Is this good or bad for the bees?

Is there anything we could or should be doing about it?

We asked some of our more experienced beekeepers to weigh in on the subject, and the following are the response we received:

Charlie Parton:

Best case is that colonies should go into winter in good shape i.e.. plenty of stores, lots of bees to keep the cluster going and well ventilated. Colonies in this condition seem to doing well in spite of the abundant moisture and warm days which allow the bees to fly more that normal.

The warm days will result in the colony to start rearing brood early which will deplete food stores. The best advice is to check your bees about every two weeks to feed or determine if food is needed and make sure they stay dry, lid blowing off etc. A word of caution: feeding bees which have plenty of food can result in early build up and swarming. Remember maples, henbit and the like will start blooming in February.

Coley ODell:

With the rain and the milder temperatures that we have experienced so far this winter, it  can be a curse or a blessing, depending on how you manage your bees.

First would be the blessing, as smaller colonies will have a better chance of surviving then if we had a long stretch of colder temperatures in the Spring.  The beekeeper has to make sure the bees have enough of food stores for them to move to.  With the milder temperatures, the bees will build up quicker in the Spring because the Queen has started laying quicker in late January and February, which would mean early swarms.  With all the rain in winter there should be plenty of moisture and ground water,which would be a good nectar flow for Spring.

Now for the curses. In the past two years we have had out breaks of European foul brood in some East Tn counties including Blount.  According to our state apiarist and other researchers, they contribute  that to winter weather.  Another problem is with mold and fungus  growing in the hives, especially with beekeepers using solid bottom boards.  Some ideas that the beekeepers can use is to make sure their hives are slanted forward enough for any water to run off the hive and not into it.  Make sure they have adequate ventilation.

As far as feeding bees, with this type of weather, we need to monitor strong hives for depletion of their food supply.  With the weak hives, we need to make sure they do have feed, but to use caution in feeding any hives with these milder temperatures; so as not to stimulate brood rearing too early.  We need to keep leaves and debris away from the hives so that it does not breed mold and mildew.  You can also check top covers and holes in the woodenware where moisture might get in.

Doug Hardwick:

My take is that since the temperatures are mild, and the bees are flying almost every day they are going to be using more food stores than usual, we need to be very attentive to that. Several feeding methods are ok.

I’ve been experimenting with a pattie made of sugar, syrup and pollen substitute. I also plan on doing a mite treatment in a couple of weeks, and a nosema treatment.

I have noticed condensation in my hives, even with the a spacer between the inner cover and outer cover. Need to pay attention to that especially if anyone’s outer covers are on tight. I am also hoping that all of this rain is going to make for extra healthy plants and lots of spring flowers — that will probably get killed by a late freeze. That wasn’t very positive was it?

Thanks, guys. We appreciate all the good information.

Note: The average rainfall for January is 4.84 inches. To date, we have received 5.67 inches, and there is more in the forecast.

Dale Hinkle

Dale Hinkle keeps bees in Monroe County but often makes the trek to Blount County where he is a vital part of the Blount County Beekeepers Association. He is the association treasurer, a position that he has held for several years.

Dale is one of the few beekeepers in the area to raise his own queens.

How many hives do you keep?

15

Describe the woodenware you use for your hive bodies and your honey supers (deeps, mediums, shallows, wood, plastic, etc).

Deeps for brood; Illinois for supers.

Do you use screened bottom boards?  Slatted racks?

No

How do you feed your bees? When (please provide months, not just Spring/Fall) do you feed?  What do you feed? What equipment do you use for feeding?  Do you use any supplements?

I feed protein patties at the end of January and use a top hive feeder if it gets wet in February. I feed high fructose corn syrup.

How and when do you treat for varroa mites, nosema, tracheal mites, and hive beetles?  Are there any other practices you use to minimize these pests/diseases?

I treat for varroa mites with Apiguard in the fall. I treat for nosema in the fall.

What method(s) do you use to minimize swarming (hive body reversal, checkerboarding, etc)?

I add deep boxes and split hives in March or April.

When do you put honey supers on?  How many do you put on at a time?

I put on Illinois boxes after the apple blossoms bloom.

When do you take your off from your honey supers?

The last week in June.

How do you build up brood in the Spring for a colony that has overwintered?

In the last week of January I put protein patties on and a 50/50 syrup in February until the honey flow starts.

Do you requeen?  How often?  Where do you get your queens?

Yes, I requeen yearly or as needed. I raise my own queens.

