INTERMEDIATE BEEKEEPING – WEEK 3
CAROL COTTRILL
SUMMER
25,000 older foragers, 25,000 young house bees, 300
– 1000 drones
Watch front of hive – 30-90 bees per minute indicates a
strong hive
Reverse again if needed – may be weather dependent
Swarm prevention
Unite weak colonies in early summer, or add capped
brood if enough bees to take care of it
Requeen
During honey flow encourage hording
Inspections less than 15 minutes during honey flow
After honey flow remove excess supers
Check for condition of queen and brood
During dearth cover hives/frames when inspecting
to prevent robbing
Ventilation:
• notch up on inner cover draws air flow through
the middle of the hive and out the center hole
of the inner cover
• shim outer cover to cool hive and help cure
honey
• open screen bottom boards
• watch for robbing
Robbers:
• flight longer than orientation flight
• swaying/weaving in front of hive, looking for way
in
• fighting on the landing board
Robbed hive can die
Empty hive or almost empty hive, comb with ragged
edges
Carniolans rob less than Italians
Preventing Robbing:
• keep hives of equal strength
• no open feeding - use in hive feeders
• cover or screen notch in inner cover
• cover hives during inspections
• use nuc box for removed frames
•
•
close up hive being robbed or use a
robbing screen
reduce entrances of robbing hive
VARROA
With an early spring both bees and varroa build up
earlier - treatment may need to move up
Treatment is more effective in broodless periods –
which may be during the August dearth
When brood is present 70 – 80% of the female
mites are under the brood cap
Drones –> 3 mites
Workers –> 1 mite
Requeening breaks brood cycle and slows the rapid
increase in mites
The female mite lays an egg in a cell every 25 to
30 hours
Female mites living when brood is present have
an average life expectancy of 27 days
In the absence of brood they may live for many
months - as long as five to six months during
the winter
Bees from colonies heavily infested with varroa
drift more than bees from uninfested colonies
During a dearth colonies stop raising drones and
varroa are forced into worker brood
Parasitism by mites can cause:
• pupae infected by multiple viruses
• decreased flight activity
• weight loss
• decreased life span
• external damage/disfigured bees (ex. deformed
wings, stunted abdomen)
• spotty brood
• diseases or disease symptoms without bacterial
disease
• increased queen supersedure
Mite infestation and virus epidemics are
more prevalent right after the main flow
when bees decrease brood rearing
In late summer (around September 1) the
mite and virus levels are increasing as the
bee population is declining
Sampling: mite levels are highest on nurse
bees
Nurse bees that raise winter bees must not have
PMS
Mite management must begin by mid-summer for
successful wintering
Give bees 6 weeks after treating and before first
frost to have enough healthy bees to make it
through the winter
Example: if first frost is October 1
Using MAQS to treat for Mites for 1 week
Seven weeks before October 1 is August 13 - the
latest date to apply a treatment if needed
Natural miticides are stressful to the bees during
application, but appear to be well tolerated in
the long term and do not leave harmful residues
in the comb
Treatment option depend on:
• the time of year – temperature requirements
• presence of supers
• effect on bees and queen
Dead colonies in the fall probably due to
varroa/viruses
NOSEMA
Goal of the colony is to convert nectar and pollen
into bees and honey - Nosema suppresses
efficient food conversion
Nosema diverts protein that should be for royal
jelly production to replacement of gut cells
Nosema infections are usually invisible to the
beekeeper
Signs include poor buildup, reduced honey
production, occasionally dwindling or collapse
Causes premature aging so decreases the life
length of the bee
Parasite and host interact without lethal harm to
the host - causes morbidity, not mortality
N. apis symptoms include defecation near or
inside the hive entrance/N. ceranae doesn’t
N. ceranae spores lost activity when frozen/N.
apis did not
N. ceranae is more resistant to high temperatures
Apis spores can be killed at 120 F or with 10%
bleach
N. ceranae peaks in May
N. apis has a small peak in the fall, increases in
winter and peaks in spring before winter bees
are replaced, reduces life span of all bees and
decreases honey yields
N. Ceranae is year round, can kill in a week,
weakens foragers so they can’t return to the
hive, reduces hypopharyngeal gland function
which causes poor brood rearing
Spring treatment for N. ceranae/fall treatment
for N. apis
Fumagillin controls N. apis by inhibiting
reproduction of the microsporidium, but has no
effect on the infective spores
Fumagillin should be used when bees aren’t
foraging (to prevent residues in honey)
It degrades in light and in the hive
New studies show it is not as effective against N.
ceranae
Monitoring: oldest bees are most infected so
sample from the entrance or under inner cover.
