News and Views from the Top Bar Hive

Doesn't the green look lovely with the grass in Valerie and Jeff's back yard? Topsy's bees were flying in and out contentedly when I arrived. They seemed happy.

I donned my bee jacket and opened up the top of the hive.




The bees had built out to about 1/3 of the box. They seemed to have used the top bars well. This top bar is the last built out top bar in the hive.



The top bar just next to it was solid brood and looked so good. I'm excited that they are doing well and building up. Hip Hip Hooray!
I only pulled two bars - they are living happily in the hive and doing well. Since it is exceedingly hot in Atlanta right now, I opened up the cork-stopped side opening to give them a little air circulation and another door.

Trading Spaces - Bee Style

The Easter hive has been overwhelmingly successful ever since they arrived on Easter Sunday. The hive is full of honey and so many bees. I made a split from the hive to replace my L hive and the split is doing well.

Mellona, on the other hand, came weakly through the winter and has been slow to build up. Mellona has a queen who continues to lay well, but they are still in two boxes and the third is full of empty frames.

Today I decided to trade spaces, moving the Easter bees into Mellona's spot and vice versa. The bees were so unhappy that I was doing this. Easter bees spilled out everywhere and I was swirling in bees.

In the end the move did take place and both hives calmed down.  Interestingly I got stung about four times on my right thigh as I moved the biggest boxes from Easter.  In the past at night those places would be swollen and itchy.  In reality, five years into this, I can't find the places on my leg where I was stung tonight!



The bees who were bearding at the Easter hive did not move with the boxes, and I was scared they would kill the Mellona queen. I posted about this on Beemaster and was reassured that the queen is surrounded by her own nurse bees in the brood box and the foragers aren't likely to be interested in killing her. They are just confused.



So below is how the two hives looked at 5 PM.


Now at 10 PM you can see the thick beard of Easter bees on Mellona and a collection in front of the new Easter location as well. We'll hope for the best and see what happens as the new location becomes a reality for foragers tomorrow.

Slimed! SHB kills Another of My Beehives

The damage from SHB is so slimy and so gross.  The queenless hive, left for a week while I went to a conference is in a state of complete demise.  SHB slime and larvae were everywhere.

We are in a dearth and bees were also everywhere - not living in the hive - but robbing out any and all nectar that they could find.  There were so many and they looked so organized that at first I thought a swarm might have moved in while I was gone, but watching closely it was clear that these bees were invaders.

In most robbing instances the bees are at battle - resident bees against the marauders.  In this hive, there were so few bees and they were so quickly defeated that the bees entering the hive to rob it, entered without the caution or hesitancy that robbers usually employ.

Below you can see the sheen of the slime.



Most gross are the slimy larvae of the small hive beetle.


Here's a huge pile of them.  I left the hive wide open to the sunlight to get rid of the larvae.  I said in an earlier post that I would be ordering nematodes but I didn't do it.  That's first on my list today.



I've now lost two hives to small hive beetles - first time in my beekeeping history.

On the good news side, I went to a talk by Cindy Bee at Young Harris on rendering wax.  She used the combs that had been slimed by SHB.  I ordered a burner (she uses a propane burner but I got an electric one) and will have an opportunity to melt down this gross wax using her methods.  Then I'll probably take the product and render it a second time in the solar wax melter.

Pittsburgh Company Helps the Oil Spill with BEESWAX!

The naturebee listserv I subscribe to posted this link to a news item from about a company in Pittsburgh.

The environmentally friendly "boom" they produce is being used in the Gulf to contain the oil.  The boom actually uses beeswax as its ingredient.  In the process the oil disappears!

The company can't keep up with the demand.  I am wondering where they get their beeswax.  There's no mention of an apiary behind the factory.  Be sure to watch the video on the right of the screen.

Here's the link.

Don's Queen is Doing Well in the Little Nuc

The little blue nuc hive with Don's queen is doing well.  I opened it today and saw five SHBs immediately.  I gave them the hive tool treatment.  I checked the AJ's traps (I have two on the hive) and both had lots of SHB in them.  I mixed apple cider and oil and put it in the traps and replaced them on the hive.

