bee surprised

warmth after winter freeze

2012-01-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Bee foraging on mahonia.

Bee foraging at birdbath.

Two hive entrances, as inspired by John Jones.

Insulating Bee Cozy and the two hive entrances, as inspired by John Jones.

Bees unable to fly.

A few days ago Atlanta experienced below freezing temperatures (two days in a row) which killed many of our potted plants. As the weather has warmed, the bees are vigorously foraging for water and pollen. The flight path is short and straight (bee lining), making trips to forage at the flowering mahonia and the bird bath. I spotted red maple buds in the neighborhood, but those buds are not yet attracting bees.

Scientific American Blogs posted an article about a parasitic fly (Apocephalus borealis) which has laid eggs in 77% of the sampled California Bay Area hives. Perhaps the parasitic fly is another honey bee stress. I grabbed a few bees beneath the hive which were unable to fly. I am storing these bees in a jar to see whether parasitic fly larva will emerge in the next week.

Winter Outlook (December through February)

2011-12-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

NOAA's winter outlook for Atlanta reads as "Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: equal chances for above-, near-, or below-normal temperatures and precipitation. Winter weather for these regions is often driven not by La Niña but by the Arctic Oscillation."

November seemed very warm and this was confirmed using Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network. An average Atlanta November temperature of 58.6°F has not been seen since 2003.

Nov-1    To    Nov-30          Max[°F], Min[°F], Avg[°F]
2011                 2011               70.4       46.7        58.6
2010                 2010               63.5       45.3        54.4
2009                 2009               64.2       45.2        54.7
2008                 2008               59.8       41.0        50.4
2007                 2007               63.6       43.4        53.5
2006                 2006               62.9       44.2        53.5
2005                 2005               65.0       46.1        55.5
2004                 2004               64.1       48.7        56.4
2003                 2003               68.1       47.9        58.0
2002                 2002               59.6       41.6        50.6
2001                 2001               70.3       51.4        60.9
2000                 2000               59.1       44.1        51.6

The Arctic Oscillation has been in a positive phase and forecast to remain so for the next few weeks.  I speculate that odds are now tilted towards above normal December through February temperatures.

Last Saturday, I added the Bee Cozy, but last year, the bee Cozy was added on the 4th of November.   I like to believe that the prolonged cold during Snowpocalypse reduced the number of small hive beetles this summer, but with a potentially warmer winter, I'm happy that I painted the Beetle Jail for use in summer of 2012.

crush and strain honey

2011-08-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Each deep frame of capped honey comb was wrapped in a large plastic bag and put in the freezer a few weeks ago. Freezing allowed me to postpone the crush and strain and kill any trace of small hive beetle larva. The day before the crush and strain, frames were removed from the freezer and left to thaw inside their plastic bag.

Comb was cut away from the frame in 3 parts and dropped into a 5 gallon bucket. Nearly 6 deep frames of capped honey comb filled the bucket to the top. Last year, instead of using a complete sheet of wax foundation, each frame was started with a narrow strip of wax foundation. What a pleasure that none of frames were wired. So, I did not have to hassle with cutting away wire.

I reused the cardboard and packing paper from Brushy Mountain before sending both to recycling. The cardboard was reused twice, first to catch glue and paint drops (from assembly of deep hive body) and then to cover the kitchen floor during crush and strain. Packing paper was used to cover the cabinet doors which sped up the kitchen clean-up too. Including preparation and clean-up, the entire crush portion took just two hours--seems a lot easier than last year.

After straining and settling, nearly 6 deep frames of capped honey fills 40 x 8oz bottles of honey.

bees on calamintha nepeta

2011-07-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

A neighbor is attracting hundreds of pollinators. The plant, or should I say perennial, sits in full sun with tiny flowers and a strong herbal fragrance. But what is this fragrance? My neighbor helped me out and said, "mint" - does not look like any mint with which I'm familiar. With the help of Google Images, I'm fairly confident that the plant is calamintha nepeta.

looks great in beekeeping catalogs, but not my style

2011-06-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

I want to maximize my beekeeping experience, do no harm, and keep only the essential set of beekeeping gadgets. Catalogs, in general, display colorful items that look so pretty/exciting/unique/flashy/nice. Sometimes the gadget evaluation requires more than my imagination, but actual experience. Here is a short list of items that look great in beekeeping catalogs, but after testing in my backyard (in-town Atlanta apiary) are just not my style:

leather bee gloves
bee brush
boardman entrance feeder
hive top feeder
pollen substitute

