Ask two beekeepers a question about bees and you'll get at least 3 different answers. That's the lesson we learned when we attended the October meeting of the Northeast New Jersey Beekeepers Association. The agenda indicated that there would be information about over wintering hives. this is knowledge we definitely needed so Jim and I went to the meeting.

An internet search for "overwintering bees" turns up 180,000 results. It is important that your search include where you live because not everyone will have a problem with snow, wind and very cold temperatures, all of which are a problem for bee hives. I added "northern New Jersey" to my search and got a better results list but I still wanted to hear from real people with real experiences. I had consulted my go to books and read bee magazine articles but there is nothing like personal experience to help guide the way.

Like many of the meetings, there was no formal agenda, just lots of sharing and discussion. One member swears by solid bottom boards and wrapping the hives in tar paper. Another member leaves the bottom board open, installed something called a slatted bottom board and does not wrap the hives. Others pile bales of hay around the hives. Others insulate the lid to help with moisture condensation which can drown bees. There is at least one member who tries very hard to replicate nature with his hives and he asked how bees in the wild survive winter without human intervention. Hmmmmm....no exact answers, lots to think about, and not a lot of time until the weather turns cold.

As I listen, I thought back to when I was  kid and tried to remember what my dad did with the 10 or so hives that lived in our back yard. They were not visible from the house, so I don't have any recollection of what they looked like in the winter. I'm pretty sure he got bales of hay to help block the wind. I know he would check the hives anytime there was a warm day and he would sometimes feed them with sugar water in front feeders. I also remember that not all the hives would make it through the winter and that would make him very sad. OK. I don't want to be sad in the spring. time to take some action to help the girls overwinter.

So here's what we did:

*Added a slatted bottom board which allows air flow, gives them a bit more leg room at the bottom and prevents cool drafts at the front door.

slatted bottom board
 

*Insulated the lid with 2" of foam board. This should help with condensation from the warm hive. (Didn't your mom always say wear a hat?)


insulation inside the lid
 

*Wrap the north and west sides of the hive with 2" foam board insulation because those are the coldest sides. The hives faces east and south and gets nice sun on those sides. We used bungee cords to hold it all in place.

insulation for north and west sides

bungee cords to hold the insulation

 

bungee cords and corner protectors

*Sit a gargolye on top of the hives to keep the lid on in case of strong winds and to warn off evil spirits. Yes for the wind, no for the spirits. A rock or brick will do just fine, you don't have to use a gargolye. We just happen to have a cast concrete gargolye named Dobie who is just perfect for the job.

Dobie keeping things under control

 

OK mother nature, bring on winter. McBees are ready!

Great Ball of Bees part 3

 

OK. This is the final part of the exciting great ball of bees story.

 

 

Just before the discovery of the ball of bees, at the recommendation of the State Bee Inspector, we had inserted 3 Apivar strips into the hive. Apivar is a pesticide used to control the varroa mite which is a real threat to a hive of bees. The strips are supposed to remain in the hive for at least 42 days. After our 2 week inspection of the hive and the discovery of a possible new queen, we patiently waited to open the hive again on the 42nd day of Apivar treatment.

 

Once again, we suit up, gather the gear and open the hive. Things look good. The top super is fuller and heavier than before. The bees are flying in and out and many are loaded with bright yellow pollen. We take pictures of each frame and rotate some from the outer edges to the middle so the bees will fill them. The bees are a bit cranky and they sting Jim several times on the wrist.

 

Moving to the bottom super we see honey, older capped brood but not much and very few eggs or larvae. This is very discouraging and we are now convinced that our first McBee hive is not going to make it through the winter. We take more pictures so we can study them later then we close up the hive.

 

Again I post to the NNJ Bee Facebook page and ask about the condition of my hive.  Within a few minutes I learn that queens slow down their egg production in the fall so the hive doesn't have so many babies to take care of. I also learn that, if bees are bringing in pollen, they are feeding it to the larvae and baby bees. My girls are doing this and it is a very good sign.

 

Later in the day I load the pictures onto the computer and take a good look at the frames and the bees. I see a couple of hive beetles, no mites, honey, brood and..... 

Queen in the middle of the picture

 

There she is! My beautiful italian queen bee is still with us and is still working hard to keep the hive together. I'm so happy that I found her in the hive! The chances of the hive surviving the winter have now increased dramatically. I'm now getting excited for honey harvesting in June.

Some thoughts on cause the ball of bees-
The same day we found the ball, the people who take care of our lawn were using a machine that pokes holes in the lawn to aerate. It is a big machine which thumps and may have vibrated the hive enough to have vibrated the queen right out the door. Seems far fetched, I know, but it is the only explanation we have so far.

Thanks for staying involved in the drama!

Next post- Getting read for winter.

 

Great Ball of Bees part 2

For the next two weeks we watch the hive very closely. Everything seems fine. The girls are busy bringing in pollen and nectar. We are supplying them with sugar syrup to help them prepare for winter and they are drinking that stuff like it is going out of style.