Here’s more from BCBA secretary Stacey Adair:

Blount County Beekeepers in conjunction with TBA will be offering 3 grants to new beekeepers. The grant will offer an inner and outer cover, one deep hive body with 10 frames and foundation, screened bottom board, (all equipment unconstructed) stainless steel smoker, hive tool, gloves, helmet and veil, entrance feeder, and a beginning beekeeping book.

To qualify for the grant, (one grant per family) you must be new to beekeeping, a resident of TN,  attend/complete a beginning beekeeping course, be ready to start this spring, purchase bees and additional equipment if needed, and become a member of TBA and Blount County Beekeepers Association for 2 years.

Grant applications will be available at the short course, and we would like to award these grants at the March meeting along with the BCBA grants, so the tentative deadline will be March 1^st, 2011. If you are awarded a grant, you will be asked to join TBA for 2 years and Blount County Beekeepers for 2 years. The cost for these memberships will be $60.00. You will also be assigned a mentor to help you for 2 years, and this mentor will be a person who has been beekeeping for at least 2 years, and has been a member of TBA for at least 2 years. BCBA will forego the requirement of recipients of the grants to split their honey crop with the association.

If you are interested in applying for the grant, please make plans to attend the short course February 13 and 14, and pick up an application at the meeting. There is no fee to attend the BCBA short course, and pre-registration is not required. If you are unable to attend the Blount County short course, please let us know and we will try to direct you to other courses in the area which may or may not charge fees to attend.

On behalf of the members and directors of Blount County Beekeepers, thanks for your interest, and we hope to see you at the meetings! Welcome!

Stacey Adair

Secretary Blount County Beekeepers Association

983-6223

blountbees@chartertn.net

The purpose of the grant is to enhance the skills of current beekeepers, or to promote new beekeepers, young and old.

This year we will assign mentors to grant recipients for new beekeepers, and will award 7 grants in the amount of $200. The only requirement to be eligible for the grant is to make application, and if you are given a grant, you must join the Blount County Beekeepers Association and attend the regular monthly meetings.

The Charlie Stewart Scholarship program was established in January of 2001  in memory of one of its longstanding and honored members. The scholarship is funded by an annual auction of beekeeping equipment, baked goods and other beekeeping paraphernalia in the spring.

You can download a copy of the grant application by clicking here: Charlie Stewart Grant application

In the past, the scholarship was presented to young persons, age 13-18, to promote beekeeping and teach the skills necessary to become good beekeepers. After awarding 3 scholarships over the first 3 years, the Board of BCBA has modified the award and the new name is The BCBA/Charlie Stewart Grant.

The number of grants awarded depends on the success of the association’s annual auction. On the application, please state the intended use of the grant money in your beekeeping endeavors.

If you are a new beekeeper and wish to apply, you may state you need to purchase equipment or protective clothing. Current beekeepers may wish to apply to enhance their already established apiaries, such as trying new mite treatments or beetle control traps, etc. We hope that the following year you would be able to speak to the club about how you used your grant, and what you were able to accomplish with it.

Once the applications are in, a committee will meet, select recipients, and award the grants at the following meeting on March 12.

Click on this image to download a flier about the BCBA short course

The Blount County Beekeepers Association’s annual two-night short course for new beekeepers will be Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 13-14, at 6:30 each night at the Blount County Library.

The course is designed to introduce new beekeepers to the basics of beekeeping in this area. We try to publicize this short course as much as possible, but most of the new folks show up because they have been invited by one of our members.

It’s free, and everyone is welcome. So, start talking to your friends now. The interest in beekeeping around here is growing, and this is a great way to get people off on the right foot.

Even if you don’t plan to become a beekeeper just yet, come and learn more about the fascinating world of bees.

For more information, call Dennis Barry, 414-2116.

The schedule for the workshop is:

February 13

Equipment needed to Get Started

Experiences of a New Beekeeper

Protective Equipment

February 14

 Setting up an Apiary

 Experiences of a New Beekeeper

 Personal Protective Equipment

 When and Where to Get Bees

A flier announcing the short course can be downloaded (it’s a PDF file) from this website by clicking on the image above.

He has helped many people in Blount County get started with their hives by providing them with nucs and other supplies.

Charlie was named the 2011 Beekeeper of the Year by the Tennessee Beekeepers Association.

Charlie Parton gets ready to truck his bees to the mountains to gather sourwood honey.

How many hives do you keep? 

85

Describe the woodenware you use for your hive bodies and your honey supers (deeps, mediums, shallows, wood, plastic, etc).

9 5/8 in cypress supers for the brood. 6 5/8 in. cypress for honey supers. Solid cypress bottom boards, wood inner cover from Brushy Mnt., plastic telescoping covers and wood frame/plastic foundation in brood and honey supers.

Do you use screened bottom boards? Slatted racks?

