Hive checks 3/31/13

Over the weekend I checked both of my beehives and found that both of the colonies had died over the winter.  I can’t tell why the one  died but the cluster was very small and most of the bees were gone. It was very clean except for the small cluster of dead.

As you can see the bees died with lots of food available but they just didn’t survive. It looks like the varrola mite took its toll on this hive and the cluster size just got to small to keep it alive.

My second beehive was attacked by what appears to be a small rodent. There were signs that the small creature had crawled in and eaten the comb and honey in the bottom brood box. This forced the cluster up into the second brood box but by the time they moved up, I believe that too many of the bees had died from the attack even though there was lots of honey and food stores in the top brood box and super.

As you can see from the photos below that cluster was very small and had started to mold. You can also see the frames that had eaten out by the rodent and the path that attack.

This is a photo of the bottom board and it shows the wax chips and dead bees from the second hive..

My new packages of bees will be here on April 13 and they will have lots of honey to get started with in these hives.

Hive check- March 2, 2013

I checked on both of my hives today. I noticed in my first hive that the cluster is very small only may be 6″ x 6″. It looks moldy on top and the cluster may be dead.

The other hive has a larger cluster that looks health. The hive entrance looks like some type of animal has been trying to reach into the hive entrance. There were wax scrapings on the bottom board. I put grill on the front so that the bees could get in and out but other creatures couldn’t get in.

Beehive check February 16, 2013

I checked both hives on this day and did not notice any activity in the hives. The entrance to the hives were clear and I did not see any dead bees on the bottom boards.

Noah Wilson-Rich: Every city needs healthy honey bees – Link

Noah Wilson-Rich: Every city needs healthy honey bees

Hive checks 11/17/12

On November 17, I checked both of my beehives. I removed the apistan strips from both of the hives.

My first hive showed signs of a greatly reduced cluster the bees. They gathered in the second brood box and were on the right-hand side of the box clinging on about three frames. It was very little honey Left in the brood boxes. I noticed that Yellow-jackets were flying around the Hive. I suspect that the yellow jackets have robbed the beehive. The entrance reducer was put back on the hive and two honey supers, to help them get through the winter.

The second hive, over at my in-laws, was in better shape. Both of brood boxes were still filled with honey and bees were out gathering more nectar and pollen even as I was removing the apistan strips from the hive. I put one more super of honey back on that hive.

10/11/12 Hive Check – Varroa Mite Treatment

Low temperature scanning electron micrograph (LTSEM) of Varroa destructor on a honey bee host (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Three weeks ago, I noticed that some of my bees had deformed wings. A random selection of three of the dying bees were collected in from the yard.  All three of the bees had deformed wings and one had a varroa mite on it’s back.  A hive inspection revealed that varroa mites were in the hives.  The bees were first treated with a dusting of powered sugar in hopes that they would remove the mites as they licked the sugar off one another.   I’ve watched the hives closely and haven’t seen any improvement.  Today, I installed apistan strips in the bottom brood boxes of both of my hives and removed the supers.  At this time both of the hives had lots of honey stores in the brood boxes.  The supers that were removed had lots of nectar and some capped honey.  In six to eight weeks, the apistan strips have to be removed and the supers put back on the hives.

Related articles

• Honey bees fight back against Varroa (sciencedaily.com)
• Beekeeper unfazed by varroa mite (stuff.co.nz)

Spokane County Fair – Honey Bees

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Here are some photos of the entries I made into the Spokane County Fair this year.  Three of the items I submitted received blue ribbons and one received a red ribbon.

The Amazing Nikola Tesla And The Bees

Here is a link to an interesting article about Nikola Tesla and his thoughts about bees:

The Amazing Nikola Tesla And The Bees.

via The Amazing Nikola Tesla And The Bees.

Beekeeper called to remove swarm on plane

Beekeeper removes swarm from airplane in PA. http://sco.li/QuXHSeR