Visit from the State Apiary Inspector

Gregg Gochnour stopped by this evening to give the hives a check. It was quite exciting to learn from him while he was going over the hives. We talked about harvesting (can occur anytime honey is capped), when to begin feeding for the fall (start about Labor Day if needed), rotating boxes (wait till spring as they queen will move down and the bees will fill the top with honey from the fall nectar flow), and our great drone experiment with the education program at work (drones are fed by attendants). He complimented the OV hive for the beauty of the honey frames and suggested I consider entering one in the fair. We did find one varroa mite on a drone pupa in the OV hive but overall the bees are doing outstanding! It was a great experience to learn from Gregg.

A Beekeeper's Year

The following guidelines are for the Washington, DC area. This timeline is approximate based on local weather and the condition of the hive.

January
If bees are flying on a warm day, open hive and check for reserves.
Cluster should be near top of box. Do not remove frames or disturb the cluster!
Emergency feed as necessary.

February
If temps are 50 degrees or higher for a few days and the overnights do not drop below 45 degrees, inspect a few frames and assess the condition of the hive.
Continue feeding as necessary.

March
The hive population will have increased and nectar flow begun.
Reverse brood chambers to give the queen room to lay.
Remove entrance reducers/mice screens.
Monitor and discontinue feeding as necessary.
When bees no longer take feed, add honey super.
Good time to equalize hives - combine weak hives with strong hives.

April
Hives should be in full swing and full of bees.
Get honey supers on! (Add queen excluders if comb is drawn.)
April and May is the critical time frame for swarming. Have a swarm strategy. Make splits.

May
Keep an eye out for swarms.
Inspect hives every other week to ensure a good laying queen.

June
Continue to inspect hives every other week to ensure a good laying queen.
Add queen excluders if not already on.

July
Harvest honey.
Check ventilation.

August
This is a hot time with dearth of nectar and pollen. Bees will be cranky. Let them be!

September
Feed as necessary.
Medicate for AFB, EFB, and Nosema.
Treat for Varroa.

October
Population of the hive begins to decrease.
Continue feeding as necessary.

November 
Prepare hive for winter.
Place mouse guards at entrance.
Bees will be clustered on coldest days.
Continue feeding as necessary as long as overnight temps remain above freeing.

December
Bees will be clustered.
Plan for the coming bee year.

Queen Excluders On

Around here, beekeeping pretty much follows the holidays which means that the 4th of July is time for honey harvesting. Last year I learned that the bees don't like to pass through into a honey super to draw out comb if the excluder in place so I left the hive unrestricted and the bees have done a fine job drawing comb on those frames and filling it with honey.

Queen Excluder

A queen excluder is a frame with narrow openings which allow the worker bees to pass though but are too small for the queen, thus keeping her out of a part of the hive. Without an excluder in place, the queen could potentially lay in the honey supers, if she were so inclined, and no one likes to harvest honey with brood! So, at least 3 weeks before you intend to harvest, an excluder is installed so that an entire 21 day brood cycle can pass and any brood that may be in the honey supers will be out by harvest time.

One downfall to this is that, what I intended as 3 supers full of honey from the OV hive, the queen decided to utilize one of them as a brood box. That means less honey for us but I don't mind as I'd rather have a strong and viable hive than a huge honey harvest and the OV hive has been such a strong hive and good donor for my splits.

Sasha Brood

I haven't been into the Sasha hive since the queen was released so was happy to struggle with a heavy honey super when adding the excluder to this hive. This is going to be a really good hive now that the new Russian queen is here.

Homing Drone

Craig and I capturing a drone.

This year we began a pollinator program as part of the education curriculum at work. Craig, one of the naturalists that teach the program, wanted to get to know more about honey bees by visiting the apiary.

We had a great time checking on the progress of the Dmitry Hive and then captured a drone for an experiment. We marked him with a small dot of light green nail polish (somehow red didn't quite seem his color) before putting him in an old queen cage. The intent was to allow the school kids an up close education on drones before releasing it and we'd see if he'd return back to the apiary. The last time I sent a drone home with Sara and her nieces and nephew, he was dead by the next morning so we weren't quite sure how this drone would get along by himself outside of the hive.

After Craig left for his sleep-over with the drone, I did a bit of internet research and learned drones don't do well without attendants. There were no details beyond that and left me wondering why was that so... do the attendants feed him, as they do the queen? This had me thinking that this drone, too, would not see the light of the new day.

The drone back at home. 

So, I was surprised and when Craig arrived at work the next morning with the queen cage containing a very alive 'Andrei' (Craig's name for the drone) who lived to be a part of the program before they set him free. The kids were excited to get to see a drone up close and a few even had the courage to hold him before he took flight, circling higher and higher until he was out of view.

The farm is about a little over a mile away as the crow flies from the apiary and Andrei easily returned home like a pigeon to his coop. I'd call that a very successful experiment, both in that he lived to participate and that he returned from a place from which he didn't fly to!

Bees navigate by the sun so this experiment has brought up all kinds of questions. Stay tuned for further posts on been navigation.