THE BEE SUPPLY
Monthly
APRIL 2024
Photo Credit: Galyn Kluckman
FEATURED TOPICS Making Successfull Splits Requeening How to Tell When the Nectar Flow Has Begun Swarm Indicators Bee Removals
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Contents
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Clicking on a topic will take you right to it!
Table of
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6 Monthly Tips 10 Making Successful Splits 14 An April Hive Ready for Boxes or Splitting 16 How to Tell if Your Hive Is Queenless or Needs to Be Requeened 20 Tips and Tricks to Finding the Queen 23 How to Mark a Queen 24 Requeening a Hive Made Easy 28 Changing the Attitude of a Hot Hive 30 Chat with Dr. Joe Carson: The Natural Science Behind Complete 32 How to Tell if the Nectar Flow Has Begun and When It's Time to Add Honey Supers 36 What's the Buzz? Pelletized Lime for Ant and Small Hive Beetle Control 40 Swarm Indicators 42 A Window into the World of Bee Removals 47 Test Your Beekeeping Knowledge 48 Recipe: Irish Honey Pot Roast 50 Monthly Buzz Webinar Q&A 51 Club Directory 52 U.S. Drought Map
April
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Through the rental program you can release solitary bees into your yard and rent our nesting blocks for nesting. At the end of the season, you return the bees (with provided shipping label and instructions) for us to complete the critical cleaning and maintenance.
RENT LEAFCUTTER BEES
The Kit Includes A leafcutter nesting block with 100+ leafcutter bees inside A hangable wooden house A return label for you to send the bees back at the end of the season
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Strengthen your garden and grow more vegetables with the pollination help from gentle leafcutter bees. These solitary, nonaggressive bees can visit the majority of the flowering plants in your backyard during their summer flying months.
Two Easy Steps! Store bees in a garage until temperatures are about 75 degrees Once temperatures are consistently above 75 degrees for two weeks, it is time to set up your bee home.
As spring enters full swing, your hive should continue to grow rapidly. Feed 1:1 sugar syrup or premade syrup as needed. Work to maintain at least a 10–15 pound surplus of stored honey or syrup. There should be no need to feed any form of pollen substitute. April is the perfect month to requeen hives. We recommend requeening every year to ensure seamless brood production and hives that remain as healthy as possible. Most splits are made in April, as that is when queens are typically available. Remember, for best results, give each split at least four frames of brood and a new queen and feed well for at least three weeks. If you are purchasing hives, nucs, or packages, make sure to feed well, verify the queen is laying, and add boxes when the first box becomes 75% full of bees. April is the most common month for hives to swarm. Ensure each hive has sufficient room or is split to prevent swarming. It is generally not advised to treat for mites (or any other issues) as the spring honey flow begins. Most southern states will see this begin in late April or early May, while northern regions will see honey flows begin in May–June. Therefore, treatments can be done through April if needed.
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Whether it's a brood box or a honey super, adding boxes in April will no doubt be on your to-do list! Don't forget—we have the lowest FREE shipping minimum in the industry!
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By Blake Shook
APRIL TIPS
ON MOST ORDERS
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Strong hives in early spring are a wonderful problem! But when should you add a super vs. a brood box? Let's watch this video to find out!
$99
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BEGINNING BEEKEEPING CLASS
1st Thursday of Each Month Monthly Buzz Webinar April 4, 6:30 pm‒8:00 pm
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James and Chari Elam answer your questions LIVE and present short, practical, and timely topics.
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Live in the Beeyard Tips Splits and Splits Care Requeening New Nuc, Full Hives, and Package Care Adding Boxes Swarms Live Q&A
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OPEN BROOD
By Chari Elam
IT’S BEE SEASON! Can you hear my excitement? I absolutely love making splits and building bees! It’s so easy! Oh, wait. I hear some of you grumbling at that statement. OK, OK … I’ll admit—it wasn’t easy the first few years. If you’ve yet to experience your “aha” moment in beekeeping, making splits can certainly be intimidating. But do you want to know a secret? Doing splits taught us how to identify all of the different aspects of the frames that make up a colony. In doing so, we learned the actual workings of a hive! I say this often: “As you become a better beekeeper, you won’t be able to keep from making bees.” Yes, this is true! Bees can be like rabbits given half the chance. Healthy, thriving colonies will produce more bees than you can manage in one colony and will require splitting. This is a very good thing! Call yourself successful if you have colonies primed and ready for splits! It’s easy for me to say—just move this and that. But in reality, when you get into your hive, odds are that you’re going to question what you are seeing and what goes where. My goal here is to make it abundantly clear what you need to see and do when making a split. First, determine if you are going to be purchasing a mated queen for the split (traditional split and most recommended) or generate your own queen (typically called a walkaway split). If you are purchasing