THE BEE SUPPLY
Monthly
JANUARY 2024
Photo Credit: Ashley Mignone, South Australia Pink pollen from Coriander/Cilantro
FEATURED TOPICS BEE BIOLOGY COUNTDOWN TO QUEENS VARROA DESTRUCTOR CHAT WITH STAN GORE ALL MEDIUM HIVES
EDITION 43
Contents
36
Clicking on a topic will take you right to it!
Table of
32
16
6 Monthly Tips 10 Bee Biology 16 Countdown to Queens! 18 How Many Queens Do I Need to Order? 20 When and How Much to Feed Pollen Patties 24 Combining Hives to Survive Winter 26 What's Bugging You? Everything from Bears to Varroa Mites 32 Varroa Destructor: The Life Cycle of a Killer 36 Beekeeper Chat with Stan Gore 37 Webinar Q&A 38 Shook Swarms 42 What's the Buzz? All Medium Hives 48 Recipe: A Honey of a Chili 50 U.S. Drought Map 51 Club Finder
January
42
10
This publication is best viewed on a PC or laptop computer or downloaded on a mobile device.
NOW 30 DAYS!
3 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU!
Fast and Dependable Nationwide Shipping!
DALLAS AREA STORE 14665 County Road 633 Blue Ridge, TX 75424
HOUSTON AREA STORE 351 County Road 6243 Dayton, TX 77535
AUSTIN AREA STORE 1205 Round Rock Avenue Suite 119 Round Rock, TX 78681
In most years, the majority of beekeepers in southern states will begin noticing bees bringing in small amounts of pollen on warm days at the very end of January. Queens will also begin laying in most areas in mid- to late January. As the population begins to grow, the need for food grows as well. Continue feeding pollen substitute in soft brick, patty, or open dry feeding. This will ensure your hive has sufficient food available to continue rearing brood, regardless of the constantly changing weather this time of year. If your hive has less than 30 pounds of excess honey stored, begin feeding small amounts of syrup (1 pint per hive per week) to ensure that the bees have the food necessary to rear brood. If your hive has three frames of bees or less, join them with another hive using the newspaper method. Kill the queen in the weak hive and remove the lid of the hive you are going to join the old hive with. Place a sheet of newspaper over the hive, then place the box containing the bees from the weaker hive directly on top of the newspaper. Over a period of days, the bees will chew through the newspaper and merge into one hive. This slow method of joining helps prevent fighting between the two hives. It is perfectly normal at this time of year to notice a few dozen dead bees in front of your hive. This is considered normal as winter bees begin to die off and are replaced by the next generation. If you have more than 2 mites per 100 bees, treat Varroa mites. Most treatments are extremely effective this time of year when the hive has little to no brood. Quick (30-second) looks into your hive are acceptable even if the weather is near freezing. Longer, several-minute-long inspections should be reserved for days above 55 degrees. For climates that stay bitterly cold through January and February, pay very close attention to food stores. Light hives will starve. Feeding sugar bricks or fondant directly over the cluster will help ensure their survival. Order bees and queens!
Text
5
7
3
6
2
By Blake Shook
JANUARY TIPS
1
4
9
8
2024 QUEENS AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER NOW!
Late winter inspections Feeding needs Gearing up for spring! Woodenware Live Q&A
Agenda
1st Thursday of Each Month Monthly Buzz Webinar January 4, 6:30 pm-8:00 pm CST
LIVE FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN HONEY BEE EXPO!
Live Virtual BEE Meeting
RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY
2024 CLASS SCHEDULE AVAILABLE FOR BOOKING NOW!
Choose your location: In-Person or Online!
James and Chari Elam answer your questions LIVE and present short, practical, and timely topics.
Sign Up!
Queen Within the caste system we see that a queen is basically an overfed worker. The big difference is that her food source is exclusively royal jelly as opposed to bee bread. Royal jelly is what produces the growth of this sexually mature female’s reproductive organs. Conversely, bee bread inhibits it. A queen is fertilized in flight and will take multiple flights to become fully mated. Once mated she will never mate again. The queen ensures her hierarchy by way of pheromones. QMP (queen mandibular pheromone) primarily assures the colony that she is there and doing her job of laying eggs. If the colony doesn’t detect QMP, a replacement queen is soon generated. In order for this to occur, a one(ish)-day-old larva is chosen by the worker bees, and they either move it into a queen cup or quickly build a queen cell around it. Within the next 16 days a new “replacement” virgin queen will (in theory) emerge, mate, and carry on! For a beekeeper, this would most likely be the moment in which a purchased-quality breed queen would either precede or follow this process in order to control the genetics of the hive. Laying Eggs A honeybee queen has the unique ability to lay a fertilized or an unfertilized egg at will. This is specifically determined by the size of the cell with which she is presented. If the cell is worker size (4.62 mm–5.51 mm) she will lay an egg and then immediately release a sperm with it. If the cell is larger (6.15 mm–6.91 mm), she will lay an egg but withhold sperm. This is significant in that the fertilized egg will generate a sexually immature female (worker bee), and the unfertilized egg will generate a sexually mature male (drone)! So incredibly interesting! In her egg-laying lifetime, she will lay upwards of 2,000 eggs per day each spring and summer and do so until she runs out of sperm (could be as soon as two years, depending on the quality of her mating). This tells us that the queen is not in charge; instead, the workers building the cells are! Their road map to cell sizing is directly associated with the season and food availability. The ability for a worker to prepare nature for the perpetuation of the species is nothing shy of miraculous.
