only reason to leave the honey is so you don't have to feed them (and it's better for them nutrition-wise).   

This is something to think about. Additionally, they have a pretty good stash in the brood box and the deep super on top of that. That would even give me a chance to take my shiny new extractor for a ride. It hurts to look at a shiny new toy and not be able to use it.

[The15thMember]

I mean, my philosophy on feeding is basically that I'm trying to avoid it.  I see it as something only on the table for bees who will otherwise starve, because it's an added expense for something of low quality.  Bees know how to feed themselves, so why would I take their food from them, just to pay money to feed them worse food?  That doesn't make sense to me.  So if I were you, I'd leave them all the honey and not feed them unless they ate it all and needed more.  This is unlikely to happen, but since this is your first winter, you don't know exactly how much to leave them, so I would air on the side of way too much.  But, I'm not you, and you are not me, so if you want to feed them "preventatively" all winter, I don't know why you wouldn't just take the honey you want now.  That's how I see it anyway.             

[Terri Yaki]

From what I've gathered, sugar costs less than honey is worth so it's a fair trade. OTOH, if I leave them the honey, they should have more than enough and I can rob them in the spring, it's not like it'll go bad.

[Ben Framed]

I can rob them in the spring

As long as it does not crystallize. I don?t know how to harvest crystallized honey in the comb. Does anyone else here?

[Terri Yaki]

What are the chances of it crystalizing?

[Ben Framed]

I don?t know, but I?ve heard of others being warned about it.

[The15thMember]

From what I've gathered, sugar costs less than honey is worth so it's a fair trade.

For you, yes, but not for the bees.  You are taking their perfectly well-rounded pantry and leaving them tofu to eat all winter.  Will they survive?  Yes.  But will they have the best nutrition to ward off pests, diseases, and stressors to which they are constantly exposed?  No.  To me, personally, that's neither a smart nor fair trade.  But plenty of people do it anyway.

What are the chances of it crystalizing?

That depends on the variety of honey.  Some varieties will crystallize without fail, some will never crystallize.  As a general rule of thumb, honey from trees is high in fructose and rarely crystallizes, honey from bushes and shrubs is high in glucose and will crystallize rapidly, and forbes are variable.  For example, my sourwood is crystal clear even after years on the shelf, whereas my blackberry honey will be crystallized within a few months.       

[Michael Bush]

>I don?t know how to harvest crystallized honey in the comb.

There are levels of crystallization.  Sometimes between a hot knife melting it some and the extractor cranked up a bit you can get most of it out.  But there is always more residual if it's crystallized.  You could also do crush and strain  Of course if you warm the room up to 90 F or so for a day it will help.

[The15thMember]

I did my baseline hefting a few days ago, and I also checked moisture quilts because it's been actually pretty warm here in the past week, and I sometimes have trouble with mold in the quilts when it's not cold out.  Only one colony was even liftable, so I'm feeling good about that, and all the quilts were dry, except for this one colony that always seems to be wetter than the others.  I'm not sure if it's the location of this hive or the genetics of the bees, but they always need their quilt changed more frequently for some reason. 

[Terri Yaki]

As suggested by folks in my area, I cut a piece of Styrofoam insulation to size and coated the bottom side of it with foil tape and put it on top of the inner cover on my hive. Doing this raised my outer cover up above the vent notch, as shown below. The notch is about 1 1/2" long and is turned up. Is this too much of a vent for the winter? I can reduce it if it's too big.

[The15thMember]

It's probably fine, just be sure that no robbers can sneak in if your temps aren't very cold yet.

[Terri Yaki]

I'm thinking I'm OK, it went below freezing last night and there isn't anything flying around out there.

[The15thMember]

It's been unseasonably warm here this week, so I took this opportunity to wash all my veils and my ventilated suit.  I'm always surprised at how white my suit comes out after a good scrubbing and a run through the washer.  I'm also doing my (hopefully) last round of crushing and straining today, finishing up the frames from the deadouts. 

[Terri Yaki]

I gassed 'em. Two 4 gram doses, back to back. This was easy once you get past the cost of the tool. Apparently, there's enough of a gap at the end of my mouse excluder that they can squeeze through if they really want to and a few of them snuck out through it afterwards. After ten minutes I opened it up and a few more came out and they all had a white dusting on them so I'd say it was a success. I was easily able to stay out of the way of the vapors and didn't spill any of the OA. I did wear my gas mask though, like they instruct.

[The15thMember]

Lookin' good!