a queen, get it ordered now! If you are letting your bees make their own queens, verify that you have a good drone population before making splits. Although your new queen will not be mating with her brothers, this population gives you a good indication of the drones elsewhere. Only split healthy hives. Attempts at splitting a hive that has a high mite load or is inundated with disease and viruses will only double the problem. We often make simple splits into a mathematical equation: 1 + 2 + 2 = 5. This seems to simplify the steps for most of us. Traditional split: Locate the queen. If you are going to replace her, kill her and discard her away from the hive. You need: One frame of open/uncapped brood containing one-day-old larvae Two frames of brood (capped and emerging brood—this is the darker capped brood) Two frames of food resources (honey and pollen) If using a nuc box, fill the balance of the box with new undrawn frames or simply divide the remaining resources from the parent colony between the boxes. Wait 2–24 hours to install a caged mated queen. Check back in five to seven days to verify that she has emerged and is laying. Walkaway split: Use the same formula as a traditional split but disregard where the queen is unless, of course, you happen to see her. In that case, mark the box she is in. Check back in three to four days to check for queen cells. This is where you’ll be able to determine where the queen ended up. No cells will be found in the split where the old queen is. This is your opportunity to requeen that smaller hive if you wish. Otherwise, let her be and care for the hive just as you would a new hive. If you see queen cells, close the split back up and leave it be for three to four weeks. This allows enough time for the queen to emerge (16 days), mate (5–7 days), and start laying (5 days after mating). If you do not see a queen cell being formed in the queenless split, you have three choices: Reinstall a fresh open larvae frame, giving them another chance at making a queen. Purchase and install a mated queen. Combine the split with another hive and try again another day. Important note: Build splits by placing frames in the same order as you would see in a typical brood nest. Brood (open and capped) in the center Resources (honey/nectar/pollen) left and right of the brood frames Empty, undrawn, or resource frames to the outside of the nest (both sides equal-ish). I say equal-ish because odds are you won’t have the same on both sides. Moving Your Splits As a small-scale beekeeper, I know firsthand that most of you won’t have the option to move your splits miles apart. We’ve all heard that, right? Move bees no more than two feet or at least two miles—well, that’s not always possible. Ideally, moving your split away from its parent colony keeps drifting from occurring. Plus reducing the foragers in splits can lessen the chance of them killing your new queen. But the reality is that you probably have a backyard or less than 20 acres, requiring you to break the two-and-two rule. No worries. Simply reorient the entrances of the splits, making them different from the parent hive they came from. Even if you leave the split right next to its parent, change the direction of its entrance at least 45 degrees to stop most drifting, if it were to occur. Now what? Feed, feed, feed! It is imperative that you feed a split colony. Also, remember that you have weakened the colony by doing this split. Watch for small hive beetles and keep them under control! A split colony is a stressed colony and will succumb to SHB if allowed. Aftercare of Your Split So often, once a split is made, we tend to pat ourselves on the back and leave it there. No, no, no—we have just started! Within just a few weeks, you will find that a successful split will have taken off like gangbusters, and you need to add a second deep. See “Proactively Managing Hive Expansion.” Treat this “new hive” as just that—a new hive. Feed to draw comb, manage space requirements, and control Varroa. Caution: Treating for Varroa on a new split will stress the new hive even more than the split itself did. Hold off until the hive is established. My Split Is Failing to Grow There are several reasons that this could be happening: Verify you have a laying queen. You could have a nonproductive queen and need to requeen. Varroa mites? Test and take appropriate action. The bee population could be imbalanced: Switch locations with another colony if it’s short on foragers. Shake nurse bees in or insert a frame from a neighboring colony.
MAKING SUCCESSFUL SPLITS
RESOURCE FRAME OF POLLEN, HONEY AND NECTAR
Click on photos to enlarge
CAPPED AND EMERGING BROOD
Always center your splits to the box, pushing frames tightly together.
This box needs repair and painting
Here is a hive that is a perfect example of what you would expect to see in a hive ready to split. In this video, Blake shows us some very helpful inspection techniques, along with giving us alternatives to splitting if queens aren’t available to you or you want to hold off making splits for now.
Read more about our innovative and industry-leading approach to help ensure your success as a beekeeper.
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SAFEGUARD YOUR INVESTMENT IN 3 EASY STEPS
AN APRIL HIVE READY FOR BOXES OR SPLITTING
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PURCHASE WARRANTY COVERAGE FOR EACH HIVE, NUC, OR PACKAGE YOU PURCHASE FROM THE BEE SUPPLY. FOLLOW OUR SUPER HELPFUL MANAGEMENT GUIDE TO KEEP YOUR BEES HEALTHY. FILE A QUICK AND SIMPLE CLAIM WITHIN 45 DAYS FOR EACH HIVE LOST. IF NO CLAIMS ARE SUBMITTED FOR THE WARRANTY COVERAGE PURCHASED, YOU WILL RECEIVE 50% BACK IN THE FORM OF A GIFT CARD TO THE BEE SUPPLY!
