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A New Queen, Start of Summer and Barcodes on Bees

Summer is bearing down on us quickly as we've just finished a great stretch of warm weather and multiple nectar flows. We're in last half of the Himalayan blackberry bloom, not to mention everything else that's been coming up over the last month--lupin, crimson clover, scotch broom, vetch, hawthorns, and most recently, escallonia.

Seattle Hives
Hive 3: Requeened this hive Memorial Day weekend. I'm embarrassed to say that it took me two visits to find and kill the old queen--a necessary step before you can install the new one. The new queen is an Italian that I picked up from Beez Neez in Snohomish, who get their queens from Wootens in California.

Queens in come a small wooden box called a queen cage (see photo series right--click to enlarge). The one I purchased was a marked queen, that is, a queen one that’s had a dollop of paint applied to her head so that she can be spotted more easily during hive inspections.  The queen cage has an entrance that’s plugged with hard candy. To introduce a new queen you hang the cage between the middle frames. It takes a few days before the workers will accept the new queen--about the same amount of time it takes them to consume the candy plug and free her. Nine days after I introduced her, I found the new queen alive and well accepted, but with most of the paint worn off.

Hive 1: Over Memorial Day Weekend I applied a powdered sugar treatment, reset the drone frame trap by cutting out all the existing drone comb and replacing it empty in the hive--the chickens got the drone grub to feast on. I also put down a brand new screened bottom board and a new screened inner cover. This is supposed to keep thing cooler on hot days and thus increase honey production inside the hive. Last weekend I found almost 90 pounds (three supers) of capped honey.

Hartstene Hives
Not much to report with the two Hartstene Hives. The three things I'm tracking down at Hartstene include:

* Varrora management--powdered sugar treatments every so often and drone frame trap management. It took Hive 4 exactly a week to draw out a fresh set of drone comb, and another two weeks for the hive to fill it with capped drone brood.

* Hive expansion in Hive 5. Remember this was a remnant from a July swarm last summer. The workers have finished building comb in one deep, but have been reluctant to move up into the second deep. I decided move four populated frames into the upper box to see if the cluster would move.

* Honey production. Because it’s a new hive, I'm not expecting honey out of Hive 5 this year, but am hoping to get at least 60 pounds out of Hive 4.

With any luck I’ll find some time this weekend to harvest honey. There's at least three supers of fully capped honey in the Seattle hives, and hopefully one or two down at Hartstene.

Barcodes on Bees
Today’s New York Times Business section included an article on the 35th anniversary of barcodes. The article mentions that not only are barcodes good for reading the prices of Juicy Fruit and tracking overnight packages, but that they've also been used to “study the pollination habits of bees.” Sure enough, after a little digging I found this promotional video from Intermec.

Bees in Spring

While this spring has been blustery and wet, it's also been relatively warm and provided lots of forging opportunities for the bees. The maple bloom peaked about a two weeks ago, the apple blossoms down at Hartstene have faded, and it was about this time last year that I started seeing the first blackberry blooms beginning to emerge.

The primary tasks for the urban beekeeper this time of year is managing hives for varroa mites and keeping an eye out for swarming behavior. The earlier you can address the mite issue the fewer problems you'll have later in the summer when mite infestations start to peak. I've been applying powdered sugar to my hives every other week--when the bees get dusted (see the worker in the photo at right--note her red tongue) they lick both the sugar and the mites off their bodies. The sugar (I use regular granulated sugar that's been powdered in a coffee grinder) also loosens the mites' footing and often they'll fall off the bees and down through the hive. Another technique for managing mites is putting out drone frame traps, something I learned from Randy Oliver.

Seattle Hives
Hive 1: This hive now sports two supers with approximately 40 pounds of mostly uncapped maple honey. I installed the first drone frame trap two weeks ago and will change it out next weekend. Because this hive has been putting away honey, I've refrained from applying powdered sugar as I don't want the bees to mix it with the maple honey. Overall the brood pattern inside is disorganized and I’m wondering whether I should requeen. I'll definitely split this hive soon as it’s extremely crowded and will likely swarm.

