September 2020
Equalizing Colonies
TEXAS BEE SUPPLY
Small Hive Beetles
Photo courtesy: Rich Beggs
Hive Inspection Series
Managing Land Forage
Monthly
Sharing Brood
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Featuring
Edition 3
Monthly Tips
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6 September Tips 10 Winter Prep for your Hives 18 Small Hive Beetles 22 Buzz Talk 34 When to Give Up on a Hive 38 Recipe of the Month 40 Mastering Hive Inspections 44 The Interview - John Talbert 46 Record Keeping 48 Robber Bees 50 Sharing Brood and Fixing Hives 55 Combining Weak Hives 56 Monthly Q & A 62 Tanging Bees 64 A Year Full of Blooms
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CONTENTS
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Table Of Contents
Did you miss last month's issue? Don't miss all the great information it had to offer! Click the cover above and step inside! New to Texas Bee Supply Monthly? We welcome your feedback and submissions! Beekeeping Questions: help@texasbeesupply.com Article suggestions, questions or content submissions? editor@texasbeesupply.com
TABLE
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Page Topic
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James Elam Dayton, TX
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sEPTEMBER tips
During especially hot dry summers, the conditions can kill the majority of blooming plants, or at least cause them to stop producing large amounts of pollen. In these cases, giving your hive a few pounds of pollen patties each month can be an excellent way to keep the queen laying, and maintain your hive strength. Often times a dwindling hive over the summer can be the result of insufficient protein, or varroa mites. Check out our video on how and when to feed pollen patties during the summer, and how to tell if your hive really needs it! We also have an article on page 50 about fixing weak hives if your hive is struggling a bit. 4 As you feed your hive syrup, adding probiotics and essential oil mix like Pro Health can also help give your hive the extra nutrition they need to thrive during the summer. Anything you can give your bees over the next few months to help them thrive should be used. 6. Continue providing a water source. 7. Keep wax moth crystals on your stored comb. 8. If your top box is over 80% full, you can add another box during September. 9. Combine weak hives, see pg.55
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Blake Shook
September begins the rearing of "winter bees"
1.September can bring cooler weather and some moisture, or more scorching heat. Either way, continue to focus on maintaining 30lbs of stored food for your bees. I highly recommend trickle feeding over the summer as well! Check out a video on how to trickle feed here. 2. Test for mites, as mite populations can begin to climb AGAIN in September, necessitating another mite treatment. If you have less than 2 mites per 100 bees, treatment isn’t necessary. Check out our testing and treating videos. For summer treatments, we recommend Apivar or Hopguard. Test afterward to make sure they worked! 3. September begins the rearing of winter bees. Worker bees rear two kinds of bees- spring/summer bees and winter bees. Spring/Summer bees are almost disposable, and are not fed quite the same diet. During those months, bees work so hard they work themselves to death in a matter of weeks, thus they are reared on a less than ideal diet. Winter bees are fed as close to a perfect diet as possible to ensure they are able to survive the entire winter. It is crucial that we provide the bees with all the food and nutrition needed for our bees to rear the healthiest possible winter bees. We recommend feeding at least 2lbs of pollen substitute each of these months: September, October and November, to guarantee sufficient nutrition is available.
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Winter Prep in September?
September? You’ve got to be kidding me! We’ve gone from Spring to Fall (well almost) – just like that! September implies cool mornings, sipping hot coffee on the porch, enjoying the change in the seasons…NOT! It is HOT – no honey coating it… It’s just HOT – and so are our bees! Not to sway too far from my article topic, but… I’d like to refer back to Blake’s Monthly Tips Zoom call on August 6th. If you didn’t catch it, here’s a link to the recording. CLICK HERE to listen later –and also, don’t forget to sign up for this month’s call September 3rd – CLICK HERE! In this call, Blake did a “thermometer” test to measure just how hot it gets inside our hives in the sun vs. shade. You talk about mind blowing - 100˚ inside of a hive that had some shade vs. 105˚ inside of a hive in full sun. This is a big deal! Over the last couple of weeks in southeast Texas we’ve had temperatures exceeding 100˚. This will, of course, start to cool as the month progresses, but for now it’s hot! September is the beginning of our winter prep and our bees can use all the help they can get, not only because of the heat but also nutritionally! Fun Fact: Bees make “bees” 2 times in a year; spring for honey production and fall for overwintering! That’s it! So, the title of my article (yes, I’m finally there) is “Winter Preparation in September?” Why the question mark? It’s hard to fathom that inside that small ecosystem are checks and balances that “must” take place for the next year’s bees to be productive. Our task – understanding what is really going on inside that box. Let’s take a look ~ The queen has slowed her laying – why is that? Very simply put; nectar flows have all but stopped, pollen sources are scarce and (depending on where you live) water sources are drying up or even worse, gone - even with a little rain here and there. When we add all of those up, what do we get? A workforce that is struggling to bring in resources (nectar/pollen) to feed the colony. Reduced feeding for the Queen = less egg laying! A colony in risk of not faring well through winter! How do we overcome that? Supplemental feeding of course! Blake talked about this in the August Monthly Tips call. So if we are embarking on the 2nd of only 2 brood rearing times for the year, it’s only logical that our commitment to feeding will make the difference in how well our bees overwinter. I want to briefly expound upon this ~ In reading countless studies, articles and let’s face it “Facebook” – to feed or not to feed is the question of the hour. I want to share the following snippet of one of my past Bluebonnet Newsletters of late with you~ Are we just “feeding” or are we effectively giving our colonies good nutrition? We as humans know that we require a balanced diet. If we eat too much sugary food and not enough protein our muscles and stamina will suffer. We’ll have energy well enough, but we aren’t healthy. Same goes for our bees! We can’t just keep feeding them sugar syrup month after month and occasionally throw out some pollen substitute and expect a well nourished