Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Late season bee update

Checked on the two hives. Both installed out of 4 frame nucs in April. One had a bit of excess honey. The other was a bit slower. Think one queen's a protestant and the other catholic. Moved things around and gave the slower hive a couple mediums of honey from the stronger one.

They're foraging and bringing in big baskets of orange pollen.. Thought they might be testy due to the flow falling off. But pretty tolerant considering.

Thinking I might have to re-queen the slower one either in a couple weeks or next Spring. Not sure if I can get a queen this late. Might also be able to raise one form the stronger have next Spring and re-queen then. Still have a couple nuc boxes I never got back for the deposit, so I can use those. Humm...

You should have about 60 pounds of honey going into winter to keep the girls healthy and happy. Less than that and you need to be feeding them.

Had wax moths hit my weak hive, the one out of the old house. I looked at them a week ago and everything looked OK, and looked a week later and things were a mess. I don't know if I will save them or not. Strong hive shows no signs. Made a moth trap and put out there. We shall see. miles

Probably going to make a feeder/shim boards and some sugar cakes to put on each of the hives in the Fall. Pretty sure the protestant hive is going to need some help. Might help with moisture over winter as well.

Wax moths are what ended my first stint with bees in the '80. I'd pull the bad frames and get some XenTari BT to treat. Might help..?

I put a whole new hive there and swept the bees into it. Then put a frame of brood from the strong hive. I don't know if I will save them or not, at this point. It was infested bad in a short time. Put up a moth trap, and burning a citronella candle away from the hives at night to try to lure the moths away from the area. I put all of the wax out of the old hive into a pan and heated it to kill the larva. So much crap, I can't even save the wax. I also narrowed the hive entrance. Studying about how to make sure the strong hive does not go down. miles

Wax moths and hive beetles are both really bad this year, The worst I remember them being in 5 or 6 years.

My hives are strong thankfully but I still find moths on the outside of the hives waiting for a chance to get in, And I generally pressure test several hive beetles every time I open a hive.

Don't have SHB here. Yet...

Lots of hive beetles here. I got lucky and saw them when my hive was new, and got on the internet and found ways to keep them in check. I did not know there was such a thing, but was looking at my new hive and saw one land and go into the hive. I thought it strange and started looking for what it was. Otherwise I would have been way behind the curve on keeping them in check. I still have a few in the hive but only see 1 or 2 each time I look, and I usually kill those. miles

Miles,

Have you done a mite count this year? I'll bet the reason why you've got moths is because the hive is weakened from something else, like mites.

I did an alcohol wash test at the beginning of the month. One hive (the protistant smaller one) was at about 2%. The catholic one was at around 8%. They both got MAQS (formic acid) treatments the next day. Mite drop was very high on the catholic hive so I think I did the count correctly.

Will probably do another 1/2 dose treatment next month before going into Winter.

-Steve

I have not, but went to a bee club meeting a week or so ago where they advised and showed how. This Hive was weak but it was from a different reason. I got these bees out of an old house and did not get the queen. I did get brood, so they raised a queen, but the time involved made them not be very big in numbers yet. I should have moved a brood frame over from the strong hive a helped with numbers, but I am new at this. miles

Put some 1:1 feed on the Protestant hive yesterday. By this morning most of it was gone. Switched up to 5:3 and they were all over it in a half an hour.

Used some poultry waterers with some HW cloth in the trough to let them climb in and out of on. Works pretty well, though had to make some shims to get them to fit under mediums.

TTT

I made some traps for wax moths that seem to work. I am catching moths, but can't say for sure that they are wax moths. Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.

Take a 2 litre plastic pop bottle and drill a 1 inch hole just below the slope on the neck, then add 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 half cup vinegar and finally 1 banana peel. Wait a few days till it starts to ferment, then tie it into a tree close to the hives. This trap will draw the wax moth, they enter the hole can't get out and drown in the liquid, this will even draw in and kill the bald faced hornet.

Mine did not drown, but I put my finger over the hole, and shook them up to get their wings wet, and poured them through a strainer to save the liquid, and then stomped the crap out of them. They died. I put up another yesterday, and have enough mix to put up another today. miles

I have another question. On my strong hive, the top super is a medium and is really heavy with honey, mostly capped, but there are area's in every frame that is not capped but full of honey. Do I need to wait until it is all capped to extract the honey? I think it is not fully cured until capped, but I am new to bee keeping, and there is a lot that I don't know about all this stuff. miles

My understanding is that sometimes they wont cap if there's no flow on. What I'd do is give the uncapped frames a good shake over the hive. If the nectar comes out it's not ripe yet. If you're in no hurry, I'd just leave it on for a month or so and wait.

Caveat emptor as I'm still a newby, too...

Here's a good link:

http://honeybeesuite.com/partially-capped-frames-what-to-do/

Been pouring the food on the Protestant hive over the past few of weeks. Went through most of a 25lb sack of sugar. They've got most of the top medium full now. So moved the feeder over to the Catholic hive. It had a few partial frames of honey in it's second medium. Scraped those and moved them above the top cover next to the feeder so they'll move it all down into the first medium.

Still might have to feed come December with a candy board, but feeling better about how they'll make out over the Winter.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I am at the farm this weekend and both our house hive and the experimental hive are looking good.

I did a little thieving last week and ended up with 3 quarts and 12 pints of honey. Left plenty in the hive for winter and since there is still lots of flowers blooming, I might make another raid before winter. miles