Hive 3: Applied powder sugar two weeks ago, but forgot to do so last weekend. Cut out a mostly full drone frame trap and replaced it empty. Like Hive 1, the brood pattern here seems really disorganized--with a pollen cell next to a brood cell next to a honey cell. Here's another hive that might be a good candidate for a new queen.

Hartstene Hives
Hive 5: This queen (right) is laying at a rapid rate, although it seems like it's taking a long time for this hive to draw out new comb. Last week this hive went through about 3.5 quarts of sugar and only drew out two frames. Last weekend I replenished the feeders and will add a second deep of undrawn plastic foundation next weekend.  Also applied powdered sugar two weeks ago. I won't likely see honey out of this hive year.

Hive 4: Hive is making good progress. Administered powdered sugar and installed a partially drawn drone frame trap three weeks ago. You can see the bee's progress in drawing out this frame over last three weeks in the photos below. I'll apply one more powdered sugar treatment this Memorial Day weekend, tend the drone trap, then super ahead of the blackberry bloom.

Swarming
Last year my hives didn't begin swarming behavior until late June and July--after the blackberry bloom. So far I've seen no signs of swarming despite some fairly crowded hives. This is counter to my experience in that most of the swarming that I've observed has happened about this time of year.

Last week on Science News I ran across an excellent article about the nature of collective decision making in the insect kingdom and the work of Thomas Seeley, a behavioral biologist at Cornell University. The article includes a lucid description of the swarm process and the role of the scout bees in making the collective decision about where the hive should go. The article is a preview of Seeley's forthcoming book, Honeybee Democracy, which is due out in 2010.

Spring Rush and Traveling Bees

Last weekend I performed the first in-depth inspections of hives in the apiary. Thanks to cold weather and a spring vacation I'm about a month behind where I should be in hive maintenance. The big leaf maple is in full bloom--about three weeks later than when  it started last year. I also moved two hives to our place down at Hartstene Island.

Hive 1-- This time last year Hive 1 was limping along with less than 5000 bees. Thanks to the varroa mite management I did last year, there's at least 10 times that number as both deeps and a western are full of bees. I started this hive with a Carniolan queen four years ago. I've tried requeening with an Italian queen several times since, but given this year's rapid buildup in population, I'm pretty sure this still a Carniolan hive. I added a super on Monday the 20th--a week later I saw that the bees had put away about seven pounds of uncapped honey. I'm planning to split this hive in a couple of weeks once the maple nectar flow is finished.

Hive 2--This hive is nearly dead with less than a hundred bees left. As I was re-stacking the boxes last weekend I found the queen on the inner cover with just one attendant (see photo). I couldn't see any signs of varroa or other disease in the hive, so I think problem is probably the queen herself--she's just not laying. I'll use this hive for the split with Hive 1 next month.

Hive 3--Has nearly 10 frames full of bees and lots of capped brood that extends down into the bottom deep. The laying pattern in the top box seems a little erratic and unorganized. I dusted the top bars with powdered sugar last night and replaced the drone frame trap that was nearly full and sent it to the freezer.

Hive 4--Moved to Hartstene Island on Saturday. This hive is in good shape, with lots of capped brood and an active queen. Installed a new screen bottom for this hive.

Hive 5--Moved to Hartstene two weeks ago. This hive was a swarm remnant from last July that to my surprise made it through the winter. These bees have drawn out about six frames--hopefully in the next week or two I can add a second deep with undrawn foundation.

Traveling Bees
Moving a beehive is a fairly straight-forward process. All you really need is a strap (the kind that won’t slip under tension), a means to close the front entrance of the hive without suffocating the bees inside, and someone to help you lift the hive into the back of a pickup.

Several years ago I inherited several hives from the estate of a longtime beekeeper that included special bottoms for moving bees. The bottoms are designed so that you can easily run a strap under the hive. And just above the entrance, which can be closed off with a piece of wood, is a ventilation slot with mesh screen small enough so that bees can’t slip through. It’s a neat setup that’s as about as beetight as you can get.