hive. Let’s use Goldenrod as our example. It’s one of our primary fall forage plants for our bees - It seems like good news to learn Goldenrod is a Nectar and Pollen source. Double the benefit…more bang for your buck right? Not so fast! It is generally understood that diversity in bee forage (multiple sources) is very important for a well balanced diet. Protein content can vary dramatically from plant to plant; anywhere from 2 – 61% depending on the type of plant. So if we only have 1 or 2 plants available like now, it stands to reason we might feel a false sense of “pollen flow” or even worse “nutritional needs met!” Nothing to do here! Right? Wrong! Why is pollen so crucial? We would need to look deep into the biology of Honey Bees to find the answer. Pollen is a bee’s ONLY source of protein. In pollen, they, in theory, are getting all of the minerals, lipids (fats) and vitamins they need to be healthy. If nature is only supplying a small variety of pollen producing plants, the odds go way up that the “quality” of the pollen isn’t meeting the nutritional requirements for a healthy hive. As a matter of fact, poor quality pollen added on top of limited quantities of pollen, increases the impact on colonies by drastically reducing the area of brood tended by nurse bees! What? Quote: Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping.com): “Should protein become even scarcer, the nurses will cannibalize drone brood, eggs, and young worker brood (in which they have invested the least resources), digest out the protein, and recycle it back into jelly. And, in extreme circumstances, the nurses will hoard the remaining protein in their bodies, and become the aforementioned diutinus (long lasting), or “winter bees.” Practical Tip: Workers which develop as larvae during pollen dearths may have food withheld, and thus be compromised in later life – beekeepers should be aware of this delayed effect.” End quote ~ What does that mean? It means that this time of year with very few choices for bees to forage on, we are at risk of our Winter Bees (the ones that will be rearing our Spring Bees) not being feed well in developmental stages (larval) leaving them incapable of being productive bees for our hive! What’s the answer? Supplement pollen! It is understood that supplementing pollen is a brood stimulant, correct? Is that what you want to do right now? Actually yes! We NEED bees and we need those soon to be Winter Bees to be prolific and healthy! We want to come out of winter with robust, well fed bees that are more than capable of rearing our Spring Bees! Wow – I couldn’t have said it better myself… wait, I did say that myself! HaHa! But seriously, when I think back on what kept James and me trudging away through the learning curve of beekeeping; it was to have “healthy, robust, thriving colonies!” Bottom line ~ our bees need us. Bees in nature struggle. We can’t see it, but they do. They have Varroa mites. They have Small Hive Beetles – and most of all, they struggle nutritionally! When we put those bees in a box, we accepted the responsibility to do better than what our somewhat “imperfect” environment can provide. It’s easy really… listen to your bees. Pay attention to their needs and they will reward YOU by bee-ing happy, healthy and productive! By ~ Chari Elam
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Staying Ahead of the Seasons
Beekeeping Rock Star - Randy Oliver!
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Remember the hatch period of 2-4 days? A few beetles can turn into hundreds of larvae within one week; and unlike the tidy bees that go outside the hive to eliminate waste, the beetles and larvae eliminate inside the hive. It is this contamination that contains a specific yeast that can quickly result in the notorious slime out where fermented honey drools out of the hive - resulting in the bees absconding in search of a healthier home, and the beekeeper is left with a nasty mess to clean up. So what can be done to address these unwanted guests? Being proactive is the best policy to avoid SHB problems. Fortunately, beekeepers are always inventing new creative methods to reduce the number of beetles in a hive. Some of the most common deterrents include a variety of physical traps. Screened bottom boards with trays allow the beekeeper to use either vegetable oil or diatomaceous earth (DE) to kill beetles that fall into the bottom of the hive. There are also disposable and reusable traps that can be filled with oil or DE and placed between the frames. All of these types of traps have small openings that allow the beetles to run inside while keeping the bees out. A different style of trap, and probably the easiest of all methods described in this article, is a type of disposable cloth sheet that is cut into strips and placed in the hive where SHB roam. The cloths can come in a variety of similar materials and are called by several names such as dryer sheets, sweeping sheets, and beetle sheets – all of these products used in the hive should be free of scents and cleaning agents. The sheets become fuzzy as they are “scuffed up” by the bees and the beetles become stuck when they try to hide in them. Sometimes a few bees can also become stuck and die with the beetles in these traps. continued ~
Pest or Predator ~
Beekeepers anywhere in Texas or neighboring states are likely to have opened a hive at some point and caught sight of a small dark beetle scurrying about like a minuscule rat across the inner cover. For the lucky beekeeper, a glimpse is all that has been seen of the Small Hive Beetle (SHB). For others however, a hive overrun by a hoard of beetles that resulted in the bees absconding and a disgusting slime out have been a reality. Fortunately, most beekeepers have been somewhere between these two scenarios and continue to search for methods to limit the potential harm from these pests. Gaining an understanding of SHB and some techniques to reduce their numbers can help beekeepers safeguard their colonies and decrease anxiety when dealing with these small insects. SHB are an invasive species in North America that thrive in warm climates. However, they are also adaptable to colder regions because they can overwinter inside a hive and live up to six months. The beetles locate hives by smell and prefer locations in shade. An adult female can lay more than a thousand eggs in her lifetime. Clusters of eggs are laid in crevices or directly in comb and hatch within 2-4 days. Hive beetle larvae eat honey, pollen and brood - then in a mass exodus, leave the hive near the second week. If the soil is moist and welcoming, the larvae will pupate in the top 4 inches, typically within about 3 feet of the hive. If the soil is too dry, the larvae may roam over 500 feet in several week's time until they find a favorable location. Weak hives with dwindling populations and honey frames that are undefended are most susceptible to a SHB takeover.
"...can quickly result in the notorious Slime Out..."