I am not saying that a particular gadget is harmful or bad. Yeah, it is embarrassing to admit that I purchased all these items, oh well.

bee on cone flower

2011-06-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Can you take too many pictures of a bee on cone flower? I have waited all year for the perennial cone flower and have not been disappointed. Macro mode picture opportunities present themselves during the heat of the day. If you missed the picture of the bee with frayed wings, then play the slide show again and have a closer look at frame 5.

chickens eat wax moth larva

2011-06-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

The dark debris on the counting board was puzzling and unlike the debris found at the other hives. On my back and looking up, I discovered a thick layer of wax moth webbing clinging to the screened bottom board. The chickens ate the wax moth larva too quickly for a still image. So, here is my first video for this blog.

drone bee

2011-05-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

I found a drone bee for my politely bee interested friends. The drone did not fly away and was determined to walk forward. My friends kept extending a new hand to keep the drone in view. I think drone handling makes for great re-programming of the adult brain. Half of the brain understands that the drone does not sting while the other half of the brain operates with older insect prejudices.

holly bush bee forage

2011-04-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

In my experience, it is a rare treat to discover bees foraging at eye level. Presumably the bees are making flights to the tree canopy and our planted flowers and bushes are not the destination of their foraging. This is an exciting exception, as the morning air warms up I have discovered bees foraging on the holly bush and later in the afternoon warmth I found bees foraging on the winter jasmine (not shown).

tulip poplar flowering

2011-04-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

On the 8th of April, I saw the first sign of a partially open tulip poplar flower on the ground. Lately, the daytime temperatures have reached 85 °F and I am finding fully opened tulip poplar flowers on the the ground. If the weather cooperates (unlike last year), then perhaps the tulip poplar flowers will provide a great nectar source for the bees.

two swarms on back-to-back days.

2011-04-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Like my previous swarm experiences, these 2011 swarms took off at around 1PM, and the swarm departure excitement lasted only a few minutes. This is the first year that I have seen two swarms from the same hive on back-to-back days.

Assuming that each swarm carries away 73% of the parent hive workforce. Then after two swarms, I'm left with just 7% of the original parent hive workforce. In hindsight, perhaps I should have split this hive, but despite two swarms, this hive is still the most flight vigorous of my two hives. Both swarms spent the night high in a tree and then vanished the next day. Too bad the swarms did not choose my swarm traps as their new home.

bloom calendar / spring markers

2011-03-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

                              2009               2010              2011
                              Day of Year    Day of Year    Day of Year
Bradford Pear                 65                 79                   60
Carpenter Bees         68                 87                   72
Acer palmatum leaf out 73                 92                   77
Flowering Dogwood   80                 93                   80
Asian Wisteria            83                 96                   81
Carolina Cherry Laurel   73               97                   83

In Atlanta, the arrival of the 2011 spring markers are remarkably similar to 2009.   So, as not to color my 2011 observations, I have intentionally not reviewed my old journal notes......too much. Picking "the date" for these spring markers requires more patience and discipline than I am always prepared to apply. Naturally, I want to escape winter and embrace spring.....ticking-off the entire spring marker list during one warm day.   My journal contains spring marker dates which sometimes appear in different months. So, the dates are converted to day-of-year to make the comparison between years easier.

I speculate that this year, enthusiastic yard clean-up has made it less obvious to spot the arrival of the invasive Asian Wisteria bloom near "my local" coffee shop. My wood deck is a dependable habitat for those territorial wood nibblers (a.k.a. carpenter bees) who emerge/return to same piece of lumber each year. For example, the carpenter bee arrival are observations only recorded in my backyard....another self imposed rule to my scheme.

arctic oscillation versus La Niña pattern

2011-03-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

December 2010 and January 2011 were breathtakingly cold and attributed to a large amplitude negative phase of the arctic oscillation according to the state climatologist David Emory Stooksbury. As the arctic oscillation phase is now positive, perhaps a more typical La Niña pattern (warmer and dryer) will predominate for Atlanta.

Or perhaps NOT....you can start laughing now.....to date, mid-March 2011, rainfall nearly equals the March average. The soil is completely saturated with the latest 1.4" of rain. So, I will cross-out dryer. Will the March 2011 temperature be warmer than average?.....you can start laughing again.

