The Classroom February 2012

by Jerry Hayes

Q  Crystallization in the Comb

This is Seven Golden Stars, a honey distributor. While working with our honey we encountered a problem. Our problem is with our comb when we bottle it with honey. The honey begins to crystallize in the comb. We know that honey is supposed to crystallize, but we want to know how to prevent the honey in the comb from crystallizing. We would appreciate your help. Thank you

Seven Golden Stars
Karina

A
Some honeys, because of sugar ratios, try to balance these sugars by precipitating out the sugar as crystals. It doesn't make any difference if the honey is in the original comb or extracted and not heated or treated in any way. The only way to retard this sugar balancing by crystallization is to heat the honey above the melting point of beeswax and "melt" starter sugar crystals that facilitate this process. In other words, there is nothing you can do without destroying the comb to heat the honey or melt the crystals. You need to identify the beekeepers and nectar source of the comb honey. This could be a simple mistake by your comb honey supplier or the comb honey was unloaded on you. Caveat Emptor.

Q  Can It Get Any Worse?

  I was encouraged to contact you by my beekeeping mentor Jim Whitlock of Peterson, MN. I am 16 years old and have been keeping bees on a small scale for three years. Last year I had some honey ferment. I think it fermented primarily because I had extracted a fair amount of uncapped comb. A few of the frames, however, were completely capped but fermented. This year I have found a significant amount of capped fermented honey. My production this year is well below 45 lb. per hive, and I am even more discouraged by finding so much of it fermented.
I lost 30 out of 37 hives last winter and then invested in 20 nuc colonies this spring, as well as some queens. I lost 10 hives over the summer. I know I didn’t feed enough fumagillin last fall. This spring I fed sugar syrup I made with organic cane sugar and put some Nozevit-plus and fumagillin in the syrup. I used Hopguard and Apiguard to treat for varroa. I also fed Mega Bee patties with Honey-B-Healthy in the spring.
  I’m wondering if you have any advice or suggestions or could refer me to resources that might help improve my results. Someone suggested that I look into some USDA program which might help me cover my financial losses. Do you know who I might contact to learn more about that?
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
 
Yours,
Karl J. Weissing

A   
  Hello Karl. Let me see if I can give you some insight to your challenges. These are not necessarily perfect answers. Sorry.
  Honey bees, of course, do their best to evaporate the excess water from nectar as it makes this part of the journey to being honey. This requires that the air around the honey can absorb this excess moisture. And, of course, as temperatures increase it makes more room for moisture to be incorporated into the Relative Humidity (RH) of the hive and ultimately the ambient RH atmosphere outside of the colony. Sometimes the RH of the atmosphere inside the hive and the ambient RH outside the hive simply cannot absorb any more moisture. As a result, the bees ‘give up’ and are willing to gamble, to anthropomorphize, and cap the high moisture honey simply because they don’t know what else to do. This is one of those Darwinian moments. Will this colony have made the right collective decision and this honey will last through a long fall, winter and spring until the next flowers bloom? If it gets cold quickly and the high moisture honey is cooled or frozen so fermentation stops in the hive, they might be OK. If not and it ferments in the comb, then this food supply is ruined and they will die by starvation. It is discouraging no doubt. Some honey seasons (such as last season in the Midwest) are so rainy that the bees have a very tough time removing enough moisture from nectar to reach that magic 18% moisture level that will delay or prevent fermentation.
  Don’t harvest uncapped honey any more. You might also try providing more air circulation in the spring and summer with ventilated inner covers and use screened bottom boards set on cement blocks. There are several different models sold by bee supply companies.
I have no perfect answer regarding better colony survival except to try some other queens with different genetics, preferably from bees that have proven themselves by overwintering in Minnesota already.
  I think using Apiguard is great. Hopguard kills exposed phoretic mites and can be used successfully in that way when there is little or no brood. Feeding back pure clear sucrose is a good idea if honey is fermenting in the comb. Fumagillin is good for Nosema if you have it. It takes a toll on the bees themselves, so be sure you follow label directions. It does not always control Nosema consistently, so be aware.
  Contact your county USDA FSA office. They can tell you about programs designed for beekeepers.
  Hang in there! It is bound to get better.


Q  Wax Moths in Colorado

  I have recently had a wax moth invasion of the extra supers that I have stored in my garage. Can you recommend the best way for me to store the remainder of my supers now that I have extracted the honey from them? Thanks for you wisdom.

