What the Heck is that? The Jerry Project

I'm going to give this my best shot at explaining today's adventures.  I got an email last week from Jerry.  So from now on I've got "The Jerry project."  He lives in Missouri and wandered onto this blog.  He wanted to keep bees so in 2010 he got a hive and a package of bees to get started.  He tackled bees on his own.  Just read some things online, bought the equipment and gave it a go.  The bees did okay, and Jerry fed them.  The bees flew around, drew out comb, and seemed to be thriving.  Yet,  they didn't winter over.  He figured maybe he didn't feed them enough.  Interesting.

So the next spring, Jerry got package #2 of bees.  Again, they did okay during the warm months and died by the next spring.  He was baffled.  So last year, 2012 he got one more package of bees.  This is package #3. An average package of bees costs about $100 so we're up to $300 to get some honey.  So the honey is getting pretty pricey at this point.  These bees were doing great.  They put on a lot of honey even in the big drought.  They were alive and kicking as late as Mid December. Jerry was thinking, "I've got it!  I have bees that will live!"  What do you know.  Dead. No more bees are in this hive as of March.   Interesting.

So he made me an offer, come get the honey out for me, I'll give you my hive. He at least wanted to have some of this $300 honey.   He didn't want it anymore bees!  Free hive?  I'm all over that option.  So I went for a road trip this morning to Jerry's house.  I met him and his lovely wife.  Really good people.  They had a nice set up.  Nice sized pond, fruit trees, cute little chicken hutches, some wild geese, pastures and woods nearby,  the works.  So why would he lose bees three years in a row? It didn't really make sense.

I'm no bee expert.  If you've read this blog, you know this to be true.  But I am a quick learner and I am intrigued as to what makes bees prosper and what makes them go kaput.  I opened the top brood box, it was 100% honey.  No brood, all honey.  So the bees never got "Up" there to eat the winter food stores.  They did not starve.  I had a hive starve on me my first year, that looks like a center of bees all together with one bee per cell, Butt side out.  There were no bees in this hive.  Interesting.

Then I checked the bottom box.  Alas, there was something strange.  Here's a picture.  I saw these white small round things.  Round. Like eggs, but not bee eggs.  In my mind I'm thinking this must be some sort of infestation that was killing off Jerry's bees.  Had to be!  Then again....I had never seen this in my bees, so I thought I'd drop by Paul's house on my way home. 

What the Heck are those things?

Paul had just pulled into his driveway when I arrived.  He's always up for a good bee adventure too so he came right over to the van and we got to looking.  He was baffled as well.  Paul.  My bee mentor who had seen it all was also not sure what was going on here.  I asked him if these white things were some eggs of some bug that would have killed off the bees or something that could have moved in after.  He did not know.  "Do NOT put these in your hive yard until you know it's safe."

Now visualize this.  We're standing in the middle of the street in Ursa Il.  We normally do things like pull out frames and hold them up.  But for someone driving by, it may look weird.  To make matters worse, we decide to sniff the frames to see if they smell.  We don't  know what this is, and we even thought it could be frozen over foul brood...we have no idea.  So the best thing to do?  Sniff it in the middle of the street. 

Well, only one thing left to do when Paul doesn't know and I can't put unsafe frames in the bee yard.  I had to call in the top Bee man.  Time to call Bernie.  He just so happened to be up a Dadant's in Hamilton buying bee equipment when I called so we set up an appointment to meet at his house at 1pm. 

When I got to Bernie's we got right at the investigation.  He chuckled and said.  "Oh that's just sugar."  Huh?  sugar?  I know what sugar looks like and I know what sugar water looks like inside of bee cells.  How could this be?  Well, it more complicated than that.

This hive had been very well fed.  Jerry had fed the hive as late as December when he last checked on his last attempt at beekeeping.  The bees wanting all the sugar for winter put it in the cells and it sat there.  But why would they not go ahead and use the sugar?

Here's the interesting answer.  Bernie showed me some things about determining how a hive died out.  He said, "Were the bee butts out or in?"  I wasn't sure.  Oh here's a cell, butts are in.  As a matter fact the bees didn't fully emerge out of the brood.  That was because there were no nurse bees to help them out.  So I had dead bees sitting inside cells, and some died not even breaking the caps. 

Sporadic brood pattern, and bees still inside cells.

So he said matter of factly, they died of mites  I didn't see mites.  So I thought maybe he saw mites.  Could Bernie use super bee powers to see mites I couldn't see?  No, he didn't.  But he explained how he knew it was mites.  When the mites populate faster than the bees, they take over.   They attach to the bees, and the bees dying will fly away from the hive.  Bernies asked, "Did you see a bunch of dead bees?"  No.  Jerry had said no dead bees were in or directly outside the hive.  They had gotten sick and flew out to die.