My plan is to keep the bee cozy on till consistently warm (50 °F) dawn temperatures arrive. The bee cozy may be a bee hive management inconvenience, but the bee cozy does not harm the bees. In the photo, imagine a chilly 44 °F morning with several drone pupa dragged onto the landing board.

betterbee wood nucleus box as a swarm trap

2011-03-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

In past years I used compressed paper swarm traps with some success. However the betterbee wood nucleus box may have a few advantages compared to paper based solutions:

Does not require a ladder to put the swarm trap in place
Swarm trap can be placed higher in the tree
After attracting a swarm, the trap can be left in place longer
The box base screwed to the box walls and migratory cover are ideal for rope suspension

A long tree loper/saw pole is used to place a guide rope through a Y of a crapemyrtle tree. Beneath the Y, the tree trunk is encircled by a plastic tubing covered rope with a locking quick link and final rope. I used the guide rope to pull the final rope into place at the Y of the tree. Inside the box are five frames with 1 inch wax foundation strips and one pheromone lure. The heavy ~12 lb weight of the box keeps the box in place without additional straps. The tree loper/saw pole is also used to turn the box so that the box entrance faces south, but definitely no ladder is required. Plastic tubing is also used to protect/secure 1) the box and 2) the tree trunk at the final rope tie-off.

water foraging

2011-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

It's winter and a few days ago snow and ice covered Atlanta. My bee activity expectations are extremely low. The temperatures barely touched 50 °F, but with the leaves down, the afternoon sun touched the landing board. On an old post, I showed how to make rafts using plastic straws. However, this is the first time I caught the bees using the raft. What can I say, I'm easily flattered and entertained.

powdered sugar

2010-12-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

My powdered sugar goals:

use a soft (natural) varroa mite treatment in conjunction with the screened bottom board
dislodge phoretic varroa mites when brood rearing is low
limit powdered sugar entering open cells
treat the bees when most of the workers are in the hive

By design, I waited for cooler temperatures to try powdered sugar dusting as a varroa mite treatment. John Jones agreed to provide a third hand, act as the voice of reason and take pictures too. As the weather was just 50°F, the two deep hive bodies were treated as one (not separate) unit. One cup of powdered sugar was placed in a flour sifter. A uniform straight-down dusting of the bees was achieved by tapping the sifter with the hive tool. In the end, the bee brush was used to clear the bars of powdered sugar. After one hour, many phoretic mites were dislodged. The mites on the counting board appeared to be dead and lying on their backs. In hindsight, I could have sifted through the counting board debris to see whether a significant number of mites are buried in the deep pile of powdered sugar. I'm puzzled why the mites are not found along bee space lines (gaps between frames). Next, the counting board was cleaned, sprayed with oil and returned. After 24 hours a few more mites were dislodged.

You can see from the slides the bees fanning on top of the inner cover. The insulated outer cover and bee cozy seem to keep these bees warm.

crush and strain

2010-12-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

In the past, crushing honey comb using a hand scrapper on the kitchen counter top required lots of sticky clean-up. Backwards Beekeepers inspired me to change the crush portion of my honey harvesting process. I purchased a 2 inch plastic knife ($.98), a 5 gallon bucket ($3.98) and lid ($.98). The plastic knife was attached to 1/2 inch CPVC pipe using stainless steel machine screws and stainless steel nylon lock nuts. A plug added to the end of the CPVC pipe prevents the honey from entering the CPVC pipe. I am not concerned with puncturing the bucket as the knife moves very slowly through the viscous honey comb mash. This 8-frame medium super contains 30lb of honey comb or 24lb of honey (43 8oz bottles).

La Niña pattern

2010-10-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

Cold surface water in the equatorial pacific may result in a warmer and dryer Atlanta winter. See the links to the official forecast:

The harsh winter encouraged me to purchase Bee Cozy hive wraps. The hive wraps have just arrived. Regardless of whether a mild winter materializes, my high shade apiary will probably benefit from the hive wraps.

removing medium honey super

2010-10-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

My spouse, the voice of reason, captured many excellent photos during the removal of the medium honey super, but my favorite is the image of bees peering upwards between the frames. I have an extra inner cover and extra 1gal pail feeder allowing the bees to leave the equipment and return to their hive in their own good time. The AJ Beetle eaters were stuck solidly to the frames with propolis and required some coaxing followed by extra care to keep from spilling the vegetable oil. The last slide is our 2010 MABA live auction item created by John Parris. The under powered electric window box fan (not shown) failed to blow the bees off the frames, so I returned to more conventional bee clearing methods--frame shaking and frame bumping.