Small Hive Beetles By: Nanette Davis
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Beyond physical barriers and traps, there are also chemical and biological methods of control. These are treatments designed exclusively for use outside the hive and rely on the interruption of the SHB life cycle by targeting the larvae as they enter the ground to pupate. A permethrin drench is an insecticide purchased as a concentrate, then is mixed with water (as directed on the label’s instructions) and poured on the ground around the hive. Beekeepers should be careful to keep this insecticide from getting on the hive or contaminating any water supply as it is deadly for bees and other pollinators. Beneficial nematodes are also applied with water to the ground around hives and can be used as an organic method of pest control. Nematodes are actually live creatures that thrive in specific conditions and should be introduced to the soil as soon as possible after purchase. The ground should be moist and watered again after application to help the nematodes move in the desired area. Once they are in the soil, they will enter any beetle larva they find, causing death within about 48 hours. Keep in mind there are many types of beneficial nematodes. Look specifically for Heterorhabditis indica (H. indica) and the conditions they need to be used effectively.
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Ultimately, nothing surpasses the strength of the colony as a deterrent against a hostile takeover by any pest – and small hive beetles are no exception! They are opportunistic invaders that can travel with swarms and live within a hive for months. They have even developed a method to trick the bees into feeding them! Despite our best efforts, beekeepers cannot control all the factors that affect the health and strength of a hive; but knowing how to control and reduce the impact of these beetles will increase your confidence to make a difference at a critical time resulting in success instead of a yucky mess!
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Buzz Talk "101" by - James Elam
The language of honeybees communicating with each other is becoming better understood as we speak. The language of bees communicating with the beekeeper can also be easily understood by to those of us that really listen. When hearing and learning the "buzz words", all soon begins to make sense. Years ago our personal mentor coined the phrase “bees don’t talk and bees don’t write books”. This statement was commonly fed back to us when we asked him a beekeeping question. We mostly accepted this response as a challenge to discover the answers on our own. Ok, but what perspective can be gained by not answering our questions? Additionally, what beekeeping information can be gained through confusion? When was the last time you heard a Confucius quotation? Here’s one.“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated”. Can the same be said for beekeeping? Can the same be said about “bees don’t talk and bees don’t write books”? When it comes to writing books, bees are actually really good at it. Remembering that words really do have meaning, consider this definition of a book. A book is a medium of storing information composed of pages filled with words or pictures bound by an outer cover of protection. Does this definition remind you of anything in particular? Perhaps a colony of bees meets this definition. The cover can be viewed as the exterior of a tree as in a feral colony or the man made boxes used in modern beekeeping. The pages could be looked upon as the individual lobes of comb and frames. The letters or pictures could be viewed as the bees themselves telling a story. Perhaps the real question should be, can we as beekeepers read the honey bee book? Can we understand the words, turn the pages, observe the pictures and comprehend the story being told by this book? When it comes to talking, bees really do have the gift of Gab. The gift of Gab is an idiom, meaning the ability to speak in a way that makes people want to listen. When a guard bee decides to buzz me, I promise that I will quickly perk up and listen to what she has to say! If we are to understand this Buzz Talk we certainly need a basic dictionary. Beginning 101 “Buzz Talk” 1. Common buzz- A low, continuous humming sound. This low continuous buzz sound is one of relaxation, cooperation and even forgiveness. The common buzz may occur within the colony as well as in the air directly surrounding the colony. Presence of the common buzz is a sign of acceptance allowing peaceful entrance both into and around the colony area. 2. Informal buzz- A buzz with the general sense of interest or coming excitement. The informal buzz tends to be a by-product of careful and thoughtful frame examination and management. All is still well, but at least a few of the individuals are now paying attention. 3 . Un-common buzz- A medium pitched buzz of actual excitement and increased activity. The informal buzz is typified by many bees staring up at the intruder. The “shoulder tap technique” of communication soon begins. This physical display of advanced warning is offered as an opportunity for the intruder to consider retreat. The medium pitched buzz of the un-common buzz when combined with bees tapping your hat / veil and shoulders will confirm this action as an advance warning. 4. Threatened buzz- A buzz of a higher pitch and volume is indicative of heightened defensiveness. The threatened buzz is often on display in queenless colonies. 5. Banana buzz- A high pitched, high volume buzz of excitement, alarm pheromone release and full on defensiveness. Summary Understanding the basics of bee talk between the bee and the beekeeper begins with the belief that bees really do attempt to communicate with us. Are we willing to learn their language, read their books, understand their stories and appropriately respond to their buzzing? Stay tuned Intermediate level 201 Buzz Talk coming in next month’s edition!
Bees don't talk and bees don't write books, OR DO THEY?
Photo courtesy Nanette Davis
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What is your role/position at TBS? Store Manager What has been one or two of your most satisfying projects or experiences at TBS? One of the most satisfying things is helping customers diagnose issues with their colonies, giving them strategies to fix their issues, and then seeing the positive end results. I also enjoy seeing employees grow as beekeepers. What's 1-2 of the most common questions you get asked at the store? I’m a new beekeeper; how do I get started? Will I get stung? What do you most enjoy about your job at TBS? The people I work with and helping customers learn about beekeeping. Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know- I used to compete in eating contests. I have eaten 1 ½ large 3 meat pizzas in 5 minutes, 4lbs of alfredo pasta in under 30 minutes, and 65 cheese balls in 10 minutes. That was when I had a much faster metabolism. I definitely can’t do that anymore! People that know me ask if all that stays down when you get done. The answer is: Not always. What was a past job/career you had? I started out in Law Enforcement and then transitioned to sales and management which led me here. What are some of your interests and hobbies outside of beekeeping? I collect vinyl records and enjoy target shooting. When you have 30 minutes of free time, what do you do? Spend time with my girls. What’s one of your hidden talents or hobbies? Ax Throwing. I once won a competitive ax throwing contest. What bee joke have you heard over and over? What kind of bees live in graveyards? Zombees! Do you have a beekeeping related story you can tell us? I was moving some hives by moonlight and had some bees get inside my veil. It’s a little scary when you can’t tell how many are in there. I can tell you it feels like a million.