By Chari Elam
Thanks to a reader request, bee biology is back in the lineup. For those who don’t know our story, James and I were two of the lucky few who were gifted our first bees. We were diligent about attending bee club meetings and paying very close attention to our mentor. But one thing we didn’t grasp was the importance of truly understanding the life cycle of our bees. So much so, we killed our first hive—dead. And I do mean dead! What did we miss? Just about everything relating to what should be happening, when it should be happening, and who is supposed to be doing it. These three aspects in essence killed us! We misinterpreted what we saw or, more to the point, what we didn’t see. I want to save you that grief because, boy oh boy, losing that hive was sad. It could have easily driven us to give up. Hmm, that’s an interesting thought when looking at where we are now.
BEE BIOLOGY
Watch as the queen lays eggs. Each time she pulls out of a cell she measures the next open cell with her antenna and mandibles, determining whether or not the egg she lays is to be fertilized or not.
BEE BREAD By Nanette Davis
The Worker Bee This sexually immature female bee is the true lifeblood of a colony. Without workers from across the full scope of age groups, a colony can cease even with a viable queen. That’s a lot riding on these tiny shoulders! They are equipped with the following abilities: Nurse bees: Feed brood food [mandibular gland secretions, hypopharyngeal gland secretions (royal jelly), and protein-rich pollen in a 2:9:3 ratio = bee bread]. This process is done from day four to day nine of development. These six days of being fed are critical for developing viable brood. In the event that larvae are improperly fed, inferior bees will be bred—meaning bees with poor foraging ability, shorter life spans, and an overall inability to support the colony. Egg 3 days + larva 6 days + capped with wax at day 9 = emerge at day 21. Nurse bees also feed and groom the queen (retinue), clean cells, and warm the brood nest. Definition of bee bread: The fermentation of bee pollen mixed with bee saliva and flower nectar inside the honeycomb cells of a hive. Wax glands: Produce wax to build comb. This is typically the 11- to 18-day-old worker bee. It takes a continual feeding of nectar for wax glands to produce. Any interruption of consumption can interrupt this process and cause a lag in drawing comb. **Remember this when feeding your hives during times of nectar dearth. Foraging and transporting pollen and nectar: Honey bees gather pollen by being led to a plant or flower with nectar. Static electricity generated from flight and a bee’s wings flapping 11,400 times per minute attract dry pollen from these plants to the bee’s hairy body (scopa). It is then combed from the body with the bee’s front and middle legs and put onto the back legs, which contain a pollen basket (corbiculae). This basket is what enables the bee to transport the pollen back to the hive. The pollen is then deposited into a cell. Nectar gathering is done most often at the same time that pollen is gathered. A honeybee uses her tongue (proboscis, basically a straw) to draw in nectar and then stores it in her honey stomach for transport back to the hive. Nectar is then handed off to a receiving bee and placed into a cell, ultimately becoming honey. Propolis: For health and hive protection, propolis (a sticky resin gathered from plants and trees) is acquired much like pollen is. It is transported by way of pollen baskets and returned to the hive to be utilized for sealing cracks and crevices, as well as stored in various places in the hive for future use. It is well documented that hives with heavy propolis-storing traits are healthier. This has been proven to me on more than one occasion. Thermoregulating the hive: Temperature regulation is a very important aspect of colony health and success. Worker bees have the ability to uncouple their four wings, allowing them to fan a hive’s interior to regulate not only the temperature but also the humidity. A brood nest is required to maintain 93–95 degrees to grow viable brood. Pulling moisture in or out achieves this. In cold weather, a hive clusters, shivers, and rotates bee positions to maintain a safe, livable environment. Doing so ensures that they will survive and keep the queen protected to overwinter successfully. What a huge responsibility! Absolutely everything that supports a colony’s health (other than laying eggs) rides on the backs of these industrious workers. Au contraire—they can lay eggs! If QMP is absent from a colony for three weeks (1 brood cycle), then in a desperate attempt to save the colony, not just one but many workers will begin laying eggs. “But wait,” you say, “they aren’t mated!” Yes, that’s correct, and because of that, they will lay only unfertilized eggs, which we now know are drones. A colony cannot survive on drones alone, therefore a colony with laying workers is doomed to die in most cases. See “Attempting to Save a Drone Layer Colony.”
Photo by: Paul Fagala
What a wonderful, intricate little creature our little honeybee is.
Drones Even though they are often given a pat on the back for the ability to be lazy and get by with it, drones are the only reason the species is able to propagate. Yes, they die after mating. And given the magnitude of that role,it does seem a bit unfair! Drones rarely feed themselves and don’t do any gathering of resources or tend to the hive in any way whatsoever. Therefore, in the fall, workers kick them out to rid the burden of overwintering with the overeating hive occupant. It’s not at all uncommon to see drones still present in southern states. In such cases, they are beneficial to warming the winter hive when given the opportunity. A drone is a larger bee (larger cell) and has a 24-day egg-to-emergence time frame, making drone brood an ideal breeding ground for Varroa mites due to the “extended-stay hotel” they use.
Chart of Temporal Polyethism: Age-Related Division of Labor As seen in this chart, bees’ duties are age specific. The absence of one of these age groups could very well cause havoc in a colony. But wait, can an older bee revert to doing a younger bee’s tasks? It can! In the instance of a void, worker bees’ plasticity allows them to fill in, moving either up or down in the age-related duties. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. More than likely, this is dependent on the time of year: winter bees are more likely to revert to spring duties than spring/summer bees in the same season. The inability to complete a task in the hive brings us full circle in knowing the importance of bee biology. As beekeepers this is where we can step in and solve a problem nature can’t. Recognizing a lag in honey production in spring suggests a low-forage population. No wax being built indicates a lack of 11–18-day-old worker bees. You get the point. Solving problems like these is easy when you have more than one colony and a clear understanding of the life cycle and biology of the bee. Trading brood, honey, or pollen frames from hive to hive can completely reverse the decline that is no doubt imminent otherwise.
