I opened up the hives today to give them their 3rd dose of mite treatment.
I used Apiguard this time since The Honey Exchange did not carry ApiVar Life.
I used the feeding shim above the brood boxes so I could fit the tray of Apiguard, and I put a piece of sheet over the feeding buckets to fill in the spaces around the top of the feed buckets.
I put 2:1 syrup in the buckets with the first Fumagilin dose.
I did not see either queen, but I think they are both still OK. I saw uncapped larvae and capped brood in both hives. I'm pretty sure I saw eggs in the Italian hive, and probably in the Russian hybrid, but it was harder to see in that one.
There are lots of bees in the Italian hive. The 3rd box is well on its way to being filled with honey. The first box had some capped brood and pollen. The second box had some capped brood, uncapped larvae, and eggs (I think) along with some honey and pollen. The bees are also starting to put some nectar and continuing to draw comb in the 4th box. I did not see any evidence of damage from robbing even though I did have to close up some of the entrances to prevent some robbing earlier in the week.
The Russian hybrid is not as full of bees. The bottom box has about 5 frames of brood and nectar. The outermost frames are still empty. The second box has some brood (capped and uncapped and maybe even a few eggs) along with honey, nectar and pollen. They really aren't working on the 3rd box yet. I wish they would and hope they will if I keep feeding them. I do see a fair number of bees bringing in pollen, and they are working to put in stores. There was nothing in the bottom of the hive to indicate either lots of mites or robbing so I think they are doing OK. I think this hive is just going to be more frugal with food and bees.
I just hope they have a big enough cluster to get through the cold weather.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Feeding, Feeding, Medication
During the week, Tom got me worried that the hive stand for one of the hives was leaning so I went out and set up a new more level and sturdy hive stand, took apart the leaning hive and moved all of the boxes to the new hive stand. While I was doing that I took off the 4th box since I had gotten an email reply to some questions saying the bees would fill up a box better if they had less space, not too much emptiness. That was one of the few days it didn't rain last week. It was hot with lots of thunderstorms.
I did not inspect the hives this weekend. I just put in the latest ApiLife Var dose and new buckets of syrup with some pollen substitute. I want to get the medications done and feed them so they fill in their boxes for the winter.
The email did say that Russian hybrids and Italians are very different so I shouldn't judge them by comparing them.
The Russian hybrid does operate with fewer bees. I am leaving the medium on top for food stores although I don't know if they will fill it. When I went to put in the new dose of thymol I found that they had completely covered the previous dose with propolis. I scraped it out and put in the new wafers. I put a syrup bucket and pollen substitute on top of the 3 medium boxes.
When I opened the Italian hive it was chock full of bees so I ran off to light my smoker. I put on the new dose of ApiLife Var on top of the 3rd box since during my last inspection I found brood in the 3rd box. I also put back the 4th box since they had been putting in nectar and drawing comb. I figure if they are working the box I should leave it on.
I tried to disturb them as little as possible yesterday. They have both been doing OK and do not show signs of a heavy mite load. It was a little cooler so I tried to move fast.
I did not inspect the hives this weekend. I just put in the latest ApiLife Var dose and new buckets of syrup with some pollen substitute. I want to get the medications done and feed them so they fill in their boxes for the winter.
The email did say that Russian hybrids and Italians are very different so I shouldn't judge them by comparing them.
The Russian hybrid does operate with fewer bees. I am leaving the medium on top for food stores although I don't know if they will fill it. When I went to put in the new dose of thymol I found that they had completely covered the previous dose with propolis. I scraped it out and put in the new wafers. I put a syrup bucket and pollen substitute on top of the 3 medium boxes.
When I opened the Italian hive it was chock full of bees so I ran off to light my smoker. I put on the new dose of ApiLife Var on top of the 3rd box since during my last inspection I found brood in the 3rd box. I also put back the 4th box since they had been putting in nectar and drawing comb. I figure if they are working the box I should leave it on.
I tried to disturb them as little as possible yesterday. They have both been doing OK and do not show signs of a heavy mite load. It was a little cooler so I tried to move fast.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Latest
I checked the hives today.
