summer inspection of 2023 swarms

This spring 3 swarms selected one of my 4 swarm traps as their nest cavity. During summer heat, I waited for a cool dawn to inspect these swarms now moved into 8-frame hives. That cool morning arrived with 69 °F (20.6 °C) temperatures.  

As usual, the preparation was longer than the actual inspection task that included lighting the smoker -- just in case 😉.  I even remembered to take out the SuperDFM probiotic from the refrigerator.  

The bees did not take flight or behave defensively - the smoker was not used.  

I added one tablespoon (15 ml) of probiotic to the top bars and workers moved to gather this sweet treat - sucrose is the primary ingredient. The first iPhone photo has the best color balance and shows dramatic red propolis on the top bars. The last 2 photos required correction as the brilliant white probiotic screwed up the iPhone color balance.

Vera and Slava (makers of SuperDFM) write, "Multiple bacteria are present in all nectars, pollens, propolis and the environment. Honey bees need these bacteria to aid not only in digestion, but also to improve immune response and combating stressors detrimental to their health." 

ChatGPT generated haiku 

Summer hive's embrace,
Dearth shadows, health blooms within,
Immune strength sustains.

replacing old equipment

 

 

I prepared new deep boxes to replace boxes in use since 2007.  To assist bees in finding their hive, I added a unique painted pattern to the front of the box using an adhesive stencil.    Jürgen Tautz discussed hive marking in The Buzz about Bees - unique pattern are a better bee orientation aid than a unique color.

To enhance the propolis envelope, I made parallel 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) wide shallow grooves seen in the photo.  Last year, I showed that shallow grooves in medium box walls improved the propolis envelope.  This year, I made similar grooves with these deep boxes.  On old 2007 boxes, propolis was concentrated on frame rests, other right angle corners and box abutments - only a thin layer of propolis was found on its smooth box walls.

enhancing propolis envelope

I described the honey bee health benefits of a propolis envelope in an earlier post. 

• lowered immune response expression
• less bacterial growth in brood food
• lower number of chalk brood mummies
• reduced severity of American Foulbrood

In March of this year, I added a box where I created side-by-side patches of shallow grooves with a dremel tool and router bit. After honey harvesting, I removed this box and analyzed the interior wall for propolis.  I cropped the photo so exactly 11 grooves in each patch are included in the comparison of: 

• 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) wide shallow grooves (on the left)
• no grooves (seen between two patches)
  
• 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) wide shallow grooves (on the right)

In the first photo, propolis appears as a red film which is distributed everywhere, but groove edges have a thicker red film. In the second photo, I used SimpleCV to mask out areas of thin propolis film.   In the third photo, I used SimpleCV to draw regions of thick propolis and compared 3 regions:

• 61.5% of thick propolis area was associated with 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) wide shallow grooves (on the left)
• 0.5% of thick propolis area was associated with no grooves (seen between two patches) - look at the bottom of the photos for thick propolis in the no groove region
  
• 38.0% of thick propolis area was associated with 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) wide shallow grooves (on the right)

I'm not suggesting 1/4 inch wide shallow grooves is the best option.  More narrow 1/8 inch grooves pack into the same length of box wall than wider 1/4 inch grooves.   There's no significant propolis advantage of either groove width except to say grooves outperform doing nothing with regards to enhancing a propolis envelope. 

an experiment, enhancing the propolis envelope

Seeley's new book, The Lives of Bees, describes propolis research by Marla Spivak and others at the University of Minnesota.   In the wild, honey bees coat their tree cavity surfaces with propolis - with an especially thick layer of propolis at their nest entrance. In experiments with man-made 5 frame hives, hives with a propolis envelope have better health:

• lowered immune response expression
• less bacterial growth in brood food
• lower number of chalk brood mummies
• reduced severity of American Foulbrood

Having seen the experiment where plastic propolis trap material (with 7 mm gaps) is stapled to hive box walls, I'm inspired to modify my own hive.   Shown are medium box walls where bees added a thin layer of red propolis from previous years.  I created side-by-side patches of shallow 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) and 1/4 inch (6.4 mm) gaps to box walls using a Dremel tool.   Whether bees create a thicker layer of propolis is left to be seen during this 2020 season - stay tuned.

IPM counting board debris map

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?

clean the AJ Beetle Eater

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.