Younger bees will have pollen in the gut
Samples can be kept in alcohol or frozen
Dysentery is not necessarily a symptom of
Nosema
Dysentery is not a disease – related to poor food
and confinement
Food impurities in sugars, dampness, moisture in
the hive, fermented stores, diluted syrup in the
fall
FALL
Condition of the hive in fall will help determine
how well it winters
Harvest only excess honey
Requeen early in the fall
Feed pollen late summer/early fall if necessary for
fall build up
Don’t feed 1:1 syrup in late fall as this stimulates
brood rearing
Want to compact the brood area by feeding heavy
syrup they will store
Need time to reorganize and store honey
Want 25 – 30,000 bees (5-6 frames)
Combine weak hives to take loses in the fall
Use newspaper method – watch ventilation if hot
Store supers:
• Don’t wrap
• Need air flow and sunlight
• Freezing kills wax moth eggs/larvae
• Prevent mouse/insect damage
Most common question asked by the general
public in late summer/fall:
Yellow jackets and wasps
Leave until they freeze and die unless in an area
that is dangerous
GETTING READY FOR WINTER
Disease free colony
Good population of healthy bees
Productive queen with room to lay
Strong fall flow can plug up the brood nest
Wind break
Combine hives
• only if both are healthy
• two weak hives won’t make a strong hive
• sacrifice weak hives and take their stores to add to
strong hives
• take your losses in the fall
• newspaper method to combine
Workers
• well nourished, disease-free bees live longer
• winter bees/fat bees
• physiologically different
• more fat body reserves
• live longer
(little brood to feed/not as active)
Hive Configuration in late summer
• capped brood in top brood box
• eggs/young larvae in the bottom box
When brood emerges the top box is available
for honey storage
Brood should be in the bottom box going into
winter
Move old/misshapen frames to outside in
preparation for culling in spring
Entrance reducer
• smallest size - notch up –
reduce drafts
• want queen to lay in bottom
box
• can use ½” hardware cloth
• exclude mice/shrews
• lower entrance may be blocked
by snow or dead bees
Upper entrance
• auger hole in upper box
• notch in inner cover
Sufficient Food Stores
Honey
• two frames positioned on the outside of the
bottom brood box
• full deep of honey above
• when harvesting leave enough for the bees
• warm fall – bees consume stores before winter
Pollen
• can be fed in the fall if needed
Supplemental feeding
Sticky supers/uncapped honey over the inner cover
Sugar syrup 2:1 ratio
• feed early enough so they can process, store and
ripen
• finish feeding by mid-October
Prepare candy boards/fondant for winter feeding
Candy Board Recipe
• 1 pint (2 cups) of water – bring to a boil
• add 5 pounds sugar and heat to 242 F
• stir frequently to prevent burning
• add ¼ tsp. cream of tartar (optional)
• cool to 180 – 200 F and pour into molds
greased with vegetable shortening and lined
with waxed paper (or into a candy board)
CANDY THERMOMETER MUST BE ACCURATE !
Wrapping
For thermal gain
Allows cluster to expand to get honey
By mid-November in Maine
30 weight underlay tar paper (roofing felt)
78” long piece
Can also paint hives a dark color
Dead air space or insulation under hive
3/8” staples
Keep bees from going under tar paper
Ventilation/Moisture Control:
Vent moisture out upper entrance or shim inner
cover (popsicle sticks)
Notch down on inner cover draws air along hive
wall and not through the cluster
Super of honey on top also helps insulate
Absorbing moisture
• insulating board (Homasote)
• newspaper or other absorbent material
• candy board/fondant
• between bees and the outer cover
• dead air space between insulating board and
outer cover to prevent condensation
Insulating board
spacers
FOXRUNFARMHONEY.COM