NEED A JACKET?
We have four jacket options for you to choose from: Super Jacket Premium Cotton Jacket Air Mesh Jacket Ripstop Jacket
Is Clipping a Queen's Wings Good or Bad? Quick answer: Bad. I don’t recommend buying queens with clipped wings, nor do I recommend clipping the wings of a queen. The theory is that it will prevent a hive from swarming since the queen cannot fly away with the swarm. However, when a hive really wants to swarm, they will crawl away on the ground with the queen! Plus, a clipped queen is seen by the bees as defective and is more prone to be replaced or not accepted at all by the bees.
What Time of Year Should I Requeen? Quick answer: Spring is generally preferable for requeening, but with the right approach, anytime from April to September can be successful. For starters, you have to be able to buy a queen. Since queens are typically available for purchase only from April to September, you are pretty limited to requeening during those months. Hives most readily accept new queens when there is a natural honey and pollen flow or you are feeding the hive. If you requeen in April or May, they will naturally be more inclined to accept the queen since most regions have a decent pollen and nectar flow by then. This is also the most common time in the industry to requeen. If you want to maximize your honey crop, it is best to requeen as far in advance as possible before the primary honey flow begins to let the hive recover and rebound before the flow starts. I recommend requeening four to six weeks before the main flow, if possible. However, requeening in June to September can also be effective, and queens may be cheaper and more available. Plus, you don’t have to disrupt your hive and the growing process right before the honey flow. The downside to postharvest requeening is that hives do have the potential to be very large at this time of year, making finding the old queen more difficult. Also, the nectar flow that we enjoyed in the spring and that helps encourage queen acceptance is no longer present. The upside of early fall requeening is that the new queen gives the hive a burst of new brood going into the winter months. Note: If you do requeen when there is little to no nectar flow, be sure to feed your bees a week before and after adding the new queen to help simulate a nectar flow. Using an internal feeder is highly recommended during a period of dearth as the odds of robbing are much greater. Marked vs. Unmarked Queens: What's Better? Quick answer: If you struggle to find queens, getting a queen marked is ideal. This is largely a question of preference. It doesn’t generally hurt a queen to get her marked, but it does cost extra since beekeepers have to find the queen, pick her up, and mark her. It is far easier to find a queen once she has been marked! If you are a long-time beekeeper and don’t have any trouble finding a queen, it’s not necessary. But if you are new, finding a queen can be very frustrating and a mark can make all the difference in the world! If you are an experienced beekeeper, you can mark your own queen using a marking pen. Gently pick her up between your pointer finger and thumb and carefully paint her thorax. Hold her for about 20 seconds while the paint dries, and then place her back on the frame. It’s not uncommon for workers to remove the dot or portions of it over time. Practice on drones first (since they don’t have stingers!) to get comfortable with marking queens.
As we enter January, although it’s hard to grasp, our colonies know that we have passed the winter solstice and are getting ready to ramp up for spring. With spring our focus shifts to splits and requeening of hives that maybe should have been requeened last year or didn’t overwinter well. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know ahead of time just how many queens you will need? Although there are numerous ways to make a split, it’s relatively easy to estimate how many you can make regardless of how you do it. Here are the questions you’ll need to answer: How many hives do I estimate will need to be split? How many frames of brood and resources (honey and pollen) do I expect in those hives? What size splits do I want to make—small, medium, or large? (I’ll explain) What equipment do I have on hand, and what do I need to order? A splitable hive is typically two deep, with no fewer than 8–10 frames of brood. And the size of the split is the number of frames of brood you’ll require for each split. Typically, that means: Small split: 1–3 frames of brood Medium split: 3–4 frames of brood Large split: 5+ frames of brood Now that you know this, it should be rather easy to calculate how many queens you’ll need to order. Examples: For double deep with 8–10 frames of brood, making a medium split should require two queens (one to requeen the parent hive and one for the new split = two splits from that colony) For double deep with 12–14 frames of brood, making a medium split should require three queens (one to requeen the parent hive and two for the splits = three splits from that colony) Am I insinuating that you can’t split a single hive or a small double deep? No, not necessarily. This is where management plays a big role. A single deep with 5–7 frames of brood can be split, but as we learned, that will be a small split. The most you could expect to order is two queens (one to requeen and one for the split). In regard to the small double deep hive, this would be the least likely candidate to split. I would recommend requeening (order one queen), improve the population and hive health, and consider a summer split down the road. Last, take advantage of time indoors to purchase, build, and paint your needed woodenware. For every split you’ll need at least one deep, ten frames, a lid, and a bottom board. If utilizing nuc boxes, you’ll need one for every split (other than the parent colony). As you saw in January Tips, it is time to order bees and queens. Don’t procrastinate! There’s nothing worse than your bees being ready to split when you’re still days or even weeks away from your queen order coming in. Ask me how I know. Ugh, never again!
Follow this QR code to learn more about "Ordering and Receiving Queens"
The amount of pollen in Global pollen patties does not determine the nutritional or protein value but, in fact, the consumption rate.