There are a variety of ways to tell if your hive is queenless or has lost its queen. At some point, all hives do eventually lose their queen and have to be requeened. At times they requeen themselves and we never know it (which isn’t ideal). Sometimes we catch it in time to do something about it. Or they fail at raising a new queen altogether, leaving them queenless. Either way, knowing what to look for is essential. How to Tell if a Hive Is Queenless If there is no capped brood, eggs, larvae, or queen cells and it is between February and October, your hive is almost certainly queenless. I highly recommend reading “Spotting Eggs & Larvae.” It can often be very difficult to see eggs or larvae, even if they are present! If there is truly no brood in your hive, see "My Hive Has No Eggs, Larvae, Capped Brood, or Laying Queen" to determine what to do next, as it is a more complex issue. There is capped worker or drone brood but no eggs or larvae. In general, the points from number one apply here too. Make sure you aren’t missing eggs or larvae. There are no eggs or larvae, and there are queen cells with developing larvae present in the hive. If this is the case, see “Swarm Cells vs. Supersedure Cells” to determine what kind of queen cells they are. If they are swarm cells, see “3 Options for Preventing Swarms" or “Post-Swarm Care” depending on whether they have swarmed or not. If they are supersedure cells, see “My Hive Has Queen Cells & A Laying Queen, Now What?” There is brood but it’s all drone brood, with no worker brood present. See “Drone Layer.” Bees act nervous, jittery, and exhibit an unusually loud “roaring sound.” How to Tell When a Hive Needs to Be Requeened There can be many signs that you need to requeen a hive and many reasons to do so. In general, it’s a good idea to proactively requeen each hive every year before they begin to show signs of needing to be requeened. Benefits of a young queen can be a more robust population due to increased egg laying. It’s important to note that what may look like a failing queen is often the result of other factors. Below are the conditions you’ll see when a hive actually needs to be requeened: Your hive is consistently aggressive. If multiple bees are following you after inspections for several minutes, even as you walk away, and they behave this way consistently, it’s a good idea to requeen for your own comfort’s sake. The brood pattern is “spotty” throughout the hive. Many things other than a failing queen can cause a spotty brood pattern, so be sure to rule those out first. See “What Causes a Spotty Brood Pattern.” Dwindling, or a population that’s not growing when it should be. Between February and July, a hive’s population should be ever increasing. If a hive has been consistently well fed and doesn’t have a mite issue or a brood disease yet has not been growing or is dwindling for a few months, you should requeen. Drone brood is mixed in with the worker brood. A queen running out of sperm will result in unfertilized drone brood being mixed with worker bee brood. This will cause random large bumpy cells of capped drone brood mixed with the more even and flat worker brood. This will be visible throughout the hive, and you should see hundreds of these larger cells mixed with worker cells. Drone brood isolated on certain parts of frames is normal and expected rather than scattered throughout the worker brood. There are no eggs, larvae, or brood. This is a really tricky one! Depending on the stage of queenlessness, the hive may have already begun raising a new queen. If your hive exhibits any one of the above five symptoms, it’s a good idea to go ahead and requeen as quickly as possible. See “How to Find a Queen and Requeen in 1 Visit.”
HOW TO TELL IF YOUR HIVE IS QUEENLESS OR NEEDS TO BE REQUEENED
Here is a great video by Dr. Jamie Ellis describing how to prevent swarms
By way of quick reminder, other causes of spotty brood can be: A mite infestation (make sure your mites are under 2 per 100 bees) A brood disease causing some brood to die (does uncapped larvae look pearly white and normal? If not, check out European Foulbrood.) Time of year: brood patterns tend to be more spotty over the summer months Pollen or nectar stored within the brood nest instead of around the brood nest If the brood is spotty only on some frames, the queen may be laying around cells of honey and pollen, creating a “spotty” appearance. Keep in mind that a failing queen does typically have a spotty brood pattern. However, it should be on all the frames throughout the hive. If the above factors are not applicable and the brood is spotty, especially if it has been a year since you’ve requeened, it is most likely time to requeen.
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Let's look at this hive and see if it needs to be requeened!
