Summer Management
and
Honey Production
Summer Management
Many commercial beekeepers are
working hard to get their bees
ready for pollination
Hobby Beekeepers
We Manage for:
a)Winter Survivability
b)Minimal Swarming Behavior
c)Honey Production
Brood diseases in Ohio
• 2005 Apiary Statistics
• From ODA
• Colonies Inspected 21,389
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American Foulbrood
European Foulbrood
Chalk brood
Varroa Mite
Tracheal Mite
Small Hive Beetle
Wax moth
388
31
396
6,720
41
539
0
(1.8%)
(0.1%)
(1.9%)
(31%)
(0.2%)
(2.5%)
This doesn’t seem like much but they spread QUICKLY!
Summer Management
April/May
FEED FEED FEED
Reverse your Hive bodies
Make sure there is food in the brood chamber
Make sure that your queen is laying - look for eggs and larva
Get your Supers Ready
Prepare to SPLIT or Add Hive Body to prevent swarming
Summer Management
How to Check your Queen
Presence of Queen
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Learn to recognize Eggs, Larva, Capped Brood vs. Capped Honey
Eggs situated in normal position
What a Queen Looks Like
Quantity of Brood
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Brood Should be on several frames
Frames should be about 2/3 full of brood – corners have honey
Quality of Brood
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Brood pattern should be solid – not a mixture of capped and uncapped
in the same area.
Check on honey and pollen stores as bad brood and result from
lack of food!
Summer Management
How to Check your Queen
For a Productive Hive – Queen MUST produce 1500 eggs/day
Replace the Queen with a newly mated Queen
Kill the Queen and allow the colony to make a new one (~40 days to Eggs)
If two very week hives, kill the Queens, combine hives, requeen
Brood Chamber with Food
Food
Brood
Brood Chamber with Food
Food
Brood
Brood Chamber with Food
Food
Brood
Find the Queen
Find the Queen
Find the Queen
Find the Queen
Find the Queen
Find Eggs and Larva
Find Eggs and Larva
Find Eggs and Larva
Watch for Swarm Cells
Watch for Swarm Cells
Watch for Swarm Cells
Watch for Supercedure Cells
Summer Management
June
Watch for Swarming behavior and get ready to intercede!
Be Ready to add Supers when the nectar flow starts
Check for Mites and other diseases as colony expands
Summer Management
July
Check to make sure queen is still productive (requeen if necessary)
Continue checking for disease
Check stored equipment for wax moth (No Naptha)
Remove full supers and extract Honey!
Place wet frames back in supers and let bees do the cleaning
Cover removed frames to prevent “Robbing”
Summer Management
Robbing
Honey bees are good at finding
nectar/honey sources.
Last year my “Strong Hive” Robbed
from my “Weak Hive”
I fixed them! I moved 2 frames of brood
with nurse bees to the weak hive!
Summer Management
August
Add Supers and Remove Full Ones
Extract Honey
When last Super removed - FEED FEED FEED!
Honey Extraction
Removing Bees from Supers
Bee Escape
Chemicals
BeeGo
Honey Robber
Shake Combs
Bee Smoker
Bee Blower
Honey Extraction
Bee Escape
Honey Extraction
Bee Blower
Leaf blower will work
works well and is convenient
hurts bees and really makes them angry
Honey Extraction
Chemicals
BeeGo/Honey Robber (n-butyric anhydride)
Sprinkle on Cloth and place over super
Nasty smell drives bees down out of super
Risk of contaminating Honey!
Honey Extraction
Shaking
Hold frame securely and give it a couple quick shakes over Hive
Drives bees quickly off Frame
Cheap and simple
May have to brush a few bees off
Honey Extraction
Capped Honey Indicates It’s Ripe
Honey Extraction
Decapping the Comb
Hot Knife
Uncapping Fork
Honey Extraction
Drain the Cappings/save the wax
Honey Extraction
Extractor
Honey Extraction
Chunk Honey/Cut Comb Honey
Honey Extraction
Chunk Honey/Cut Comb Honey
Shallow Supers with Thin Foundation
Held in Place with melted wax or wooden wedge
Place Supers above a queen excluder
bait the super with honey
Place empty super on top until bottom one is ¾ full, then reverse them
Wax Production
A valuable by-product of beekeeping!
DO NOT USE OLD Brood Comb!
Summer Management
How and When to Check Your Hives
Is too much Inspection a Bad Thing?
Hive Inspection
Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion”
Beginning Beekeepers Inspect our Hives TOO MUCH
Goal is to get familiar with “outside” to tell you what
is happening on the “inside”
How does the colony behave?
Are there a lot of bees coming and going?
Are there dead bees/larva on the landing board?
Is there a strange smell?
Does it sound like a softly purring engine?
How much does your hive weigh?
Hive Inspection
Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion”
IF you SEE
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# of Bees seems to be decreasing
Dead Bees, larva, or pupae on the landing board
Detect a strange or foul odor
Bees that are unusually temperamental
Robbers, predators, or leaking honey
Lethargic, aimless, or deformed bees
ANYTHING out of the Ordinary
OPEN IT UP!
Hive Inspection
Nothing Short of a “Home Invasion”
Visually Inspect your Hives Exterior Often
BUT Removing Frames:
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Disrupts Hive activity for 4-8 hours
Agitates the Bees
Breaks Propolis Seals
Damages comb and disrupts Honey
Risks Heating or Chilling Brood
Changes the Hive Humidity – harm larva
Invites Predators into the Hive
RISKS HARMING THE QUEEN
Routine Maintenance
Be Non-Invasive!
Lift Lid and Slide Inner Cover Slightly to the Side To:
Add sugar water to the feeders
Add Pollen patties or mite treatments
Weigh Hive To:
Determine Hive Health (Honey, Comb, Bees are heavy)
Look for Swarm Cells by Lifting Hive Body and Inspecting all
Frame Bottoms at the same time
Look of Mites by use of Sticky Board
Routine Maintenance
Be Non-Invasive!
Routine Maintenance
Be Non-Invasive!
Last Year I:
Opened the Lid and Inner cover every Wednesday
Pulled Frames every Saturday
This Year I Will:
Hopefully Control by Curiosity
Follow the Recommendations on the Previous Slides!