FAST FACT
WHEN AND HOW MUCH TO FEED POLLEN PATTIES
How much and when to feed pollen patties depends on the time of year and the strength of the hive. You want to feed only as much as the bees can fully consume in a 7–10 day period to ensure that small hive beetles don’t begin reproducing in the patty. See “SHB & Pollen Sub” for a bit more detail. But in essence, making sure the bees fully consume the patty between feedings ensures that the SHB aren’t hatching in the patty. A hive that has about one deep box full of bees should eat a one-pound patty in about seven days. A hive with two boxes full of bees can eat two patties in 7–10 days. Alternatively, for a box that’s only half full of bees, tear the patty in half and give them a half pound. A general rule of thumb is that if you don’t see at least half a deep frame’s worth of stored pollen in the hive, it’s ideal to feed pollen substitutes until the bees begin bringing in and storing more pollen. Nurse bees depend on ample pollen availability to feed both themselves and developing larva. To see much more detail on why I make the following recommendations, see “Why Feed Pollen Substitute.” I recommend: Late Winter: Two to three weeks before the late winter/early spring pollen flow begins, feed 1 one-pound patty for every box that is 80% or more full of bees (so if you have two boxes 80% full of bees, feed 2 one-pound patties at a time) to help them get started rearing brood a bit sooner. For most areas, this is about four to six weeks before the last spring freeze, though this can vary some. Early/Late Spring: After an unusually late spring freeze that temporarily kills blooming plants for a few weeks after the bees have already begun raising large amounts of brood or after a week or two of unusually cold weather that prevents the bees from foraging, feed one pound of pollen substitute for every deep box full of bees every week for two weeks after the freeze, until the weather warms back up, or until you see your bees bringing in an abundance of pollen. This should be enough to keep them from cannibalizing brood and encourage them to continue rearing new brood. Summer: Some regions have abundant pollen flows all summer long, with plenty of moisture, and there is no need for pollen substitute. If your bees maintain at least a half frame of multicolored pollen, they won’t necessarily need pollen substitutes. It won’t hurt to feed them a patty every few weeks, and that will help them grow for summer splits if desired. But it isn’t critical. However, if you live in an area that often has hot and dry summers, there is a good chance your bees will experience a shortage of pollen July through September. If few flowers are blooming and less than half a frame of stored pollen is in the hive, feed one pound per box of bees every 7–10 days until conditions improve, which is often September or early October. Fall/Early Winter: As outlined in “Why Feed Pollen Substitute,” ensuring that your hive has all the nutrition needed is critical to allow them to raise healthy winter bees. Starting at least two months before your traditional first freeze and continuing for two to three weeks after your first freeze, feed each hive full of bees one pound every 7–10 days. Okay, now let’s take a step back. You may be wondering just how critical all of this feeding is. To be honest, some years it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. But in other years, it makes all the difference between a 10% loss rate and an 80% loss rate. The harsher the weather is and the more severe the pollen shortages are, the more critical the feeding is. If you live in an area that has a consistent pollen flow all spring, summer, and fall, you may not need to do much feeding. However, for most areas, following at least tip number 4 can be a huge help. I always recommend that beekeepers try things for themselves and see what works. Try feeding pollen sub to half of your hives and not the other half to see which do better over the summer and winter.
This bee thinks she's taking a pollen bath! Picture by Nanette Davis
What about Feeding Dry Pollen? Feeding dry pollen substitutes can be beneficial during the winter months; however, it is not as critical as feeding pollen patties. To feed dry pollen powder, you must place the powder outdoors, ideally at least 20 feet from your hive. You can purchase dry pollen feeders or make one. Essentially, you need a container that will keep the powder dry if it rains, keep livestock out, and give the bees easy access. A simple and cheap option is a five-gallon bucket laying on its side with half of the lid cut off. My personal favorite dry pollen feeder is a Pro Nuc box with the plastic entrance slide removed completely. I add about five pounds of powder and put the container in a tree to keep varmints and livestock out of it. The bees will forage during warm winter days that are sunny and above 45 degrees. They take the powder back to the hive to use much like natural pollen. Keep in mind that bees will forage on dry pollen powder only if there is no natural pollen flow. The advantage of open feeding is that it more naturally simulates a natural pollen flow and may encourage some additional brood rearing. The disadvantage is that you are feeding all the neighborhood bees in addition to yours. Researchers have estimated that a strong hive can gather almost a pound per week! It is also believed that a combination of incoming dry pollen and pollen substitutes may actually stimulate colony expansion of the brood nest. Natural or artificial, each pollen delivery method has potential value! While dry pollen feeding shouldn’t fully replace feeding pollen patties, it does have a useful place. Feeding during a nectar dearth greatly reduces the bees’ urge to “stay busy,” which reduces the need to focus entirely on robbing behavior.
Made with your choice of 4% or 15% real pollen and optional feed enhancement additives from Complete Bee and Apis Biologix, these protein patties are readily accepted by bees. They stimulate brood rearing to nurture the hive to maximum strength for the honey flow.
COMBINING HIVES TO SURVIVE WINTER
A weak hive is less likely to survive than a strong colony. This is even truer in winter months. It’s virtually impossible for a weak hive to maintain hive temperatures in colder weather, not to mention surviving weeks of confinement and resource issues. Rule of thumb: If you have three frames of bees or less, join them with another hive. Doing so increases their chance of survival greatly. Can I combine hives in the middle of winter? Absolutely! Actually, you could save their lives by doing so! Obviously, if you are knee deep in snow, you’ll likely not be able to, but most areas will have days that warm into the mid- to upper 40s and 50s, allowing you to combine (quickly). What if I have a queen in the weak hive? You have a couple of options. You can go ahead and combine the two hives and let the bees work it out, but this could be dangerous if the weaker hive’s queen isn’t a viable queen and she wins the battle. In this case simply do away with that queen. Or even better, there’s bound to be someone you know in the beekeeping community who is having to overwinter queenless because they couldn’t get one this time of year. You’ll make their day by giving them this queen! Check out the videos on the next page on how to combine hives. Although filmed in late fall, combining hives is the same process regardless of the season.
