A Tale of Two Hives

This has been a challenging winter for both hives. I've learned more about the pests that plague honeybees and about the value of regular hive inspections, winter feeding and "re-queening." Let's just say I've learned these lessons the hard way.

Apollo

Apollo is my original hive, which I started with a package back in May 2010. This hive has overcome numerous problems including multiple swarms, one particularly brutal and prolonged cold snap and several different pests.

A couple of months ago, I pulled off the cover and noticed that there was a white substance underneath the inner cover. It looked like expandable foam sealant, actually. I had a very hard time prying the inner cover off the top super, and when I finally did, was horrified to see a thick layer of white cocoons. Apollo had a wax moth infestation. (Click on the photo below if you'd like to see an enlarged image.)



Wax moths are extremely destructive insects, spinning webs throughout the hive and their larvae destroying not only the brood comb but also the hive equipment. Here is a picture of the damage done to the super and frames by larvae burrowing into the wood.



I removed the top super — which could not be salvaged — and cleaned out as much webbing and other wax moth debris as I could, put in some fondant for the bees to feed on, closed the cover and hoped for the best. Although I've been told that honeybees are likely to abscond from a wax moth-infested hive, the Apollo bees chose to stay and, miraculously, appear to be thriving right now.

Recently I attended a lecture given by honeybee expert Dr. Keith Delaplane about colony collapse disorder and what the disappearance of honeybees and other pollinators means to the environment and to our way of life. (Check out this informative editorial, "On Einstein, Bees, and Survival of the Human Race.")

Afterward, I was able to ask Dr. D. about my wax moth issue and he just smiled and said, "Wax moths are generally only a symptom of a bigger problem. If the hive is healthy and the bees are robust, they can fend off wax moths pretty easily." So, we talked about the probability of Varroa mites (at least the small hive beetles are under control, I'm glad to say), or... an unhealthy or dead queen. He suggested I "re-queen" the hive, which involves killing the old queen and introducing a new, healthy queen. I shuddered visibly, I guess, because Dr. D. simply smiled again and wished me luck.

For now, I'm watching and waiting to see if Apollo has the strength to keep on keepin' on. There are hundreds of girls out and about lately, flying around in the sunshine on these warm afternoons, so I'm thinking they're gonna make it.

Rocky

Sadly, today I discovered that the Rocky hive is dead. I'd suspected as much because there have been so few bees visibly out and about, nowhere near as many as Apollo. I'm sad and feeling like a "bad mom" because if I'd paid more attention sooner, I might have been able to salvage the situation. I could've re-queened this hive and fed the bees with not only fondant, but also pollen patties.

Bees need a food source during the winter, even in Atlanta where there is some pollen available for foraging pretty much year-round. This year, I didn't give them pollen patties and I feel like this was part of the reason for hive failure.

So, I fell down on the job and it's a hard lesson learned again after losing the Sweet Beezus hive last winter.

Plan B

I've got a package of bees on order to repopulate Sweet B, and those bees will arrive in May. In the meantime, I've signed up to attend a hive inspection tour offered by the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association in a few weeks. The inspection of multiple hives will be conducted by a master beekeeper and we'll be able to observe and learn what to look for in determining whether the hive is healthy or has problems.

Also, I found out that, as a MABA member, I can put my name on the "swarm list" and possibly be the recipient of a swarm of bees that MABA beekeepers are routinely called on to collect from people's yards, businesses, school playgrounds, etc. As often as my own Apollo bees have swarmed in the past, I might be lucky enough to collect my own swarm again this spring and repopulate the Rocky hive. And that's an interesting idea in itself, because Rocky was started from an Apollo swarm the first year I began beekeeping.

Sweet BEEzus!

Friends and followers, you were all quite creative with the names you submitted for Hive #3, but I think pretty much everyone agreed that "Sweet BEEzus" was outstanding! Thank you, David. I'll be sending you the first jar of honey I harvest this summer.


Today's hive inspection was so exciting! First, Sweet BEEzus is queen right and thriving. A look into the top super showed the queen is laying in a nice pattern and the girls are storing honey/sugar syrup in the tops of the frames. In a couple of weeks when I stop feeding these girls, I'll add another super on top just in case they decide to make some honey.