IPM counting board debris map

2010-09-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Each week I removed the IPM counting board and drew the outlines of the counting board debris into my journal. The debris consists of wax, pollen, propolis and other items like the occasional small hive beetle. After cleaning off the debris, the counting board is returned to the hive. I transferred my journal debris maps into a spreadsheet grid where I (one or zero) scored the presence or absence of debris. The debris mostly lands along blurry east-west lines which relate to the bee space between frames. Probably most of the blurring of the debris is attributed to:

debris falling off the bees as they bounce in and out of the hive entrances above the screen
debris bouncing or rolling on the screen
debris moved by ants or wax moth larva beneath the screen on the counting board

To sharpen the debris map blurring, I used a moving 3 week sum which creates a debris map with three intensities. All of my work is done twice, as I follow two side-by-side hives that were started this year. So, what story might describe these gnuplot contoured debris maps?

In the beginning, the debris tends to be concentrated near the hive entrances which face west.
Over may weeks the debris concentration moves east away from the hive entrances and also north. The two hives consume syrup at different rates, have different flight activity and have different weekly debris maps. However, both hives show the same overall shift of debris concentration when measured over many weeks.

Where will I find the debris concentrated this fall? What about this winter? What about next spring?

1gal pail feeder

2010-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm using one gallon pail feeders and Honey B Healthy purchased from P.N. Williams. It's seems easier to make large batches of syrup and have two pail feeders per hive.

bees take a few minutes to clear the pail feeder and if a pail feeder is left completely empty, then propolis may cover the pail feeder screen
electrical tape helps line-up the pail feeder screen and inner cover hole
inverting the pail feeder over a bucket helps control ant attracting spills

These bee packages have been fed continuously since May. According to my counting board results, this has been my best year for controlling small hive beetles and varroa mites--this is also the first year with Lula Georgia bee packages and continuous feeding with Honey B Healthy.

According to the official climate summary, this is a record setting warm summer which followed a prolonged winter--as always it seems difficult to apply the conventional rules of a normal beekeeping year when no two years have the same weather. As I heard Malcolm T. Sanford says, "all bee keeping is local," meaning that continuous feeding may not work in your apiary.

3qt deep division board feeder experience

2010-07-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my experience with a 3qt deep division board feeder. I fed two new bee packages using a deep division board feeder, where the feeder took the place of one outermost deep frame. The new feeders were tested for leaks using water, then 3qts of syrup (plus Honey-B-Healthy) was added and topped up with more syrup as needed. I opened the small black door and poured syrup into the middle filling compartment which raised the floats and bees too. If the bees became defensive, then I:

try to slow down my (hand) movements
slid (not removed) the inner cover to the right exposing only the feeder

A second deep box was added when all the wax strips had lots of comb. I moved one frame of comb (as bait) and the deep division board feeder to the second deep box. After seven weeks, comb inside the feeders began to interfere with the floats and the division board feeders were replaced with wax strips and I started pail feeding.

Now I get to inspect the empty feeders. In one empty feeder, no (zero) drowned bees are discovered. In the other empty feeder, three drowned bees are in the central filling compartment. What a relief not to find too many dead bees. On the web I read the experiences of others using less sophisticated division board feeders that have a tendency to collapse or drown bees.

3lb. bee packages; Dixie Bee Supply; Lula Georgia

2010-06-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

My first solo experience with a bee package. I mostly tried to repeat the installation demonstration given by the bee package supplier, Don. Next time....if I do another bee package installation, I would try to:

wet the bees more
less bumping and more rolling-out of the wet bees
start the installation much latter in the afternoon (towards dusk) to minimize flight time

cold duration

2010-04-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I tapped into the climate records from the University of Georgia cold duration calculator. So, it's not just my imagination, but this past winter has been a particularly prolonged cold winter. This winter our purple heart plant died, but this plant survived the past 5 winters outdoors.

Has prolonged cold temperatures altered when trees bloom or the arrival of other spring markers? My backyard record keeping could be better, but it looks like a ~19 day delay of spring markers when comparing 2010 with 2009.