It may be cold outside, preventing us from spending time with our bees, but one thing is for sure―we still have chores to do!
Everything from Bears to Varroa Mites!
As beekeepers we tend to think of pests such as Varroa mites and small hive beetles, and maybe wax moths. In reality pests can be four legged and make loud noises! Although most aren’t a daily threat for our bees, beekeepers in some areas deal with these more than others realize. Bears The North American black bear can be a very serious pest for honeybees in certain regions. Beekeepers who contend with these four-legged menaces will attest to the fact that, once they discover hives, the bears will return night after night in search of brood and honey to feast upon. They ravage the colonies, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble where beehives previously stood. Because of that, a great deal of time and expense goes into building bearproof fencing around bee yards in hopes of keeping them out. Although you would think an electric fence would be the solution, bears’ thick, furry hides let them push through even the “hottest” fences. However, it is the most common approach. Livestock Thankfully cows, horses, and goats are not pests for honeybees. Although, in a pasture full of cattle, hives have been known to be used as scratching posts, leaving them toppled over in unsuccessful attempts to scratch an itch. The best approach to avoiding this potential disaster is to erect barbed-wire fencing around the hives. It’s good enough to keep cattle in a pasture, and it’s good enough to keep them away from your bees. Small Mammals Skunks, possums, and raccoons are pests. Pests may be the wrong word—probably a better title would be agitator. Since these creatures are night foragers, they will prey on the entrance to a hive by using their paws to pick off the guard bees that come out to investigate. As long as only a few bees come out at a time, the predator can avoid being stung. The result of this nightly agitation can easily be mean bees. It makes sense—if something was bugging you night after night, you would no doubt get agitated! Unfortunately, that means the beekeeper has to deal with mean bees and wonder why. Has the queen’s genetics gone bad? Is the hive queenless? But in all actuality, it’s just a nightly agitator. The solution is relatively easy. Simply install chicken wire around the front entrance to the hive with a staple gun. Wear your protective gear, needless to say. Suspending this wire out away from the entrance prevents the critters from sticking their paws up into the entrance, and the problem should be solved. Mice Another primarily nighttime issue is that mice love to build nests inside beehives, especially in winter. As far as being a pest for the bees, they don’t physically disturb the bees. The problem occurs when they chew frames and comb to make room for their nests! To prevent this before it can happen, install an entrance reducer or a mouse guard, or fashion a piece of queen excluder over the entrance. Some beekeepers keep these on year-round when this is an ongoing problem. Toads Yep, you heard it here—toads can be pests for honeybees in certain locations. But to clarify, it looks like most of us do not have this issue. I only included it here because it seems so outrageous! In Australia the cane toad raised enough concern that the Peri-Urban Environmental Biosecurity Network developed “Project Toad at the Hive” as a “citizen science observation” study in 2020. With little research on the topic, I leave it at that. Feel free to investigate it further. If you find out we’re all in danger of a cane toad invasion, please let me know! Birds Birds such as shrikes, titmice, kingbirds, swifts, martins, thrushes, mockingbirds, and others may eat honeybees. But since they eat so very few, there’s no reason to do anything. However, birds eating our queens while flying back to the hive after mating are a problem! Unfortunately, that falls under the category of being out of our control. Wax Moths If you’ve been a beekeeper for any amount of time, you’ve heard of or experienced what can be the devastating results of wax moths. The wax moth isn’t a problem for strong colonies but will overtake weaker, dying hives. You’ll first notice a web trail tunneling through frames as the moths eat pollen and wax. Left unchecked, they can consume entire frames of honeycomb and eventually overtake an entire hive. The best solution is to keep strong hives. Beyond that, traps do little to no good. Take care to remove dead hives from your bee yard prior to wax moths moving in, freezing the frames for three days, then storing them properly by spraying them with Certan or using Para-Moth. Check out our detailed articles on dealing with wax moths. Ants Ants are typically opportunistic— spilled sugar syrup and ruptured honeycomb are like a beacon that ants can’t resist. Avoiding either will prevent a majority of us from having issues with ants. But some beekeepers live in areas where ants are so prolific that they need to treat mounds around the bee yard regardless of how careful they are with syrup and inspections. The safest way to kill ant mounds is by using your chemical of choice in the drench form. Warning: These chemicals can kill bees. Mix according to the directions and douse the mound thoroughly late in the day, if not nearly dark. This will ensure your bees won’t follow you out of curiosity, accidentally getting into the chemical. Wasps Hornets and yellowjackets can be a real problem in some areas, especially when other food sources they would rather have run out. This tends to be in late fall and early winter for southern states. Wasp traps work to a degree, but reducing the entrance and keeping strong hives seem to be the best approach to avoiding issues. In case you missed it, the December issue has a great article about yellowjackets! Roaches In my experience roaches tend to be more prevalent when the hive box has experienced a leak and wet wood is present. Beyond that, keeping bees in heavily wooded areas can also lead to roaches that are a nuisance more than a problem. Primarily stored boxes are subject to roaches building nests and defecating all over the woodenware. Stack your reserve used woodenware as if it contains comb even if it doesn’t, such as in the open air where it’s not subject to closed, damp areas. Small Hive Beetles This is the subject of many articles in this very publication and will be included in the next few issues. But to overview, small hive beetles are controlled by strong hives and are easily managed with in-hive traps. Read more about small hive beetles in our Bee Help & Questions page. Termites We all know what this flying ant can do—eat wood! That’s exactly what they will do to your boxes if left unattended, abandoned in a bee yard, or sitting directly on the ground. It’s easy to prevent termites by simply keeping boxes from making ground contact. Spiders Although we will see a spider on occasion, few will eat bees. More than likely, you’ll be inspired to knock down any webs near your hives for your own benefit, which will in turn prevent bees from being trapped as well. Varroa Mites Last but not least—actually, the number-one cause of honeybee death—Varroa mites are in every colony basically everywhere. Check out “Varroa Destructor: Life Cycle of a Killer” in this issue for more information. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that this is one pest you will spend more money and more time combating than any of the previous pests mentioned. Thankfully, it’s doable, and we have an entire industry helping us in the battle!
