Fall Preparation 2012

There's been a nip in the air here at Pondview Farm for the past few mornings, and that means winter survival is on the mind of most of God's creatures; Homo sapien and Apis mellifera included.  In the bee yard, fall is a time of preparation.  In our last Bee-log entry, our Langstroth hive had us a little nervous because it appeared to be queenless.  But on a subsequent hive check we found eggs, larvae and capped brood, and so we were relieved to find that there was indeed, a new queen in the hive.  The top bar hive has done quite well all year.  A couple of weeks ago I moved the follower board all the way to the end of the hive, opening up lots of new space for the bees to draw comb, which they can fill with honey, nectar and pollen stores to be consumed this winter.  And since the new queen has been in the Langstroth hive, she has been diligently producing new brood, so as of this entry, both hives have lots of bees are nice and strong going into the fall.

View inside the top bar hive.

 A frame from the Langstroth hive.

We're doing several things to prepare the hives for winter.  In moving the follower board in the top bar hive all the way to the end, we're hoping that the bees will draw more comb and fill it with food.  To facilitate that, we're now feeding the bees a 1.5 parts sugar / 1 part water syrup.  Supposedly this is a ratio that encourages the bees to draw comb.  But the temperatures also have to stay in the 70's and 80's during the day.  Below that, no comb will be drawn.  I'd love to see them draw out at least two more combs and fill them with winter stores!  Upon opening the hive to put the feeder in, I discovered that the bees had completely emptied the comb they had attached to the follower board.  All of the brood was hatched or removed, and all of the pollen, nectar and honey was moved to the main part of the colony.  This was a great relief, because I've been unsure all season about what to do with the comb that they had built there!

 The converted chick feeder with 1.5:1 sugar syrup

The follower board with empty comb.

Fall is also a time to check the hives for Varroa mite, a destructive pest that can severely weaken hives and is said to contribute to Sudden Colony Collapse Disorder.  We've made the decision to manage Varroa using Integrated Pest Management strategies.  We will monitor the hives, checking for the mites two or three times each year, and treat when the mite population exceeds recommended levels.  Our method of monitoring involves counting the daily mite drop.  The way we do this is by installing a grid board below the nest.  The board is coated with a thin film of petroleum jelly prior to installing it below the hive.  The mites that fall off the bees drop through the screen bottom board of the hive, and get stuck on the grid.

The grid board being coated with petroleum jelly

 The grid board placed beneath the screened bottom board.  

The grid is left in place for three days, then removed, so that the mites can be counted.  Although it would be wonderful if Varroa were not a problem at all, one good thing is that they're easily spotted with the naked eye.  So we remove the grid, and count all of the mites, then divide by the number of days the grid was in place to determine how many mites drop each day.  If there are fewer than 40 - 50 mites dropping per day, there's no need for treatment.  The mite count from this past weekend was 11!  So we're in good shape!

The grid board after removal.  

We use dry beans to keep track of mites that were found,

and make it easy to count them.

 

The dark oval to the right of the bean is a Varroa mite.

 Along with the mites, there are dropped pollen packets, bee poop, 

dead bee parts, wax flakes, and more on the grid.

Despite the fact that it has been quite dry, and there haven't been a lot of flowers around lately, the bees are still hard at work, bringing in pollen and nectar.  They've been busy driving out drones, (no drones are allowed in the hive in the winter) and making and curing honey stores.  Hopefully, the fall will provide lots more nectar and pollen with goldenrod, asters and other fall flowers!

Workers returning this weekend with full pollen baskets!

(Look for the orange stuff on their hind legs.)

Later this fall, we'll do the final winter preparations like wrapping and insulating.  That will be in the next post!