🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[drstratton]

Was thinking buy a queen. Actually, I didn't finish the post as my DD called to tell me a goat was caught in the fence so I cut the phone off & went out. . All is good.

I could totally do something like that...lol

 

[drstratton]

I was advised to add a frame with eggs in it. If they start to build queen cells right away, I will know for sure that the queen is gone. If not, then she's probably still in there. I'm 99% certain she's gone. I haven't talked to Dale yet, just got home. I'm sure he'll be on board with doing that. It probably won't happen until Wednesday or Thursday. If they start to build queen cells, I'm thinking we will go ahead and combine the hives. It just takes too long for them to raise a new queen, and I believe it's more risky this time of year. The hive numbers will just keep on dropping. Dale had been thinking about combining the 2 smaller hives anyway. This just makes that decision easier. Still a bummer.

 

[Baymule]

All the care you give your bees makes me wonder how the wild hives of bees fare with no one taking care of them.

 

[drstratton]

All the care you give your bees makes me wonder how the wild hives of bees fare with no one taking care of them.

It's definitely different for the wild bees. We've taken them from what's natural for them and put them in a box. All we really do is try to manage their space and try to protect them from pests and disease. In the wild they manage all of that by themselves. If the hive grows too big they swarm. If they start to be overrun with pests and disease they leave and find a new location. They can manage just fine/better without us. They have been designed to be extremely efficient. I am in awe of them and our Creator.

We have in a sense harnessed them and put them to work for us. In doing so, we have to manage the unnatural space we've put them into. If they don't have enough space, they swarm. If they have too much they can't protect themselves from pests and they leave or they die out. So in managing them we take the risk of harming the queen. I don't know if I harmed her or if something natural happened to her. But, I'm assuming it was something I did when checking frames. Those frames are so tight. If we left more room, they would just fill it. It's hard to pull a frame out without rolling some bees. So, I will continue on and try to be as careful as I can in the management of these amazing creatures.

 

[drstratton]

Forgot to state we completed our 7th OAV treatment on the 8th.

We will be heading to town for our monthly beekeeping meeting this evening.

 

[SageHill]

I know the pests are an ever vigilant thing, but is there a time of year that they are the worst?? You've been so good up to now and they are starting to show up.

 

[drstratton]

I know the pests are an ever vigilant thing, but is there a time of year that they are the worst?? You've been so good up to now and they are starting to show up.

From what I've read, the varroa mites can build up quickly starting in August. That's why we are doing a 28 day OAV treatment. That catches the complete cycle of all brood emerging and along with them the varroa.

I was relieved to not find signs of wax moth in the hive. A friend told me that a healthy hive will be able to fight it off and looks like that's what they have been doing. Wax moth is more destructive in weak hives and empty frames in storage. We will freeze the frames for 3 days that won't be left on the hives over winter, to kill any pests. Then we will store them in airtight totes.

There are other diseases that can decimate a hive. American & European Foul brood, chalk brood and I belive others. Hopefully we will never have too deal with that. But, we need to know what to watch for. I still need to learn more about all of that.

 

[drstratton]

Forgot I caught a video of a varroa mite crawling on the white board, after I removed it from the hive.

For your viewing pleasure...lol

Creepy, just like a tick...

 

[drstratton]

Dale was walking out to the shed where we keep our fishing gear, it's past the Apiary. He stopped for a moment and one of the bees stung him close to his left eye. I'm thinking it came from the queenless hive, they're starting to be angry. We will start the process of combing the hives tomorrow. Not going to worry about adding a frame with eggs. I know she's gone and we also don't want to get a laying worker. Once it's done, I'll share how we do it. I will check one more time for eggs. I'll be talking to the pros at our beekeeping meeting tonight.

 

[SageHill]

OUCH!