Field Notes

 Weather: Overcast, showers, 46 degrees, steady southerly breeze

Sunday I got out to take a few pictures around the beeyard: the skunk cabbage, the blooming cherries, and the buds of the big leaf maples. If last year seemed unseasonably cool, this year seems even more so. And judging from the progress of maple bloom, spring is at least week behind where it was this time last year. Compare photos of maple buds taken last year on March 19 (left) to the bud on the same tree, taken Sunday (second from left).

Beehives in the White House Garden
One thing that got lost in all the coverage of Michelle Obama breaking ground on the first family's new vegetable garden was that someone on the White House staff is also a beekeeper. Bee Culture editor Kim Flottum reports that it won't be long before a pair of beehives are installed at the White House.  

Hive Inspection and a NASA Web Site

I sneaked out of work an hour early yesterday to take advantage of a sunny afternoon and do a quick hive inspection.

Time: 4:30pm
Weather: Sunny, 52 degrees, no wind

Hives 1 through 5 are shown in order in the photo strip below.

Hive 1: Continues to prosper. However, I noticed excessive moisture along the inner cover, so I propped open the cover slightly to provide a little more circulation.

Hive 2: The population continues to dwindle. Found the queen on frame 7--she still has the red mark on her head from last year--and enough food that I shouldn’t have to feed this hive.

Hive 3: Lots of bees and very little food that I could find. So I added a feeder this morning with two quarts of sugar syrup mixed at 1:1. This will no doubt stimulate the queen to begin laying, and with the maple bloom just a month away, that might not be such a bad thing.

Hive 4: A few bees and lots of food. Not much to report here.

Hive 5: This a remnant of a swarm I collected last July, and surprisingly it’s still going strong. I’ve been feeding it off and on for the last month and I can already see capped brood on the middle frames. These bees are in a single deep--in couple of weeks I’ll add a second deep and continue to feed.

NASA’s HoneyBeeNet
I came across one of the most interesting--and unlikely--websites that I’ve seen in a long time--HoneyBeeNet. It’s produced by the Goddard Space Flight Center with the aim of better understanding climate change, including plant-pollinator interactions. One of the many neat things I found on the site was the Honey Bee Forage Map. Just click on your state and it will list blooming periods for major plant species.

An Early Sign of Spring

My chickens produced the first egg of the year yesterday--a sure sign that spring is on its way. Chickens, not unlike queen bees, stop laying in the fall. But as spring approaches and the days get longer the hens start laying again. These first eggs are always pretty small and often misshaped. Fortunately in a few weeks the eggs will be big enough to tilt the egg scale nicely.

I’m hoping that the queens in the beeyard are starting to feel the same way. Today the temperature got over 50 and it looks that might be the norm for the next few days.

Two-Queen Tower Hives?

While it’s just few weeks until spring, outside temperatures are still too cold to do much in the beeyard, other than administer sugar syrup to hives that need it and on the days when the sun comes out, watch workers forage in the yellow holly blossoms out back (right photo).

This is also a good time to think about the coming year. One hive management technique that I’ve always wanted to try is the two-queen system and its promise of better honey yields. The system, described nicely in The Beekeeper's Handbook, employs three deeps stacked on top of each other. The queens are separated from each other by an excluder, and depending on the time of year, one or more supers. The biggest problem with this setup is that the extra deep creates an awfully tall hive, which makes pulling heavy supers off the top tricky and labor intensive.

The January issue of Bee Culture looks at an alternate approach to the two-queen system that also makes varroa management a snap. Basically you push two hives together and center supers on top. The exposed sides are capped with half covers, so instead of pulling everything off the hive to address the drone frames, just lift the side covers for access to the outer drone frame.

From the photo, it looks like the first super includes a ventilation hole that probably also works as an access port for the bees. Most of the literature I've read about two-queen systems suggests that populations in such hives tend to be greater, which accounts for the greater honey yield. My thinking is that this arrangement will address my biggest frustration at honey harvest, which is the large number half filled supers and frames in each hive (usually the top super). Having twice the number of bees working on a given set of supers should reduce this problem of partially-filled supers by half. Time permitting I hope to give this a try this spring.

