Experiment to save queen foiled

The colony in Olea's hive has been dying.  There are very few bees in there yet the queen has surprised me by surviving.  Today I decided that it was time to remove the comb so that I  could clean the hive and prepare it for the spring.
Once again I saw the queen with a solitary attendant.  There were at most 5 other bees in the hive eating honey.

I then took a close look at the cells on the frame.  There were eggs!  And they seemed to be in a good pattern, that is all cells in the area had an egg.  I tried to get a photo:

Those white smudges in the cells are eggs

Now what?  I thought Olea's had died because of queen failure, but maybe not.  These eggs were either dead or would soon be because there were no nurse bees to keep them warm and feed them.
But, I thought, maybe I could save the queen by putting her in a nuc with some brood from one of the other hives!
I closed up Olea's and got to work.  I fetched a nuc box from the shed.  I wanted to put in two frames of drawn comb, two frames of honey and one frame of capped brood with nurse bees on it.  I already had four frames of empty comb that had been frozen to kill any mites or wax moth eggs, so I selected two of these.  I then opened #2 and took two frames of honey from the top box.  I replaced these with two empty frames (that I had to run over to the shed to get).  I lifted off the heavy top box and looked into the bottom box.  I found a frame with capped brood, saw the queen on a different frame, misted the bees with my homemade honey-b-healthy and put it in the nuc.  Now to get the queen.
I figured I would mist her as well.  I had no idea if this would work at all.  I was essentially making a split in late fall.  The queen may have actually been failing or the nurse bees would not accept her or there were not enough workers or even something else.
I went back into Olea's and.... no queen!  I looked at each frame and the bottom of the box several times.  Where could she have gone?  Maybe crawled out and fell to the ground; I did not see her there but, of course, she would have crawled off somewhere.  Maybe a yellow jacket came and got her.  We will never know.
Now I had to put everything back into hive #2, which I did with some effort.
Lesson learned:  I brought a jar to the hive to put the queen in and then euthanize her.  I should have (shoulda, coulda, woulda) put her in the jar when I first saw her.  Then I could have later reported on the results of my experiment. 

Inspection on a cold day

On thanksgiving day I looked under the lid of #3 and saw no bees in neither the Vivaldi box nor on the visible frames.  This was the hive that had the pile of wax moth droppings in the tray.  I was concerned about its declining population so I knew I had to take a look.  
Yesterday afternoon the temperature reached 59, and even though I prefer it over 60, I felt the situation demanded an inspection,so with Seth's good help we took a look.

Photo from Maidi's iPhone

There were only a handful of bees in the top box, and after lifting it and its pounds of honey,
we searched for the brood. We tried taking the frames from one side of the hive but there was so much propolis that despite much prying we were unsuccessful.  I figure that in the cold the propolis is too hard.
We were able to get a frame loose on the other side with only minor damage to the box itself.
We looked at enough frames to find a hand-sized patch brood that looked pretty good.  It did have more empty cells than usual, but not too many.  
Since the population had decreased I wanted to decrease the hive to one box.  That way the bees would be able to keep warm and patrol for wax moths more easily.
We replaced 3 empty in the bottom box with 3 frames full of honey from the top box.
There were still a few frames of honey left so we cut one into comb honey.

 I will allow the bees to take some of the honey from the other frames then freeze them all (to kill any mites or wax moth eggs) and then use them in the hives next spring.

Giving back to the bees

 

Olea's hive is probably in trouble

Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed by looking through the observation window that the number of bees in Olea's hive seemed to be decreasing.  Today the apiary thermometer hit 62, so I was able to take a look.
There still is plenty of honey and pollen.  The brood pattern, however, did not look good.  Brood was present only in small areas on a few frames and it was spotty with lots of empty cells and scattered larvae.  I did spot the queen and saw a mite on one worker.
The most common cause of a poor brood pattern is a failing queen.  Disease such as chalkbrood or foul brood can also be a cause.  I did not see any sign of disease.
The remedy for a failing queen is to replace her but it is too late in the year for me to do so.  If the colony does not improve come spring, and they are still around, I will replace her then.  Or.... I could take the queen from my nuc and put her in the top bar hive.  I will have to think about that.

