Adding second brood box and maybe I goofed Olea's

I decided to add a second brood box to all three hives yesterday.  The guidelines are to add when 80% of the frames have drawn comb and are covered with bees.  I had started the hives with drawn comb on all frames, and there were about seven frames covered.  We're going away next week, so now is the time to add boxes.  The frames in these boxes are either new or used and scraped.
As usual, a seeming simple task turned complicated.  The added box did not fit snugly onto #3.

Large gap between boxes

The top box would rock.  At first I thought it might be a problem with the added box, so I tried another- still not snug.  I scraped the edges of the bottom box to no avail.  I felt this gap was too much, about 1/4 inch.  As I pondered various solutions (duct tape), I put the boxes on the other hives.  Then onto the internet where I found this discussion.  Lots of ideas.
I gathered popsicle sticks, duct tape, box cutter (to shave shims) and a cinder block and returned to the hive.  The box would rock, like a wobbly table, so I could not figure how a shim would help.  I put the cinder block on and it made a significant but inadequate difference.  So I scavenged more weight.

This brought the boxes together, and no need for duct tape.  Of course, it will be added work when it comes time to go into this hive.

With weight on top

Yesterday morning I took at the entrance of Olea's to see how many bees the MAQs had killed.  There was a bunch on the porch, as expected, but there was also a cluster on the front wall.

I looked through the window and the combs around the MAQs were devoid of bees.  I feared that the fumes were too strong due to insufficient ventilation, so I cracked open the top.

You can see the edges of the bars and spacers.  There is a bit of a gap between the last bar and the back of the box.
The cluster has gone back into the hive, but the combs around the strips are still bee-less.  That means that the brood on those combs has no nurse bees and is likely to die.  Who knows what other damage was done?  My intentions were good and perhaps things will turn out well.  We will know in a month.

Necessity is the mother of invention

As you faithful readers know, Olea's hive was in need of treatment for mites.  I wanted to use the formic acid Mite-away Quick strips and need to figure out a way to put them into the box.  One beek had said in a forum that she had hung the strips from a rescue bar.  What is a rescue bar, I wondered.  Well, it is a bar from which one can hang a broken comb.  (We all occasionally break off a comb in a top bar hive.  I have done so more than once.)  I did a search and found one described and pictured.  Just now I found this site which goes into much more detail.
I got two top bars and wrapped wire around them with an end below and perpendicular to the bar.

Top bars ready with wires and unopened MAQ pack

Then into the hive.  First I took out the two last bars, one of which was bare and the other a small bit of comb.  I also removed a spacer to allow room for the wires (ultimately I had to remove three spacers).  The bees had reattached the comb to the wall in the four days since I was last in  So I had to cut the comb from the walls and move each bar down.  Since there was honey near the walls, things soon got sticky with lots of bees flying around and landing on my gloves and hive tool.  Finally I got to bar 8, where I had decided to place the first MAQ.  I cut open the pack and hung one strip from the hanger.

Just before the MAQ tore through

The strip tore through by its own weight.  I bent the wires into more of a U-shape and hung it again.

It seemed ok, so I quickly put it into the hive.  The strips are long enough that the end is very close or resting on the bottom, so I figure if it tears off, it will still stay vertical.  I slid the bars back as snugly as I could and then placed the second strip at bar 12, then slid all the bars over.  There was a gap of about 1/2 inch between the last bar and the back of the box.
I will take out the strips in a week or so and do another alcohol was in about a month.  Let us hope for the best.

Sticky boards and alcohol washes

On May 7 I put sticky boards into hives #1, 2 & 3.  I left them in until May 12, five days.  The counts were: #1-5; #2-7; #3-1.  These are acceptable numbers, less than 1 mite a day.  Randy Oliver recommends alcohol washes as he feels they are more reliable.  Below is my (edited) email to him and his response.
On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 10:59 AM, Tom Sherwood wrote:

Randy-
In 2006, in IPM 4 Fighting Varroa4: Reconnaissance Mite sampling methods and thresholds, you published a chart of the most appropriate method of monitoring mites.  From subsequent articles and your talks, I infer that you prefer an alcohol wash. 
Up until now, I have used either a sticky board or powdered sugar shake.  (I have 3 Langstroth and 1 top bar hive.)
My question: Is the chart from 2006 six still your recommendation or is it time to change to alcohol washes?