TIPS AND TRICKS TO FINDING THE QUEEN
Finding a queen is probably one of the most frustrating yet rewarding aspects of beekeeping! You are literally trying to spot one bee among tens of thousands of other bees, all while they move around on a frame. While there is no easy answer, I do have a handful of tricks I use based on finding thousands of queens over the past decade. Keep in mind, however, that you don’t have to find the queen unless you are requeening or, depending on the split method, splitting. Otherwise, all you have to do is find eggs and larvae! See “Spotting Eggs & Larvae.” Keep in mind where the queen typically is not going to be. She won’t usually be in supers full of nothing but honey or on frames full of honey. She’s going to be where there is space for her to lay eggs near or on frames of brood. I glance at frames full of honey in the brood nest but only briefly. The great majority of the time, she won’t be there. When I first open the hive, I pull one or two outside frames out, quickly look at them (they usually have honey or are empty). If I don’t see the queen on them, I stand them up on end against the hive out of my way. Next, I pull out the following frame, which is often brood or right next to a frame of brood. Before I look at the frame in my hands, I look at the frame facing me still in the hive. I often see the queen as she turns and runs down toward the bottom of the frame. It’s really easy to see her on that frame facing you still in the hive as she turns and runs away from the light. If I don’t see her on the facing frame still in the hive, I look at the frame in my hands. But I don’t hold the frame so that it directly faces me. I hold the frame at an angle so I’m glancing across its surface. I think it is easier to see the queen looking along the surface since she is a bit taller, has a long narrow abdomen, and has wings that appear shorter than those of the workers. She almost appears to waddle a bit while walking during the spring and summer while she’s full of eggs. Don’t spend more than a minute or so per frame. Much longer than that and the bees will begin to run and move off the frames, making finding the queen almost impossible. Use the minimum amount of smoke necessary. Smoke can often make the bees and queen run, which makes finding her much harder. Excess smoke or searching for several minutes may also force her to retreat to the locations she would not normally be, such as under the inner cover or onto honey frames. Be as gentle as possible. Jarring the frames makes the bees run as well. If all that fails and you must find the queen to requeen, keep reading. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you just can’t find your queen! And you aren’t alone. Many beekeepers struggle to find queens. Even experienced beekeepers can’t always find every queen in every hive. When you are trying to requeen a hive and can’t find the queen, the method below is a bit unconventional but typically effective. Remember, protective gear matters! Work fast. Smoke your hive but only a little at a time, being careful not to oversmoke and cause the bees to run. Pull each frame out and shake the bees off the frames in front of the hive. Ideally, place some sort of ramp from the ground to the entrance for the bees to climb back into the hive or set your hive directly on the ground. Place a queen excluder between the bottom board and the bottom brood nest. Put all the frames back into the hive in the same order you removed them. Wait about 30 minutes. Go back and look on the ground where you shook the bees. There will likely be a small cluster of a few dozen bees on the ground, along with the queen. If she isn’t there, look on the underside of the queen excluder. She will be trapped there along with a few drones as she tries to get back into the hive.
Check out my #1 tip to find a queen. You'll find that, once you get the hang of it, this method works most of the time!
PART 1
PART 2
Watch me put words into action: How to find the queen when you can't find the queen!
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People often ask me why I wear latex gloves on camera. The simple answer is that it's easier to grab a queen with these on as opposed to the tactical gloves I like wear when I work bees. Often beekeepers like to mark their queens to make it easier to find them during inspections. Here’s a quick video I made showing you how I mark queens.
Check out this video where I show how easy it is to find the queen and requeen in one visit!
Deciding if a hive needs to be requeened and finding the queen can be the most challenging aspect of requeening. Once those two things are out of the way, the rest is easy! Order a replacement queen, and once she has arrived alive and well, move to step 2. Find and remove the old queen. I recommend removing the old queen completely from the hive so that her pheromones do not linger. The best practice is to wait a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 24 hours before installing the new queen. However, installing the new queen in the cage immediately after removing the old queen is acceptable as well. The maximum amount of 24 hours is because new queen cells will quickly be raised. Ensuring the bees have access to the candy plug in the queen cage (this is what they eat through to release the queen), insert the queen cage in between two frames of brood in the hive. Make sure the cage is inserted in a way that allows maximum access to the screened portion of the cage. Try to avoid crushing honey cells, which can spill honey and potentially drown the queen. Close the hive, and if there is not a honey flow then be sure to feed the hive a gallon or two of 1:1 sugar syrup as they accept the new queen. This will increase the likelihood of acceptance as the mixture closely mimics a natural nectar flow. Another helpful hint: smaller colonies more readily accept new queens. For very large hives (two deep boxes full of bees), it can help to cover the candy with tape for one or two days, then remove the tape and allow the bees to eat through the candy. Slowing them down increases the odds of acceptance. Wait approximately seven days, and check back to ensure the queen was both released and accepted. First, check the cage to make sure she was released, then quickly (two minutes max) check for eggs in empty cells (see Spotting Eggs & Larvae) in the heart of the brood nest. If you don’t see eggs and do see queen cells with larvae in them being raised, there is a good chance she was not accepted. Check back three to five days later. If you still don’t see eggs and are seeing capped queen cells, they did not accept her. You can remove the queen cells and try again, or you can allow the bees to raise their own queen. It’s ideal to try again with a new queen if