h) Hive management & inspection

[Barbara]

Thank you for your imput. As a new beekeeper, I was going in much too infrequent....I did so hoping to stress them less. I had a BOOMING colony and every time I saw them with nothing to do, I'd check to see their progress and often would give them something more to do... i.e. adding honey soupers, ventillating more etc. They were busy drawing out comb, collecting nectar and pollen. Well all of a sudden it looked like my booming hive was a quarter of it's original size. On friday, after work (a 90 degree day) I went in to see what was going one.(had no choice, I needed to know and were they nasty!) I went through seven frames before I found a very small bit of larva. I was sure I rolled the queen! My mentor came over on Sunday....blessed blessed Mentors....to all you Master Beekeepers that have the time and patience to mentor people like me...THANK YOU..... Back to story, we saw more larva than two days before...so I've got someone laying and because of the pattern it looks like a queen, but is she a virgin? I'll find out next Saturday. Lesson learned: forget about not stressing the girls...GO IN OFTEN! I saw queen cells but I thought that was a natural pattern to excect when and if they decide to fly away! I kept giving them more room, and more things "to do"...I just guess it might be a little arrogant to think I can "control" their entire process.
As to you comment about shoveling out in the winter... might I suggest you invest in a good pair of snow shoes? That's what I always did for my dog. My snow shoes cleared the path for him to walk and sniff and potty, and I also created a path to the bird feeders. I easily tramped down all that snow without the back breaking task of shoveling. Plus it was fun! Treat yourself to a pair, it's like wearing flip flops over your boots in the winter. Again....THANK YOU MENTORS!

[AR Beekeeper]

There are many beekeepers who do not use queen excluders in their hive management. I have found it to be a useful tool and I think many of the problems with it's use during the spring honey flow results from improper timing and improper placement.

The queen should be allowed free access to all of the boxes in the brood/food chambers until the time the supers of comb for surplus are added. When the queen excluder is added it should split the brood nest, not be placed above it.

When the brood nest is split, the worker bees do not hesitate to pass up through the excluder to tend to the brood or to place nectar in the honey supers. An upper exit for drones and workers should be made by using a shim with an opening above the excluder or by sliding one of the honey supers about 1/4 in to the rear. Bees like to store pollen near an entrance so the upper entrance works well when two medium supers are used for the brood/food chamber above the excluder.

Bees draw wax well during the spring flow and above brood is the place where they draw comb all the way down to the frames bottom bar. If there is no mid-summer nectar flow after the spring flow ends, the excluder can remain in place to limit the number of workers produced that would be "consumers and not producers". If there is a heavy fall flow the excluder would be removed to allow workers to laid for the fall flow. In all cases the excluder is removed before winter.

[Barbara]

AR
I am confused. I understand the timing of the excluder - I should put it on when I put on my honey supers. You made me think about using it as managing tool by limiting the number of bees being laid during a dry spell... good idea. But when you say split...
let's say the hive has two deeps and anything above them are the honey supers... you're suggesting putting the excluder between the two deeps? and leaving the queen in the bottom deep? and if I'm using mediums instead (which I plan to switch to next year)....three mediums = two deeps...are you saying to put the excluder above the second medium leaving her below?
Fascinating!

Thank you...

[AR Beekeeper]

Yes that is what I ment when I recommended splitting the brood nest. With brood above the excluder workers pass through it and once the traffic flow begins it continues.

In a 7 or 8 days you should check the brood above the excluder for queen cells. Often when a queen is kept from one of the brood chambers the bees start queen cells. All that is needed is to cut cells once and then no more will be started because they have no eggs/larvae of the proper age.

[Barbara]

If this is a duplicate response forgive me.

I now get what you mean..and yes, without new larva to create another queen, there would be no queen making.... But what about the bottom brood box, wouldn't she prepare for succession if she thinks there is no more room for her colony? What would the fix be for that, or would one need to monitor her weekly?

Thanks

[AR Beekeeper]

Usually by the time the spring nectar flow is underway and you see white wax being placed on the combs the colony has gotten past the swarming period. If you use Walt Wright's method of swarm control (Checkerboarding) the colony usually will not swarm.

Let me describe my spring management. The first nectar flow (about the first week in March) is a minor flow and it starts when Henbit and Red Nettle starts to grow in the lawns and pastures. The bees use all the nectar in their build up and little is stored as surplus. It is at this point I checkerboard and add 1 super of drawn comb on top. My hive configuration is a deep, 2 mediums checkerboarded and a medium with ten frames of drawn comb. No excluders are used at this time.

The next good flow is from Red Bud trees (about the 23 of March). The colonies will store surplus on this flow if they are strong and the flow lasts longer than a week to ten days. If no swarm control is used the first swarms will issue in about 2 week after the trees are in full bloom. The queen still has the run of the hive and usually will have 8 frames of brood in the deep, 8 frames in the bottom medium and 6 in the next. Usually they use the top medium to store incomming nectar.

The spring darth starts after Red Bud stop producing. Little or no surplus is stored until the first or second week of May. This is when white wax is produced and the bees will start to draw foundations. This is when I add the mediums for surplus honey and place the queen excluder to keep the queen in the deep on the bottom. Little or no swarming occurs after the main nectar flow starts but you may have supersedure occur about the first week of June. You will have to learn the plants to look for in your area that signal the start of nectar flows and the swarming period in your location.