First Hive Inspection of 2009

I got home too late Monday to do a thorough hive inspection, but still I was able to get a sense how the hives are making it through winter.

Time: 4:00pm
Weather: Sunny, 49 degrees, no wind

• Hive 1, which is the oldest hive in my apiary, seems to be in much better shape than last year with a good number of (feisty) bees and plenty of food.
• Hive 2 produced 80% of my apiary's honey last year and had a good number of bees, but much less than in Hives 1 or 3.
• Hive 3 was surprisingly full of bees--and seemed to have ample honey stores. This was the hive that swarmed last June and went into winter with a low number of bees.
• Hive 4, which I thought was dead, seems to be hanging on with a very small cluster.

When Hive 4 swarmed last July I captured the swarm and installed it in an old box off to the side (left). I could never find a queen, so I never paid much attention to the few bees that we're hanging out there. But judging from what I saw Monday there must be a queen somewhere. But I couldn’t see a whole lot of stored honey, so I may add a feeder this weekend and see if I can keep this box alive.

So far so good. While there’s still two months of winter left, I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve got five hives that are still alive. And while that number will probably drop to three or four by the beginning of March, that’s still a way better start than last year.

 A film about beekeeping and CCD called The Beekeeper is screening at the Sundance Film Festival this week. The filmmaker, Richard Robinson, bills it as “An experimental documentary exploring CCD,” which means it could either be really hokey or really interesting. The trailer on Robinson’s site would suggest the latter.

Waiting for Warmer Weather

I was hoping to open the hives later this afternoon for a first-of-the-year inspection, but the day is turning to rain and the temperature doesn't look like it will get out of the forties. However, I did peek into all four boxes last week and it looks like I’ve only lost one hive so far--Hive 4--not surprising, since it was the hive that was queenless for a period last summer and started winter with a much diminished population. Warmer temperatures are forecast for next week, so I’ll wait until then to assess how the bees are making it through winter.

I’ve given away most of the 165 pounds of honey that the hives produced last year. I bottled the honey in three color grades--light, amber, and dark. A lot of honey producers make a big deal about their varietal honey. That’s not something I can do, since the nectar sources here in the city are so varied. However, I’m pretty sure that most of my honey comes from blackberry and corresponds to the lighter colored honey on the right. The dark honey is primarily Japanese Knotweed, an invasive that the city of Seattle is working hard to get rid of in our neighborhood. As a result it’s getting pretty scarce, and this year I only got about  eight pounds from Hive 2.

Speaking of honey, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed out 2008 with an excellent two-part series on Honey Laundering by investigative reporter, Andrew Schneider. Some facts from the story, some interesting, some disturbing:

• “While per capita consumption of honey in America is 1.1 pounds per year, the country produces only about 190 million pounds of the 450 million pounds consumed.”
• “Recent U.S. Department of Agriculture research, he said, shows that the average hive contains traces of five or more pesticide residues.”
• In 2006, 80,024,000 pounds of honey was imported into the U.S. from China.
• “For years, China has used an animal antibiotic -- chloramphenicol -- to treat diseases ravaging their beehives. The FDA has banned that drug in any food product.” (BTW, chloramphenicol has been discovered to be a risk factor for aplastic anemia).

Another story about honeybees caught my eye recently. Researchers in Australia discovered that cocaine affects bees in ways that are similar to how the drug affects humans. Not only do bees get extremely excited when fed a low dose of cocaine, they also experience withdrawal symptoms when it’s withheld. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology (the press release reads much better than the journal’s abstract).

Why Is Bob Newhart Dressed as a Beekeeper?

The January issue of Esquire interviews Bob Newhart dressed in a bee suit. There’s no mention of beekeeping in the interview and the bee suit and gloves look too clean and brand new. Also going veilless in the beeyard with gloves on strikes me as a little odd.