Now, for Apollo. The original hive is going strong, despite producing a couple of swarms and some robbing activity. A peek into the third super shows the girls are storing honey on about three of the frames, but it is not yet capped. I'm hopeful they will make at least one super of honey by the end of the summer.


Rocky had the best suprise of all. My scrappy swarm hive captured last summer is very productive! This hive also swarmed twice in the spring and has fended off "robbers." When I pulled out some frames in the third super, they were heavy with honey, most of it capped! I'm pretty sure I'll be able to harvest this honey in a couple of weeks.

All of this honey activity sent me hurrying to my computer to order more supplies. I ordered two shallow supers with frames for more honey production in Apollo and Rocky; an escape screen for separating the bees from the honey super; and nylon strainer bags for the honey filtering system.

What a sweet morning it's been. I love my bees.

Swarmy weather

Today I experienced the natural phenomenon of swarming first-hand. I noticed some unusual activity going on in front of the Rocky hive this afternoon and when I went outside, I heard an enormous BUZZ. Thousands of bees were flying around in a frenzy in the warm sunshine, heading up to the branch of a nearby pine tree. They held in a tight cocoon on the branch, and I hoped that they would make their way to the empty hive I'd set out a few days ago.

About four hours later, the swarm had vanished, heading on to whatever permanent location they'd selected. Unfortunately, it wasn't the "bait" hive in my yard!

Here's a little movie of this afternoon's action:

Flying high now...

At last, the swarm bees have a permanent home — the "Rocky" hive is up and running.

I stayed home all day yesterday, anticipating the delivery of the new hive. By late afternoon, the UPS truck still hadn't come and I was very upset — storm clouds had gathered and the skies opened to pour down rain on the poor makeshift hive again. When 7 p.m. had come and gone, I called UPS to make a complaint, but I was told it was possible that my delivery could still come that evening. At 8:45, we heard the rumble of the delivery truck on our street, and it was a beautiful sound. I was glad to get the boxes and unpack them, even though it was too late to move the bees that night.

This morning, I assembled all of my gear, got the smoker going, suited up and headed out to the back yard to move the swarm bees. The bottom box of the makeshift hive had almost completely collapsed from yesterday's rain and was actually crumbling. Here's a photo of the sodden mess of cardboard, newspaper and empty feeder.

The plywood and bricks I'd used for a bottom board were still intact, but the board had bowed up after getting wet in this week's storms.

I sprayed the bees down with a little sugar-water before trying to move them, but they were in a fairly calm state anyway. It was easy to move the three frames I'd put in the cardboard box to a regular super. I was excited to see that the bees had built out a lot of comb on these frames. I added in the remaining five frames to the box and then moved the second super on top. The bees had moved up into this second box on the temporary hive and were storing pollen in its frames. I placed the inner cover on top of the second super, closed it up with the cover and inserted a full feeder.


Here, you can see the Rocky bees at the entrance to their new home. I wish I'd had time to paint this hive, but it's all made of cypress and I'm told that it will endure all kinds of weather for years. The main worries now are whether or not the queen made it into the hive (again, I didn't see her) and robbing by the original hive bees. Speaking of the original hive, I'm looking for a name for it. Any suggestions?

A (bee) house of horrors

Those poor swarm bees. The thunderstorms and downpours of the last two days have done their damage to the makeshift hive. The plywood base and roof bowed up and the cardboard box is in a state of collapse (giving new meaning to the term, "colony collapse disorder"). I was able to replace the roof with another piece of plywood, but there is not much I can do about the base or the box. I did remove some of the newspaper plugs from a couple of corners of the hive so the poor bees could have some air and a way in and out. I can only imagine how it looks inside.

Still, when I went out to replace the feeder this morning, they were hanging in there. I was thinking of giving each hive a name. The swarm bees, being the underdogs with a fighting spirit, are definitely "Rocky."

I tracked the status of the hive I ordered and it made it to the Atlanta area Friday and was scanned for Monday delivery. It can't come soon enough. Hang in there, little winged friends, help is on the way!

Really, I couldn't blame them if they swarmed again and left for good, considering their current living conditions. I just hope their temporary house of horrors doesn't turn into the (bees)wax museum.

Swarm alert!