you can get one within a few days. The process of installing a queen in a hive is only half of the battle when it comes to requeening! Ensuring she is accepted is critical. Disturbing the hive too soon can increase the odds that the hive will reject the queen. Remember to wait at least seven days before checking back after installing a new queen. Also keep in mind that it can take a new queen two to three days after being released to begin laying eggs, and even then, she may have eggs on only one frame in the hive. Only spend a minute or less in a hive when checking back after seven days. Here are a few signs she was accepted: The bees seem characteristically calm and unagitated, with no uncharacteristic running, loud buzzing, unusual aggression, and so on. The queen cage is empty. There are eggs in the hive. There are no queen cells being raised (see Queen Cells vs. Queen Cups). Signs she was not accepted: The bees are uncharacteristically running, loudly buzzing, and unusually aggressive. This behavior is due to the lack of queen pheromones, which keep the hive orderly and focused. The queen is still in the cage or dead in the cage. (If she is alive in the cage, poke a hole through the candy with a toothpick to help the bees release her.) There are no eggs or larvae in the hive. There are multiple fresh queen cells with larvae in them being raised. What if Your Queen Wasn’t Accepted? This is frustrating but fairly common. You introduced a queen to your hive properly, following all the steps, but she wasn’t accepted. If this happens to you, here is what to do: Look very carefully for eggs. It only takes the bees 12 days to raise a new queen using a one-day-old larva (16 days egg to emergence). So if you killed the old queen 13 days ago and you saw queen cells in the hive, odds are the bees already have hatched out a few virgin queens, and you are better off letting them try to finish the process. Virgin queens usually go on a mating flight five to seven days after hatching and begin laying five to seven days after returning from the flight. So start watching for eggs about 14 days after she hatches. This means on average it will take 24–28 days before eggs should be seen. If it has been less than 12 days since you removed the old queen, you can inspect the hive, carefully look at each frame, wipe out any queen cells, then quickly get a new queen to replace the one that was not accepted. If you can’t get a new queen within a few days, it’s best to just let them finish raising their own queen with the queen cells already in the hive. Since this process is slower, you may need to add a frame of brood from a stronger hive to keep their strength up.
REQUEENING A HIVE MADE EASY
RUSSIAN CARNIOLAN Gentleness of the Carniolan with the Russian Varroa resistance - Great honey producers
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CAN I HAVE DIFFERENT BREED QUEENS IN THE SAME LOCATION?
PURE BRED CARNIOLAN Super gentle and easy to work with - Exceptional workers - Good honey producers
DALAN AFB-INOCULATED QUEEN Italian queen - Great honey producer - Excellent foragers - Prolific honey producers
TBS GOLDEN CORDOVANTM Super gentle for backyard beekeepers! Good honey producers - Great comb builders
TBS ITALIAN CARNIOLAN Gentle - Great honey producers - Excellent comb builders - Less disease prone - Tough bees!
Yes! Whether it’s a different breed of queen than the hive you are introducing her to or a different breed of hive in the same yard, the bees don’t care at all. They don’t distinguish among breeds, so feel free to choose whatever breed suits you best!
The longer I am in this industry, the more I learn about the personalities of bees and beekeepers. For instance, I have a very short fuse when it comes to dealing with a hot hive, while others seem to embrace it! Maybe it’s an age thing. But it's more likely that I’m spoiled to sweet bees and no longer want to tolerate less! When faced with an overly defensive hive, it can be very difficult to “just requeen.” Often these hives are very robust with large populations, making finding the queen nearly impossible. The best approach is to start by dividing the mean colony into as many splits as possible. In doing so, you dilute the “strength in numbers.” Two frames of brood (one open and one capped) One frame of honey, nectar, and pollen (This frame is very important—the number of resource frames is what helps determine how many splits you can make.) Two frames of either drawn comb or new foundation Install in a nuc box Check back in three to four days. Whichever split has eggs is the one with the queen. Tip: If you leave all the splits close together, the foragers will all migrate back to the box with the queen in it, making it easy to determine her location. Locate the bad queen, kill her, and give new queens to all the splits. You will find it’s much easier to find her in a small split, plus you will find that the bad attitude of all the splits has reduced dramatically. Important: Wait 2–24 hours before installing a queen in the hive where you killed the original queen. Follow postsplitting instructions of feeding nonstop until filling a full-size box and adding more boxes as they grow. Safety Precautions It’s a good idea to bring in a mentor or expert to help with an aggressive hive. Let’s face it—you will be making them even madder than they were before. If you live in a suburban setting, I recommend moving the hot hive to a new, more rural location before splitting or requeening the colony. Always suit up really well when working with a hot hive—meaning head, face, body, hands, and feet covered. I would also go as far as taping zipper junctions off with duct tape to prevent any breaches. (Ask me how I know.) Last, make this split in the middle of a sunny, calm day, and smoke them really, really well as you make the split. See “Making Successful Splits”
Photo Credit: Susan Caldwell
PROTECTIVE GEAR
Might be a good time for a new suit!
CHANGING THE ATTITUDE OF A HOT HIVE
Photo Credit: Chari Elam
Beekeeping can be challenging enough—dealing with nutritional issues shouldn’t make it worse! It’s not often that we single out a product to talk about; but when it’s a game changer, we would be remiss if we didn’t. Join Chari Elam as she talks with Dr. Carson about how and why Complete was created. You will be astounded by the story! Complete contains 156 natural ingredients, some of which you would never associate with a nutritional supplement. His depth of knowledge of the issues facing our bees today, along with his ability to explain it, will grab your attention, enticing you to take notice. You will also learn some never-before-heard tricks on how he suggests feeding Complete to your bees along with when and how often to do it. This is a must-watch for all levels of beekeepers!
