Walkaway Splits - Right & Wrong

"If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly first." - Joel Salatin

All of my hives at Dr.D's are spaced 18" apart in all directions

Work and weather have stifled my beekeeping but it hasn't stopped me completely. Saturday, my wife and I went out to Dr. D's place and split Hive-B.1 & Hive-C. This gives me (10) Hives and (3) Five-Frame-Nucs.

However, while making my splits, I wasn't thinking and therefor I made two different kinds of Walkaway Splits.

Hive-B.1 was split by taking the top box off and placing it on the new location. Then I made sure that box was filled with eggs, pollen, and honey. Of course a lot of the bees will return to the original location, so I shook (10) frames of bees into the new box in hopes that at least half of the bees might stay. This will probably do fine but it is not the best practice (in my humble opinion anyway).

Hive-C was split perfectly. I moved the whole hive to the new location and then placed a box filled with eggs, pollen, honey, and two frames of nurse bees on the old location. All of the field bees will return to the original location and that will ensure there are enough bees to fight the dreaded Small Hive Beetles. That is, in my opinion, the best practice for making a walkaway split.

All four of the hives were given eggs, pollen, and honey so that no matter where the queens ended up, the other half of each split would have everything needed to produce new queen cells.

Also, if you notice in the graph above, I did not use the VSH eggs in these splits. Hive-C is my oldest and most resilient hive, so I wanted to keep that genetic stock in my yard.

Hive-B was a swarm that just took up residence in an empty box in my apiary but that queen has proven over the past couple of years to be resilient and gentle - again, good genetic stock.

The VSH queen is the mother of all of the hives at my house and will be the root stock of most of my grafts but it is important to keep diversity in breeding and so that is why I chose to make my recent splits without VSH eggs.

The last thing I did was to shake 5 frames of bees into a Starter Hive (Hive-VF). The Five-Frame-Nuc has a screened bottom and no exit. I also placed a hive top feeder on it and then made brackets so the lid could be secured in place. At the end of the season I will give this box a queen and enough resources to survive the winter.

So with this addition and the (3) hives at my house, I am now equipped to graft at will -- well as soon as the rain stops.

Queen Cages: (4) living (3) Dead (1) Stillborn

Just a note: The Queen Cells I caged Monday have hatched. As stated in the title, (3) are dead - the cause of death is unknown but I suspect starvation.

This has been a hard year filled with ups and downs. However, I take these setbacks, not as failures but as lessons. This lesson is easy: Queens are fragile and, no matter the weather or life conditions, the queens must be systematically dealt with.

I knew I should have checked the queens on Tuesday but I let the heat keep me inside. Yesterday it rained and I took that as an excuse to again avoid the extreme heat (92 degrees - 60% humidity - 105 heat index) - though I did at least check the queens.

Of course being a better beekeeper doesn't mean I have to have a heat stroke. If queens are fed, they can be kept caged for a week before mating them (They must be introduced to the hive the same way that a mated queen is introduced). Yesterday I dripped a little honey on each of the four remaining queen's cages - Noah is going to do the same today while I'm out of town. Then Saturday, I will get up early and get my beekeeping done before the heat sets in.

The two lessons here are:

1. Pre-plan all queen rearing activities.
2. Regardless of the weather, the show must go on.

Miller Method - (8) Cells and (1) Virgin Queen

"You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you need." - the Stones

I miscalculated the birth of the queens. On my queen rearing spreadsheet, queens hatch at (16) days - however, that is from the day the egg is laid. The queen actually hatches just (13) days after she is grafted/started.

Luckily I realized this yesterday and was able to rescue about (8) cells. There was a beautiful virgin queen milling around on the frame but she had just hatched and had not had time to begin her executions.

There were two opened queen cells but there were still (8) sealed ones. I used a knife to cut the cells out and then placed them in wire cell protectors. I said "about (8)" because I cut one cell a little close and opened the rear of the cell. The queen inside was still white but was moving. I pinched the end closed and then placed her at the far end of the cell bar so I would know which one she was. Maybe she will make it but I doubt it.

The upside is that on July 27th, I should have at least (7) newly mated queens plus the one I left in Hive-VE. Of course I am pleased that the Miller Method worked but I can't count this as a queen rearing victory as it is not suitable for commercial use. Until I successfully start breeding queens using the grafting method, I am still just a hobbyist.

I did place the queen cells on the bottom of the same bar I use for grafting. This kills two birds with one stone: it lets the bees polish the cups while holding the new cells. On Wednesday I will make (9) mating nucs and place the (8) cells in them. I'll make (9) in preparation for upcoming grafts.

I checked Hive-VD (giggle giggle) and it is doing well. It has two frames of bees in it and while there are still beetles, they seem to be held at bay. I did take the time to crush all the beetles I saw - I think this method (though time consuming) is actually fairly effective.

At this moment, I feel like things are starting to come together.

Third Graft Attempt

"Many of the projects that we do that appear quite successful, it's actually often the second or third time we've given it a try." Dr. Edward Boyden, MIT

Yesterday, I made my third attempt to graft. We pulled a frame from Hive-B.1 and transported it to the house. I left it covered in bees and placed it in a special box that did not allow the frame to move in transit.