Today I had the most amazing experience — I collected my first swarm! It all started when our backyard neighbor, Oscar, came over this morning to tell me that my bees had swarmed in his yard, specifically on his patio table umbrella. I met him at the fence, peered over, and sure enough, there was a large swarm attached to the umbrella.

For a moment, I panicked. I'm a novice beekeeper with only one hive, for pete's sake. I knew what a swarm was, but had no idea how to go about collecting one. There wasn't much time until the swarm would decide to move on, so I pulled myself together and thought about who to call. I remembered that my friend Cookie and I had discussed bees a few months ago and she mentioned that she knew beekeeping guru Cindy Bee. (Yes, that is actually her name and it is certainly appropriate!) Cookie had emailed Cindy Bee's contact information to me. I found the email and quickly dialed Cindy, who took time out of her busy schedule to give me some quick pointers over the phone.

Since I don't have a second hive box yet, I would have to assemble a makeshift hive from whatever we had on hand in the garage. First, Cindy advised me to use plywood and 2x4's to make a bottom board. I had sheets of plywood, but not 2x4s, so I used bricks. Next, I was to take a cardboard box and cut a small horseshoe-shaped hole in the bottom to make a flap that would open for the bees to enter and exit. Then Cindy said I should spray a small amount of lemon-scented Pledge or lemon juice around the opening, which would help attract the bees. I had two extra supers on hand, so I removed some of the frames from one super and put them in the cardboard box, as instructed.

It was time to suit up and head over to Oscar's yard to collect the swarm. Using my bee brush, I brushed the bees (thousands of them) downward from the umbrella into the box. They seemed happy to land in the lemon-scented box and quickly crawled onto the frames. I set the open box on the patio table for a while and the remaining bees that were flying around eventually headed into the box. I'd say I collected about 99% of the swarm before I put a lid on the box and took the bees back to my yard.

Then came the hard part. I set the box on the makeshift landing board and pulled the flap open from underneath to give the bees an entrance and exit. Next, I put a super with frames on top of the cardboard box. Per Cindy's instructions, the bees needed to be fed with the 1:1 sugar/water solution, so that required some ingenuity on my part. I had a mason jar on hand, but no ice pick with which to poke small holes in the top — I ended up using a seam-ripper from my sewing kit to make the perfect little bee-sized drinking holes in the top of the jar. I took the jar, filled with sugar-water, and my last unused super (empty, no frames) out to the makeshift hive. This top super would protect the feeding jar, which I turned upside down on top of the frames in the super below. I covered the whole thing with another piece of plywood.

To sum up the configuration from the bottom up: plywood bottom board, bricks, cardboard box with bees, super with frames, feeder jar inside empty super, plywood cover. It's a little sad-looking, but I hope it will do the job temporarily.


A quick peek under the plywood cover showed that the swarm bees had already found the sugar-water. Cindy warned that my original hive would be very interested in this new, weaker hive and its sugar-water supply and might try to "rob" it. She cautioned me to find and seal all of the openings, leaving only one space of about an inch or so for the swarm bees to enter and exit their hive. This would give them a better chance of protecting their hive and sugar-water supply from intruders. Since the cardboard box was sagging in places and there were odd-shaped openings all around, I decided to use newspaper to stuff the holes. It remains to be seen if this method is successful — every time I checked the hive this afternoon I saw the crafty little winged creatures entering and exiting new places, so I had to plug those with paper. May have to pull out the duct tape soon.


I also needed to check the original hive and see what was going on, Cindy advised. I took off the cover and saw that the boxes were full of bees. No beetles in sight. That's a good sign, she said. I hope this means that the bees swarmed because the original hive was too congested — they split to form a new colony.

I called Brushy Mountain Bee Company and ordered a hive right away. The cost to ship it to me overnight was prohibitive. Wendy reassured me they would ship my order out today, so I opted for regular shipping. I'll probably get my order on Monday, but if I'm lucky, it could come sooner. Then I'll set up the new hive in a permanent location and move the swarm bees from their makeshift home. That's assuming they survive the weekend, the other hive doesn't decide to "rob" them, and they don't decide to swarm again and go somewhere else.

I'm grateful for the generosity of neighbors, friends and an expert who doesn't know me from Adam's house cat. What an exciting and rewarding experience.