TBS Beekeeper Chat with Dr. Joe Carson The Natural Science Behind Complete
COMPLETE Contains Full-Strength Nozevit, Optima & Bee Cleanse
with Chari Elam
"Complete” user testimonials: “Frames sprayed with 'Complete'/syrup mixture had the bees drawing foundation out much faster than those not sprayed.” “'Complete' fed hives were much more 'vibrant' compared to 'control' hives.” “'Complete'/syrup was really consumed much faster in the spring and fall feedings; they really took the syrup up!” “We now use thin 'Complete'/syrup in a pump sprayer in place of smoker. Our bees love the smell and it really calms them down.” “We like the plant polyphenols and phytonutrients along with the herbals in 'Complete'; it’s like probiotics for bees!” “Our bees seem to be developing a hygienic behavior as we drench at the recommended schedule of four times four days apart.” “We use it as a syrup saver to extend the life of our syrup. We know the 15 essential oils are anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-fungal, which we like when it is poured over the frames as a drench.”
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By Blake Shook and Chari Elam
Look closely—the evidence of a nectar flow is right on the top of the frames in the form of white wax.
HOW TO TELL IF THE NECTAR FLOW HAS BEGUN AND WHEN IT'S TIME TO ADD HONEY SUPERS
Learning to tell when your primary surplus nectar flow begins is critical to determining when to add supers, when to work backward from making splits, when to harvest, and so on. Bees can begin bringing in nectar as soon as flowers start blooming in the spring; however, they often don’t produce enough nectar to provide a surplus. Therefore, we usually distinguish between a nectar flow and a surplus nectar flow. In the vast majority of cases, the late spring/early summer surplus nectar flow is the one that makes the most honey for us to harvest. The methods for determining if it has begun are the same for spring and summer as they are for fall. However, in most cases, a fall flow is going to be more subtle. In about two-thirds of the country, the fall honey produced isn’t enough to harvest and is left for the bees. Here are some of the ways to tell if a flow has begun: Ask local beekeepers. They are going to be an awesome resource for you. In a quick conversation, they will be able to tell you when the flow usually begins most years and what flowers to watch for. However, each year can vary by a few weeks, and even a handful of miles can make a difference in the quantity and type of forage. Read the flowers! Once you become a beekeeper, you’ll be constantly watching the road ditches, empty fields, and your property for flowers. Learning what the primary nectar-producing flowers and plants are in your area is critical. Once you see them beginning to bloom, you’ll know the primary nectar flow has begun. Is it the right time of year? While the date on which flowers bloom can vary somewhat each year, it’s not normally more than a few weeks difference. What are the bees telling you? This, along with watching when high-nectar-producing flowers begin blooming, is the most accurate way to determine if a nectar flow has begun. If your bees are readily drawing comb, you see frames of shimmering nectar (and you aren’t feeding), and your bees are adding bits of white comb to the top bars of your frames, the honey flow has begun. Can I add a honey super? Depending on your location, half of the US will be adding honey supers by the end of this month. Determining when to add a honey super can drill down to being colony specific. Some may be ready while others are not. Logic tells us the previously mentioned indicators will be the first clue, but more than that—is this hive ready? Things to look for: A healthy population of bees in both the top and bottom boxes Frames with 80% drawn comb (virtually no empty frames in the brood boxes) Visible white wax being built Nectar coming in and being stored in your hive Tips: To maximize your honey production, utilizing drawn-comb foundation (if you have it) in your honey supers can speed up the process exponentially. Are your frames stored with Para-Moth? If yes, it will be time to take them out of storage to air within the next week or two. For frames stored in a freezer, you need to take them out to thaw only a day before installing. Adding new undrawn foundation in your honey supers? Once installed, continue to feed syrup for a week or so, allowing the bees time to start drawing comb on the new frames. When a fist-size amount of wax is being drawn on the frames, stop feeding and add a queen excluder if you use them.
ASK THE EXPERT: When should you add honey supers?
Tara Chapman (Two Hives Honey) says: "I'd rather be a week early than an hour late adding my supers!"
What size honey super should I use? That answer might depend on how much you want to lift after it's done! Deep = 60-85 pounds (5-8 gallons) Medium = 35-60 pounds (3-5 gallons)
Watch as Blake shows us what a colony that recently had a second deep added and is now nearing time for a honey super looks like. He also gives great advice on how to speed up the process of drawing comb on foundation.
Listen as expert beekeeper Cameron Crane gives us his thoughts on which size honey super to use.