Photo Credit: Judith Stanton
WHAT'S BUGGING YOU?
Mouse guards can be used year-round!
Install a piece of carpet tack strip at the entrance to your hive if you have problems with varmints. Works wonders!
Wax moth damage
Check out this video on What to do about sugar ants!
Be still Fred! Can't you get me any closer?
Photo Credit-©-Mark-Payne-Gill-naturepl.com
Photo Credit: Jennifer Scott
Easy natural termite solutions: 1/2 cup vinegar + juice from 2 lemons sprayed on termites kills on contact Orange oil kills on contact Sunlight: Keeping equipment off the ground in a sunny location prevents termites from having a place to nest. Stop moisture from entering your hives before it starts by keeping up with box repairs and repainting hive boxes every year.
When you have a good product, you can't help but talk about it! This metal REUSABLE beetle trap is a fantastic money saver! Simply fill it with trap oil, install it in your hive between frames left or right of the brood nest, and wait for it to trap and kill the small hive beetles! This trap is nearly double the size of the Beetle Blaster, plus it's reusable!
Check out our library of nearly 60 articles and videos regarding Varroa mites!
Quick tip: Sticky traps used to trap mice work great for trapping roaches and spiders in your hive box storage area!
Nazzi & Le Conte, 2016
VARROA DESTRUCTOR THE LIFE CYCLE OF A KILLER
Simply put, the Varroa destructor (actual genus name) is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on our Western honeybees, Apis mellifera. The Varroa mite is considered the number-one cause of death in honeybees worldwide. That’s a pretty strong statement, isn’t it? Ongoing tracking reports over the past decade show colony losses averaging over 40% each year. That’s nearly half of all honeybee colonies lost due to this one factor alone! Between the colony loss itself and the cost of trying to prevent losses, Varroa mites cost beekeepers millions of dollars year after year across the globe. That in itself should be enough to get all of our attention! When Varroa mites were discovered in the United States (1987), beekeepers didn’t have the treatment arsenal we have now, much less the science to back it up. Fast forward 37 years, and we now have good tools to help us manage these beasts the size of small ticks. These tools include treatment methods that accommodate most any preference a beekeeper may have—mechanical, organic, or chemical. All of these methods come with good solid research and data to back them up, along with educational resources to help an entire beekeeping community win the battle against the Varroa mite. Live Cycle of the Varroa Mite Simply stated, honeybees are the only host for this parasitic mite. They travel (spread) from colony to colony by jumping from bee to bee while they’re foraging or from drones that tend to drift to other hives. Once in the hive, a mature female mite jumps into a cell just prior to its being capped (day nine). That female mite then starts feeding on the developing bee. Within three days she lays her first egg, which is always a male. Subsequently, the female Varroa mite will lay another egg (female) every thirty hours, which mates with her brother mite until the honeybee emerges ten days later. At that point the fertilized mites emerge only to repeat the cycle again and again. While this Varroa mite is inside the cell and feeding on the developing bee, it is transmitting several different viruses. The viruses are then spread throughout the young bees, causing a domino effect of sick bees. A multitude of problems arise from these sick bees. Just to name a few: Poor nursing abilities Poor foraging ability Shorter life span Deformed wing virus, preventing a bee from flying at all Parasitic mite syndrome: signs include rapid decline of the adult population, increased supersedure of the queen, and lack of eggs and developing larvae Killing a Bug on a Bug The first method of control of Varroa destructor is testing. As we enter population increase—yes, in January —it is imperative that we develop a testing schedule and commit to abiding by it religiously. Whether that be four times a year or once a month, stick to it. In the following months we will dig deeper into how to treat and which treatment options to use. In the meantime, get familiar with the methods of testing by watching these videos and reading as much as you can find. The Honey Bee Health Coalition is a fantastic resource for all things Varroa—from testing to treating and even a decision tool to aid in determining what treatments to buy and when. Regardless of where you fall in your views of how to treat an infestation of Varroa mites, beekeepers have a responsibility to learn how to test and how to treat accordingly. Visit our Bee Help & Questions page for more resources on those very topics!
Follow this QR code to learn more about supersedure cells!
THIS NUC IS TALKING TO YOU!
Can we come home with you? We are really nice, sweet bees!
Check out this video on using a Varroa EasyCheck and the alcohol method to test for mites.
Join us for the largest LIVE monthly Zoom webinar meeting anywhere! On-point topics, in-the-bee-yard tips, and timely presentations. Plus LIVE Q&A! Check out what your fellow beekeepers were asking last month!
Webinar Q&A
Check out our latest webinar!
Stan Gore has made a name for himself worldwide that he probably never expected—Texas Friendly Beekeeper! With over 10 thousand followers, his appropriately named Facebook page lives up to its reputation as a friendly place for old and new beekeepers alike to gain knowledge and answers to questions. Join Stan and me for a wonderful conversation about everything from keeping bees in Apimaye hives to feeding his now famous Stan’s Soft Sugar Bricks and our rationalizing why beekeepers are set in their ways. Check it out!