I made (15) grafts in (3) different types of cells: JZBZ's green cups with JZBZ mounts, Brown JZBZ cups with waxed wood plug mounts, and wax cups on wood plugs.

The (15) grafts only took me (15) minutes - half the time of the previous two attempts. I also used a German tool rather than the Chinese tool. The last thing I did different was that I hooked the larva from the closed end of "C" rather than the open end.

I mean to say, that the larva forms a sort of "C" shape. Previously I tried to approach the open end of the "C" but found it much easier to do the opposite - as in the picture shown above.

The larva was placed into each cell with only the royal jelly that clung to it. This could cause a problem but I should know tomorrow night when I get home.

The grafts were placed in Hive-A.1.

CHICKENS:

I ordered (4) baby chicks that will arrive on Saturday morning. I am hoping they will help to break the beetle cycle. We'll see.

For now VD (giggle giggle) is still infected (giggle giggle) - Damn it, it's not funny! Anyway, I mashed all the beetles and larva in VD (giggle giggle... damn it) and added the frame of bees from Hive-B.1 and gave VD... the... (giggle giggle - DAMN IT!) the frame that I grafted from. This will either strengthen the hive or give the beetles more brood to eat.

All the hives at Dr. D's are doing well.

Uncapping Knife Explosion

"The last time I heard a boom like that, Japan surrendered the war." Nelly

I bought an Uncapping Knife last year and just got around to trying it out this week. The first time it worked okay but kept getting so hot that it burned the honey - perhaps that is normal.

What is not normal is that on the second use... IT EXPLODED! No exaggeration here. About three minutes into the process the knife short circuited, blasted a hole in the side of the knife, and began throwing sparks and slag as far as two feet away. It literally looked like fireworks! Some of the slag sprayed out and burned my wife's arm before I could get it unplugged. Luckily she only received minor burns - though she was rattled for a while afterwards. We were lucky - blessed!

Since Amazon won't post my review, here is the link to the product so you don't buy the same one:

HLPB Electric Honey Uncapping Knife Stainless Steel Hot Wax Knife Scraping Blade Beekeeping Tool

Well that was just part of the day. My two grafted queens were, as I feared would happen, destroyed by the beetles. Hive-VD (giggle giggle) had the shiny frames that heralds the death of the hive. I removed all but two frames and manually killed all the beetles and larva I could see.

My chickens will be in at the end of the month and I hope that they can help break this beetle cycle.

THE GOOD NEWS:

The miller frame that I placed in Hive-VE has lots of Queen Cells. I suppose they just needed a day to settle in before they began building them. So I will have enough queen cells to make several splits this weekend.

What happened in both hive VD (giggle giggle) and VE were blessings. The presence of two accepted grafts, showed me I was on the right track. So now that the grafts are ruined, it gives me a chance to try again this week. At the same time, I won't loose any ground on my splits, since VE has plenty of queens to go around.

I made a new grafting frame with three kinds of cups to see if any of them do better than the other.

All and all, it was a good day.

My First Successful Grafts

"The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities." James Allen

At least two of my grafts have been accepted. This is that quintessential first achievement that opens the door to all my future successes. I realize this fact. So why am I not more excited?

I made (12) grafts and (2) were accepted - 16% success on my second attempt. Of course I am 200% more successful than I was on the first attempt. So I really am counting this as a huge success.

My joy was a little muted when I found roughly (10) or (12) beetles in each of the hives at my house. I mashed them all - that is my new beetle strategy - manual annihilation. I don't know why there are beetles but the hives seemed okay - well Hive-A.1 seemed to have a little damage to the comb as though the beetles have been eating on it but there was no sign of larva. That was Friday - today is Monday and I will check again this afternoon.



Hive-VE

As you can see in the picture, VE is packed with wonderfully docile bees. Yes I found beetles but they were all hiding together in the corner of the lid - obviously being cowed by the bees.

The other joy stealing issue is that other than my two grafts, no other cells were created. Not just on the failed grafts but none on the Miller Frame I placed in VE and none on the VSH frame that I placed in A.1. The question is why?

Did the Miller frame get too dry while it was on my table - did I take too long making my grafts?
Did the frames get jostled too much on the drive home?
Did VE not have sufficient time to settle in before I gave them the larva?
Did the beetles have something to do with it?

Perhaps but I don't know.

All and all, I am very excited about the two new queen cells but the presence of beetles is robbing my joy. I half expect to find the two new cells abandoned and all three hives filled with beetle maggots. I pray this is not the case.

Nonetheless, if the two queens survive, I plan to name them. I'm taking suggestions if you care to leave a comment.

Lucy and Ethel?
Thelma and Louise?
Eve and Lilith?
Cagney and Lacy?
Julie and Julia?
Kate and Ashley?
Emile and Zooey?
Lavern and Shirley?

Well, you get the idea.

More Queens Than A Cher Lookalike Contest - Graft #2

"Agh, that is bad luck. But grandfather say, 'It never rain everyday.'" - Mr. Kim, The Fifth Element

I've been quoting that line since 1997 (holy shit - I just realized how old that movie is... even worse... how old I am) - actually I've been misquoting it, as the case may be, since I always say, "It can't rain everyday." Either way, I've had two sunny days in a row now and I hope the trend continues.