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You've determined your hive isn't worth saving. Now what? You essentially have 2 options. 1. Combine your weak hive with a stronger hive. We've got an article and video on pg. 55 about exactly how to combine hives! 2. Dispose of the hive & save the comb. If your hive has very little to no brood, only a few frames of bees, and winter is approaching, or if your hive has a high mite load, it is better to dispose of the hive and store the comb than combine it with a stronger hive and risk spreading mites & disease. To dispose of the hive, the best thing to do is to remove the bottom board and lid one evening, put the deep box in a trashbag, and place it in a freezer for 1 day. This will kill the bees, and any wax moth or SHB eggs or larva. Then, shake the dead bees out of the combs, and store the comb in wax moth crystals. You can reuse the comb for starting a new hive next year. Preserving the comb is criticial, as it is one of the most valuable aspects of the hive. Starting over next year will be much easier and faster with drawn comb! It is always dissapointing and frustrating to lose bees, but the national average loss rate is 44%...even for commercial beekeepers! Learn from mistakes, and try again!
You've worked hard, spent money, maybe made a bit of honey, but now your hive looks terrible. There aren't many bees, the wax moths are starting to move in, and robber bees are stealing what honey is left. When is it time to give up on a hive vs. trying to save it? The graph on the next two pages is designed to help you with that decision. Whether a hive is worth saving or not depends a bit on the time of year, and the history of the hive. As you can see on the chart, a hive with 3 frames of bees going into winter has virtually no chance of survival. However, a hive with 3 frames of bees in early spring has a decent shot at survival. Any time of year, there are some critical elements to consider when deciding if a hive is worth saving: 1. Is my queen healthy, young & laying well? If your queen is a year or more old, has a poor brood pattern, and isn't laying much when seasonally she should be, it's going to be tough to save hive that's already weak. 2. How long has your hive been weak? What's the history of the hive? If you split 2 weeks ago, then give them some time to grow. But if they've been 2-3 frames of bees for months, something is clearly wrong, and it's time to combine them. 3. Are mite levels low? If mites are high, then hives will struggle to grow.
Despite your best efforts...
When to give up on a hive
A hive not worth saving...
Texas Hive Growth Trends Poor, Fair & Good
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 X 5-inch bread pan. Whisk squash, honey, blueberry syrup, oil, egg, and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Mix all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl; add blueberries and pecans. Stir flour mixture into squash mixture just until combined; pour into prepared bread pan. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Recipe of the Month By Suzy Livergood Suz,y along with her husband Jim, have been beekeepers for many years. A few years ago they purchased a Pecan orchard in Palestine, Texas, where they now own and operate a thriving honey and pecan business. Check out their website ~ PalestineTexasPecans.com
Blueberry Summer Squash Bread
Have a Recipe you'd like to share ? Email us at Editor@TexasBeeSupply.com
1 ½ cups grated yellow squash ½ cups whole wheat flour ½ cup honey 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ cup blueberry syrup (find a recipe online) ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ cup vegetable oil ½ teaspoon salt 1 egg ½ cup blueberries ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup chopped Palestine Texas Pecans 1 cup all-purpose flour
HONEY VARIETALS The color, flavor and even aroma of honey differs, depending on the nectar of flowers visited by the bees that made it. There are more than 300 unique types of honey available in the United States alone, each originating from a different floral source. Their shades range from nearly colorless to dark brown, while flavors go from subtle to bold; even the aroma of honey may be reminiscent of the flower. As a general rule, the flavor of light-colored honeys is milder, and the flavor of darker-colored honey is stronger. Varietal honey may be best compared to wine in terms of climatic changes. Even the same flower blooming in the same location may produce slightly different nectar from year to year, depending on temperature and rainfall. Included above are just a few examples of varietals that you might not have known existed. For help finding a honey supplier or a specific varietal, visit the Honey Locator
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A favorite recipe of mine because I can use my home grown squash, blueberries, honey, pecans and eggs. I found my syrup at Echo Springs Blueberry Farm.
It’s really rather simple. Bees are very particular in how they build a nest. They have a specific order in which they place each component with very little variation. Put that statement in your memory bank – it will be on a test later! Below is a diagram of a “typical” brood nest. When you look at it what do you see? · Brood nest (no matter the season or how large it is) is “usually” in the center · Resources (Honey, nectar and pollen) left and right of center (Always) Consider this as a road map of a hive. The “test later” I was talking about? Here it is – Whether you are inspecting a hive, making a split or manipulating frames these basic rules apply every time – Brood in the center and resources to the outside. See I told you, simple!
As we inspect our hive the main task is to identify both the positives and the negatives in the hive. To do this, we need to think one step further and understand not just what is on the frames, but equally important is why. To start, let’s consider the shape of the nest. As we saw in the “road map” of the hive, our nest is in the center. Not only is it in the center but it is elongated like a football, sometimes even a football with basketball tendencies! In other words, a double deep brood box in late spring could easily take up much of the nest resembling an elongated basketball. On the other hand, right now we are in population decrease. The basketball has most likely turned into a football, on it’s way to being a softball. Yes, a lot of sports metaphors… hey, what can I say, it fits! What I’m getting at is this: Time of year plays a HUGE factor in what you will see in a hive inspection. I can sit here and tell you, this will be here and that will be there… but really, learning the seasons of your hive is the road map you need.