The hive was only occupying the bottom box.  However, the queen is laying nicely as you can see in the photos below.  There's lots of brood as well as new eggs.



I am hesitant to feed at this time of year - even inside the hive because of the possibility of robbing occurring in the dearth of nectar.  But I may feed these girls with a sandwich baggie feeder to help them build up a little.



I am pleased they are doing well and only looked at this one frame before closing up the hive.  I thought there would be no point in possibly causing injury to bees or the queen by inspecting further and I had seen what I needed to see.

Real Simple Doesn't Know a Bee - Public Travesty

In my current issue of Real Simple (July 2010) I was horrified to read an article entitled:  "Bug-Repelling Basics" on page 119.  Their web page brags that the article is "an expert guide on how best to protect yourself."

Reaction #1:  In a chart entitled:  "Know your enemy" they say of honeybees:  "Honeybees like the colors of flowers but they can't see red (so you're safe next to the geraniums)" - implying mistakenly that you are not safe anywhere else.  As beekeepers know, honeybees are very unlikely to sting you unless you are standing in their flyway right in front of their hive.

Reaction #2:  In that same chart they say, "Never swat at one or the whole colony might chase after you for several hundred feet to defend their nest."    REALLY?  Maybe Africanized bees in south Florida - but not in most parts of the country.

Reaction #3:  On page 124 there is a HUGE picture of a yellow jacket.  With an arrow pointing to the yellow jacket, the print reads:  "Bees don't discriminate.  They are just as liable to sting your dog as they are you......."

OMG - I am not a Facebook poster, but I am heading for their Facebook page right now to share my comments about promoting continued ignorance about the difference in yellow jackets and honeybees.

Emergency Honey Repair

After being away at a conference for a week, today was my first opportunity to look into my hives.  The Easter hive is doing well, although they only have wax and honey in the first four frames of their top box.  I pulled up one frame to see if the honey were fully capped.  It's a thick honeycomb and I tore some cappings from the other side.



"Waste not, want not," has to be the motto of the bees right now.  The nectar flow was over way too quickly and they can't spare a drop of honey.  Bees in the hive immediately  marshaled forces to retrieve the leaked honey from the frame top.  You can see their tongues (red) pulling the honey into their honey stomachs.



The emergency call went out and more bees circled the potentially dripping honey.  They didn't want any to fall through the hive to the ground.



In the end, all the possible places were taken in the circle as the bees rushed to save their precious product.  I felt bad about tearing the cappings, but loved getting to see this growing bee circle!

Queenless Hive Updates

I'm out of town, visiting my daughter in Cumberland, MD and then going to a professional conference in Roanoke, West Virginia (yes, West Virginia) for my real work instead of my love of bees.  So there won't be new pictures until I am home in Atlanta again next weekend.

I did a hive check of most of my Atlanta hives on Saturday before I left.  Here's the inventory:

1.  Blue Heron......after raising their own queen, they are getting along, but not putting up any honey for me.  They are barely putting up honey for them.  I'll be interested to hear from other beekeepers in Georgia because I think we had the shortest nectar flow EVER this year.

2.  At home the nuc I made with Don's queen is doing OK.  I dumped hive beetles out of the two AJs traps and re-oiled them....one of them actually had dried up - the oil had evaporated in the Hotlanta heat.  But I didn't see more than one beetle in the hive.  I think these girls may survive.

3.  The other hive with Don's queen is the one that killed the first queen I put in.  I saw absolutely no signs of Don's queen - no laying, no brood, no queen.  I think this hive is on its last legs and will not survive my trip.

If there are any bees left when I get home, I'll shake them into other hives.

4.  I didn't switch places with Mellona and the Easter hive because I think I'd like to move Mellona to Rabun County.   But on the other hand I may have missed the opportunity to get them up there for the sourwood flow, so when I get back, I may still switch hive positions.

Sad picture:  I don't think I'm getting any honey this year unless the Easter hive makes some or Topsy at Valerie's house makes some.  This will be my first year with NO harvest - last year was a small harvest, but nothing like what looks like this year's calamitous results.