Rest assured, #2 is queenright

The thermometer hit 62 this afternoon, so I thought it would be ok to take a look into #2 in order to see if it was truly queenright.  A couple of weeks ago I had seen no larvae and no queen, but I was certain I had seen an egg, albeit only one.
The bees of both #1 & 2 were just finishing their orientation flights (as pictured above).  The top box was still pretty heavy, but I did not look into it.  In the bottom box I saw capped brood and larvae of various ages.  So even though I did not see the queen, I know she is in there doing her job.
I then took a look into the tray and it had many wax moth larvae in it.  After I cleaned out the disgusting creatures, I checked the two other trays and there were no wax moth larvae.  However, in #3 there was a pile of wax moth droppings piled up against one side like snow drifts.  So I took a quick look into just the top box and it was clear.  I figure the moths are in the bottom box and the bees know how to take care of them, I hope.

#2 is queenright, I think

There is plenty of honey in #2, mostly in the top box.  There was a small patch of sealed brood on one frame in the top box, just as there was in #1; this was worker brood, however.
In the bottom box there were 3 or 4 frames with capped brood.  I did not spot the queen nor see any larvae, but I am certain that I saw an egg.  So I will optimistically conclude that #2 is also queenright. 
Since the small swarm seemed to come from one of these hives, it looks like the bees knew what they were doing.... as usual.

Whats the haps in #1?

I am not certain that I know, but I will tell you what I saw today and what I think it means.
After I added two more angle braces to the hive stand legs, I decided to take a look into #1.  It has been two weeks since one of the hives cast a swarm and I wanted to see if both #1&2 were queen-right.  Even though it is an overcast day the thermometer is over 60 degrees.
In the top box are 8 frames full of capped honey so it seems the feeding was successful and it was okay that I stopped.  There was one small patch of capped drone cells, about a dozen, in one of the frames.
In the bottom box I saw plenty of capped brood and larvae of various ages, including less than a week old.  Even though I could not see eggs and did not spot the queen, I knew she was in there doing her duty.  So I conclude that #1 is doing well.
I then reassembled the hive (lifting again the very heavy top box).  Then I looked at the front of the hive and saw that the entrance reducer had been pushed back, far enough that bees were able to go in and out at one end.  I tried prying the reducer back into place with the hive tool, but this only succeeded in aggravating a few soldier bees.  Then I tried prying up the bottom box, but it was all too heavy.  Off went the 40+ pound top box.  I was then able to lift the bottom box but unable to move the entrance reducer.  This attempt stirred up even more bees.  I needed another tool to lift the bottom box so I could use my hive tool to move the reducer.  I got my

pry bar which has a flat, sort of thin end.  By first using my hive tool to lift the box a bit, I was able to insert the pry bar and lift the bottom box higher.  Of course, not only did the box move sideways, but also even more soldier bees were recruited.  I tried to shift the reducer, but there was too much propolis and after several attempts I abandoned that plan.
By this time there were bees flying all over the place with many landing on the netting of my bee suit.  Even though Ultra Breeze does not claim that their suit is sting-proof, I think I truly put it to the test today.
I finally just tipped the bottom box on end and moved the reducer by hand.  Then, nearly deafened by the high-pitched buzz of attacking bees, I put the hive back together (lots of heavy lifting).
I took the empty top feeders out of all the hives.  Angry bees followed me back to the shed where I used my Honey-B-Healthy spray on them.
After this overcast, possibly rainy weather passes, I will take a look into #2.

Breaking news. Cluster update

The queen has left her rock and is on the back of #2.  The number of bees traveling with her seems less.

The queen is not visible but is probably to the left of center under the ledge where a bunch of workers are facing inwards

Is she trying to get back into the hive?  I just asked Professor Seeley if queens do that.  From where she is, she can get between the beetle trap and the screen bottom.  Workers in the hive can feed her and spread her pheromones just like when a queen is in a queen cage.
I have no idea (or should I say many conflicting ideas) on how to deal with this situation.

Swarm lost...and found!

To recap: in the past couple of days, one of the hives cast a small swarm (perhaps as a supersedure).  I captured it in a nuc box and it soon thereafter left for the apple tree.

Then, yesterday morning, the cluster was gone and we all wished them good luck.
This morning, when out in the yard, I saw unusual activity around #3 hive stand.  I was trying to see what was going on when I noticed something even more unusual on the opposite side of the bridge.

 

What was going on?  I looked closely and saw a number of scouts dancing.

If you look at the video closely, you will see something special.  Here is a hint:

Here is the answer:

This cluster is just too small to survive.  There are not enough bees to take care of any brood let alone build comb for the queen to lay eggs in.  They seem to be deciding on a new home and will soon leave.

