Good News. Just got finished checking the mite board and only found 4 mites on the whole board in a 3 day period. That's just 1.3 mites per 24 hour period well below the acceptable 60-190 mites for this area at this time of year. The mite board is a white plastic sheet that you smear with petroleum jelly and place under the hive. Leave it in for 1 to 3 days and the jelly traps the Varroa mites that fall from the hive. You can then calculate the number of mites fallen in a 24 hour period and assess the mite population and pest management needed for your hive. Varroa are a very nasty pest that can lead to the death of a colony.

On another note here is a photo of a local sheriff's car recently covered in a swarm of bees.

Taking Care of Bees-ness

I ordered the menthol yesterday. Hopefully it will take take of any possible mite issue without the use of some rather nasty chemicals. Along with it I also ordered a frame perch, an entrance reducer and a couple of Imrie shims. Though it's a way off I have started thinking about the winter.

Long Time Gone

Well, it's been a long time since I have posted anything. The hive has had ups and downs. Lately it seems to be mostly downs. I had to re-queen last week. I don't know where the first lady went but it was obvious she was no longer home. I examined the hive last Monday, August 8, to find it in disarray. No real pattern to comb development, aggressive bees, one maybe two queen cells, and seemingly a reduced population. Also very little brood with no eggs in evidence. Don't know if the first lady swarmed off or died. Haven't been able to get in to look regularly due to when the weather cooperated with my days off.
Anyway, I ordered a new queen on Monday, August 9th, and installed her on Tues the 10th. Went back in today. She is out and hopefully doing her job. The bees are less aggressive at least. Didn't see many eggs but I didn't poke around too much. Don't want to disturb them any more than necessary right now.
I am also worried about trachael mites. I think I have seen several bees with the tell tale K wing deformation which indicates this might be a possibility. Not an expert yet but there are a couple of things I can do which won't harm the bees and are fairly simple. I have given them grease patties, which are a mix of crisco, sugar and honey. The bees will eat the sugar and be lightly coated with the grease which, though it won't harm the bees, will make it harder for the mites to hitch a ride. I am also going to order some menthol packets which, when placed in the hive, act as mite repellent. Fingers crossed.

This an article discussing a possible reason for bee decline. I have not heard of this one before. Long live The Queen. I first read this at:B#=....C???

Today's Ladies Journal 3

Holy Cow, that's a lot of bees. Things are going well. The ladies have begun filling out the empty frames I moved around before. Two are half full of comb now. I think two days for two half combs is pretty good progress. Wish there was some way to be sure if moving the combs spurred this development, or if it was only due to population increase. Have to investigate more at a later date when opportunity arises.
As you can see the population has skyrocketed. I would have to say it has nearly doubled in the last week. Decided to put another hive body on top to give them more room. When I did this I moved two of the brood frames to the upper hive body to encourage the ladies to spread out into their new space. Not sure if it will speed the process at all but I thought it would at least let them know they are safe. The nurse bees are still on the brood frames, so the larva are safe. I also refilled the feed box with new syrup today. I would really like to clean it out but there are always so many bees in the entry chamber I'm not sure how to do it.
Saw four small hive beetles(SHB) at various places in the hive. Three were on the bottom board and one was in the feeder. They are bigger than I thought. If I can catch one I will take a picture to post. Anyway, I quashed the one in the feeder and two on the bottom board. The bees were really going after the one on the bottom board I couldn't get to, so all is probably well. As long as there population is strong they should be able to defend against such pests. I also saw some sort of larval worm in the feeder. I believe it was a SHB larva, but will do some research to be sure. It was quickly dispatched.

My wife has created a beautiful water feature out of a 30's era clothes washer. She has placed flowers around it, water hyacinths in it to help purify the water and a few gold fish to eat the mosquito larvae. Within a day the ladies found it an now use it as a nice watering hole. We have seen quite a few lolling on the plants, taking the occasional sip and washing themselves.

Here is a little bit of bee music to brighten up your day. Bee Here Now. Now here is a flac link.