Depending on where you are in your beekeeping adventure, you may have completely opposing views from other beekeepers concerning hive inspections. New beekeepers inspect hives to learn AND to manage the hives as they learn. Experienced beekeepers typically inspect hives for 4 reasons: · Verify the queen is laying · Check for honey stores · Look for signs of swarming (space adjustments) · Monitor for brood pests and diseases I believe it is important to experience both learning and managing of your hives all while respecting the dynamics of a colony of bees. I say that because “giving bees their space” (figuratively and literally) is a very important part of beekeeping. As I mentioned last month, you should have a reason to go in your hive… even if the reason is to learn. In this month’s segment, we are going to delve into the core of the hive – the brood nest! Understanding how a hive is “supposed” to be laid out and what you’re “supposed” to be seeing is the first step in being able to identify a problem if there is one.
Mastering Hive Inspections Second in a multi-series
Components are important of course; but knowing what you should be seeing and when you should be seeing it is even more important! Seasonal breakdown Early Spring (late February – April) · Most of the stored honey will have been consumed over winter. · Some nectar and pollen around the brood nest, probably beekeeper generated by supplemental feeding. · Population increasing quickly, should be football shape and size. Late Spring/early Summer (May – June/July) · Honey stores in the brood nest should be re-established. · Plenty of nectar and pollen around the brood nest for feeding the ever-growing population. · Population is nearing peak and should be the size of a basketball. Late Summer/Early Fall (August – September) · Honey stores may be stressed due to Summer dearth. · Resources such as nectar and pollen are stressed and depend on the beekeeper for supplementing what nature isn’t providing. · Active brood nest has reduced to size of a cantaloupe. Late Fall/Early Winter (October – November) · Honey stores are rebuilt to sufficient overwinter capacity of 30-40 lbs. (3 – 4 frames) per deep brood box, due to supplemental feeding during dearth and in some instances, a fall nectar flow. · Very little nectar and pollen because it’s not available and not necessary, due to the time of year and the queen not laying. · Brood is scarce. Population is at dormant stage with no new brood and remaining steady. Winter (Nov. – mid Jan.) · Hive is clustered and living off stored honey of which will be decreasing daily. · No brood to speak of, depending on your geographic location. · Brood is still considered dormant stage but truthfully declining because of bees aging out.
Identifying your baseline, will provide you the checklist of what you are looking for. If you don’t see one of these major components in your inspection then that will be your first indication to look deeper! Knowing what you are supposed to be seeing and when you are supposed to be seeing it, is half the battle. Now you are ready to move to the next step! Next month we will dig deep into identifying problems we face with each season. Being prepared with the knowledge of what to do when you see it is the other half of the battle, and a battle you will win! By: Chari Elam
Full Hive Inspection Video by Blake Shook
Monthly Interviews with the best in the biz
The Interview Series
John Talbert is a true goldmine of information! We spoke at length about practical beekeeping tips, most common mistakes made in beekeeping, youth programs, and some awesome beekeeping stories. I'm sure you will enjoy this interview as much as I did! -Blake Shook
Most Important Beekeeping Tips & More!
John Talbert
If you’re a beekeeper like me, you know that tracking your hive inspections, the age and origin of your queens, your Varroa treatment types and dates you treated; the status of resources in each hive, and on and on and on… is important! And, if you’re a beekeeper like me, you probably don’t keep very detailed records near as much as you know you should! When it comes to record keeping the most important point is Do It… although most of us don’t. What if I told you hive management/record keeping software could make record keeping easier and more fun? In today’s world where almost everyone has a smart phone, using an app for record keeping may be just the motivation/convenience factor you need to get started or improve your apiary record keeping. A little over three years ago, when I was the First Vice President in charge of educational programs for the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association, I did a presentation on record keeping. The presentation included a section about Hive Management software. At the time, my research found only four main versions of tools, making it relatively easy for me to try each one using a “Free trial” account (which most of them support) allowing me to provide a summary of features and costs for each one in my presentation. When I started research for this article, I found 14 versions! Too many for me to open trial accounts and spend enough time with each to provide details about features and costs. I can however, give you information on what to look for in the tools and provide you the names and links to each. You can expect most, if not all, to provide the ability to record these types of data: 1. Apiary locations (via address and/or latitude and longitude) – many also include a feature to plot this in Google maps and provide information about where you can expect these bees to forage. They may also include local weather data for the location. 2. Another feature allows you to record when each hive was established, how it was established (Nuc, package, split, cut out, swarm capture, etc.), and the history of the queen (date emerged/introduced, how you obtained/created her, her breed, marked or not, clipped…etc) 3. Most importantly, they will have templates for hive inspection data.Information like date, weather conditions, colony strength, brood pattern, honey/nectar/pollen stores, temperament, pests and diseases noted, treatments/medications applied, feeding, frame manipulations, etc. Being they all provide most of the same basic data tracking capability; two factors to consider when choosing a software package are the nature of your beekeeping operation and the size of your operation. Some of the tools only have record keeping for apiaries and hives – which is all you really need if you are a hobbyist not worried about tracking business data. These are generally less complicated and still have all the basic data fields you would want to track. Other tools provide everything you need to track a “full-scale” commercial business down to a “hobbyist level” business selling honey, wax, bees, queens, etc. This includes full inventory tracking, expense tracking, sales data, taxes, and so on. Understandably, these additional features add to the complexity of the software and usually the cost. The other main cost driving factor is the size of your beekeeping operation. Most of these tools come with free versions that work with one apiary and a few hives (between five and ten). If you have more hives or more than one apiary location, you will likely have to upgrade to a pay version. Pretty much all of them are subscription based and charge a monthly or annual fee. Finally, make sure the version you choose can run on your hardware. Most support the four main platforms for Windows and Mac computers as well as iOS and Android devices, but not all. Listed below are the 14 versions I found. The first being the most expensive and geared towards full scale commercial operations -Probably not the version most of you will be interested in but worthy of listing. Also noteworthy, the last four are UK based companies - Terminology might be slightly different, but they should work fine for US based beekeepers. Hopefully this information proves useful. If you already keep great records – keep doing what you do! If you need a little kick-start for your record keeping, one of these will no doubt be a good fit! by: Micky Cross
MyApiary Manager https://www.myapiary.com/ Hive Tracks https://hivetracks.com/index.php Beetight https://www.beetight.com/ ApiManagerhttps://apimanager.net/ BeePlus Beekeeping Managerhttps://hive-tool.com/ BeeApphttps://www.bee-intelligence.com/ HiveSmartHQhttps://appibee.com/hshq.html Apiary Bookhttps://www.apiarybook.com/ HiveKeepers apphttps://www.hivekeepers.com/recordkeeping Bee Appyhttps://thebeeappy.com/ BeeCloudhttp://beecloud.co/en/ BeeRMhttps://www.mybeeline.co/en/about-beerm/ BeeWebhttps://www.beeweb.co/en myBeegardenhttp://www.mybeegarden.com/en
Record Keeping - Hive Management Software can make it easy! by Micky Cross - Past 1st Vice President Montgomery County Beekeepers Association
WHEN ROBBING STARTS - DON'T WASTE ANY TIME! WATCH AS DAVE GOES ALL OUT TO SAVE HIS COLONY!