Brian VanIwarden
Canon City, Colorado

A
  Yes, wax moths are everywhere in all regions in ‘summer’. Until you can store outside in a nice cold fall/ winter Colorado you can: 1) Put the frames in a large as you need trash bag and place them in a chest freezer. 2) Stack the supers crisscross at on top of each other at 90 degrees and place a large high watt light bulb at the top, bottom and middle. Wax moths don’t like light. It is repellent. 3) Purchase the chemical ‘paradichlobenzene’ from most any beekeeping equipment distributor and follow label directions. 4) After whatever you have chosen above, put them outside (preferably in a mouseproof shed or container) when you start having consistently cold (below 50 F) weather and go watch TV until April. Wisdom is the function of failure and remembrance.


Q  Chemical-Free Bee Hives

  As always, thanks for all that you do for the beekeeping world. There are a "few" beekeepers in today's world who do not intentionally introduce chemicals into their hives and have not for several years now (including myself here at Lone Star Farms) and have had great success raising bees. For a few years now, I have heard the cry, "Save The Bees" and most of what I see are beekeepers subjecting their bees to harmful pesticides and other harsh chemicals, not to mention polluting the wax and other hive products.
  My question to you is: Since all beekeepers have access to queens and bees from breeders who do not use chemicals in their hives, why do the majority of beekeepers continue to buy and raise their bees in a polluted environment?
  I believe that all beekeepers who are now using chemicals in their hives should make a "New Year’s Resolution" to themselves. At the beginning of the new year, they will refrain from placing chemicals into their hives. By doing so they will have stronger bees and cleaner bee products. They need to requeen their hives with queens from a breeder who raises their bees without the use of chemicals.
  I hope that you can answer this question for me because It is beyond me why anyone would, intentionally poison their bees when in today's world, it is not necessary. Thanks Jerry and I hope that you have a great new year.

Dennis Brown

A
 It is all education Dennis. Plus, the labeled chemicals put into colonies do not immediately kill the bees. Without some immediacy, most people don’t think too deeply. If half of all the bees died in your colony every time you put in a chemical strip, mite treatment that would get your attention. But that is not what happens. It is slower and chronic--kind of like eating fast food every day and then complaining 20 years later that it caused heart trouble and resulted in your bypass surgery.


Q  Hive-Top Feeder

  Jerry, I hope all is well with you! As always, your section is the first thing I turn to when I get American Bee Journal, so keep up the great work. You always have very insightful and useful tips and information. Question for you. I live in the Pacific northwest and have been feeding my bees via top feeders (the kind you pour a couple gallons into the reservoir) on top of the inner cover. Well, the bees have consumed all the feed and starting to settle down for the winter. Is it best to take the feeders off the hive? I am not sure what to do. On the one hand, I could see where the natural venting might dry moisture from the hive and be good, but also it’s a big space that is an air pocket.
  Any thoughts on what to do would be great. We have 10 hives in this condition.

Mike Quinn
Brown Owl Lodge Honey
Woodway, WA

A
  Good Morning Mike. Thank you for the classroom compliment. It is all a collaborative effort with good folks like you.
  Well, there are a few possibilities in my mind:
1. Leave it on. I am assuming that there is a lid on it. As you say, it gives some upper ventilation.
2. Leave it on as you may have to/want to feed in late winter early spring anyway.
3. Leave it on full of syrup. Nothing else to do.
4. Take it off and then maybe put it back on later. Honey bees don't heat the whole hive space just the cluster, so I don't think keeping it on or off is a problem. If I have a vote, leave it on.......full of syrup.


Q  High Moisture Honey

  I have taken some honey off and it is capped. It reads 20%. Will it not spoil? Everyone says that if it is capped, then it is good. Is this true?

Thank you,
Maynard Martin

A
  No, you are on your way to mead or vinegar. Anything below 18% and you are okay. If it is warm, it will ferment above 18%. If it is humid enough, the bees evaporate as much as they can and then just give up and cap it. Keep it cool or frozen to retard fermentation.
There is no easy way to remove moisture from honey unless you are a commercial beekeeper or packer who owns equipment that will drive off a percent or two of moisture without ruining the honey. Some beekeepers have had luck crisscrossing the supers of honey in a small heated room with a dehumidifier.