Occasionally I see posts or comments in Facebook beekeeping groups about pelletized lime for ant control and small hive beetle control. I didn’t know what this product was and decided to learn more. Pelletized lime is a limestone rock that has been crushed, ground into a fine powder, and then granulated. Its primary use is as a soil amendment to neutralize acidity. Powdered lime is used for the same purpose, but pelletized is easier to handle and apply because it is solid pieces rather than a dust that blows about too easily. Other uses for crushed and ground lime include neutralizing odors in animal stalls and kitty litter, aggregate for road construction, and white pigment for toothpaste. In the Facebook group Beekeeping Basics, Ruta Panomitros posted on July 12, 2023, about her four-year battle against small hive beetles. She said, “This year I put down pelletized lime under the hives and all around them after reading about it. Today I did a thorough inspection of all four hives and not a single hive beetle (nor even an ant) in any of them. Wow! Thinking this was [all] I have needed all along!!” On February 21, 2024, also in Beekeeping Basics, Kristy Torrens Carr reported that she lays down pelletized lime about a half-inch to one-inch thick in a circle extending a foot outside the perimeter of her hives and doesn’t have ants or SHB and rarely sees anything else climbing up her stand legs. I found numerous comments in multiple posts from those who were having success using a brand called First Saturday Lime. It claims on the back of the bag that it can be used to “prevent ants, mites, ticks, fleas, aphids, small hive beetles, lice and other pests in organic gardens.” However, I think this product should be used with extreme caution. The product website says, “It has the ability to dry out insects, eggs and larvae by clogging up the spiracles insects use to breathe and eventually dehydrating them.” Considering that honey bees breathe through spiracles and the product is a powder, I don’t think it is a good idea to use it around beehives. It is also very expensive compared to pelletized lime, costing $32.00 for a 20-pound bag. The price for a 40-pound bag of pelletized lime found in two big-box stores near me was $4.37 and $6.78. Now that my curiosity is satisfied, I have to admit that I don’t have a problem with small hive beetles (the only “benefit” of not having any trees for shade). And though ants are rarely in my hives, they seem to consider the area immediately around the hives to be prime ant bed real estate. This makes inspections hazardous if I’m not paying attention to where I step, which is a me problem, not a bee problem. Nevertheless, as you can see by this picture, I'm giving pelletized lime a try around a few hives to see if it is effective.
By Lynne Jones
WHAT'S THE BUZZ? PELLETIZED LIME FOR ANT AND SMALL HIVE BEETLE CONTROL
WHY CHOOSE HIVE IQ? Thermally superior by design Faster spring build-up Increased honey production Improved survival rate Reduction in pest and diseases Improved hygiene
NEW PRODUCT ALERT!
If you are already using pelletized lime, I’d love to hear what your experience has been and see photos of your setup. You can message me on Facebook or send an email to BrazosRiverHoney77474@gmail.com.
The signs are right in front of you!
Photo Credit: Kim Townsend
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SWARM INDICATORS
So much of preventing swarms is just knowing what to look for before it happens, hopefully with enough time to intervene and prevent it! Here are the indicators, some of which are obvious, while others are not so obvious. High population—hive is more than 80% full of bees Sealed brood greatly outnumbers open brood All frames are mostly if not all drawn comb White wax randomly placed (on the top bars, sidewalls, etc.) Backfilling of nectar in the brood nest An overabundance of drone brood Multiple queen cups The proactive beekeeper (what we all aspire to be) will take action at the discovery of any of these indicators either by equalizing the beeyard or making splits. Doing so will prevent the loss of half of your colony and potentially an entire hive if the swarm leaves behind a hive that isn’t able to survive due to being queenless if the hive fails to raise a queen successfully. Beyond that, approximately 1 in 6 swarms survive the first year. Therefore, the swarm that left has very slim chances of surviving. Knowing this gives us that much more reason to prevent swarming from our own colonies.