Yep, alcohol wash, swirl rather than shake, hands down.  Sugar shake second.  Stickies far too unreliable.

Randy

Because I respect his opinion, I decided to switch to alcohol washes.  A later posting of his suggested an easier way to make the washer using a square of tulle cloth as a filter instead of a screen.  So I went to Beverly's Fabrics and bought 1/2 yard of tulle.

Maidi picked up some cups for me at Gayles and I assembled the equipment.

 I did the count on Olea's as I had recently done the sticky board count on the others.  Inspecting a top bar hive is more work for me than the Langstroths.  This is because the comb has to be cut away from the hive for each bar and I must move each bar to get to a central comb.  I wanted to take a comb from the center of the brood area, maybe number 9 or 10.  By the time I had I reached number 13 (out of 21), I had had enough.  There was drone brood and some worker on 13 and 14, so I used those for my sample.  I shook the bees into the tub, then scooped up 1/2 cup, but when I poured them into the alcohol, I spilled a bunch.  So I took some more from the tub, not knowing how much I had in the tester.

The sample in the tester

I swirled them around for at least a minute, and, to my dismay, saw this:

There are 10 mites in there!  Because I was unsure of the number of bees I sampled, I compulsively counted them; 232.

232 bees

This comes to an infestation rate of 4.3%, way too high for this time of year.  I need to treat Olea's, but how is the question.  I do not want to use Apivar strips, for although the are effective and easy to use in a top bar hive, one cannot use them when there is honey being made.  The MAQ is good, but difficult to use in a top bar.  Apiguard can't be used during the honeyflow and oxalic acid does not work when there is capped brood.  I am just going to have to bite the bullet and figure out a way to use the MAQ's.
I did an alcohol was on #2 today- 0 (zero) mites!  The two lateral frames were still empty so I did not add a second box.  I will probably check #1 & 3 this week.
In other news, I looked into the nuc with the feral swarm 3 days ago.  They had only built one smallish bit of comb and I saw no queen activity.  I may have overlooked the signs, but I think they are doomed.

Saga of the perlexing swarm

About a month ago, April 9, a swarm flew through the yard, clustering high in a tree behind us.

The cluster is in the center, albeit difficult to see

I put out a bait box, but the bees stayed put, perhaps due to the inclement weather.  After a couple of weeks had passed, I concluded that the swarm was not going anywhere and would build an exposed hive, outside of a cavity.
Then, on April 29, the bees left the tree, flew around for about a half-hour and the clustered on a pole of my grape vines.

After landing on the pole

A closer view

I saw several bees looking at the bait box, so my hopes were renewed that they would move in by their on accord.  I waited a week.  The bees formed a more compact cluster and, subjectively, it looked smaller than when it was on the tree.

The day after clustering

A week later

I was of two minds: observe and let nature take its course, or intervene and try to save the swarm.  Yesterday I elected to take the latter course.  I put a nuc box beneath the cluster and shook and brushed the bees into the box.  There was a 5-inch comb with nectar in it attached to the pole which I broke off and put into the nuc. Initially, I thought I had missed the queen because many of the bees went back onto the pole.  I put frames into the nuc and left it uncovered by the pole.  A couple of hours later, most of the bees were in the box, a small bunch on the pole.

A few bees stayed on the pole

The bees seem to have settled into the nuc.  I put the nuc on one of Papa Eddie's tables that needed only a little re-enforcing.

The nuc beneath the bait box

A worker exploring the entrance of her new home

I inspected hive #1, 2 & 3 today.  There is a lot of capped worker brood.  The bees only cover 5-6 frames, so I did not add a second box today.  The brood pattern looked overall good, but there was a suggestion of some spottiness.  I put the sticky boards in today, however, I think I will switch to alcohol washes as a means of monitoring mites, something that Randy Oliver suggests is more accurate.