Yesterday, Noah and I went to Dr. D's to get two frames of eggs. I say eggs because if there are eggs then the adjacent larva is young enough for queen rearing.  While there, we did a few quick hive checks.

We didn't check Hive-A. Until we requeen it, I could do without the aggression - so we moved on.

It turned out that our walkaway split of Hive-B was textbook. The queen actually ended up in the split (Hive-B.1) and is doing really well. So we knew Hive-B would have the queen cells and boy did it. There were at least (12) to (15) cells. There was a lot of bees in both hives and they were all very docile.

Hive-VSH is doing well.

Hive-D.3 is still infested with beetles and there is still about a hundred bees waiting inside for death.

Hive-C looked much stronger. I still need to split it and replace the rotted boxes but it seems to be doing fine.

The last thing we did was to take (2) frames of eggs from Hive-VSH, without taking any bees, and put them in a Five Frame Nuc (i.e. VE). We then shook (4) frames of bees from Hive-B into the nuc. If that doesn't survive the beetles then it is hopeless.

To finish our visit we placed Don the Fat Bee Man beetle traps in all of the hives.

We took VE home and did the following:

One frame of eggs was placed in Hive-A.1.VSH to let them raise their own queen.

The other frame was taken to my shop table where I made my grafts. The queen cups had been in VD (giggle giggle) overnight for polishing and were made from new (chemical free) wax. I also kept a moist towel over the larva while I grafted them.

It again took me (30) minutes to complete my grafts. I would have liked to have gone faster but I'm still learning and it is very delicate work - especially for a guy with Bananas Hands (That's my wife's nickname for me).

When I completed my grafts, I took the remaining frame of eggs and, using the Miller Method, cut it in a zigzag pattern.

The miller frame was placed in VE and the grafts were placed in VD (giggle giggle).

On a separate note: I found about (5) hive beetles in VD (giggle giggle) and a few beetle larva. All of them were on the bottom board and it appeared the beetle larva was eating the Crisco in the FBM traps. I squished all of the beetles but left the larva in the Crisco to see if that kills them.

At the end of the day, the Hive Count is: (8) Hives and (2) Nucs.

A New Hope and a small harvest

"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." - C3PO

Maybe a little dramatic for an opener but it has been an up hill battle with these beetles. However, yesterday it appeared that I have finally gotten the upper hand.

"Great, kid! Don't get cocky." - Han Solo

I only found (1) beetle in Hive-VD... (VD - giggle giggle) and about (5) beetles in Hive-A.1. There were about a dozen in the Beetle Buster trap (none in my home made one - though there may not have been any in VD... giggle giggle... to get in my trap).

"Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh? You know, sometimes I amaze even myself." - Han Solo

The reason for the low beetle count could be that I took all the infected frames out but I am hoping it has more to do with Don the Fat Bee Man's beetle traps. I'll make a dozen more and put them in all my other hives today and then wait and see.

"Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

I got a half of a day off from work due to the 4th of July and I used it to harvest some honey. (8) frames of honey yesterday and (3) on Sunday - (11) in all. Not the largest harvest ever but it will give us a little to put back for ourselves and maybe a little to sell.

"You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive." - Leia

For now, Hive-A.1 has been reduced to a single story box and Hive-VD (giggle giggle) has five frames - both are packed with bees. Today I will go to Dr. D's place and bring home another Five Frame Nuc with two frames of eggs - one for the bees to make queens from on their own and one for me to graft queen cells from.

"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, your highness." - Han Solo to Leia

Last night I also prepped a grafting frame and placed it in the hive to be polished. So I am hopeful that today will bring a new hope.

"Don't underestimate the Force." - Darth Vader

The Beetles Kill Another Hive

The bottom board of Hive-D

"I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me," John Lennon... but then John never kept bees!

I was sure that all was well in my home apiary. I had strong (though queenless) hives and minimal comb. So you can imagine my surprise yesterday afternoon, when I went to check my hives and saw beetle maggots dripping out of the front of  Hive-VC.

I quickly went to the shop, donned my veil and lit my smoker. VC still had all the bees I left in it but they had given the frames over to the beetles. I had only put (3) frames in VC but they were destroyed.

I took the hive apart and put the beetle larva in the sun.

Close-up of Hive-D

I then checked Hive-A.1.VHS only to find that it was queenless. Luckily the hive didn't have any signs of beetle damage.

Lastly I opened Hive-D and found that beetles had already begun to destroy seven frames. The hive had (20) frames in it but some of them were either empty comb or bare plastic. So I stripped the hive down to just four frames of honey and one frame of empty comb. I then added the bees from VC - Creating Hive-VD.

I also made a few of Don the Fat Bee Man's sign traps. The ones I made before using Borax didn't seem to work. This time I made them using straight Boric Acid that I bought off Amazon.com.

Don had remarked that the only reason these wouldn't work is if they were filled too full. So I took one and cut it in half to check - it was correct. I then placed about (4) on each bottom board. I also set one Beetle Buster in Hive-A.1 and my home made Beetle Buster in Hive-VD.

I took a total of (10) frames and put them in the freezer. The other (2) didn't seem to have any beetles on them but I left them in the sun just the same.

I harvested three frames of honey from Hive-A.1 and will continue to harvest through out this week until I get the hive down to just (10) frames.

Wednesday, I will go to Dr. D's and bring home some VSH eggs to graft.