TBS Beekeeper Chat with Stan Gore Founder of Texas Friendly Beekeepers & Creator of Stan's Soft Sugar Bricks
with Chari Elam
By Earnie Welch
A good friend of mine, Stan Gore, and I did a lot of story swapping and experimenting with the shook swarm technique and found it to be a very useful tool in the bee yard. I think you’ll find it works well for you too! Converting Deeps to Mediums If you have deep hive boxes and want to convert to mediums, the shook swarm technique works well. Afterward, you can use the leftover deep frames filled with resources to support weaker colonies. Simply place the deep frames you shook the bees from on top of the weak hive using a double screen board, ensuring that the upper frames have a separate entrance from the lower box. Wait about seven days to allow nurse bees from the upper frames to emerge, then introduce a mated queen or let the bees create their own. Transfer the box to its own bottom board and place it anywhere. Within a couple of weeks, the bees will mature into foragers.
Move the original hive a couple of feet away. Place a new bottom board with a queen excluder (a must) in the original hive's previous location, placing the entrance in the same direction as the original hive’s. Set up the new hive body on the queen excluder and add new foundation, leaving three or four frames for shaking room. Locate the queen among the frames, cage her, and introduce her into the new shook swarm box. Shake all bees frame by frame into the new hive body, ensuring that the queen is in the new box at the end of the process. Reinsert empty center frames. Feed with 1:1 syrup (half gallon every two days) and provide a pollen patty (4 x 4 inch square or an amount that bees can consume in four days to avoid small hive beetle issues). Keep in mind that the bees lack comb, honey, pollen, and nectar, so feeding is important. A strong shook swarm should fill a hive body within two weeks with consistent feeding. About a week after you see young larvae, remove the queen excluder. The new brood will anchor the queen to the box.
SHOOK SWARMS
Other ways the shook swarm method can benefit your bees: Brood Break for Varroa One way to lower Varroa mite levels is by implementing a complete brood break. In cases of significantly high Varroa counts, I recommend taking the shaken frames with the new hive body and placing them on their own bottom board. Move an established hive to this location, allowing it to immediately have forager bees and enabling them to create a new queen. This action achieves a brood break. The hive you relocated will recuperate and have new foragers within a week. Swarm Control in the Spring In the spring, you can accomplish swarm control while making a strong new hive at the same time (split). Once you shake all bees onto new foundation (shook method), put a double screen board on top of that box with a separate entrance and set the old hive with old comb, brood, and food on top of the double screen board. In five to seven days after the nurse bees have emerged above the double screen board, add a mated queen or let the bees continue to make their own. Transfer that box onto its own bottom board. Note: There needs to be a nectar flow when using the double screen method.
ESSENTIAL TOOLS YOU NEED FOR SPRING
Super smoker Smoker fuel Lighter Hive tool Bee brush Two deep boxes with frames for every nuc you have ordered or every split you plan to make.
Image Credit: beekeepingmadesimple.com
For more detailed information on equalizing hives and sharing resources, follow this QR code for a great article!
By Lynne Jones
When speaking of Langstroth hives, every hive box has two names: the name for its size and the name for its purpose. The box sizes are deep, medium, and shallow. The box purposes are brood and honey super, or just super. Any size box can be used for brood, and any size box can be used for a honey super. If someone had explained this to me early on, it would have saved me about a year of confusion.
Most beekeepers keep bees in Langstroth hives with brood in deep boxes and honey in deep or medium boxes. But just because that is how most beekeepers do it does not mean it is the best way for everyone. When I started beekeeping I used all deeps, and it wasn’t long before I realized that a deep of honey was too heavy and started using mediums for honey supers. This solved the problem of weight, but I found it frustrating to have two sizes of boxes and frames. In my fourth year I decided that using all mediums would make things simpler and aimed to transition all my colonies out of deeps by the end of the year. I took a gradual approach, only removing a deep box when it no longer had brood, but by winter, only about 25% of my hives were all mediums. In this 2024 January issue of The Bee Supply Monthly, you’ll see an article on shook swarms, which says, “If you have deep foundation and you are wanting to convert it to mediums the shook swarm technique works well.” Using this technique, it only took me a couple of Saturdays to get all my hives converted. I have been very satisfied with all medium hives. The weight of boxes is manageable, and with all medium frames I never have to worry about grabbing one that is the wrong size. The first thing you should know is that three mediums are equal to two deeps. For most of the year, I find two mediums work well for brood, and a third box is easy to add when needed—or to remove when brood production decreases. You can also use a single medium for a nuc colony. A single medium is about the size of a seven-frame deep. Adding a division feeder, or frame-style feeder, usually takes up the space of two frames. The remaining eight frames together are about the same as your typical five-frame nuc. And whether it is brood or honey, mediums fill up faster, which is a beekeeper ego boost. There are other benefits to all medium hives and frames. With all frames interchangeable, you can pull an open frame of brood up into a new box to encourage the bees to get busy building comb. Equalizing hives or sharing resources is easy because you can put frames into any box and never be frustrated when you try to move a deep into a medium. With just one size of frame, it is easier to keep track of old comb to be replaced. Cycling frames can be done by moving old honey frames down to become brood comb and then removing old brood comb and either replacing or refurbishing the foundation to use the frames again in honey supers. Some swarm-control options when running all mediums aren’t as easily done with deep-and-medium-box hive configurations. For example, if the brood nest is getting backfilled with nectar, simply pull the nectar frames up above the brood and replace them with frames of drawn comb. If the brood nest has a lot of capped and open brood but is already bursting with bees, pull all the open brood up above the queen excluder, leaving the queen below. This will draw many of the nurse bees out of the brood chamber, making it less crowded. Fill the empty spaces with frames of drawn comb to give the queen open cells in which to lay. Or use the Demaree technique, which also pulls frames of open brood up to the top box for the purpose of making a split. Have you toyed with the idea of using Warré hives, which are meant to mimic the bees’ natural habitat of nests in hollow trees, but don’t have the woodworking skill to build the Warré boxes? All medium boxes with foundationless frames can be used in a similar way using a practice called nadiring. But there are some real downsides to using all mediums, the biggest of which are time and money. When comparing two deeps to three mediums, it takes roughly 50% more time to assemble the boxes and frames. Though medium boxes and frames are smaller, their cost is not significantly less, and one additional box and ten additional frames are required to equal two deeps. Using woodenware pricing available in December 2023, the cost of two deeps versus three mediums was $129.76 versus $187.77. Another difficulty of all medium hives is finding medium nucs available for purchase. They are not common, and you may need to make arrangements in advance with your nuc provider. Though filling up boxes faster is a benefit, it can also be a problem. Unless you are attentive to keeping open cells in the brood nest for the queen to lay, swarming could happen sooner and more frequently. Other problems, or at least inconveniences, include having more frames to inspect, more frames to pry up and scrape propolis from, and moving more frames and boxes during an inspection, which increases the chances of damaging the queen. For me, the benefits outweigh the issues, and I don’t regret converting to all mediums. If you decide to go to all mediums, the shook swarm technique is one option. If you have a queen excluder and are willing to move a medium of drawn honey frames down for the queen to lay in, you can move a deep up above the queen excluder. Once the brood emerges, the bees may put nectar in the cells, but you can either remove the box and let the bees rob out the nectar or leave the box on and eventually extract a deep full of honey.