Bradford Pear              20-MAR-2010    15-FEB-2009    33 day delay  

Carpenter Bees             28-MAR-2010    09-MAR-2009    19 day delay

Acer palmatum leaf out     02-APR-2010    14-MAR-2009    19 day delay

Flowering Dogwood          03-APR-2010    21-MAR-2009    13 day delay

Asian Wisteria             06-APR-2010    24-MAR-2009    13 day delay

Carolina Cherry Laurel     07-APR-2010    14-MAR-2009    24 day delay

IPM counting board debris

2010-03-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

I'm interested in whether the debris on the IPM counting board correlates with the winter cluster location. I'm using "debris" to describe everything that falls through the screened bottom board--not just varroa mites. Is there a correlation between the winter cluster location and the debris--how can I use this information?

In the image above, counting board debris marks the bee space between frames and the absence of debris marks the location of the eight frames. As the IPM grids does not line-up with the frames, I'll flip-over my counting board so that the white un-marked side faces up. I'm tired of ignoring the counting board grid lines and using my finger to count the frames.

In the image above, the bees on the frames mark the top of the winter cluster (3D sphere)in the first deep hive body. The counting board debris and winter cluster locations seems to line-up. To make the debris more obvious, I'm scraping and washing the counting board surface clean after every inspection.

During spring swarm control, a quick look at the counting board debris may help plan which honey frames to remove for "checkboarding" in the second deep hive body or which frames get starter strips to "open the brood nest" in the first deep hive body.

2010 Atlanta snowfall

2010-01-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

Today, there is 1/4 inch of snow on the ground and the sunny backyard scene is magical. Birds are foraging and the bees are mostly tucked inside their hives. The last extensive outside bee activity was 01-Jan-2010 when the mid-day temperature went to 48°F.

Spring is around the corner--I say "bring on the Mahonia and Red Maple bee forage". In the book Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer says "everything is possible again." That's how I feel.

revised 2010 Atlanta rainfall forecast

2010-01-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

It was not my intention to so quickly revise my simplistic rainfall forecast, but nine inches of rain in December 2009 (red curve) has changed everything. Including the December 2009 rainfall, now the best historical rainfall match is 2002 (next year as blue curve) followed by 1983 (next year as green curve) and then 1942 (next year as black curve) . What is surprising is that all rainfall forecasts are similar and suggest more rain than "average" during Feb-Apr 2010. In other words, 2010 has the same 2009 trend of too much Feb-Apr rainfall. To avoid clutter, the 2002 rainfall match is not shown. As previously mentioned, no two rainfall years are the same and this annual rainfall match is no exception. You might want to visit the "official" 2009 climate summary.

2009 Atlanta rainfall and a look ahead

2009-12-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Let's start at the beginning. Have you ever wondered whether you can find an average year of rainfall in the historical records? Does such a thing exist in the wild? With the assistance of the state climatologist, I was able to accumulate Atlanta rainfall information going back to 1930. Weighting each month equally, 1997 (blue curve shown above) is the best match to the average rainfall year (purple curve shown above). Put another way, I did not worry whether the area beneath the curve matched (annual accumulation), but compared each month separately using a least squares method. What about the curve differences? Atlanta rainfall is not "dependable" and no two years look exactly the same. More about this latter.

Shown above in the red curve is the 2009 rainfall (so far). The big 2009 hump in September-October brought flooding, loss of property, lives and bee lives too. I speculate that the next largest hump (March) adversely affected nectar gathering during our best in-town nectar flow (tulip poplar flowers). Why so much rain in 2009? Has the train left the tracks or has the train always been off its tracks? Probably a little bit of both--Atlanta rainfall is complicated in part to tropical weather influences and let's not forget the butterfly effect.

Back to data mining--I looked at 80 years of record keeping and found that 1977 (shown in blue) is the best rainfall match to our current year (2009 shown in red). With me so far? From a honey harvest point of view, I am only attempting a short range rainfall forecast. Using a simplistic forecast scheme, what can I expect during February through April 2010? Shown in the green curve are rainfall values for 1978 (the year following the 1977 best match). In other words, my February through April fall prediction for 2010 is one of lower than average rainfall. What if I had used the 2nd best rainfall match to 2009? So as not to clutter the graph, the 2nd best match is not shown. If you are still interested, the February through April 2010 forecast is similar using the best and 2nd best match to 2009 rainfall.

Shown above is the "official" February through April 2010 rainfall forecast. It's hard to see, but Atlanta lies between that brown Indiana/Ohio bulls eye and green Florida shading--in a region of no shading (white map color). In other words, the "official" forecast for Atlanta is one of "equal chance" of 1) above normal, 2) normal or 3) below normal rainfall. Is this some kind of super computer joke? What, unable to forecast?