Wish them luck

I went out this morning to check on the cluster and the tree was empty of bees.  Unfortunately, they were not in the  bait box either.  Let us hope they survive in their new home.
I wrote to Professor Tom Seeley regarding my theory and he replied: I don’t have a good answer to your question.   I don’t think that the bees rejected your home because they hadn’t spent enough time in a cluster, but that would seem to explain what you have experienced.   It is certainly a testable hypothesis!  
I would set up some experiments to test it, if I had the space, supplies and undergraduate students!

A second surprise

Just as I finished the previous blog, I heard loud buzzing from the back.  There was another swarm around the lemon tree.  Then it moved back towards the apiary, hovered over the rose garden and then clustered in the Red Delicious apple tree.

A second swarm on the same day, in October?  My suspicions were aroused, and once I had looked into the nuc, my suspicions were confirmed.  The box was empty save for a couple of bees, three bee corpses and a few rose leaves.  Why did they leave/swarm again?
I have a theory.  I had put them into a "hive" very soon after they had left their mother hive.  Perhaps they were still in a swarming state of mind and therefore were compelled to leave.  As you all may recall, once before I had a captured swarm in a nuc box that left it in short order.  I previously attributed it to my having disturbed them (like a bear), but now that it has happened twice I believe it may have to do with bee behavior.  They may need to have some time clustered before they are ready to move into a new home.  I will write to Professor Seeley to see what he thinks.
In the meantime, I took the frames and feeder away from the nuc box, taped over the hole and put lemongrass oil in a pierce baggie inside and a drop on the porch (in order to make a bait box).  Tomorrow or the day after I'll test my above theory by shaking them into the box once again (assuming they have not move in on their own accord).

A surprising occurence

Over the past two days I have been checking the hives for honey supplies and doing a sugar-roll mite count.  So far I have done #2 & 3.  Each had 6-7 frames of capped honey in the top box.  Various sources recommend different amounts of needed honey stores but I think for this area 8 frames in the top box is what is needed.  So I will continue to feed for a while.

"Ghost bees" returning to the hive after sugar-roll count

The mite count:  #3, 8 mites = 2.67%;  #2, 5 mites = 1.67%.  Randy Oliver treats if the count is over 2%.  I had counted #3 first and I figured I would see what the average for all 3 hives was before deciding to treat now with Apiguard (thymol).  However, here comes the surprise.
As I was preparing to check hive #1, I saw a swarm around the hives in front of #1&2.  It was relatively small and eventually settled on Marilyn Monroe. 

Small swarm cluster

I fetched one of my nuc boxes to capture the swarm and had to scrounge up five deep frames for it.  I had one unused frame with foundation, one foundationless frame but the rest were only mediums.  Then I found one black plastic frame and even though I do not like this kind, any port in a storm.  Then I came across the frame for queen grafting that I received at the class at Davis.  I pried off the rack holders, inserted a sheet of foundation and voila!, a fourth frame.  For the fifth I used a drone frame.
Next, I had to provide for a way to feed the bees.  I wanted to use the entrance feeder, but the entrance opening was too small.

The entrance feeder width compared to the entrance width

The solution was to take the bottom board off the box and re-cut the opening.  (I made it about 1/8th inch too wide and closed the gap with a wedge of wood.)  I closed both openings with duct tape.
Now that the entrance was blocked by the feeder, I needed to make another entrance using a hole saw.
Next I needed to prepare a spot to put the box and protect it from ants.  I used a couple of bricks in a Styrofoam lid and a moat of motor oil.

Now all was ready to capture the swarm.  I had earlier placed the nuc box beneath the cluster and put a couple of drops of lemongrass oil in the box.

Box in position and ready for bees

Now that all was in order, I grabbed the branch and shook and SHOOK.  Then I banged the branch with the drone frame.  The bees tumbled into the box and many took to the air.

I waited a few minutes and then looked at the branch.  There were just a few bees there and they were not clustering as they would if the queen was still there.
Feeling confidant that the queen was in the box, I carefully put in the five frames, put the top on and carried the box to the potting table, its new location.  There I removed the duct tape and placed the entrance feeder.

Hmm, one problem.  The full feeder was so heavy that it was tipping a bit and even prying the box slightly apart.  I could foresee disaster!   The solution: a piece of PVC pipe in a bath of oil in a cap from a lemonade bottle.

