And then there were none...only questions remain

[JDavis]

So far 2015 has been a year of crazy travel for me. I returned home last week after 7 weeks on the road, during which time I have spent a total of 5 nights at home. I was pretty concerned about the bees, since I have been gone so long without the ability to check on them. On Wednesday, there was a lot of bee activity, so I thought I had dodged the bullet. Yesterday, I had the time to actually watch the bees before a planned inspection, and quickly realized that none of the activity included bees returning with pollen. Once I opened the hives it was clear that both were gone. The bee activity was nearby hives robbing the remaining honey (nearly 40 lbs left in the biggest hive).

I tore everything down yesterday. It is pretty clear that they chimneyed straight to the top, eating honey from the center three frames, never making it further out. Clearly, 7 weeks was too long, and I should have had sugar on top. I also had such heavy problems with robbing in the fall, that I went into winter with much weaker colonies than I wanted.

First question:
Where is the best place to purchase BT so that I can save the wax? With warm days between now and when I get new packages, I don't want to lose a great head start for the new bees.

I'm going to make a few changes to my plan this year.
First, every hive will have a robbing screen on it anytime there isn't a major honey flow going. I'm not certain why I didn't pay more attention to this last year, knowing how many hives I had nearby. I have certainly learned that lesson the hard way.
Next, I'm going to be a lot more selective with my queens in the fall. I had one great queen this year that seemed to burn out during early fall. I assumed that she was cutting back for winter, but looking back, I should have replaced her. I think she did a great job for most of the season, and I wanted to believe that she could give me one more year, or at least get me into late spring when I could make splits, and raise a new queen or three from her stock.
Finally, I ordered three packages that I will pick up 4-April. I have good frames of honey and pollen that I can give them right away, not to mention 35-40 frames of drawn wax assuming that I can get BT on them before the wax moths wake up. I imagine this spring will build much faster than last year, and I will have to stay on top of them. Thankfully, my travel schedule is slowing down considerably.

Second Question:
Should I interspace undrawn frames into the second medium box (running 8 frame mediums) to give the bees something to draw wax on, or should I place all of the drawn wax on the colonies, as they expand, before requiring them to draw any new wax? Obviously I want to build strong colonies as quickly as possible, and I feel like giving the queen as much drawn wax to lay in is the way to do this, but if the bees need to draw wax at a certain age, I need to provide a place for that work to happen, correct?

[Jacobs]

I hope others will chime in if they have other ideas. I would probably start with 1 super with frames of honey on the outside of each side and a frame of pollen next to them on each side. That will give you 4 frames of open drawn comb. With the honey supply in the hive, I would not feed the packages to begin with. The bees would probably backfill the open drawn comb and leave little space for the queen to lay in. Once she is released and laying well, I would put on the second super with open drawn comb. I would want to see what the bees are doing with that second super before deciding where/how to put in undrawn frames.

You will need to decide about BT for yourself. Although it is approved for use in England and Canada and used to be in the U.S., it is not currently approved. This is not because it is harmful, but I believe it is because it is so inexpensive that no bee supply outfit wants to go to the expense to get current approval. The BT that will kill wax moth larvae is approved for things like tent caterpillars on fruit trees and is an organic pest treatment. It is not the same BT as in Dipel, which may be used in organic farming for things like tomato horn worms, but Dipel is not effective against the wax moth larvae.

I do remember at the NCSBA meeting where someone related that the then approved BT had not been effective on wet comb after extracting honey. This made sense since BT is a bacteria and bacterial spores and honey has anti-bacterial properties.

[Wally]

Send a PM to forum member Zulu. He sells the BT for cabbage loopers. It is the one you want. It kills wax moths.

http://www.guilfordbeekeepers.org/commu ... file&u=173

[ski]

Can’t argue with anything Rob said, but I might do things a bit different.
4 frames of honey and pollen would be the same but I might put 3 frames of drawn comb and a frame of foundation or maybe just a starter strip. I like seeing comb being drawn. I would also feed and when they back fill 2 frames I would put the second box on and move frames up that are being backfilled and add drawn comb(s) in the bottom box.
Just something different.

[Becky Hampton]

So exactly what is BT?

[Jacobs]

Here is an earlier posting that gives a lot of information--

http://www.guilfordbeekeepers.org/commu ... f=4&t=1728

bacillus thuringiensis, subsp. aizawai--XenTari (trade name)--effective on wax moth larvae
bacillus thuringiensis, subsp. kurstaki--Dipel (trade name)--effective on tomato hornworm
(but not on wax moth)
bacillus thringiensis, subsp. israelensis-Mosquito Dunks--effective on mosquito larvae in
standing water

[Becky Hampton]

So if one wanted to acquire some BT for their hives, might there be a local source? A little birdie suggested to me that there might be......

[Wally]

Click on the link I posted above. Send him a PM. Or come see me and I'll give you some.

[Zulu]

Late to the party , but still here with a drink in hand...

Sandoz used to manufacture our strain of BT, they sold out to Valent in late 1990's . Sandoz had an approval to use anzewai on Bee hives but that did not transfer across with the sale. Certan is registered for use in Canada and UK - which is the exact strain , only it is in liquid concentrate form and not as stable.
Today we can buy Bacillus thurringiensis subsp aizawai as Xentari in a stable powder form. It is classified as an ORGANIC pesticide and used for just about any caterpillar or larvae known to affect crops and flower production. Even bag worms and tent caterpillars.

Hidhut sells it onlinè for $29 plus shipping and seems to be the only place online these days.

From the Certan information, it is safe to spray comb at any stage as it will not affect the bees, even if they get wet. It should remain viable for 1-2 seasons, but anecdotal evidence suggests much longer for some.