Head of bee is facing out while it's still  trapped in cell.

Because the bees had plenty of honey and sugar to eat on, they were able to keep working, hence the honey stores, but were not able to keep feeding and tending larve and capped brood.  The hive died out slowly over a period of time.  So when Jerry saw bees in December, they were most likely close to dying out, and just couldn't keep up.

So the "Infestation" was sugar.  And the bees died of mites. 

Tons of Sugar cells.  Hundreds filled on each frame.

My plans now are to extract some honey for Jerry and see if I can get some successful bees living in his hive  It's at my house.  I'll try to do a split or put in a swarm this spring.  If we can get some good bees living in there, I'll see if Jerry is truly finished with beekeeping on wants to give it another shot.  I'll consider this hive "On loan" for now. 






I took several pictures because it looked so odd.  Maybe this will help some other members of our bee club see what to look for in their hive inspections. 

The capped honey in the upper box was in great shape.

The sieve is full.  I'll just wait for it to filter by gravity and bottle it up for Jerry. 

All in all, it was a fun day.  Looks like Jerry's getting some good honey.  The kids enjoyed this after school activity.  The initial taste test is positive :)

Feeding Time

 Just a quick note today.  I fed the bees sugar water this afternoon.  According to weather channel, we are not dropping below 32 for the next 10 days so time is right.  We'll trigger the queen to start laying eggs in the hive and in 21 days...wham!  Lots of bees.  The earlier I can get her laying without a freeze the better.

I went into winter with 5 alive here at my bee yard, I have 4 strong hives today and one just barely hanging on.  It was a small cluster I had picked up on a swarm call.  It may not make it. There are a few slow moving bees in there, but the hive may not be strong enough to fight off other spring bees.  The other 4  looked great.  Very excited over the food source.

I like to feed bees in the early morning.  They are not all out
flying around yet.  I make up some old juice clear plastic bottles.  This is easy to fill half with sugar, use the tea kettle pour in hot water about 80% full and shake like crazy.  Then fill the rest of the water and cap.  When I'm taking kids to school, I drop by the hives, fill each entrance jar with sweetness and I don't drag the glass jars all around.  Much easier. 

Calendar notes:  March 28, started feed.  Check for laying of eggs in 5-7 days to ensure my queen is healthy and laying eggs.  Also, rotate top and bottom boxes. Target Friday April 5.

Mail Order

I'm probably considered late.  But I've got all my bee supply catalogs out looking at what I want to buy.  It's fun to shop for bee stuff.  My first year, I needed hive parts, so it wasn't quite as much fun.  There are not as many variables to pick from.  Buy 2 Hive bodies and call me in the morning!  Pretty simple.

This year, I'm looking at all kind of gadgets.  I attended Dadant's 150 year Anniversay event this past weekend.  It was great, and got me to thinking about my basic bee problems.  Yes, I have bee problems.  One big problem, is that I can't ever see my queen.  Three years of bees, and I can't find her.  It's worse than a Where's Waldo print.  I look at the frames and I'm pretty sure she sees me and jumps on another one.

How can I see my Queen?  How can I ever catch her?  First, I should probably mark her.  Most bee keepers mark their queens with special pens.  They recommend a color system so at one glance we know how old she is.  Or, if while the beekeeper was not looking, the hive superseeded her and made a new queen.  Sounds good, but I'm going to need a marking pen and some patience to find her.

Then I saw some interesting Queen restriction tools.  One was just a regular old Queen Excluder, you check a frame and by process of elimination narrow down where the queen is located.  I may need that kind of help.  Then I saw a kind of cool press in Queen trap.  It allows worker bees in and out, but traps the queen so there is no threat of me accidentally smashing her.  That sounds like a great idea.  I can just see me spending hours to find the queen just to smash her.

Then my next issues are hands and feet.  My gloves suck.  They are awful.  Plus at some point I tore a hole in them and have one whole finger covered with duct tape.  I need something new.  I know what I want.  I want gloves that are like my garden gloves.  That thick covered glove that is rubbery and still gives good dexterity.  I read several forums and have decided to try the extra thick Nitrile gloves.  I ordered some 8mil thickness.  I'll let you know. 

We all know about my feet.  So I also have on my list, "Get some shoes!"  so I am looking for some rain boots to cover my feet and ankles that do not attract the bees.  Seems like most rain boots have flowers painted on them.  That seems like a trick for the bees.  I can just see them trying to pollinate my boots.

