Here's what's Happening

rhfire

I just wanted to provide an update on my bees. I’ve been feeding both hives with a 1:1 sugar water mix and protein supplements. Both hives have about three frames of capped brood and three more that have recently hatched, with two or so frames containing open larvae. One hive has close to 16 frames of bees, while the other has 14.

The 16-frame hive has a mite infestation spiraling out of control at 8%, while the other hive has none. The 16-frame hive was also under attack from robbing bees in August. I began an Oxalic Acid vapor treatment for both hives in the last week of July, completing four treatments in total. Now, I am treating the 16-frame hive with Apiguard since it has a lot of capped brood.

I knew they would eat into their winter stores, and both hives are light. However, they are also putting away some new stores. To help them out, I put a 2:1 sugar mix in one feeder and will continue to feed the 1:1 protein mix in the other feeder. I will continue the 1:1 protein mix until October and stop feeding altogether when temperatures consistently stay below 50 degrees, as they can’t convert the sugar water at that point. I’ll keep a close eye on both hives. Additionally, I have eight frames of capped honey to slide into the hives before or during winter if needed.

Kevin

two feeders? what kind?

rhfire

Two quart jars that fit on top of a board. They work very similar to the boardman feeder except they are on top of the hive and then an empty deep sits over the top and then the top outer cover sits on top. The way I have configured there is
no top escape. Which works well to keep robbers out of the mix. The jars are inverted and 1/8 inch mesh screens help hold the jars in place and small enough to keep the bees from crawling through. They are easy to make, just make sure there is bee space under the board.

rhfire

One week later and here's what I found. To recap last week both hives had about a half quart jar of 1:1 syrup protein mix left over from the previous week. So I let them both ride through to this week. Then I filled the second jar with the 2:1 sugar syrup. The middle jar almost always is empty, and the back jar usually has a half jar left over. So, as a test I put the 1:1 protein mix in the middle of the hive that is being treated for mites they didn’t touch it, and they barely took any 2:1 sugar syrup. I conclude the Apiguard treatment is suppressing their appetite. That doesn’t happen when I use Oxalic Vapor. Both hives took about an inch out of both of the 2:1 mix.

Now the hive with no treatment, the 1:1 protein mix was in the back hole, and they finished that. So, I filled it up. I kind of conclude that treatment totally disrupts their activity and without treatment, the bees will consume what they need or want. I will report back again next week.

rhfire

My last weekly update.

Remember that I have feeding both hives a mix protein syrup to get them into producing lots of bees of winter physiology. And they have done so very successfully. Both hives have tons of bees, 9 to 10 frames on top and 5 to 6 frames on bottom. And both hives have 8 frames of mostly honey on top with a couple on bottom. So that should be about 80 pounds if winter proves to colder, I have another 9 frames stored in the shed that I can put on when and if need be. And both hives have most of their resources already in the top box. I may not rearrange anything this fall.

Both hives ate about half their 2:1 mix, but the non-treated hive also ate all of the 1:1 mix. And in both hives last week I saw a fair amount of capped drone cells and this week none. Not only did I not see any capped drone cell, but I also only saw two drones from both boxes!

Now on the hive that I am not treating for mites. I still can’t find the queen, but I can find eggs and there are about two frames of capped brood with about one with uncapped brood. She is slowing down. And that’s ok.

Now the hive that I am treating with Apiguard (thymol). I began that treatment two weeks ago. Everything there looks fine and there are a couple of frames that have capped brood in them with maybe 80% hatched out. There are some cells with uncapped brood maybe 500 and no eggs and I did find the queen. It’s the clear that the thymol treatment suppresses the queens laying ability.