What did you do in the Apiary today?

[Moobee]

After pretty much two weeks of constant rain, I hefted the home hives & nucs today and in the sun but cool breeze, most were flying. Three were very quiet and had quite a lot of dead bees outside (more than I would expect), so had a peek in.
Two nucs had dwindled alarmingly and the one hive was the same. All had varroa treatment in early September and had been fed syrup.
Coincidentally the hive was last years queen & the two nucs, her daughters and they don’t have enough bees to survive the winter.
I’m at a loss as to what might have happened unless all three queens failed to produce winter bees?
I haven’t opened up fully as time didn’t allow for a proper look and I was a bit shocked, especially for the hive which did really well in the summer.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

After pretty much two weeks of constant rain, I hefted the home hives & nucs today and in the sun but cool breeze, most were flying. Three were very quiet and had quite a lot of dead bees outside (more than I would expect), so had a peek in.
Two nucs had dwindled alarmingly and the one hive was the same. All had varroa treatment in early September and had been fed syrup.
Coincidentally the hive was last years queen & the two nucs, her daughters and they don’t have enough bees to survive the winter.
I’m at a loss as to what might have happened unless all three queens failed to produce winter bees?
I haven’t opened up fully as time didn’t allow for a proper look and I was a bit shocked, especially for the hive which did really well in the summer.

sounds par for the course at this time of the year, often see a lot of dead bees outside, it's because the bees are shutting down for winter, the masses of summer foragers are getting to the end of their lives all at the same time and the undertaker bees aren't flying away from the hive to drop off the dead - but just dumping them out of the entrance. The queen's laying rate will have reduced right down now so not many bees emerging to replace the dead ones

 

[JamezF]

I’m at a loss as to what might have happened unless all three queens failed to produce winter bees?

The queens don't really "produce winter bees". What people think of as "winter bees" are a result of the conditions in which they develop and can apparently occur at other times of year too. In the run-up to winter when the queen slows down or even stops laying there are fewer larvae to feed and without larvae to feed the development of the existing nurse bees changes causing them, amongst other things, to mature more slowly and therefore live longer by our "wall-clock" time. There are other causes that may come into play too, but as far as I'm aware they're still all environmental.

I learned a while back (thanks to David Evans) that such bees even have a "proper" name: diutinus bees.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The queens don't really "produce winter bees". What people think of as "winter bees" are a result of the conditions in which they develop and can apparently occur at other times of year too. In the run-up to winter when the queen slows down or even stops laying there are fewer larvae to feed and without larvae to feed the development of the existing nurse bees changes causing them, amongst other things, to mature more slowly and therefore live longer by our "wall-clock" time. There are other causes that may come into play too, but as far as I'm aware they're still all environmental.

I learned a while back (thanks to David Evans) that such bees even have a "proper" name: diutinus bees.

James

Apparently they even develop larger rectums to allow for longer 'non flying' periods.
Which is nice......................................

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Apparently they even develop larger rectums to allow for longer 'non flying' periods.
Which is nice......................................

Building a bigger bomb?

 

[Moobee]

sounds par for the course at this time of the year, often see a lot of dead bees outside, it's because the bees are shutting down for winter, the masses of summer foragers are getting to the end of their lives all at the same time and the undertaker bees aren't flying away from the hive to drop off the dead - but just dumping them out of the entrance. The queen's laying rate will have reduced right down now so not many bees emerging to replace the dead ones

I don’t remember the colonies shrinking quite so fast & to such a comparatively small amount of bees. They may have all be clustered under the fondant but all three were very quiet compared to the others, which were all flying.
It’s been the weirdest weather yet as it’s usually much colder, even for our south coast climate. Day time temperatures are averaging 15 degrees.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

And here you see the danger of resisting temptation and opening up hives in the winter when there is precious little you can do regardless of what you find. Apart from hefting and making sure they have plenty of stores you just have to cross your fingers and hope they make it through until the spring.

 

[Moobee]

Popped out and checked the out apiaries and hives hefted with mixed results - weight from ok to a bit light so fondant has been added to all as we are due another spell of wet weather. Building an ark this aftenoon......

These hives are all ok in contrast to a few of the home ones and I have a theory - a few weeks ago, we had the garden hedges trimmed on a pretty grim day. The guys doing it, had to sit in the van & wait for the torrential rain to stop.
I had put foam in all the entrances as the afternoon was due to be sunny and they would be only a few feet away working on one of the big hdeges.
The van was backed up to near where the bees are and i'm wondering if they sat inside with the engine running and potentially expelling exhaust fumes under the OMFs...... that can't have done them much good?