In all I have lost (5) hives to beetles this year - or to be more dramatic (33%) of my apiary has been lost to beetles.

The Harvard of Bee Yards

If "failure is the best teacher" then my bee yard is the Harvard of bee yards.

This weekend proved to be heartbreaking. The two Five Frame Nucs I made have both been destroyed by hive beetles.

Out of the two nucs, one was filled with lots of bees from Hive-A. It should have been a strong hive but I didn't secure the bottom of the feeder properly and it left a hole for the bees to get in. Half of them drown while the other half got trapped in the feeder box leaving the hive defenseless.

The result was an inch thick layer of muck and beetle maggots on the bottom board. The infestation was epic. The fowl smell emanating from the boxes distinctly resembled a hog pen.

The other nuc was also infested and destroyed but not like the first one - though dead is dead.

I took all the frames out and brushed the bees into the air over a Mini Mating Nuc - letting them fly down to the box that I placed in the location of the infected nucs. I then placed each frame on the ground (not the best move but I was scrambling). When I was done, I took the (8) most infested frames and placed them in a trash bag that I put in the freezer - I tried to fit all ten but I didn't have room. The other two I put in the sun.

I finally went for the nuclear option in hopes of preserving Hive-D at my house - I used Diatomaceous-earth. I spread it in a 4'x4' area under the hive and then covered that with cedar chips.

This was the last thing I wanted to do but my bees are in dire straights. My way of thinking is that the beetle larva will burrow into the ground beneath the hive to pupate and when they emerge the beetle will pass through the Diatomaceous earth and die - while the cedar chips will keep the bees from being exposed.

I am also looking into getting some chickens. This option is only possible at my house but I'm going to try it out. However since I can only seem to find baby chicks (rather than grown birds) it will be a couple of months before they are old enough to be of any use.

Tractor Supply sells them by mail but you have to get (10) and I only want about (3). That being said, here is a quote from the website:
Egg Production Rate: Females ONLY; Ranges from 264-285 eggs/year

You just know they had to put that "female ONLY" part in there because some jackass called complaining that his roosters just weren't laying.




Summer of 2015 Final Tally: 7-Hives

Dale (father-n-law) moving supers

Hello beekeeping fans,

Well, it is now the end of summer and time to tally my efforts for the 2015 year.  No suspense, the answer is 7 hives.

So here is a summery of this years splits.  I started with 4 hives but one of those died shortly after the spring started.

Then I had 3-hives: so I split them into 6-hives but I didn't know what I was doing so only 1 made it.

Then I had 4-hives: so I split Dr. D's hive three times but one died.  So then I had 3 at the Old Farm and 3 at Dr.D's place.

Then I had 6-hives: so I bought 8 queens and split the hives into 14 total hives.  5 of those queens died right away (or swarmed) - leaving me with 6 at Dr. D's and 3 at the Old Farm.


Then the moths killed one of my original splits and one of my newly queened hives swarmed.  So that left me with 7-Hives for 2015.  Of course I still have a month or two to fortify these 7 but I am hopeful they will all survive the winter.

LESSON LEARNED:

I think the biggest set back this year was due to the bleached frames I put in the hive.  I did this on the advice of another beekeeper.  The actual advice was to bleach the frames then lightly coat them with new wax - however, I didn't have any wax to use so I just bleached and cleaned the frames.  The bees did not build on any of them.  This made the hives inhospitable and the bees just left.

Of course the other thing I have learned is how to properly identify brood.  My first splits failed because I simply didn't know what I was looking at.  I am confident that I did not put enough young larva in the splits and therefore the bees could not raise new queens.

Both of these issues will be resolved for next year.

THE HARVEST:

The original hive at Dr.D's place has 100lbs of honey in it - however, I accidentally put mite chemicals in the hive with the honey and that made it unsuitable for harvest.  I will distribute this honey between the hives at the end of September.  The Beast (at the old farm) had 100lbs but when the hive fell over, the honey was robbed.  All the other hives are barely filling two supers deep which they will need for the winter.

So my total harvest consisted of one single frame of honey I took from a hive at the Old Farm - barely a mason jar full.

CONCLUSION:

After a hard year of ups and downs, I have not become a beekeeping mogul just yet.  I have however doubled my hives.  I think next year will be a much more successful year.

PLAN FORWARD:

What is my big plan?  PALLETS and WILD BEES!  I will explain in much more detail later but I plan to recycle wooden pallets to build supers.  I then plan to lure feral bees in with lemon grass oil.  I already have a area to quarantine these hives until I can get them disease free.

At the same time, I will also split my existing 7-hives during the spring.  I think I will split The Beast into 6 even hives and requeen them with Italian queens.  I will split the other 2-hives at the Old Farm into 4 each (if they are strong enough).  I will leave my strongest hive at Dr. D's un split in case this all goes wrong but I will split the other 3-hives three times each (by removing 2 frames of brood and bees in March, April, and May.)  For a total of 24-hives.  With what I have learned this year, I think this is doable.