David Glaser - Dave's Outlaw Honey - Tarkington, TX
ROBBER BEES!!!
Slow-motion photography at it's best!
Kim Townsend - Texas Swarm Troopers - Heath, TX
Learning how to fix a weak hive is a critical skill in beekeeping. Every beekeeper will, at some point, have one or many weak hives that need help! One of the most important distinctions to make before fixing a weak hive, is deciding if it is worth fixing at all. See our article on pg. 34 to understand when it's time to give up on a hive rather than fix a hive. But, assuming you've determined your hive is worth saving, there are a handful of actions to take to ensure your weak hive has every opportunity to succeed. The video above shows how to add brood, as well as gauge how strong a hive actually is. To Strengthen a Hive: 1. Add 1 frame of capped brood from a stronger hive to the center of the bottom brood box. 2. Add bees. While this can create some infighting between hives, you can add bees to a weak hive. Find a frame of uncapped brood in a strong hive, ensure the queen is not on that frame, take the frame to your weak hive, smoke the entrance, and shake the bees off the frame in front of the weak hive. Since the frame was uncapped brood, the worker bees on it are primarily nurse bees, and integrate much easier into a new hive. 3. Make sure your varroa mites are 2 mites per 100 bees or less. Test and treat if needed! 4. Feed syrup. If your weak hive does not have at least 2 frames
Fixing a Weak Hive
Sharing brood & fixing hives
of honey in the brood box, then feed a small amount of syrup, about 1/3 a gallon, each weak. 5. Feed pollen substitute. Only give a weak hive as much as they can consume in 1 week, which is typically about 1/4th a pound each week. If it is not all consumed at the end of the week, pull it out of the hive, freeze it, and put it back in the hive a day later. This will ensure any small hive beetle eggs or larva are killed. 6. Feed probiotics, like SuperDFM, and add essential oils like ProHealth to the syrup. 7. After 2-3 weeks of performing all these actions, if the hive does not seem to be growing, and the queen is not aggressively laying, consider replacing the queen. As you can see, the best way to save a hive is to "throw the kitchen sink at them" and provide them with every possible advantage and resource to allow them to grow. In most cases, a hive will begin to grow after all of these things! However, if your weak hive has been weak for a number of months, there is a good chance it will need to be requeened in the end. You can check out our several videos on our YouTube Channel, or our video blog to help with requeening!
Beekeeping Books
Combining weak hives
Steps Outlined 1. Identify the stronger of 2 colonies. 2. Smoke entrances both colonies. 3. Remove cover from strong colony. 4. Add single sheet of newspaper to strong colony. 5. Place weak hive on top of strong colony. 6. Feed!
FUN FACTS
Bees don't know to fly around an "object" that's in the way of their entrance! Queens don't sleep A Queen will lay up to 2000 eggs per day 6% of Beekeepers are under the age of 40 Honey Bees can't see Red! Honey has all elements to sustain life!
Oxalic Acid Q: Can I use oxalic acid vaporized as a mite treatment this time of year? A: You can, but remember – The vapor only kills the mites on adult bees, so capped brood will not be treated. That’s why OA works best on hives which are virtually broodless in the winter. If you do treat while the hive has brood, you must treat 1 time per week, for 3 weeks in a row to be effective. As always, test to make sure the treatment worked! Creamed Honey Q: Is there a recipe anyone recommends for creamed honey? I’m getting mixed reviews online? A: Sure! The best way on a small scale, in a home kitchen is: Use a light & mild tasting honey, that is fully liquified. Gently mix with a mixer on slow speed 10% previously creamed honey with your liquid honey, at room temperature. The 10% creamed honey must be incredibly smooth creamed honey with no granules detected. Refrigerate for 1 day. Allow to return to room temperature, and mix again for 5 minutes. Repeat this process 1 more day. Then bottle, refrigerate for 1 day in the bottle, then you are done! Dry Feeding Q: Should I open feed dry pollen or pollen patties inside the hive or does it matter? A: Open feeding works best in the winter months when there is no natural pollen coming in, though it can work during an extreme dearth in the summer. It is feeding all the bees in the neighborhood, but more closely replicates a honey flow. Internal feeding of pollen patties is ideal for summer/fall feeding, and gives the bees a more direct source of food. Check out how to feed pollen sub here. sdsC
Monthly Q & A
Have a Question? Email us at help@TexasBeeSupply.com
Adding Boxes in September Q: My double deep hive is completely full of bees & honey. Should I add another box? A: If they are very full, over 80%, I would still add a box in September. After Oct. 1st, I would not, but there is still a chance they will expand into a 3rd box, and it will help keep them cool. Plus it could help them move honey up, allowing the queen more space to lay in the brood nest. As long as bees are mostly filling a box, I don’t mind leaving it on even during the winter. Thymol Mite Treatments Q:Why do you not recommend Thymol products for mite control in the summer? A: With the heat (above 80F) thymol based products aren’t really effective. They are a fumigant and can overwhelm a hive, causing them to abscond, or remove all the larva and pupa. Swapping Honey Q: Can I take honey frames from one of my stronger hives which may be getting a little honey bound...and move it to a less strong hive ? A: Absolutely! You can always swap brood & honey between weak/strong hives. Check out our video on adding brood here. Grumpy Bees Q: My bees were aggressive last time I got into the hive. They have never been this way before! A: It can be weather related for sure. Always make sure you use your smoker. But, when the nectar flows end, bees can absolutely become a bit more grumpy! If they are consistently mean for a few months, even when using a smoker, they may have requeened themselves thus the change in behavior. You could requeen, or try trickle feeding, which can calm bees down by providing them a food source.