 

[Moobee]

And here you see the danger of resisting temptation and opening up hives in the winter when there is precious little you can do regardless of what you find. Apart from hefting and making sure they have plenty of stores you just have to cross your fingers and hope they make it through until the spring.

I don't generally bother unless the hive is light (which they were a bit) and to add fondant. I have clear crownboards & shallow ekes for feeding so it's quite easy to peek in and see what is going on. The nucs were also a bit light & I could see under the feeder that they were low on bees.
Well, they've all had extra feed so I can only cross my fingers and keep hefting....

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I removed Apivar strips today in a number of hives. Usually I suspend these on a piece of wire so I can see and remove them quickly.

However, these strips had simply been wedged into the comb. Mostly they had slipped down a bit making them difficult to locate without pushing bees out of the way, or loosening frames... generally damaging the colony when they need to be left alone.

The strips are in the same places in all hives, so when I realised that I could fish the strips up by slipping the hive tool alongside the strip and under the 'barb', then the whole process became a lot easier and slicker. I didn't choose the right side every time, but it was generally plain sailing.

 

[The Poot]

The more I read posts about “late in the year fiddling“ to remove varroa treatments and the dangers of leaving the treatments on too long, the more I’m convinced vaping is the way to go.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The more I read posts about “late in the year fiddling“ to remove varroa treatments and the dangers of leaving the treatments on too long, the more I’m convinced vaping is the way to go.

Yep.
Been doing nothing else since 2010
MAQS once and never again.
Apivar life for two seasons
Apivar once when a colony was still dropping masses after 7 vapes.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Yep.
Been doing nothing else since 2010
MAQS once and never again.
Apivar life for two seasons
Apivar once when a colony was still dropping masses after 7 vapes.

Let’s hope no one from the VMD is monitoring this forum Dani!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Let’s hope no one from the VMD is monitoring this forum Dani!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

The more I read posts about “late in the year fiddling“ to remove varroa treatments and the dangers of leaving the treatments on too long, the more I’m convinced vaping is the way to go.

In fact I do both. The hives that I manage but don't own get Apivar in August, and OA soon. My own get OA vape in August and winter but I'm sometimes tempted to pay up for Apivar and reduce the workload of repeated vapes. Less so now with my InstantVap through a 7mm hole in the side above the floor.

EDIT That 7mm hole is in my slatted rack eke, not the brood box

 

[Newbeeneil]

View attachment 38029

What intrigues me Dani, is how you found those handcuffs so quickly to have the pic taken

 

[Erichalfbee]

What intrigues me Dani, is how you found those handcuffs so quickly to have the pic taken

 

[elainemary]

Still raining and cold - need a nice day to take some varroa treatment strips out.

So collected bees for a microscopy session yesterday instead. I’ve got an assessment in a couple of weeks and feeling nervous.

Did some acarine and abdominal dissections - just hope the hand will keep steady in 2 weeks. Then decided to have a look at my late summer honey. Confirmed what I already knew - from the centrifuged spec of pollen - heather and balsam. Looked too at a couple of pollen loads I’d collected and stored in the freezer - think sycamore and willow in one and dandelion in the other, from the spring . V enjoyable to do on a rainy day.

 

[elainemary]

Yep.
Been doing nothing else since 2010
MAQS once and never again.
Apivar life for two seasons
Apivar once when a colony was still dropping masses after 7 vapes.

Randy Oliver talked about varroa treatments at the honey show. Think he’s concluding trickling has a longer term effect (days) than vaping (doesn’t last long he mentioned). Wondering if that’s why it sometimes takes more than the 4 or 5 vapes most people do…
I missed Randy’s longer lecture on varroa treatments, hopefully as first one at the show it will be out on catch-up soon

 

[elainemary]

In fact I do both. The hives that I manage but don't own get Apivar in August, and OA soon. My own get OA vape in August and winter but I'm sometimes tempted to pay up for Apivar and reduce the workload of repeated vapes. Less so now with my InstantVap through a 7mm hole in the side above the floor.

EDIT That 7mm hole is in my slatted rack eke, not the brood box

I resisted buying an InstantVap at the show, nearly bought one…,can’t quite justify selling the Sublimox though