If I can pull this off in 2016 then in 2017 I should be able to divide my hives into a large enough number to turn a profit.  Only time will tell.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I did not get the USDA job.  My wife and I were devastated by the news.  So for now I am still unemployed.  My wife is a RN and is working extra days each month which has put us in the black by a little bit.  Of course I feel like crap letting her support me but it is what it is.  I find myself in a panic most days, trying to figure out how I am going to get back to my six-figure salary when all of the jobs around me are for about $9.50 an hour.  I hadn't realized how much I took my income for granted.

I used to scoff at the pro-ball players who would make millions and then find themselves bankrupt a couple of years later.  Now I feel I have done the same stupid thing.

However, today I feel calm.  I feel this way because God has blessed me so much.  Not only are we slightly in the black due to my wife's hard work but out of the blue we received a large (totally unexpected) escrow check from where we had been over paying the house note.  It is a miracle and soothes me.  This is the 3rd time in the past 5 years things have gotten tight but in both of the first cases, God sent me a windfall right at the last minute.  With this escrow check, I feel as if God is letting me know, the windfall is coming, just be patient.

I don't know what the future holds but I know God is with me and it will be okay.

Supersedure - Queen Cell

Very little knowledge is ever gained through success - it is through failure that we truly learn.  

I'm sure I am not the first one to say that but nonetheless, it's absolutely true.  So it is with beekeeping.  As Andrew Davis said in, The Wonders of Beekeeping, "Bees survive, not because of the beekeepers but in spite of them." - (I paraphrased).

In my last blog I told how my bees were failing to thrive.  Well it seems that I am not the only one who noticed - the bees themselves seem to be taking steps to fix the problem.  Here's how I find out:

In the picture below that I took the other day, you can see there is a queen cell (mine is the picture on the left).  So my question was, "Why do I have a queen cell in a hive with a laying queen that is not crowded?"

Up until now I only thought there were two reasons to find queen cells; either the queen was missing or the hive was too crowded and the bees were about to swarm.  I had completely overlooked the idea of Supersedure.  However in a brilliant European article from www.cymru.gov.uk I found that each queen cell actually has different characteristics.

It is at times like this that I am in awe of bees.  It seems that nothing they do is accidental.

By comparing the characteristics of the queen cell in my hive to the ones on the article, I found that the bees are actually preparing to supersede the existing queen - not preparing to swarm as I originally thought might be the case.  How great is that?  Hopefully this will strengthen my hives and get them ready for winter.

On a more personal note:

I'm still unemployed for now.  I applied for my first unemployment check today.  I tried sooner but there was some bullshit about the fact that I made more than double my salary in the 4th quarter of last year than I did in the 3rd quarter... and they don't take the quarter you are in (2nd quarter of this year) into account... OR the quarter before that until you are in the Next quarter (3rd quarter of this year)... It's all a f***ing shell game.  

Well now I should be approved but you just know they are going to find some other way of f***ing me out of the poultry $247 a week they are offering.  Yep, I make six figures but the max unemployment benefits are less than $1,000 per month.  It is failed Socialism at its finest but I won't go into my rant about that now.

Luckily - or more by God's grace - my wife (the RN) has been picking up some extra shifts and keeping us in the black.  I am so thankful for her.  I feel really guilty that she is supporting us right now - PROUD - but guilty.  On the days she works I make sure to get out of bed with her.  I do the laundry and make the bed and cook supper.  I also try to get some beekeeping done and do a little writing - as well as looking for jobs on the internet.  After supper I wash the dishes and then rub her feet before bed.

I wish I could say I'm always Super Husband but when I am working I don't help nearly as much - though I still try to share the load around the house.  That's not true - I don't share the load.  My wife is awesome.  On the days she works I cook but that's about it.  On the days she's off, she washes clothes and does most of the cooking.  When I get back to work, I'll try to continue to do my share of the housework.

This started off sounding like I was a great husband... now I feel like I need to kiss my wife's ass a little more when she gets home tonight.

Failure to Thrive

Failure to Thrive is a medical term to describe children who are not gaining weight as expected and have poor height growth.  However, today is seems like a good description of my beehives.

Today I visited my hives at Dr. D's place - I have been avoiding my 3 hives at the old farm since two of them are filled with hateful bees.

Of the hives at Dr. D's place, only 6 are still alive after all of my splits earlier this year.  Below is a picture of that bee yard taken 5 weeks ago but shows the location of all my hives at Dr. D's:

The hives marked with an X are the ones that are now completely empty.  The rest are as follows:

Hive A: This is the first split I made this year.  I have 3 supers on this hive now - each has 3 frames of bees in them and is doing well.  I am feeding them sugar water and they had eaten about 40% of it in the past 20 days.

Hive C: This is the hive that had the moth infestation.  As of today, there are only three frames of bees in it.  This has not changed in the past 3 weeks (since I first found the moths).  I did find some Wax Moth Larva in the sugar water and I tried to remove them all.

Hive D: This is one of my original hives.  The bees in this hive are slightly aggressive but not nearly as bad as the ones in The Beast back at the old farm.  As of now, I have 4 supers on this hive: 2 are filled with brood and one of them is filled with honey already.

Hive F: This new Italian hive has a lot of wax but no brood.  The new Italian queen seems to be gone.  I removed one frame of brood from Hive G that had a queen cell on it and placed it in Hive F.  These bees had eaten half of the sugar water in their feeder trough.