Fresh nectar is up to 80% water! Bees add enzymes and evaporate the water down to 18%, thus creating honey!
Click Here
Pro Tip: Our commercial beekeeping crew wears these suits! In the summer, wear shorts and a tank top shirt under the suit. It's still virtually sting proof, and keeps you even cooler! -Blake
Texas Drought Status
What are Small Scale Texas Beekeepers Selling their Honey for per Pound?
For real time info, click here
$4
4%
$5
3%
$6
8%
$7
5%
$8
19%
$9
$10
36%
$11
0%
$12
13%
$13+
14%
A full version of the tanging video is at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1204662909869897 For other videos our facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Calli-Powell-Ranch-102709354417019/?ref=page_internal
By: Ronnie Smith CALLI-POWELL RANCH, Texoma, TX
Folklore or Fact
Our family has been raising honeybees for three years. We have found the internet and Texas Bee Supply to be invaluable resources. In 2020 with COVID 19 causing limited interactions with people and three of us now working from home, we needed an escape so my wife and son started conducting bee relocations from the Dallas area to our apiaries at Calli-Powell Ranch. We record the relocations and share the bee’s progress on our Facebook page so the people that wanted to save the bees can follow their hives and document the journey through the year. During this project and through my son’s internet learning, he recently insisted that I watch a series of videos on bee tanging. Two weeks after my initial self taught tanging training, I had the opportunity during recording hive inspections to capture my first bee tanging experience as it happened. Bee tanging is the act of generating a loud noise, using an instrument or instruments, resonating vibrations through the air that the bees can sense, encouraging them to land or return to their hive. There exist many different instruments that beekeepers utilize for this task. My personal experience has proven that this is best done with a full bee suit and hood while the camera is rolling so that it is less painful to share later. There are several articles and books that date bee tanging to the 17th century when bees were kept in small hives in the farmyard. When a beekeeper noticed a hive swarming, they would bang a spoon on a large pot to notify neighbors that the bees were swarming, and that they were claiming the swarm of bees. Some folk lore even says the tanging noise calmed the bees and enticed them to land on the open hive laid on the ground and coated with honey. Like any other beekeeping question, there are at least 3 opinions. One opinion states that unequivocally tanging bees has been fully dis-proven and is totally silly. The second opinion is that the sound generates a soothing frequency that the queen hears that results in her landing. The third opinion and most common is that the loud noise resembles thunder which will make a forager return to the hive or a swarm to land and seek shelter lower to the ground. I don’t know which is correct as I am no expert, but what I do know is that being in the middle of a swarm is something every beekeeper should experience. The excitement and energy can only be compared to the first time you find your new queen on your own.I am sharing an abbreviated version of our tanging video. We were finishing inspecting one of our bee yards when the roar of a wild swarm approached, and suddenly we were in a bee tornado! I did as only a fully internet trained tanging expert could do and requested my instruments (two hive tools) which is all we had, and the symphony began while the camera was rolling and capturing the excitement. Much to my amazement and excitement, the swarm landed about 5 feet off the ground 20 feet outside the apiary where we cut the branch and shook them in a nuc and the rest is history. Did my tanging do the trick and lure 3 frames of bees into my care or were they going to land there anyway? I can only tell you this, with the excitement of a swarm overhead and standing there feeling hopeless, you have nothing to lose except for future dignity when your son shares the video with the world. So take that mustard seed of faith and tang like there’s no tomorrow with whatever you have whether it’s a pot, bowl, hive tools, cow bell, musical triangle, etc. and hope for the best. Happy Beekeeping!
Tanging Bees
Before bees, herbicides were my friend. Aggressive, frequent mowing and tilling was the solution to battling yaupon, mesquite, huisache, and wild Texas rose. Now, I practice regular seeding of native grasses and controlled burning to clear lands for new growth; leaving flowers in the field long enough to benefit the bees and thwart my obsessive compulsion to gaze upon a freshly shredded field of grass. In a family that grew up baling hay and ranching cattle, you can imagine the looks I get when I steer my tractor and brush hog around a clump of horsemint, or delay mowing altogether until after wild verbena or Mexican Blankets have finished blooming. I once loathed yaupon, poison ivy, and Johnson Grass until one fateful weekend a few years ago when cruising my property I saw bees working each of those species - the yaupon and poison ivy flowers for nectar and pollen, and Johnson Grass for resins to make propolis!
Managing your Land to Support Bees
We’ve found great success with a system I call “year-round blooms.” This process takes time and requires you to know your property and your soil. It requires you to slow down and make detailed observations and make clear connections between bees, seasons, land, water, and weather. Famed Texas author John Graves reminds us that we don’t really own land - the land owns us! To create the aforementioned “balance with nature;" the challenge is to learn the “environments of YOUR property.” Identifying where a small gully holds water just a little longer therefore might be a great place for may-haws or persimmons. Which areas around your house have full, scorching sun in the summer, but mild winters that could save a potted plant? What plants do you see bees foraging on at specific times throughout a normal year? Until you’ve put your hands, blood, sweat, and tears into the ground—can you say you know a property. Then and only then can you design a plan - whether it’s for cows, hay, pecans, cotton, hunting, or bees!