I don't have much skin in the bee game, but I'll stick my neck out and say that in 2010, Atlanta will not have too much rain during the tulip poplar nectar flowering. Next spring, I'll review my rainfall forecast using hind sight.

condensation: outside versus inside the hive

2009-11-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

This fall, water was discovered between the telescoping cover and inner cover. The dawn temperature of 45 °F, thin plywood construction of the telescoping cover and warm moist hive air is a recipe for condensation. In the morning, I also discovered condensation on the landing board near the reduce hive entrance.

Using 2 pieces of Styrofoam Block 18"x12"x1" from Micheals, a 1" slab of Styrofoam is fitted to the inside of the telescoping cover. The small bee escape notch on the top side of the brushy mountain inner cover permits some warm moist air to leak from the hive. See the photo--Now, the warm moist air leaking from the hive is seen appropriately condensing on the outside of the telescoping cover. Problem solved, I no longer find water between the telescoping cover and inner cover.

small hive beetle sizes

2009-10-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

AJ Beetle Eaters contents are logged for several weeks in side-by-side hives. After emptying the AJ Beetle Eaters on to white paper, a log is kept of 1) the number of adult beetles and 2) length of each adult beetle (nearest millimeter). Sounds easy, eh? It's messy, oily, and the clubbed beetle antennae can complicate the length measurement.

Do the adult small hive beetle populations change over time?

Probably in response to cooler fall weather, less adult small hive beetles are captured over time
I'm surprised--the hives maintain their unique small hive beetle size profile over time

How do the hives differ?

Hive A is weaker (less flight activity) than hive B
Hive A is younger (swarm capture) and hive B is older (early spring nucleus hive)
Hive A has larger beetles than hive B. Perhaps weaker (less flight activity) hives offer more small hive beetle treats (nutrition).

Unanswered questions:
When does the small hive beetle population peak? Had I started the log sooner, then I could have captured the small hive beetle population peak. Oh well, something for next year. I'll wait for a further decline of the small hive beetle numbers before offering tasty (to small hive beetles) dry MegaBee pollen substitute to the bees.

honey label

2009-10-05T05:14:00.000-07:00

Ordered 144 self-stick 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" labels from www.colorfulimages.com ($14). Their website let me upload, crop and label a photo. This macro mode photo was taken in our front garden and looks great using their laser printing. Why bother creating water sensitive labels using an at-home ink-jet printer?

bee bearding

2009-07-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

"Bearding," what's next? Why does one hive, Kent, have a greater tendency to beard? Kent is followed for three weeks, where 1) bearding (or lack of), 2) outdoor temperature and 3) outdoor relative humidity are logged at 7AM. In contrast to a normally warm July, a cold front creates record low temperatures, extending the range of measured temperatures for analysis. The compact three week data collection period help exclude other annual population/reproduction cycles that Kent may experience. Lastly, the 7AM (approximately dawn--temperature nadir) measurement time is characterized by slowly varying temperature and an absence of sun light striking Kent.

Web: A quick look on the Internet shows that the beekeeping community speculates that the bearding bees implies:

lack of ventilation
high temperature
high humidity
crowding--preparation to swarm

Bearding Score: Sometimes I made entries in the log, other times my spouse (voice of reason) made those entries. As seen below, this is the relaxed language found in the log. The bearding is a somewhat binary phenomena, so traditional area units seemed to strict for the log.

0= none(zero)
1= tiny(very little)
2= small(some)
3= small (some) to medium
4= medium
5= medium to lots
6= lots

Bearding versus Temperature: At Kent, bearding begins at ~61 °F and bearding increases with increasing temperature. A few points are not in agreement with the linear fit. For example, a zero bearding point is seen with a temperature of 70 °F. This point follows a day with a 5 inch rainfall.

Bearding versus Humidity: Surprisingly, no relationship between bearding and humidity is found. In other words, along the humidity axis, there is no bearding (bubble size) trend.