WHAT'S THE BUZZ? ALL MEDIUM HIVES
DEFINITION
Photo Credit: Wellington Beekeepers Association
FACT: Bees perform better when crowded. Too much room, they can't control invasive pests. Not enough room, they will swarm. Such a fine line for beekeepers!
Nadiring: The practice of expanding a Langstroth hive by adding empty boxes to the bottom. beebuilt.com
Cost comparison using the Bee Supply online prices 12/8/23
$26.68 deep box, unassembled $19.75 10 deep frames, unassembled $18.45 10 deep plastic foundation $64.88 x 2 = $129.76
$25.69 medium box, unassembled $19.75 10 medium frames unassembled $17.15 15 medium plastic foundations $62.59 x 3 = $187.77
Additional cost to use 3 mediums vs. 2 deeps = $58.01
Photo Credit: East Texas Seed Company
Regardless of whether you run all mediums or all deeps, your hive stand is the foundation it depends on. Which one is your favorite?
Pros Boxes weigh less Interchangeability of both boxes and frames Easier to manipulate the hive to achieve certain results Easier to keep track of what old comb needs to be replaced and easier to cycle frames through by moving old honey frames down to become brood frames and moving old brood frames out and recycling into honey frames Smaller frames might make it easier to find the queen Box reversals are easier Bees can fill up a medium Easy to move brood frames to other boxes Easy to move resources from one hive to another Even though there are more frames, each frame can be inspected faster Nadiring Demaree for split or swarm control Pull uncapped brood up into a new box to encourage bees to start drawing comb
A simple yet sturdy, budget hive stand. Don't let this inexpensive stand fool you. These stands will last for years and are lightweight and easy to move. Designed for 10 frame hive boxes.
Cons More frames to inspect when looking for the queen Medium nucs are harder to find Takes as much effort to extract a medium frame as it does a deep but results in less honey If you prefer to not have brood and honey frames that are interchangeable, different sizes make it easy to ensure they are kept separate More frames to inspect means a greater possibility of damaging the queen More propolis gummed-up frames to deal with Brood nest can get filled fast, resulting in swarming; have to make sure you stay ahead of the queen With more boxes, have to be careful to keep the stack straight More Apivar strips are needed More work to assemble boxes and frames The cost of three mediums and 30 frames is more than two deeps and 20 frames
Cinder blocks are heavy and hard to move, but inexpensive. Whether you put your hive directly on top if the block or use it for the foundation of a platform, cinder blocks will last for years.
By: Ed Erwin
As always, if you have questions, you can message me on Facebook or send an email to BrazosRiverHoney77474@gmail.com
The Metal Collapsible Hive Stand is sturdy with a painted steel construction. Lightweight and ideal for a 10-frame hive raised 16" off the ground.
HIVE STANDS
The following pros and cons lists may help you decide if this is the right approach for you.
1/2 tsp. - dried oregano 1/2 tsp. - crushed red pepper flakes 1 can (28 oz.) - diced tomatoes, undrained 1 can (15-1/2 oz.) - red kidney beans, undrained 1 can (8 oz.) - tomato sauce 1/4 cup - honey 2 T - red wine vinegar
YIELD: Makes 8 servings INGREDIENTS 1 package (15 oz.) - firm tofu 1 T - vegetable oil 1 cup - chopped onion 3/4 cup - chopped green bell pepper 2 cloves - garlic, finely chopped 2 T - chili powder 1 tsp. - ground cumin 1 tsp. - salt DIRECTIONS Using a cheese grater, shred tofu and freeze in zippered bag or airtight container. Thaw tofu: place in a strainer and press out excess liquid. In large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot; cook and stir onion, green pepper, and garlic 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Stir in chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano and crushed red pepper. Stir in tofu: cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in diced tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, honey, and vinegar. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
A HONEY OF A CHILI
US Drought Status
Bee Club Directory
FIND A CLUB
For real-time info, click here
Need help finding a bee club near you? Click on the link below to connect with one of the hundreds of great clubs across the nation!
We welcome your feedback and submissions! editor@thebeesupply.com Beekeeping Questions: help@thebeesupply.com