No

How do you feed your bees?

With hive top feeders, except nucs which I use a Boardman feeder.

When (please provide months, not just Spring/Fall) do you feed? 

I tend not to feed in spring (Feb. thru April) arbitrarily unless a colony is needing food. I have found that just feeding in the spring to be feeding can and does cause swarming. In fall I feed 2 gal. sugar syrup with fumagilin for nosema and continue to feed only sugar syrup until the colony has at least 60 lbs of stored food.

What do you feed?

Granulated sugar.  What equipment do you use for feeding?  Do you use any supplements? Honey Bee Healthy

How and when do you treat for varroa mites, nosema, tracheal mites, and hive beetles? 

I treat for Varroa in the spring (Feb.) with formic acid pad on top of the brood nest and again in mid July with Apiguard on top of the brood nest, I do not treat for tracheal mites although the treatments I use are said to help control them. I feed fumigilin in late September or October for control of nosema, but I do not treat at all for hive beetles.

Are there any other practices you use to minimize these pests/diseases?

Keeping your colonies in full sun has been shown to help with diseases and pests and maintaining strong colonies will protect you from hive beetles and wax moths.

What method(s) do you use to minimize swarming (hive body reversal, checkerboarding, etc)?

Reversing brood chambers, adding honey supers early by mid March and having a young productive queen after having requeened the previous fall.

When do you put honey supers on?

Mid March

How many do you put on at a time?

At least two

When do you take your off from your honey supers?

Generally I start between the 22^nd and the 25^th of June

How do you build up brood in the Spring for a colony that has overwintered?

The only thing I do is make sure they have plenty of food and I do sometimes feed a protein patty

Do you requeen? How often?

At least every two years

Where do you get your queens?

The last few years I have gotten my queens from Wootens Golden Queens in California and last fall from Pendell Apiaries in California.

If there are other practices/methods you would like to discuss, please include these so we can add those to the database.

I would like to say that the problems beekeeper have sometimes is not a lack of knowledge, though many times it is. I believe that timing even if you have knowledge is of upmost importance. If someone says that they don’t have their honey supers on and it’s the middle of April, they will probably lose a lot of bees to swarms. Likewise with medications, if a person should medicate in July but procrastinates until September, he can’t expect his bees to live. Therefore I believe timing is everything in the world of beekeeping.

Howard Kerr speaking to the BCBA

Howard has devoted nearly 50 years to doing just that. Here are a few of the points he made:

• While worker bees have barbed stingers, the queen has a smooth stinger. That’s what she uses to fight other queens. Because it’s smooth, she doesn’t lose it when she uses it. Worker bees lose their stingers when they used them and thus can live for only a short time after that.
• When you buy a three-pound package of bees, you’re getting about 10,000 bees. There are about 3,300 bees to a pound.
• The only purpose of a drone is to mate with a queen (not necessarily of the same hive). The mating is done in the air, and once the mating is finished, the drone dies.
• You are what you eat; so are the bees. An egg gets hormone-rich royal jelly for about three days, but then the nurse bees most of the time stop feeding that. If a bee continues to get royal jelly, she could develop into a queen.
• Bees use landmarks to find their way around, especially when they are returning to the hive.
• Bees have something called “flower fidelity,” which is what makes them such good pollinators. They will work the same type of flower over and over. Consequently, they are more likely to carry the pollen from one flower to another. Other insects work a variety of flowers at the same time, and they are less likely to be good pollinators.
• Bees are not smart (“People don’t like it when I say that,” Howard said), but they are “highly programmed.”

The first pictures show one of my hives and all of the propolis at the entrance.

Interesting question: Since we know that ventilation is important, and many people use screened bottom boards, why would bees do this to themselves on a solid bottom board?

Other pictures show this feed, a mixture of sugar, bee-pro (a pollen substitute) sugar syrup and honey b healthy. They obiously seem to like it. First pics are about 30 minutes after feeding. The last: 24 hours after feeding.

Thanks, Doug.

Propolis in entrance

See more pictures on the article page.

30 minutes after feeding

24 hours after feeding

The meeting will be on Monday, Jan. 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Blount County Library. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Jim Brown will present the seasonal management portion of the program.

Howard is the first interviewee in our new series Best Beekeeping Practices Q & A, so check that out.

See you on Monday.

Time to pay your annual dues

January is that time of year when all of us need to make ourselves legal with the Blount County Beekeepers Association. Dues are $20 a year. That money goes to support a lot of our activities, including renting our meeting room at the library and paying expenses of our speakers.

Dale Hinkle and Stacey Adair are the people to see, so bring your money or checkbook to the January meeting.