Bearding versus other theories:Lastly, Kent has not swarmed--so far. All hives have the same screened bottom board and the same inner cover to outer cover gap. In other words, Kent likes to beard for reasons I do not completely understand.

watering bees

2009-06-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

I filled a boardman feeders with 1) filtered water, 2)water with a trace of honey b healthy, 3)water with a trace of kosher salt or 4)water with lots of kosher salt. The results are no success with bee watering. Additionally, I have 3 birdbaths that are not attracting bees. This year I am using woven plastic straw rafts in the (unlikely) event that a bee lands in the birdbath. Last year I attached, the plastic straws with hot glue, but those rafts were easily damage by freezing winter temperatures. With regular day time highs in the 80's Fahrenheit, where are the bees gathering water? Clearly, somewhere else. For a few hot days, a small number of bees were collecting water at the "bird girl" statue--see photo.

clean the AJ Beetle Eater

2009-06-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yikes, after a few weeks, the AJ Beetle Eater is covered with propolis. I frequently rotate spare Beetle Eaters into the easily accessible top boxes, but I also want to clean and reuse the Beetle Eaters . FYI, I use two Beetle Eaters per box. Early attempts at cleaning the Beetle Eaters with soap and water were a disaster. Now, I use a cleaning scheme that works with a minimal amount of effort:

drain used AJ Beetle Eater components at room temperature
clean components with paper towel (no water)
freeze all the AJ Beetle Eater components
one component at a time, remove from freezer and chip away the propolis with a paint scrapper and dab up the vegetable oil with paper towel (no water)

So, the results are 95% clean as new Beetle Eaters and ready for re-use. The paint scraper is appropriately less sharp than a hive tool for chipping away the frozen propolis.

baggie feeder

2009-05-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

After a number of stings (on the hand), I began to search for something other than a boardman style feeder. I started using a one gallon baggie, but I had to solve some questions:

transporting filled baggies without creating leaks
checking for leaky baggies
where to puncture the baggie
how much syrup to place in the baggie

Using a plastic bucket (with handle), several baggies can be filled and safely transported. Baggie leaks can be discovered by checking the bucket. I use a permanent marker to highlight where to puncture the baggie. I make two small punctures followed by one central one inch slit. If the baggie is sealed with lots of air, then this reduces the likelihood of puncturing the bottom side of the baggie. Usually, I fill the baggie with a 1/2 gallon of syrup, but I have also successfully filled the baggie with 3/4 gallons of syrup. This year, I am adding Honey B Healthy to the syrup, so the hive smells of lemongrass and spearmint. Entering the top of the hive may require a veil, but I have not been stung on the hand.

free bees - swarm capture

2009-05-11T19:50:00.001-07:00

The swarm trap (+ lure) was being visited by a large number of scouts, and by dusk I was convinced that the swarm trap was occupied. At dawn of the next day, the swarm trap (+ lure) was placed on top of the desired hive. After 24 hours, the bees are shaken or bumped into the hive. Some bees remain attached to the trap and are left to crawl into the hive at their own pace. The small quantity of drawn comb is not placed into the hive.

AJ Beetle Eater

2009-05-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, I spilled vegetable oil on myself trying to fill the AJ Beetle Eater. Now, I use a use a squeeze bottle ($3) with vegetable oil to fill the AJ Beetle Eater reservoir. Snap on the AJ Beetle Eater grill and suspended the ready to use AJ Beetle Eater on blue tape. The plastic pot is easy to transport to a hive inspection and between hive inspections, a plastic shower cap covers the oil filled AJ Beetle Eaters.

hive marking - unique patterns (not colors)

2009-04-02T07:06:00.001-07:00

In The Buzz about Bees, Jürgen Tautz describes how pattern (not color) is useful in assisting bees find their hive address. Inexpensive pre-painted patterns were purchased from a Michaels craft shop, sprayed with clear Krylon and attached to the hive body using Titebond water-resistant glue.

Swarm Trap

2009-02-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

How does the Brushy Mountain swarm trap dimensions and swarm lure compare with the nest-site preferences in Honeybee Ecology? The book suggests:

a volume between 15 and 80 liters
entrance faces south
entrance area less than 75 square cm
entrance positioned near the floor
located several meters above ground
located between 100 and 400 meters from the parent nest
comes equipped with beeswax combs

The Brushy Mountain swarm trap has a volume of 19 liters and a circular entrance area of 13 square cm. Depending on how one attaches the swarm trap to a tree (or whatever), the entrance is either located near the floor or between floor and ceiling. Does entrance at the bottom of the trap hedge my bets as to what direction the entrance faces? The back deck of the house is 5 foot tall, so in combination with a short 4 foot (manageable) ladder that puts the the trap a few meters above the ground. However, my small property makes it difficult to site the trap 100 to 400 meters from my hives--maybe I will attract swarms from other hives. The trap does not contain beeswax comb, but that's where the the smelly lure and other favorable conditions like smooth and dry interior may help--there are no guarantees to this scheme.

