Death to the Beetles!!

AJ's Beetle Eaters really work well! This is a picture of the dead beetles I got out of my hive of Russians. I only saw a few beetles roaming in the lid (like 3). There were quite a few in the traps. All three hives seemed very calm and quiet, and I hope it is because I am getting the beetles under control.

I also put a gallon of syrup on the russians (top feeder), and a half gallon on the first hive. Hive 3 is still doing well. I put two traps in there and two traps in the Russians.

I really hope I can get these hives through the winter ok.

New Fall Inspection

So I went out to check the bees today. I've started a new job teaching third grade at Abbotts Hill Elementary, and have been busier than a dog with three cats to chase. So this afternoon I wanted to see what was going on.

I took some AJ's Beetle Eaters out with me to put in the hive. When I opened up the first hive (Jabez), I saw beetles running like mad under the cover. I had a great time squishing them with my hive tool! I took the top super off, which was empty, just drawn comb. I set it on the ground and leaned it against the hive, to be removed later. The next super had very little honey in it, none of it capped. I went into the brood chamber just enough to find capped brood, larvae, and some eggs. I did not see a queen, but I saw enough evidence to decide to get out of the hive. I put one super onto the deep, a beetle eater onto that super, and replaced the cover. Of course, with this hive being called "Jabez," I got stung on the pinkie as I was putting the cover back on.

The second hive, the Russians, was extremely light. There was no honey in the upper super, and some honey in the lower. There was also a lot of capped brood and eggs. I also saw the queen wandering around in the deep. Good sign! So, I put the hive back together with the extra super leaning just like the first, and a beetle eater. I need to get syrup onto this hive tomorrow.

The third hive, which has been a slow mover and producer all year, surprised me! There was nothing in the shallow super, but there was capped honey in the medium! There were also eggs brood and larvae galore in the medium, and the deep looked pretty good. I did not see a queen here, but obviously she's there somewhere. So I leaned the shallow against this one as well and installed a beetle eater.

My plan is to go out tomorrow and put a top feeder on the Russians filled with a gallon of 2:1 syrup which I made up tonight. I will also pick up the discarded (and empty) supers. After I get some more syrup mixed up, I'll put a feeder on Jabez, and monitor #3 a little bit closer. I also want to remember to check the Beetle Eaters next week.

So this was a long post, but it has been a long time coming! Sorry I have no pictures, I was too busy to remember the camera.

I do have honey left from the one super I harvested. All I need to do is get some jars now.

Psalm 81:16 - Honey From the Rock Apiary
Steve Jones, Beekeeper

First inspection, and a surprise!

Yesterday I went out to do my first full inspection of the new hives. I took the video camera with me, and as soon as I can get the disc finished, I’ll post my first video here.

In the first hive (I call it Jabez, due to the number of stings I got when I first received this hive…) all seemed to be going well. Bees were busily working, the queen looked fat and happy, and there were many brood and eggs. I also saw quite a bit of honey being stored. I believe they are going after the tulip poplar right now, because we are in a good flow right now. None of my hives have touched any of the syrup I’ve made available!

I also noticed in this hive that there was very little pollen being stored. I know that this is being fixed now, as I have seen many bees coming in with large baskets full of the yellow stuff.

In the second hive (Russians. No name yet.), I found the activity to be going quite well. The queen was busily going about her duties, and there was repair work going on the older comb in the hive.

The third hive surprised me. I’ve noticed little activity out front, and when I opened it, I found the bees working quite diligently and ignoring me altogether. When I removed one of the frames, I found a very advanced queen cell in the middle of the frame, covered with bees. There were also eggs on this frame. On the next frame I found the queen, and more eggs and a bunch of capped brood. There was also a small early-stage queen cell.

So I emailed my supplier with my thoughts on this observation. The hive is nowhere near full, as it was a 3-frame nuc installed last week, so I didn’t think swarming was on their mind. It could be that the queen, having been introduced two weeks ago, had not started laying soon enough for the workers so they began some queen cells. My supplier agreed with me on this and said I should remove the queen cells and keep a close eye on this colony for awhile. Hopefully I can get some good pictures of this cell in the next week or so. I haven’t decided if I should remove it, for if this current queen is weak for some reason, the bees would know better than I. What do you, my knowledgeable readers think? Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts! Today, there is much activity in front of all three hives, as it is currently 73F and sunny.

One final observation: All 3 of my AJs BeetleEaters were empty of SHB, and I saw none in the hives. So far so good!!

Nuc 'em!!

Well, now that I have three completely empty hives, complete with drawn comb, I need to decide what to do next.
I believe that this year I am going to go the nuc route. If you are not familiar with what a nuc is, then check out Wikipedia's definition here.

My normal bee supplier does not deal in nucs, so I have found a gentleman in Marietta, GA that does. His name is Bruno Frazier, and he runs Cave Hollow Bee Farm. I'm going to order three nucs from him, but I'm going to mix it up this year: I have ordered 2 Italian nucs, and one Russian. I have heard great things about Russians and their abilities to resist or at least tolerate varroa mites. They also are high honey producers, which should help them survive the winter.

Take a moment and read this comparison between Russians and Italians:
Russians v. Italians

Once I get my nucs installed, I shall be putting some AJ's Beetle Eaters in them. These are a new device which has been developed in Australia to control SHB populations. They use no chemicals, and are cheap and easy! I've seen the different homemade traps, but I think this method may work easier for me.