Hive G: This new Italian hive only had 2 frames of brood and one of them had the queen cell on it.  I am confused by this since it is a new queen and there is brood - so why was there a queen cell?  These bees too had eaten half of the sugar water in their feeder trough.

Hive K: This new Italian hive had 3.5 frames of brood and bees with two additional frames of dark brown wax.  They too had eaten half of their sugar water.

As you can see Hive C, F, G, and K simply are failing to thrive.  Monday I will add brood from Hive D to Hives C, F, and K.  I will also move young brood from Hive K to Hive G.

The local crop for these hives is Soybean.  Soybean produces nectar and pollen from July 1 - August 31 in this area.  So I am hoping that my hives will be able to take advantage of this and increase in size.

BTW:  Today it was 91 degrees without a breeze - the heat index was 100 degrees.  I sweated so much that I could see my tattoos through my drenched white shirt.

No Bees - No Pumpkins

When people find out that I keep bees, their first question is always, "Well how did you get into that?"



Pumpkin Flower

The answer to that is unique and goes back to the movie, A Walk In The Clouds.  If you've seen it, then you are probably thinking that there weren't any bees in that movie.  You are right.  However, I love this movie if for no other reason than the beautiful vineyards.  Napa Valley is one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth.  It is no surprise that I later fell in love with my wife while on a balloon ride in Napa Valley.

I still have a love for vineyards.  So about 14 years ago I began studying up on viniculture.  Since I live in Mississippi, the most appropriate vine to grow would be the native Muscadine.  Through my studies I found that on just 5 acres of land, one person could grow enough muscadines to make 10,000 bottles of wine.

So I began to make plans to grow a small muscadine vineyard in Mississippi.  However, I continued my research first.

It takes 3 years for a vine to mature to the point where it can produce a full harvest of grapes.  In that time I thought it might be a good idea to grow something in the vacant rows... something like watermelons.

So I began to research watermelons.  In that research I found that watermelons are grown from spring to early summer.  That leaves the latter part of the growing season for another crop... something like Pumpkins.

So now my plan was to grow a muscadine vineyard, plant watermelons for the first three years in the empty rows and plant pumpkins later in those years.  It seemed like a good plan.

So I began to research pumpkins... and that's when it happened.  In my research, I found that pumpkins do not self-pollenate but require bees for a healthy crop. 

So naturally I began to research bees (As you can see I am a big planner).  It only took one or two books for me to decide that the best agricultural invest I could make was to scrap all of my other plans and invest in bees.  So that is what I did.  Granted, so far it hasn't paid off but that is my fault - and I plan to rectify the situation.

So there you have it.  I became a beekeeper because Keanu Reeves fell in love with a pregnant chick in a vineyard.

On a more personal and present note: I am still laid-off.  The oil field is in a steep down-turn.  I am scheduled to return to my job in October but there is no guaranty that will come through.  The stress of it all is exhausting.  

However in a positive turn of events, while searching online, I came across an awesome job opening with the USDA as a Safety Manager only 16 miles from my home.  It would be a dream job.  The really peculiar thing was that I found this amazing job (that I am perfect for) by mere happenstance and it was only open for applications/resume for 8 hours.  The fact that I found the job and applied for it in such a small window, seems like divine intervention.

The pay is very good (for the Delta), I would be home every night (unlike offshore), and I would be working in an agricultural research center.  The truth is that even though I am very qualified for the position, it all just seems too good to be true.  Yet no matter how hard I try to tell myself not to get excited or too hopeful, in my heart I want this job with all of my being.  I'll let you know how it works out.  If you are reading this, say a prayer for me.

p.s.  In the Labels of all my blogs, I use the label: NAKED.  There is nothing in my blogs about nudity but I need the traffic and perverts sometimes keep bees. :)

The Breath of Death - oh how my bees hate CO2

Found on iwastesomuchtime.com

My mother had a stroke about ten years ago.  She has recovered but the stoke left the left-side of her body paralyzed.  After a few months of therapy, she was able to walk short distances and is able to live alone - though my brother lives across the street from her and I live just a few doors down.  

The point is that she enjoys going with me to my bee yard.  She sits in the truck (wearing a veil - just in case) and watches me as I work my bees.  Truth is, she just likes getting out of the house.

Half the time I drive right up to the hives but only when I need to carry in large amounts of equipment.  The rest of the time I park near the land owner's house and just walk in to keep from harming his grass.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I left mom sitting in the truck with the windows down and a cooling cloth (it's like a shammy and when you wet it, it stays cool.)  Then I went out to check the bees.

After about 25 minutes I heard my mother shouting.  My hives are about 150 yards away from the house, so I couldn't make out what she was saying but she sounded like she was in distress.  I dropped everything and began to run through the woods towards her.

While in the days of old, I was quite the athlete, these days I am fat and out of shape and resemble a water buffalo with a bruised testicle when I run.  Nonetheless, I ran with all my might until I was in eye sight of mom.  However, by this time she was waving her hands for me to stop.  When I was close enough to hear her, I asked what the hell she was shouting about.

She said, "You were gone for a while and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I have a phone!  Why didn't you just call me?"

She replied, "I didn't want to bother you."  

Believe it or not, she had those same reasoning skills even before the stroke.

