problems on the horizon (beekeeping)

Checking for swarm cells:

Splits

– Many different types

– What they have in common:- you are moving brood & bees to new hive- both hives have queen or ability to make queen

– Don't worry about moving to another location- foragers will return to their old hive- nurse bees will stay with brood

Checkerboarding

Counters two factors that lead to swarming:

– hive thinks it has plenty of stores– queen has no room to lay

Keep ahead of honey production. Any hive can swarm if it feels crowded.

Your bees have varroa mites . . .

Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS) –

Uses formic acid which naturally

occurs in honey.Can be used with honey supers on.Kills 95% of mites that are capped.Only one treatment required.

HopGuard – This is a beta acid and is generally recognized as a safe food additive.

Hopguard is an extract from the Hop plant.

Cardboard strips impregnated with the extract are hung between frames using two strips per 10 frames.

Up to three applications can be applied per year..

OAVOxalic Acid Vaporization

Signs of robbing:

-- bees fighting

-- bees trying to get in everywhere

-- bees heavier leaving

-- bees on outside of closed up hive in

morning

Signs of robbing:

-- comb with rough surface

-- wax cappings on floor/entrance of hive

Workers reuse wax—robbers tear off cappings and let them drop

To help prevent robbing:

– strong hives (requeen, give capped brood, or combine weak hives with strong ones)

– entrance reducers/robber screens

– stay out of hives as much as possible

– no open feeding

– beware of spilling syrup and leaky feeders

Robbing Screen

Entrance Reducers

Provide water for bees if no source within a half-mile.

Evaluate your queens. Requeen if poor layer.

Some also routinely requeen if queen is 2 years old.

Poor laying

pattern

Good brood pattern

Advantages of “Fall” Requeening

– go into winter with better laying queen

– hive has better chance of surviving winter

– easier to get a well-mated queen from a local source

– hive less likely to swarm next spring (maybe)

* If you requeen late in the year, you must be successful