2009 wish list

2008-11-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

Where does reading get me? Reading about bees is very satisfying and builds my vocabulary, but how much is appropriate to the tiny Atlanta in-town apiary? I mostly rely on listening to my Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association (MABA) friends, re-reading Keith Delaplaine's book "First Lessons in Beekeeping" and of course trying to learn from my mistakes. Here is my 2009 wish list:

Running two AJ Beetle Eaters (+vegetable oil) per box, not one per hive as in 2008
Purchasing nematodes (Southeast Insectary in Perry 877 967 6777) for spring SHB treatment
Replacing concrete blocks with new hive stands that lift the hives higher and let more light reach the ground
Painting a unique entrance for each hive as described in The Buzz about Bees by Jürgen Tautz
Trying a bucket syrup feeder and certainly repeating the baggie feeding
Purchasing more queen excluders and running a single deep brood chamber, not two as in 2008
Trying a queen marking kit and practicing on a few drones
Purchasing swarm traps (+lures), not the reactive ladder based swarm capturing as in 2008
Trying MegaBee served dry using a bird (meal worm) feeder--no protein served in 2008
Trying SuperBoost brood pheromone during the summer
Trying Honey B Healthy (+water) for front entrance boardman feeding--not letting the neighbor water my bees using their salt water system swimming pool as in 2008

Why am I changing so many variables--not very scientific? My goal in 2009 is to reduce the SHB population and cover the single deep brood chamber with lots of bees during the summer SHB strength.

2008 at-a-glance

2008-11-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

2008 was filled with many bee experiences--some unexpected. Thoughts like "what have I got myself into" entered my mind more than a few times. Here are my 2008 beekeeping calendar highlights:

20-March: Two nucleus hives from P.N. Williams sit next to deep 8-frame hive bodies
8-April: Add second deep hive body to each hive, "Buda" and "Pest"
2-May: Bees pour out of "Buda" like rushing water. Captured a very small swarm on the shaded ground and create a new third hive, Kent, using a deep hive body.
12-May: Bees pour out of "Buda" again. Captured a medium sized swarm while standing on the neighbors roof. I have run-out of wooden ware, so I combine the new swarm with "Kent" which requires a week of using the queen exlcuder as a queen includer.
week of 9-June & 16-June: volunteer at Oakhurst Community Garden's Beekeeping Camp; Curtis Gentry helps me label the interesting summer bee behaviour as washboarding
3-August: "Pest" is lost to small hive beetle (SHB) and robbing
17-August: "Kent" is abandoned and covered with SHB slime
15-September: "Buda" is abandoned and covered in-part with SHB slime

solar wax melter and low outdoor temperature

2008-11-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

How high an outdoor temperature is required for the solar wax melter? At 65F, the wax melting was successful--however I had to place the gizmo inside the car. The clear type 1 plastic deformed slightly, but I am completely satisfied with the t-shirt fabric filter.

solar wax melter using a black plastic "tub box"

2008-11-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

In the plumbing aisle of Home Depot, I discovered the central component to my solar wax melter--a black plastic "tub box"--inexpensive ($3) and includes a lip for the clear lid. Besides the great price, the black color runs all the way through the material--in my mind, an advantage over wax melter designs that require black paint.

Found the clear lid at the home depot too, a sheet of 18 x 24 x 0.93 clear Lexan ($16) which I cut using a jig saw with a metal blade. The 1 inch foam insulation that surrounds the box is a "found item"($0)--something that came to me as packing material for furniture.

Brushy Mountain Strainer and Bottler

2008-11-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

5 deep frames of capped honey were removed from the freezer and the comb was crushed using a stainless steel scraper and a plastic cutting board. How much crushing is enough--stop when the voice of reason, "my spouse," says to stop. Next, the crushed comb was placed into a 5 gallon pale containing a nylon strainer which sits on top of yet another 5 gallon pale used for collection and bottling. The honey filled 30 8 oz. bottles and there was wax too. Residual honey was washed from the wax using the nylon straining bag. I am extremely pleased with this low tech extraction scheme. The only moving part is the honey gate and the only surprise was that I thought the draining was going to complete over-night. However, to complete the straining properly required 3 days of periodically stirring the crushed comb . See the picture of the straining/bottling gadget purchased from Brushy Mountain.