By: Matt Fuller Ph.D.
"Personally, bees have changed the way I view the responsibility I take with the small pieces of land entrusted to me."
Matt Fuller
My family has been involved in farming and ranching since “the old days” when ancestors loaded on a boat and made the trip to Indianola, ready to make the inland journey across black land prairies and coastal post oak savannahs to start a new life in Southeast Texas. The Texas of their time was idyllic for beekeeping and still is. Abundant fields of flowers, forests, grasses, mild winters, and strong economic and agricultural policies make for a beekeeper’s paradise. Like beekeeping, Texas has undergone several changes since those “old days.” The sheer growth of our cities and suburbs has caused many issues for the state. As a young boy I remember flocks of geese in Katy and Eagle Lake, rivers and creeks that never ran dry, fields of bluebonnets as far as the eye could see, and almost every boy in my hometown knew where at least one bee tree was. Our state’s growth is not all problematic. I do enjoy many of the creature comforts urbanization has afforded us. But, it has presented farmers and cattle ranchers with challenging prospects in finding hay, feed, markets, and with rising land prices and taxes, and scarcity of water and other resources. The same challenges are facing bees and beekeepers. Since we added bees to our family farms, we began implementing a number of practices that may be useful to beekeepers no matter the size of the operation. Many urban and suburban cities, county governments, and schools; along with residential developments are now measured in feet, not acres. Thankfully most are planting bee friendly flower mixes that help control erosion as well as native and non-native pollinators. These actions are in place now because of citizens who saw an innovative way to help with a problem and offered a solution. Those with enough land to keep bees, have enough land to consider managing it for bee forage.
Balance with Nature ~
A Year Full of Blooms
Tim Obrien
Those with gardens can plant a year’s worth of food for themselves as well as for the bees. My pollen lab report told me that the majority of pollen in my honey actually came from elm and oak trees; followed by traces of vegetable and flower pollen from my garden and wildflowers. Tip: Honey consumers also enjoy seeing the report! A great resource to help plan a year’s worth of blooms is NASA’s Honey Bee Forage Map Anyone looking to design a plan for year round blooms should start here. After clicking your approximate location on a map, a list of plants that provide important forage for bees in each month of the year is produced. Next, a cruise of your property is in order - this is a concept borrowed from the forestry industry. With notebook in hand, walk or ride your property looking for various species of plants you want to retain. I use the iNatrualist App to document all of the flowers I see bees on. This has the added benefit of automatically noting for me when flowers are in bloom and allowing neighbors to also document what bees might be foraging on their property or give advice on what they believe a species of flower might be. Just as good record keeping is a part of effective beekeeping, records on forage sources are also important. Those looking to develop a year’s worth of blooms for the bees will find a rewarding endeavor waiting for them. In much the same way that farming, and ranching gets into your soul, so does beekeeping. This principle applies not only to a land owner, but also the suburban homeowner, apartment dweller, and the rural cattle rancher. Each of us can do a little something to ensure flowers are available for bees year round. Leveraging your land’s resources to support your goals does not have to exclude resources that help bees. In fact, for us, helping bees has taken a thorny, dry, brown patch of dusty earth and made it just a bit softer, wetter, sweeter smelling, and greener.
Once you know a stretch of land, you can cultivate it to favor bees. Certainly, you can buy expensive seed mixtures from Texas nurseries. I confess I have done so more times than I care to admit in order to have a gorgeous bluebonnet field I remember as a child. If planned and executed properly, and just enough rain falls, the seeds can pay for themselves by reducing the beekeeper’s dependence on supplemental feeding and possibly colony loss due to lack of forage. Native seed mixes are a great choice for bees and have added benefits of a large root system to control erosion and evaporation; all the while crowding out undesirable plants. You can also let Mother Nature take control and reseed areas for you. Leave a small corner of your property wild (un-mowed)and you just might be surprised at the bee traffic you gain! Even simple efforts like leaving an elm tree or broom weed bush when you’d otherwise remove it might help a colony of bees (managed or native.) Knowing your main nectar source and educating your neighbors about them is sure to help. Learn the seasonal cycles of your property so you can identify what’s blooming and when – to the point that at any given time you could go to a specific location on your property and find bees foraging on what you’ve cultivated or preserved - leading to a healthy environment for honey bees and humans alike! The bee-conscious farmer, rancher or homeowner also has tremendous resource in the TAMU Palynology Lab run by Dr. Vaughn Bryant. Every so often I drop a sample of honey and a check in the mail. A few weeks later his kind graduate students drop a report in the mail back to me! I open this report like a kid opens presents on Christmas. It tells me the main sources of pollen on which my bees forage. I keep this data in mind as I plan out routine chores and upgrades to my property; passing over (or pruning lightly) a tree I might otherwise cut down or leave a stand of wildflowers for a few weeks longer than my mowing-obsessed neighbors might like. I of course have a sign saying, “Pardon the weeds, I’m feeding the bees!” (Not overlooking the shared bottle of honey with my neighbors as a peace offering) Chinese tallow, yaupon, goldenrod, and clover are major sources of nectar and should be included in any plan for your property if they work in your area. Other sources of nectar for bees are supplejack, horsemint, mesquite, cactus flowers, wild asters, and many others.
BEEKEEPING TEXAS LICENSE PLATE!
Without bees, almonds produce 200 lbs per acre. With bees, they produce 2-3,000! That's why CA almond pollination is the biggest pollination event in the world!
Available at your local DMV September 1st!
$22 of the License Fee will go directly to the Texas Honey Bee Education Association!
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