Well, I was on my last hive so I went back into the woods and continued my inspection.  I gave the bees a puff of smoke and then began closely checking how many frames of brood they had produced - not realizing I was still panting like an asthmatic porn star.  That was when it happened.  The bees, who until now had been politely milling around the hive, instantly and in complete unison, looked up at me and began furiously fanning their wings.  I swear I heard one of them tell the others, "Lock the door!"  However, since this hive is one of my new Italian Hives, a single puff of smoke neutralized their aggression and they went right back to milling around.

Had this happened in my bad hive, known as The Beast, the bees would have tried to kill me.  Did you get that last sentence, "The bees would have tried to kill me."  That brings me to my point, while good bees are an absolute joy to work with, an aggressive hive like The Beast is actually filled with bees that want to kill me.

That thought crossed my mind yesterday and for the first time, I realized that working with The Beast is actually a life and death event.  Some day soon, I am going to have to face The Beast and either the queen will be killed or I will.  I know it is not quite that dramatic but then again maybe it really is.  I normally get 50+ stings when I just inspect the hive.  If I do not properly suit up, then that number could go high enough to kill me.  My friend Marvin told me once that 200 sings is equivalent to a rattle snake bite - I'm not sure how he knows that.  Just the same, it does put the task in a rather harsh light.

In the audio book, The Wonder of Beekeeping: National Trust Beekeeping, Written by Andrew Davis and narrated by the coolest sounding scotsman, Alex Norton; Davis says, "Don't make excuses for bad bees."  I think this is good advice.  The only question is how do you get rid of a bad queen when the hive is so aggressive?

Well anyway, that is all for today.  I still have a few hundred plastic frames to clean, so I had better go find something to procrastinate on to avoid having to deal with that.

Wax Moths and Heart Break

I have often wondered why it is so important to inspect hives on a weekly basis.  Once the hives have been treated for mites, treated for hive beetles, and supers have been added, what's left?  The answer, "WAX MOTHS!"

Wax Moth Damage

I like the quote by Gillard who said, "Wax moths keep us from becoming lazy."  Well, I got lazy this month and my bees paid the price.  A month earlier I had expanded my hives from 6 to 14 by buying 8 new Italian Queens (only 3 survived).  The next day I left town for 2 weeks then returned home and became very sick for nearly another two weeks.  By the time I got back to my hives, the carnage was sicking.

In the photo on the right you can see the silky destruction the wax moth worms left behind.  Even now, I feel sick just looking at the photo.  Without much knowledge about Wax Moths I started by killing them by hand.  In the words of Anakin Skywalker, "I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM! "  I'm not kidding.  I took such joy in squashing those little bastards - they make a pop and squirt sort of sound.

Next I took all of the infected frames out of the hive and replaced them with newly cleaned frames (Later I'll talk all about how I have been cleaning over 500 old frames).  10 frames in all were destroyed by the moths but there were still about 3 or 4 frames of bees and brood that seemed to be making a last stand in the corner of the hive.  Over the next couple of days, I inspected the hive and fed the bees sugar water to help build them back up.  I also added cedar chips to the landing to reduce the hive opening and sprinkled a few on the top bar of the box (not sure if this is a good idea or a really bad one).

RESEARCH:

I went home and began researching wax moths.  It seems there is really no chemical to treat them other than Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) - which is sort of like moth balls (but don't use actual moth balls - they have other chemicals in them that aren't safe for bees).  The best defense (as with all bee problems) is a strong healthy hive.  Well that is great advice but it doesn't help much when you are starting a 3 frame nuke.  So what else can be done?

For starters: Think small bee numbers - small hive.  By this I mean, if you only have 3 or 4 frames of bees, then stick with one hive body (or one box).  The bees will have less real estate to protect.  However, this goes against the advice my friend Marvin gave me.  He told me to put 3 boxes on every hive no matter the size, so that the bees would have room to grow.  For now I have followed his advice but today marks a week and I will reevaluate the situation today.

Now if you have wax moths, you need to treat them:
First, do what I did and remove the infected frames.
Second, Kill the eggs and larva.  To do this you have 6 options:
1. Freeze the frames for 4.5 hours at 20F degrees.  Then let them thaw out and they are good as new.
2. Heat the frames for for 80 minutes at 115F degrees.  But remember that wax will begin to melt at 148F degrees so don't get them too hot.
3. Carbon Dioxide treatment.  This one seems too dangerous and complicated for a small operation but you can read more about it at: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/beekeepers/publications/wax_moth_ipm.html
4. This is my favorite: if you have a fire ant bed near by, place the super filled with wax moth on the ant bed.  The ants will clean it up for you.
5. Paradichlorobezene (PDB) is the active ingredient in moth balls.  I am not a fan of chemicals and will try the first 4 methods first.  Nonetheless this is an option.
6. Lastly, and only if all else has failed, burn the infected equipment.  I don't like this idea at all and I can't imagine ever doing it.

Today makes a week since I first found the problem.  I had planed to visit the bee yard tomorrow but since it is supposed to rain the rest of the week, I will be going out today.  If you have any advice on a better way to deal with the moths or you have had any personal experience, please feel free to leave a comment.


References:

Gillard, G. 2009. My Friend, the Wax Moth. Amer. Bee J. Vol. 149 no. 6, pp 559-562.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/beekeepers/publications/wax_moth_ipm.html

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Resources/WaxMoth.asp

Disclaimer:  To anyone reading this blog, I am learning just like you.  Use my blog at your own risk.