I took another look at the branch where the cluster had been,

and later on, there were no bees left.
Needless to say, the mite count and honey check was not done on #1.  I suspect that it was #1 that swarmed because there seems to be a lot more bees and activity at #2's entrance.  If I am correct (at least 50% chance), then I need to leave #1 undisturbed for a couple of weeks to give the new queen time to hatch, mate and start laying.  I did fill its feeder.
I do not really expect the swarm to survive; it is just too small, probably under a pound.  I am more concerned about the mother hive.  Is it too late in the year for her to successfully mate?  I only see a few drones in the hives, nothing like the numbers in late spring.  As with most things in life, time will tell.

Olea's hive seems to be doing well

It was time to remove the Apivar strips from Olea's hive a couple of days ago and I took the opportunity to look through the combs.
The bees have been eating the hard sugar patties I made.  It takes them several days to finish off a patty, unlike their cousins in hives #1-3 who go through a half-gallon of syrup in a day.
There was honey in bars 11-16.  Some were almost filled with capped honey and the rest had all or mostly uncapped honey cells.  There was brood on bars 4-10;  I did not see the queen.
I have no more patties and I filled the other hives feeders today.  I will not feed them again for a few days (we will be out of town) and will check how they are doing towards the end of the week.  They just might have enough honey stores to get them through until the eucalyptus bloom.

Hot weather and they are thirsty

It has been very hot here so the bees have needed a lot of water.  They have started visiting the water station I provided for them.  I need to refill it every couple of days.

Today I went into #3 in order to remove the Apivar strips I put in 6 weeks ago.  Of course, I looked around the rest of the hive as well.
In the top box there was some capped and unripe honey.  I suspect that it is made mainly from the sugar syrup they have been fed.  There was some brood, and, surprisingly to me, some areas of drone cells.  

Drone cells in the center and capped honey around

Perhaps it is the unusual weather.  I did not see the queen, but I believe she is doing well because I saw very young (2-3 day old) larvae. 
Surprisingly because this is when drone production should have stopped.
There was also good pollen stores.

Conclusions:  #3 is doing well and I need to continue feeding.

They were hungry

 I looked into the hives today to see how the bees were doing with their sugar discs.  Olea's bees had not only eaten all the sugar, they were also eating the plate.  

The white crumbly stuff is chewed up paper.  There is no more sugar.

 The bees in #1 had finished all their sugar, so I put a disc in the Vivaldi box and they immediately started eating.

#2&3 had yet finished their first serving. 

Sugar candy for the bees

I thought I should feed Olea's hive as well.  It seemed that the way to do so was to use sugar candy.  An online search gave me several recipes for bee candy, all of which involved boiling sugar in water until it was a certain degree.  I could not decide whether to make a fondant (234 degrees) or hard (250 degrees), so I aimed for in between.
First step: a trip to Costco for sugar.

Then I prepared a bunch of paper plates with a thin coat of canola oil.

I put a couple of cups of water in a pot and added lots of sugar.  I did not measure it but I believe it was over five pounds.  It takes a long time for the temperature to reach 240 degrees.

I ladled the hot syrup into the plates and waited for it to cool.

When it had cooled, it was the consistency of sticky jello.  It was then that I read that one has to beat the hot syrup in order to make fondant.  Ah well, it does pay to read instructions.
I decided to experiment with the the sugar gel and yesterday put one in Olea's hive and one into #1.

The plate of gel in #1

A second plate in the top bar hive

Then last night, I scraped all the gel back into a pot and boiled until a bit over 250 degrees and ladled the syrup into oiled plates.  It cooled hard and I was able to remove the discs and stack them in a plastic bag.
I went back today to check on things.  #1 had not done so well, but Olea's had gone to town.

Three bees dead and stuck in the partially granulated gel

Most of the sugar was gone.  They were still at work on the granulated sugar.  There were several bees that were stuck in the sugar and dead or dying

I put some of the hard candy by the opening in #1 but the bees paid it no attention, so I put it on top of the frames beneath the Vivaldi box.

You can also see the Apivar strips held up by nails

About 5 minutes after closing the hive

Since #2 and 3 had been going through the hole to get into the top feeder (remember #1 had an entrance feeder), I put the candy partially over the hole.

A couple of minutes later

I took a look in the window of Olea's and saw many bees running around with pieces of candy in their mandibles.
I think the hard candy is a success.