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A WINDOW INTO THE WORLD OF BEE REMOVALS
By Dan Jones, aka Bee Man Dan
At some point after family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances learn you are a beekeeper, you will be contacted about removing bees from their water meter, compost bin, shed, eaves, or attic. In case you aren’t familiar, the term cutout is what we call a bee removal from a building (structure) or any location when comb is being “cut out” to be removed. Most experienced beekeepers have the skills to perform cutouts from water meters and other locations that are easily accessible. These types of cutouts are called nonstructural removals. Equipment you might expect to use are a smoker, a hive tool, a queen clip, a hive box with frames, and a plastic tub or bucket. When you get a request to remove bees, the first thing you should do is ask for photos or video. Many people do not know the difference between bees and wasps, and a photo will save you a wasted trip. After doing a few cutouts, you might decide it’s worthwhile to make or invest in a bee vacuum. This purchase will speed up the process and in turn produce a return on that investment in time saved. As you do more of these types of removals and you develop the skills and equipment, structural cutouts will likely become your next step. This will require at the very least a general construction knowledge and a decent amount of experience with tools, especially saws and pry bars. To put it simply, you’ll need to know where and how to cut—and more importantly, where not to cut. It is very easy to cut a load-bearing structure and cause catastrophic damage to the building. You should have liability insurance to do these, and some jobs will require proof of insurance. In addition to general construction knowledge and experience with tools, a FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) camera is a must-have in your tool box. It can usually locate the colony inside of a structure and give you an idea of its size. This information helps in deciding how to best gain access. Unfortunately, since the camera’s image depends on the heat signature of the colony being in contrast to its surroundings, it is less effective or completely ineffective in the heat of summer. During such times you'll be forced to make an educated guess as to where they might be. Even with years of experience telling you where the colony is likely to be, sometimes it’s not where you expect and you end up making multiple breaches until you find it. Some complications often encountered involve customers who neglected their problem for years or who attempted to solve their problem with pesticides. In removals where the bees have been there for sometimes years, the amount of old comb can be extensive—more than what the active colony is actually using. In these cases, home repairs have also often been neglected, and you should note all preexisting issues before starting the removal and inform the customer of any issues you find during the removal, like rotting wood or termite damage. When pesticides have been used, you may find that the size of the colony is small compared to the amount of comb found. A smaller colony might also be harder to detect with FLIR. Depending on how recently they were poisoned, you could find yourself removing dead, rotting bees along with small hive beetle larvae. Of course, all of this must be disposed of and your equipment disinfected afterward. After the bees are removed, who will be responsible for performing repairs? Making repairs requires the skill and knowledge of a professional handyman. If you don’t provide the repairs, developing relationships with those who do can be helpful to your customers so you can provide a list of contractors you have worked with. Don’t be lured in by the phrase “free bees.” Cutouts do not mean free bees! On the contrary. Between the time, energy, and usually a lot of sweat that goes into removing and rehoming the colony, you’ll quickly realize they are not free. As its own subset in the beekeeping industry, unless the cutout is a favor for a good friend or for family, you should charge a fee for your work. How much? This can be determined by many factors: your skill set, the location of the removal, the intensity of the job, and the cost of materials needed to complete it. It doesn’t hurt to ask other bee removers in your area for a general idea of what they charge as well to give you a benchmark. Explaining the general process to the customer and determining expectations of both parties is imperative and must be put into writing, along with your rates, in the form of a signed contract for protection of both the client and you. Providing bee cutouts services is not without risk. The most common is the exposure to heat. Suffering from a heat-related incident makes you more vulnerable to it happening again. I myself have had multiple heat exhaustions and a heat stroke. As a result, I am passionate about education on heat stress prevention and highly recommend getting the OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool app for your phone. Other risks include falling from heights, like ladders and roofs, and falling through ceilings, and there’s the risk of electrocution and, of course, bee stings. Removing bees can be very taxing and laborious and is certainly not for the fainthearted, but it is without a doubt one of the most unique jobs and you will constantly be amazed by the places it’ll take you. If you find you have a knack for bee removals, enjoy it, and have a few paid jobs under your belt, consider joining the Texas Association of Professional Bee Removers and start a side gig. Beekeepers registered with the Texas Apiary Inspection Service are excluded from complying with the Texas Structural Pest Control Act pursuant to Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1951, Structural Pest Control, Section 1951.056. See this link. It is imperative that you check with your state and local authorities to find out what you need to do to comply with their laws and regulations.
Dan Jones is a United States veteran doing bee removals in the Houston, Texas, area with 200 five-star Google reviews. For more information about Bee Man Dan, go to HOUSTONBEEMANDAN.COM
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IRISH HONEY POT ROAST
1 cup - Irish ale, substitute apple cider, if desired 4 cloves - garlic, minced 2 tsp. - dried thyme 2 cups - carrots, chopped 2 cups - potatoes, chopped 2 cups - parsnips, chopped 2 cups - leeks, chopped 1/2 cup - cold water
DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and pepper. Dredge roast in flour mixture, coating all sides. Reserve remaining flour mixture. In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the roast and sear sides first until well browned. Next sear and brown the top and bottom of the roast, about 4 to 5 minutes each. Add broth, honey, ale, garlic, and thyme. Cover and roast in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Add vegetables, cover, and cook 1 hour more, or until meat is fork tender. Remove meat and vegetables to a platter and keep warm. To prepare gravy, add cold water to reserved flour mixture. Whisk water-flour mixture into remaining juices in Dutch oven pan. Place Dutch oven over medium-high heat and bring mixture to a boil. Continue to stir and cook until thickened. Season to taste and serve with meat and vegetables. TIP If desired, you may slow cook the roast in a crock-pot. Follow directions above through browning of pot roast. Place vegetables in bottom of crock-pot and place meat on top, cutting as necessary to fit. Add remaining ingredients, except water. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours. Prepare gravy as above.
YIELD:Makes 8 to 10 servings INGREDIENTS 1/2 cup - flour 1 tsp. each - salt and pepper 4 to 5 lb. - pot roast, 7-blade, rump or top round 2 T - oil 1 can (14 oz.) - beef broth 1/2 cup - honey
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