I'm off to shop, I'll post my purchases and reviews for you.  Maybe we can solve some ongoing bee issues together!

Radio Buzz

This morning Guy Spoonmore and I were guest with Jim Dewey on WTAD am 930.  He had us in the studio to talk about our upcoming bee class February 16th.  It's our annual spring kick off for beekeeping in the area.  We took a few calls while we were there, and we had several people visiting the website for more information.  As we talked bees, Jim asked several questions I thought I'd share with followers.

Why would someone keep bees?

I think it's an assumption, that anyone keeping bees might be a little off their rocker, but people do find lots of reasons to keep bees!  First, Honey is the most obvious.  I did not go into detail on the radio about why people would go to such lengths to get honey when they can just buy it in a store, at a farmer's market of online.  The answer is that not all honey is created equal.  Some is highly pasturized and loses it's health qualities, some is from out of state, and loses it's allergens, and some plain doesn't taste good.  The only way to ensure you're getting good quality honey is to buy local from a beekeeper or become a beekeeper.  I have leaned honey is like wine, there are lots of grades, and some is good, some is not .

How much time does it take to keep bees?
To keep 2 hives, as a beginner, you will end up working the hive about 15 hours, and if you harvest another 5 or 6 hours.  The thing about bees, is that when you're new, you find reasons to get into the bees and check them out.  You'll spend more time because you want to spend time.  When it's July and hot, you'll find other things to do.  But when it's a nice spring day, you'll wander to the bees and take a look.  It's fun!  You may only spend 10 mintues working the bees, and it may take you 3 minutes putting on the suit.  But overall keeping bees is not a time consuming hobby unless you want it to be.  Should you expand like many beekeepers do, you'll need to plan more time for your bees.

Where do bees come from? How do you get them?
I guess I had forgotten about this question until Jim asked.  We buy bees from other beekeepers.  We get them in these little box cages that are screened.  The package of bees is 3lb, which is determined to be a good starter hive size. about 1000 bees per pound.   Then you get a queen.  To keep bees you do not have to go hunt up a wild hive in the woods.  I would have never gotten started if I had to hunt bees.  Our club puts in a group order each spring for anyone expanding or replacing hives. 

Can people who don't want to tend the bees themselves still support beekeeping?
Sure!  Some farmers allow bees to be kept along their fields which give them better polliination, and gives the beekeeper a yard to rotate bees and be allowed to conduct hive splits.  Some people have beekeepers raise their bees for them for a share of the honey.  Kids raise bees for 4H projects and need fair support.  Of course, buying direct from a beekeeper helps them to manage the honey flow efficiently. 

What should people who are allergic to bees do when they get them at their house?
First, determine if you have 3 bees or 3000 bees.  If you have a settlement, you'll need help.  Don't grab the Raid, call the beekeepers association or local pest control.  You may only have a few bees that are attracted to a plant of sugar substance.  They won't hang around long, they also are not aggressive guard bees.  These are gathering bees, and are busy gathering.  Too busy to notice you unless you decide to intervene.  A small group of gatherers will travel up to 2 miles from their hive to nectar or pollen (or a piece of hard candy stuck to the sidewalk).  If you have a swarm, it's 1000's of bees looking for a new place to live.  Call us, don't try to handle a swarm on your own. We'll help them relocate to a hive someplace safe.

Why should people be thinking about getting bees in February?
We don't actually place bees into bee yards until April or May.  But it takes time to order hive parts, paint them up all cute, and find the perfect spot in your yard for a hive.  You'll need some time to read your new bee book and order your package.

Have you been stung?

Yes. and Yes.  I was stung pretty bad last year because I decided NOT to put on my bee shoes but wore flip flops out in the beehive area.  I was working inside the hive which usually riles them up anyway, and I got stung 6-8 times on my ankle.  I took 2 Benedryl, had a cold one and felt better in a couple hours.  This is not normal.  I've been stung 2 times, once with a wild hive we were relocating to my bee yard, and the aforementioned lazy summer day when I should have put my shoes on my feet.  I will not be so easy going this year!  I guarantee, bees can be dangerous, and I will never bee this guy!  By the way, when you see bee beards and this, they spray sugarwater on themselves so the bees will want the sugar.  They then eat up the sugar and their bellies are all full, they can't get their stinger raised up to properly sting.  Its kind of a bee trick.  But you will never see me doing this!


If you have more questions, you can email me anytime, I'd be happy to answer best I can.   LeAnn Moyers