[Barbara]

My goodness, I should be working but this is too fascinating not to keep it coming... I will do a "checkerboard' search to find out what that is...it almost sounds as if you put one super facing east and west and the other north and south but that would have to bee supers with eight frames I would think. I'll find an answer to checkerboarding later...

But I have probably the silliest question of all. I am a gardener. Have been one since forever. But I do not know the signs of "nectar flow". How do you know if the nectar is flowing? Am I watching the bees? Do I watch the flowers with bees on it... How do I know?

And your hive configuration is one deep with THREE mediums on top? then you add honey supers? Why do you keep the deep? Do you never rotate the supers? So many quesitons... so much to learn... what a fabulous hobby!

Great advise, just great... I am copying and pasting these for rereading during winter.

[DRUR]

I have always been one for planning; although the best laid plans may not come to fruition. I think this is one of the hardest things for the beginners to do. In management of the colony, one should first know what the needs of the colony is, and so when inspecting, should measure the current status against those needs, which are different for different times of the year. With winter coming on rapidly, those management objectives should now be focusing on

1. Sufficient population to make it through the winter in order to maintain the cluster, (this means that one must have a healthy productive queen also)

2. Sufficient stores to provide heat/energy to maintain cluster temperatures, (this means that one needs to know what the requirements for his local area is)

3. Sufficient stores to provide for the early spring buildup necessary to give the colony a good start for a productive 'next year' that we are all hoping for.

[AR Beekeeper]

Knowing when nectar is being produced by flowers is learned by talking to beekeepers in your area and finding out when nectar producing plants bloom. Then you watch those plants for bees working them. All beekeeping is local, areas differ at to plants producing nectar(soil/moisture conditions) and blooming dates. Books on beekeeping will aid in understanding what plants produce and when.

Watching the hive entrance can tell you if bees are getting nectar and pollen, watch for increased activity and bees with pollen in their baskets. Some plants produce in the mornings only, some in the afternoon, and some all day. Some plants furnish pollen as well as nectar, some only pollen. Bees heavy with nectar fly into the "landing pattern" like they are carrying a heavy weight. When you do an inspection you will start to see open cells with nectar in them and if you turn the comb on it's side nectar will drip out.

When the main nectar flow ends my hive configuration is a deep for the brood chamber proper, 2 mediums for the food chambers/brood chambers, and any mediums (varies from none to 3) that contain surplus honey. The food chambers were filled with nectar as the brood they contained hatched. Those 2 mediums will hold 30 to 35 pounds of food each.

When I remove surplus supers I leave the queen excluder on to confine the queen to the bottom deep. I have no nectar flow after the sumac blooms in late June. The bees will have to live on what they have until mid September when the small white aster blooms. I don't want a large population to feed until the build up for winter. I use Buckfast, Russians and their crosses and they are frugal with their stores.

I requeen in July. I have found that after a queen has gone through winter and a spring nectar flow she may fail and be superseded in late fall or winter. I prefer that I not try to over winter with a queen that did not have a large number of drones to mate with. I clip and mark my queens so I know the age they are and can tell if they have been superseded.

The best things you can have to ensure overwintering success is a young queen and a good population of young adult bees. The first of August I break down the colonies to the screened bottom board and re-configure the hive. I place the lighest of the medium food chambers on the bottom board, place the deep on top of it, remove the queen excluder and place the heaviest medium on top.

During the months of August and September the bees will eat or remove all the honey in the bottom medium. What they don't eat they store in the broodnest. They store pollen in the bottom medium as they remove the honey. The removal and relocation of the honey act as an automatic feeder and causes the queen to increase the rate of egg laying. In mid September I check food stores and if any colonies are short they get 2:1 sugar syrup. I want a full medium on top of the deep and I want 4 or 5 frames full in the deep. I consider this amount of food the minimum and if I have the extra honey I leave 2 mediums on top. It is hard to predict the spring weather, I don't know if we have "average" years anymore and I am lazy and don't like to feed.

A deep full of brood doesn't weigh any more than a medium of honey and I don't have to lift it often. I sell a few nucs and customers want deep frames. Each deep frame has 3 in. more usable comb space than a medium and the cost is not much different (I'm not only lazy, I'm cheap too).

My screened bottom boards remain open the year around, I use 3/8 in high enterances which I close to around 2 1/2 in to prevent robbing on warm winter days. Here in the south moisture is not a problem so I do nothing about ventilation.

Remember that in beekeeping nothing works 100%. What works for me may not work for someone else. All beekeeping is local and good locations will excuse many beekeeper's mistakes. Your bees are your bees, keep them to suit yourself. The purpose of being a hobby beekeeper is to have fun! Last but not least, remember bees are only a bunch of bugs!

[Barbara]

Thank you AR, I have learned much today! Your last sentence..."remember bees are only a bunch of bugs!" is the best. I'm not there yet but I will keep that in mind. Every morning I bring them food, every evening when I come home from work I bring them food. Every time I do something to the hive I second guess myself...convincing myself I've either rolled the queen or made such a huge mistake they all are going to die! There is so much to learn (which I adore). I call this nothing less than "sacred science". Thanks for mentioning Walt. I started reading his information. Actually I didn't even know that those resources were available on this forum...so thank you for that! I look forward to more continued sharing. Have a wonderful weekend!
Barbara