Checking Hives January 4, 2013

[Jacobs]

The bees at my house know to check for a jar feeder of diluted honey water when it is warm enough for them to fly. They were coming to it today for the first time in a few days. I put out some of the dry brewers yeast mix to test their reactions. They were showing more interest in it than a week ago, but were not swarming over it.

David and I went and looked at all of our hives and the ones at the Ag Center. All are alive and the stronger ones were quite active by around 2:00pm. The strongest and most active hive at the Ag Center was bringing in significant amounts of natural pollen. Some of the stronger hives may be in the process of ramping up brood production.

Toward the middle or the end of this month I am going to look for a good sunny 55°F+ day to do a quick pop the top inspection on the bees to determine cluster size and location. If they are going to need additional feed, I want to know. I would hate to lose a hive in late winter/early spring to starvation.

[pholcomb]

This is my first winter beekeeping and I've been surprised by the amount of pollen the bees have managed to forage all winter long. This morning I saw the first bee emerge from the hive when the temp was 38 deg, and by 1230 when my thermometer said 43 both hives were foraging heavily, coming in loaded down with pollen baskets full of bright orange/yellow or dull green pollen.

Most of the literature says bees don't break cluster until the temp reaches 47, but I clearly have some bees who haven't been reading the books. Is this lower foraging temperature a characteristic of Carnis?

Wish I could ID the pollen. I live near the arboreteum, but I've not seen a single bee there recently. However, a neighbor who lives about a third of a mile did email me to say that my bees were all over her dahlias. (Fortunately, she likes bees.)

Rob, what's the purpose of the brewers yeast? Thanks.

Paul

[pholcomb]

Oops, make that camellias, not dahlias.

Paul

[Jacobs]

The mix is 8 parts spent brewers yeast, 1 part soy flour, and 1 part sugar that I powder my self (no additives like some commercial powdered sugar). It is a pollen substitute that can be used dry and outside the hive. Today the bees were going to it heavily, especially one hive that has never really slowed down in activity or in bringing in natural pollen when they can get it.

I'll have to make a decision about stimulating brood rearing this early. If I put more of the substitute out, I will need to keep it available until the bees refuse to take it (usually when the red maple blooms). I would not want hives to start increasing brood rearing only to have brood starve because they didn't have sufficient natural pollen or my pollen substitute. Also, if I get them to start major brood rearing this early, there is a danger that a long cold spell may end up with chilled brood or starved brood, or possibly the larger disaster of a hive starving in place because they refuse to leave brood to get to food stores in the hive. I would feel a lot better about starting this kind of stimulus toward middle or later part of this month.

I'll probably wind up going ahead with it since there is a reasonable possibility that temperatures and weather conditions at the end of this week look like they will permit popping the tops on hives to determine cluster size, location, and the need to feed. I have frames of honey in my freezer that I can put on hives that need more food.

[Zulu]

Red maples are in bloom Rob....... Will post a pic as soon as I upload it.

[pholcomb]

I don't have any frozen honey or capped sugar water to add if supplies get low in late winter, so I don't think I'll do anything to stimulate brood production this early. In late Oct. each hive had two mediums full of capped sugar water/honey and I hope that will be enough to get them through without feeding for another month.

Both hives are extremely active. See the uploaded pic that was taken today around 2 pm. At that time the hives' activity level resembled orientation flights during the summer. Most of the bees were arriving loaded with pollen. Amazing.

Paul

[Jacobs]

David and I went through our McLeansville and Summerfield bees yesterday, and except for one unexpected deadout, all looked good. I had to add a medium with honey frames to one of my Summerfield hives, not because they needed the food, but because they needed the space and that was all I had to put on the hive.

I went through all of my hives at the house this morning. All look good so far, and some are starting to brood up significantly. By early afternoon, the bees were ignoring the brewers yeast mix I had out in a small bowl and were almost frantically bringing in yellow and light green pollen.

I managed my first sting of 2013. Around 20 hives examined (tops off and lifting at least the top super) without any problem. This afternoon, several hours after competing the examinations, I was walking about 6 feet in front of my hives. One bee hit me just below my glasses and immediately stung without warning. No noticeable swelling now, but we'll see what it looks like after I sleep on it.

[Jacobs]

I made it home in time to see my bees fighting the wind and bringing in lots of pollen. All hives were very active and were bringing in a light yellow pollen. I'm expecting growing numbers of bees in the next few weeks with an immediate increase in the consumption of stores to feed the new brood being produced. I'll be doing some hive tipping when the cooler temperatures get here. I imagine some are getting lighter than they were a couple of weeks ago.