No honey for the bees, either

This past week I took a look into hives #2 and 3.  There was a good brood pattern, but no honey!  I recall that there had been a few frames with capped honey in the deep boxes but the bees must have eaten it all.
It has been a poor summer for honey production because of the drought.  I heard a report from the Beekeepers Guild that no one is getting honey this fall.  I thought the girls would do okay if I took only the honey in the supers, but I guess I was mistaken.  So the poor bees must be hungry.
I made up some 1:1 sugar syrup and put the top feeders into 2&3.  Since I only have 2 top feeders, I put the entrance feeder in #1.  The bees emptied both top feeders, a half-gallon, in less than one day and I have been filling them daily for the past 3 days and the entrance feeder twice a day.  Today, it looks like they may have slowed down a bit. 
I also put the entrance reducers in to help control robbing.  In the next days I will make a sugar cake to feed the top bar hive, assuming that it too has a honey shortage even though I did not take any from it.  Time to go to Costco for a 50-pound sack of sugar.
The bees are going regularly to the dish I have for water supply.  I put sand in it over the rocks and pebbles.  I have to keep an eye on it and keep it moist.

No honey harvest from Olea's hive... yet

A few days ago I looked into Olea's top bar hive hoping to get some more honey.  Most of the two gallons we got from the other hives is going into wedding favors.  I started from the end away from the entrance.  My books say any honey after bar 12 can be harvested, but there was little or no ripe honey.  I did see a few brood cells on bar 14.  I was surprised to see brood extending so far into the box.  Then I saw the queen on bar 13.  I wondered if all the honey was in the front of the box and just how many bars had brood.  I took out the first two bars.  Bar 1 was only about half-length.  Both 1 and 2 had capped honey and I saw some brood on one side of 3 but did not take it out.  So the area of brood has not yet contracted.  It is possible that in the fall there will be some honey to harvest, but I am not counting on it.
I took a look into the nuc and it is stable.  There still is not comb drawn on two of the frames.
I put Apivar strips into hives #1,2 & 3.  They will stay in for 6-8 weeks.  I am investigating how to use the Apivar in the top bar.  Since there is a heavy mite infestation in the other hives, I am assuming that the top bar should be treated as well.
Sorry, no photos today.

Late July report

It looks the main honey flow is over; the blackberries have finished their bloom.  The bees are still busy, but my windshield stays clean of bee poop after 24 hours.

When the bees are collecting lots of nectar, the car gets covered with little umber
spots.

This is not my car but mine gets covered like this

I looked into hives #1,2 & 3 yesterday.  I did not go into them thoroughly, just enough to see if things were OK.  There is a healthy brood pattern in each and they smelled good, so I think they are doing well.  The population seems stable (as would be expected at this time of year).  I also moved a frame with old wax one space toward the side in #2.  This frame had capped brood on both sides and the one a traded places with had capped brood on only one side.  I do not foresee a problem, but then, (all together now,) what do I know?
There is a bit of bad news- varroa mites.  I did a sticky board count over 4 days ending yesterday.
Hive #1: 7;  #2: 26; #3: 38.  These numbers indicate that I should treat soon.  Since I treated with formic acid (mite away quick strips) about 6 weeks ago, I figure I should use thymol (ApiGuard) this time.  One should not use ApiGuard with the honey supers on so I am in the process of taking the super off and processing the honey.  Then I will put in the thymol.  Perhaps I will do a powdered sugar treatment first and then, if the counts are down enough, postpone the thymol or just use the Apivar.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Ugh

Not ugh

Back from high latitudes

It had been more than 3 weeks since the last inspection and the bees were missing me.  I took a look in all the hives and the nuc yesterday.
Over all, things look good.  There is lots of brood and I spotted 3 out of 5 queens.  There does not seem to be more honey produced than there was last month and only Olea's hive has an obvious increase in population (there are now only 3 exposed combs).  There was no drawn comb on the drone frames so I moved them to the side.  I also moved one frame with old wax one slot toward the side in #3.  In the nuc I switched out a plastic frame that had no comb for a wooden frame with a new foundation.  There was an opened queen cell on an otherwise empty frame in #2.  The queen in #1 was gold, fat and beautiful.

A good brood pattern on a comb from Olea's hive

Brood on a misshaped comb on a foundationless frame from #3

Look at the different coloration of the workers in #1.  This demonstrates their genetic variation

The opened queen cell.  The frame is upside-down

Another view of the queen cell.  A queen has emerged from it