I did see the hybrid queen, but not the Italian. I did see eggs, larvae and capped brood in both hives so the queens are both doing their jobs.
The Italian hive has lots of bees. The bottom box has some brood, and they appear to be putting pollen in this box. The second box has more brood, some honey, nectar and pollen. The third box used to be all honey, but now has brood as well as honey and some pollen. They have not yet started putting any stores in the fourth box. I am not currently feeding this hive. They are noisier than the other hive, and I was stung twice. Maybe this is just a function of working around lots of bees.
The hybrid hive does not have as many bees. The bottom box has maybe 4 frames of brood. The frames on the outside are still empty.The second box has about 6 frames of brood with honey and pollen in the outer frames. The bees are drawing out the comb in the 3rd box, but so far no significant stores for winter in this box. I am feeding this hive with 1:1 syrup with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in the bucket and some pollen substitute on the inner cover. They don't seem to care about the pollen substitute since they are bringing in their own.
Both hives have their first doses of ApiVar Life. I need to keep up with the 3 doses and add in the other medications, but at least it's a start.
I did see the hybrid queen, but not the Italian. I did see eggs, larvae and capped brood in both hives so the queens are both doing their jobs.
The Italian hive has lots of bees. The bottom box has some brood, and they appear to be putting pollen in this box. The second box has more brood, some honey, nectar and pollen. The third box used to be all honey, but now has brood as well as honey and some pollen. They have not yet started putting any stores in the fourth box. I am not currently feeding this hive. They are noisier than the other hive, and I was stung twice. Maybe this is just a function of working around lots of bees.
The hybrid hive does not have as many bees. The bottom box has maybe 4 frames of brood. The frames on the outside are still empty.The second box has about 6 frames of brood with honey and pollen in the outer frames. The bees are drawing out the comb in the 3rd box, but so far no significant stores for winter in this box. I am feeding this hive with 1:1 syrup with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar in the bucket and some pollen substitute on the inner cover. They don't seem to care about the pollen substitute since they are bringing in their own.
Both hives have their first doses of ApiVar Life. I need to keep up with the 3 doses and add in the other medications, but at least it's a start.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Weekend Status
I checked the hives this past weekend.
I did not see the hybrid queen, but did see signs of her presence. The 2 boxes are still not full, but there was some started queen cups so I decided maybe the queen is waiting for more room (?) . Additionally I looked up the difference between Italian and hybrid Russian queens and there are differences so this could be just the way this variety of queen works. She is working maybe 4 frames in each of the 2 boxes. I put another bucket of syrup on top and added some pollen substitute in the hopes that will support the hive putting in more winter stores.
I did see the Italian queen. The third box was almost full of honey. No sign of queen cups, but to avoid any crowding I added a fourth box to the hive. She is working about 6 frames in each box. The bottom box has lots of pollen. This hive looks great. If they both looked this good, I would not be worried. Scratch that. I would be worrying about something else:)
We have had a lot of rain the last few days so things have been quiet around the hives.
I am looking forward to checking on them this weekend to see if anything has changed. I am going to look more carefully for the hybrid queen since I am still worried about that hive.
I did not see the hybrid queen, but did see signs of her presence. The 2 boxes are still not full, but there was some started queen cups so I decided maybe the queen is waiting for more room (?) . Additionally I looked up the difference between Italian and hybrid Russian queens and there are differences so this could be just the way this variety of queen works. She is working maybe 4 frames in each of the 2 boxes. I put another bucket of syrup on top and added some pollen substitute in the hopes that will support the hive putting in more winter stores.
I did see the Italian queen. The third box was almost full of honey. No sign of queen cups, but to avoid any crowding I added a fourth box to the hive. She is working about 6 frames in each box. The bottom box has lots of pollen. This hive looks great. If they both looked this good, I would not be worried. Scratch that. I would be worrying about something else:)
We have had a lot of rain the last few days so things have been quiet around the hives.
I am looking forward to checking on them this weekend to see if anything has changed. I am going to look more carefully for the hybrid queen since I am still worried about that hive.
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