We bought 20 pounds of sugar at the grocery store. The checkout person said "What do you do with all that sugar?" "Feed bees" we responded. "Oh" she said and then stopped talking to us.

We impatiently wait the required two weeks and then we don our jackets and veils; gather up the smoker, hive tools, and camera and head to the hive for a close inspection. We remove the top cover and the inner lid. We remove the feeding box and get to the first deep super. Everything looks fine. They are busy building out the wax cells and filling them with syrup and nectar. All 8 frames are not full but there is no lack of work being done. This makes us happy.

Capped and uncapped brood
 

Honey, brood and a drone cell in the middle

We take off the top super and begin inspecting the bottom 8 frames. Some frames are full of honey and capped brood. Others look like they have larvae in them and maybe eggs. This is very encouraging because it means the queen settled back in and continued to do her work.

Then we see this-

 

 

 

What is that lump among the brood cells? Back to the books and the experts so we can understand what it is and what it means. This hive has more drama than a house full of teenage girls!

 

Seems the lump is a queen cup which means the bees decided to make another queen either because the present one is hurt or missing or she just isn't productive enough. We think she is still in the hive. There are eggs and larvae which shows that she's been doing something in the last 2 weeks. since it is now mid September and winter is around the corner, it is too late to add a new queen and have her be successful enough to overwinter. We are fairly sure we are going to lose our hive.

 

Now I've been around bees long enough to know that hives don't all make it through the winter. I also know that we got our hive started later than is usual and it was a risk we were willing to take but I still feel sad thinking that I had somehow let the girls down. I'm not looking forward to having to clean out a dead hive in the spring. So it looks like the ball of bees really was a bad thing.

 

 

Next post- Ball of Bees part 3

 

 



Great Ball of Bees

At the beginning of September I had an evening shift at work. Sometime around 6pm I had the following text conversation occurred with my husband-

j: Did you check the bees today?

me: Yup. They looked fine around noon.

j: They are flying around like crazy and seem upset. There is a ball of bees on the ground.

me: A ball of bees???

j: Yes. A baseball sized ball of bees on the ground in front of the hive. Other bees are flying around and it is getting dark out.

90314 ball of bees on the ground in front of the hive

 

 

Well, that got my attention! So, in between helping students find textbooks and classrooms, I investigated what a "ball of bees" might mean.(Sure wish I could have called my Dad!) I also posted to the Northern New Jersey Bee Association FB page to see if any of the experts were paying attention and could help.

My post did generate some comments. Many from a guy who is anti-treatment of any kind who had decided that my problem was because I had just begun treating my bees for varroa mites. Others who just comment on anything that gets posted and some actually helpful responses. People did tell me to find out what was in the ball and, if the queen was there, put her back into the hive tonight. don't leave it all until the morning.

So when I got home from work, Jim and I suited up, went to the hive with flashlights in our hands and gently poked around at the ball of bees. Sure enough, there was the queen in the middle of the pile. We scooped her up, brought her to the hive entrance and she walked right back in. About 30 minutes later, the hive was quiet and everyone was in for the night. Next morning, totally normal.

Such hive drama! The following day I called the State Bee Inspector to ask his advice. I have learned that, if you ask 2 beekeepers a question, you will get 3 right answers! The Inspector didn't know what to think but he did tell me to leave the hive alone for a couple of weeks and then do a thorough inspection, looking specifically for eggs and brood. Finding that will tell me if the queen is ok.

Correction- In an earlier post I mentioned how much the bees love the American Chestnut Tree catkins. since that post, I learned that my trees are Chinese Chestnut trees not American Chestnut. The bees love them just the same!

Next post- Two weeks later, the inspection!

Class Trip to the Bee Hives

Twice a year my workplace closes to the public and holds a day of training, learning, food and fun, also known as SSL Staff Day. During that time, we have breakfast, meet together to learn something new or train on new equipment; have lunch; share our knowledge with workshops or other training; have a snack; have a department meeting and call it a day. We are famous for our eating!

BCC Library Staff in the meadow

This August 21st, the afternoon fun was a trip to the BCC bee hives with me. I offered this idea up, sort of as a joke, because so many of my co-workers are afraid of bees and just as many are very curious about the entire process. The boss took me up on the offer so we met at the bee hives after lunch. it was a lovely summer afternoon and a nice time of day to be outside so most people didn't mind taking a short walk. Plus, the boss said attendance at the hives was mandatory, so they all came. I had hope to be joined by the actual owner of the hives, but he was not available. I did ask his permission to go into the hives.

I opened a hive and pulled out frames which were empty of honey,nectar or brood because they had been extracted not too long ago.

frame with eggs,brood, bees & honey

empty frame

I got to show them what actual honey comb looks like and explain that the bees determined that shape by themselves and that is the shape they like to function in. I answered questions and got to tell the story of helping my father with his hives which led to more questions.









 Even the College's public relations guy, Larry, came and took pictures!

Sharing my new hobby made me realized how many of my childhood stories revolve around the bees (future blog posts formulating!)  and what an interesting childhood I had and helps explain why I have a connection to nature that many other people don't have. 