The New "Bee"ginning

As previously stated I bought 50 bee hives in 2006.  At the time the plan was for me and my brother to go into the business together and build up to 1000 hives.  Since I worked offshore and was between wives at the time, I had a bit of disposable income.  So I put up the money and he put up the labor.

However, in 2007 my mother suffered a stroke.  Doctor's bills mounted and my disposable income dried up.  So the project ended with the first 50 hives (or 100 deep suppers and 30 hives of surviving bees).  From then on for the next 5 years I began living at sea (sometimes in other countries) for 10 months out of the year.  My brother went on with his life and with no steady flow of money, he left the bees in the field to do as they would.

In 2010 I remarried and slowed my work schedule down to one month away and one month home.  At a dinner later that year I asked my brother how the bees were doing.  He answered, "F*** those bees, they're all dead."  His answer was so abrupt and jarring that words still echo in my head to this day.  Between tools, wood, plastic frames, chemicals, and bees, I had invested $10,000 in those 50 original hives.  Nonetheless, I was too shocked at his comment to reply so I changed the subject.

In 2012 I went to the old farm where we kept the bees and found that three hives actually had bees in them.  My wife was instantly intrigued and so we began planning to make our first harvest.  And in 2013 we did just that.  We harvested the most delicious September honey I've ever tasted.  It was black as molasses but the taste was extraordinary!  In all, we filled 50 pint size bears and about 12 half -quart jars.  My wife and I were hooked.

And of course I got stung
on the lip - Again!

We also moved one of our hives to another location that year.  I made it a family event and took my two kids with me (my son Lee who was 15 and my daughter Whitney who was 17 at the time).  This was also the first time I had attempted to interact with what will be referred to from here forward as The Beast.

The Beast is my most aggressive hive.  On multiple occasions I have received over 50 stings at a time from The Beast.  The day we attempted to move the hives, we started by lifting The Beast into the back of my truck.  However due to my miscalculating the weight of The Beast, we dropped it (I thought it weighed 200lbs but it weighed about 400lbs).  I immediately sent my kids from the area and into the truck to hide.  Whitney got stung 3 times and vowed never to bee keep again, while Lee made it out unscathed.

However, I now had a hive of angry bees scattered on the ground.  I couldn't just leave it so I stayed and put it back together.  My kids said when I came out of the woods, I looked like something from a horror movie.  I was covered from head to toe with bees.  The smoker had no affect on them and so I began walking out across the field.

The real terror of being stung so many times is not the pain but the question.  "How many times can I get stung before I go down?"  I could feel them stinging me through my jeans and coat.  Anyplace that my protective clothing made contact with my skin was as vulnerable as if I were naked.  After about 200 yards I pulled a clump of weeds from the ground and began wiping the bees away.  30 stings... 40 stings... how many more could I take?  I walked for a mile before I was alone with 3 persistent bees whom I delighted in squashing to death with my gloved hands.  The thought crossed my mind that The Beast might just be filled with Africanized Bees (Killer Bees) but then again I had thrashed their home onto the ground like a hungry bear.  So maybe I had it coming.  I obviously didn't die but the stings did leaving me feeling achy and a bit feverish the next day - but no worse for the wear.

The following year I made my second harvest, this time taking the honey from The Beast.  It was late September this time before I could pluck up the courage to face it but I did it.  The bees did sting me once or twice but I got the honey without any really trouble.

So it became a hobby... but a hobby with a future plan.  See, beekeeping can be fairly lucrative (Though finically risky) given that you have enough hives to work and the time to work them.  So my wife and I began to set a goal of 10 years.  In 10 years, we would have the kids out of the house, our bills paid off, and be ready to start beekeeping on a full-time bases.

That was until March 2015 when I met Marvin.  Marvin is a professional beekeeper who, coincidentally, started keeping bees in 2004 (or there about).  In that time he has done quite well with 500 hives.  It was by a chance encounter with him that we became friends and he became somewhat of a mentor to me in the beekeeping world.  With his guidance I immediately began splitting my hives.  In March I had 3 hives, in April I had 6, and in May I bought 8 new queens and made my total hive count into 14 (though 3 of those are not looking so good.)

March - The start

March - First split

April - 2nd split

May - 3rd split and new queens

Now I am gathering up the ruins of my original 50 hives and trying to salvage what I can.  As of now I have 60 deep supers, 3 shallows, and approximately 1,000 plastic frames in fair condition.  The rest I lost to wood rot.  I gave my brother all the tools I had originally bought as a settlement of our original deal.  He no longer wants anything to do with bees, while I still think they are a good investment.

On May 15th there was one last problem to come up.  I was laid-off.  With fuel prices at $50 a barrel (down from $100) nearly 100,000 workers have been laid-off in the Gulf of Mexico since November. I did manage to get a short job for two weeks and that money (combined with my wife's income and my meager unemployment check will carry us through the year).  However for now, I am totally unemployed.  This throws a new hitch into my plans for moving forward.  Rather than being able to invest in my bees, I will now have to make my bees do all the work.  However, 60 deep suppers can make 30 healthy hives.  With a little luck and prayer I can produce enough honey to buy more equipment.  So this is my story.  We will see how it all works out.