Much to report

A lot has happened since the last blog on the 12th.

In regard to my email about the bee with deformed wings and the mite count, Jeremy Rose replied- "50 mites is way too many. The mite away strips did not work. Order some Apiguard and treat it with that. Order a queen from me and requeen the hive in April." I asked him why I would need to requeen, and his somewhat cryptic answer implied that my current queen and her off-spring are not resistant to the mite and eventually will succumb. I have been thinking about this, and it makes sense. I still would like Carniolans- I will find out if Jeremy has those and if not, where a more mite-resistant strain can be found.
I did order the Apiguard and put it in the hive January 16th. Usually this is used in spring. The instructions say to close the screen bottom and to leave some room above the tray with the thymol gel. To close the screen bottom, I cut a piece of cardboard to sit on top of the beetle trap tray and fit up against the screen. There is a special spacing device one can buy to provide room. Also, it is implied in the instructions that there are no supers on the brood box. Since I have two supers with honey, I wasn't certain what to do. So I left the supers on and put an empty medium box over the brood box. This may leave too much empty space in the hive, but I'll just have to wait and see. One leaves the Apiguard tray in for 2 weeks; I'll take a look and replace the tray on the 30th. On the right you can see the cardboard sticking out the back and the empty super.

This time I did not resist temptation and took out one frame of honey. I replaced it with one of the new frames I purchased for the new hive. It tastes just like....honey!

The Vivaldi top I ordered arrived and is now in the shed awaiting paint. I needed more frames and a screen bottom that I ordered from Dadant. The screen bottom they sent was defective (the front of the screen was not attached). I called them and the sent a new one (arrived today) and took back the old.

Professor Tom Seeley wrote back. In regards to my question about foraging, he referred me to a chart in his book that shows foraging distance deduced from the waggle dances observed in one hive. Most foraging is done thousands of meters from the hive. He said one can use any sort of paint to mark the bees, just don't get any on the wings. In regards my question about interning; "As for interns/helpers, I'm sorry to have to report that I need to give top priority to the undergraduate students attending Cornell. But thank you for your interest!" I guess I'll have to apply to Cornell.

You probably have read about the parasitic fly that is killing bees. To check to see if there are any in my hive, I've been collecting dead bees and watching for the emergence of any flies. Little did I know that dead bees begin to have a putrid odor after a couple of days.

I built a new hive stand for next spring. It will hold two hives.