An Inspector Calls (title borrowed from the book by J.B. Priestley)

Did you know that there are people employed to inspect and monitor bee hives? I'm not sure if every state has an apiarist but NJ has one and he is terrific. Tim Schuler  is a font of bee knowledge and is also a really nice guy. This past week he was in northeastern NJ to visit beekeepers and their hives so he stopped at my house.



 
Tim and his helpers talked to my husband about our hive and any problems we might be having. Then he opened the hive and checked things out. Tim did a test for varroa mites using the alcohol wash method-

Alcohol Wash Method

This method is simple, quick and quite accurate when applied to a larger number of colonies in the apiary. It doesn't require a second visit after 24 hours. The test is carried out as follows:

• Use a wide-mouth glass jar and scoop about 300 bees (~1 cup) from the brood area. Make sure that the queen is NOT included!
• Add 50 ml (~ 2 oz) of windshield wiper fluid (or diluted methyl hydrate, or rubbing alcohol) to the jar and shake for several minutes.
• Remove lid and pour contents into a container covered with light metal wire-mesh screen (8 mesh/in) or a coarse sieve. Repeat.
• Pour alcohol solution into a second container covered with cheesecloth or fine sieve. Count number of mites.  (explaination from http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/factsheets/222_vardetect.htm)

Varroa mites are a bee hive's worst enemy and have been since 1986. while the test may seem extreme because some bees die, a serious hive infestation can lead to the loss of the entire hive. The test can tell you just how bad your varroa problem is. Test results showed that my have has mites but just a few. Tim says every hive has mites it is just a matter of how many and how the beekeeper handles the problem. You can learn more about varroa mites, testing and treating here- http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef608.asp

Anyway, back to the inspection. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be home for this event so my husband had to be the point person and remember to ask all the questions we had talked about. Tim gave my hive a good grade, told us what to do to help it survive the winter and put a sticker on the hive marking it as a NJ State inspected bee hive. The girls really liked the sticker!



Recently on some beekeeping Face Book page, that I follow there was a long thread about whether to register hives with the state. Some people choose not to register citing government intervention and big brother monitoring. Others argue that registering gives them piece of mind because registering provides the state with good statistics and other data that can result in positive honeybee legislation and early notification of trouble. Being registered cal also help when there is a complaint about your bees or when your local municipality changes the rules about having bee hives.

So, the same way that I registered my dog with the town and I have my kids vaccinated when they were babies, my bees are registered with the state. I know that I can contact Tim's office to get help any time I have a need. I know that my club (Northeast New Jersey Beekeepers Association) will invite Tim to speak and to visit hives every year. this is a good thing for my hive and for my fellow beeks' hives.

Bee-vangelism or spreading the word and enlisting converts

One of the dictionary definitions of "evangelism" is "a militant or crusading zeal". While I have always been a proponent of bees and beekeeping, I guess now I have become an evangelist or a Bee-vangelist! (I can hear the groans from my pun loving friends John and Roger)  My husband has also become a bee-vangelist telling everyone he knows that his wife is a beekeeper and he is right there with me, in the hive, visiting the bee supply stores and browsing the catalogs. He joined in the extracting fun at my workplace and he even thinks he can find a place for a hive or two at some of his work sites.

Our crusade worked on a colleague at my workplace as well. A professor with a strong interest in the environment and sustainability came by to learn about the extracting process. He was so excited about it, he called his wife and asked her to come by, with their teenager daughters. After some teenage reluctance, all three arrived and within a few minutes, they were all working. They uncapped frames, cranked the extractor, and stuck labels on jars. At one point, one of the girls had a drone bee walking around on her hand. Before the afternoon was over, the professor was hooked and talking about getting his own bee hive and his daughter was thinking of designs for the jar label.

My nephew in Vermont has been converted as well. His conversion came from my dad, his grandfather. My nephew and his wife are caring for their first hive this summer and we share updates. Their enthusiasm is not dampened by the shorter summer in northern Vermont or the shorter growing season. In this picture, Steve is adding a honey super and is well protected.

photo courtesy of Brianne Ragno
 

Oh, and my son-in-law is a convert too! He says he's willing to put a hive in his backyard (although he might just be trying to stay on my good side!) but his wife, my daughter, is not yet ready for that. Dogs and babies come first. 

Yup, and 2 of my high school classmates, who are also Facebook friends, have contacted me about bees and beekeeping. One of them lives in Hawaii so I'm volunteering to go visit and help Michael with his hives! I had honey from a lavender farm in Hawaii and it was exquisite!

http://www.aliikulalavender.com/p-21-lavender-honey.aspx

One more...a neighbor with a young son who has a tortoise, a lizard, a dog and is in to all sorts of outdoor sports came over recently and got very excited about the bees. Now he's borrowed my books, wants to come watch when we go into the hive again and getting educated so he can have a hive next spring.

With all the news about the importance of honeybees for our food and the collapse of bee hive colonies all over the world, I can only hope that more people catch bee-vangelism fever and become crusaders.



"Evangelism." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 July 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evangelism>.