Q  Upper Entrances

  I stumbled on an article you wrote about Excluders and Upper Entrances recently (http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/jerry-hayes/queen-excluder-or-honey-excluder/) as I was researching solutions for some of the challenges I have been having and/or trying to be more efficient.
  Long story short, since this article is 25/26 years old, I wanted to know if you had any significant change in your opinion on the close the bottom (3/8” drone escape), entrance over the queen excluder method. What you wrote makes good sense – but I know things change! And I REALLY like the fact that you tested it!
  I am in central Maryland and have a very early flow we have to take advantage of – it shuts off most years by early to mid-June. We have to have them rolling early, and if they swarm, no honey crop. I will be managing about 150 hives – so the more efficient and effective the system, the better.

Jason
 
A
  Actually, I was pretty good looking in 1985 and the world was my oyster. Almost 30 years later it is fun looking backwards a bit, but only for directional reasons moving forward. The only thing after this time is to lose the 3/8" plastic cone drone escape and simply close the original bottom entrance down to one that leaves a small (one or two bees at a time) 3/8" opening. Nothing else is different. But, also realize that this has not been adopted by the beekeeping community because it is different than standard design and doesn't give back a ton of honey. It appears to be better, but not amazingly better.


Q  Varroa Development Time

  I have been trying to understand the fact that the mites prefer drone bees over the workers and some recommend using drones to draw out the mite population and then freezing them as a control method. Is there a correlation between bee size and mite infestation, and bee size independent of drone vs worker? (I'm thinking of the possibility of trying to reduce worker size to minimize infestations. African honey bees (AHB) seem to have a better tolerance to mites from what I have read; is this also possibly a function of them being slightly smaller?)

Regards,
William Masterton

A
  It is not size but developmental time. Drones take approx. 24 days to develop and emerge and workers 21. Varroa like/need and bit more time to develop to emerge as mature varroa and 24 is better than 21.  In the recent past small-cell comb was explored as a varroa control. It made smaller worker bees. Not effective though.
  Africanized honey bees tolerate mites a bit better because when the varroa population gets too high, they simply abscond and leave the varroa and other junk behind. Tough to make honey when the bees are leaving all the time. I hope that helps.
 

Q  Late Swarm

  I received your name from Shane Unruh as somebody who might be able to answer my bee questions. About 1 & 1/2 weeks ago (September) we collected a cluster of Italian bees from a tree branch here in our yard. We put them in a new BeeMax hive which includes top, bottom, two hive bodies with frames and BeeMax top feeder. Now the question is: Do I continue to feed them sugar water at a 1-2 ratio till spring? Will the bees learn to rely on feeding and not go out foraging? I had no drawn out comb or honey to feed them and honey is quite expensive to buy for feed. By the way, these are my first bees.

Thanks
Daryl Unruh

A
  Daryl, you certainly collected a late swarm. Unusual. Since you are in Missouri, you need 50+ pounds of stored honey to make it through a Missouri winter. Were you able to put them on honeybee comb or just foundation? If on comb, you are in better shape as the queen can start laying sooner. If not, let's hope they can build enough comb before it gets very cold.
There is an old rhyme, "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon, a swarm in July isn't worth a fly." All to say, it takes months for a colony to build up to a level to make it through winter. What a swarm in September is worth is not much. Give it a shot and feed, feed, feed— sugar syrup (2 parts sugar, to 1 part water) and see what happens.


Q  Capped Honey & Honey VS. Sugar for Health

  Here in Northeast Wisconsin it was exceptionally hot and humid this past July. This seemed to impact the amount of capped honey in the hives. Because the air was already highly saturated with moisture, even through the evening, the bees seemed to have difficulty getting the moisture reduced down to the required 18% before they could cap it. Without a working natural dehumidifier, they seemed to bring in less nectar. This leads me to the question: How do bees do it in the Southern States where the temperature and the humidity are higher for longer periods?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I explain to customers that honey is a simple sugar, vs. the processed cane and beet sugars; the body is able to break down and incorporate honey into the blood stream, without having to sacrifice any proteins from within. This is not so with processed sugars, as they deprive the body of those proteins. Honey is a simple sugar, because the bees break it down for us, using the enzymes in their honey stomach. I'm trying not to get too technical, but provide an adequate response. Thank you Jerry.

Ken
Green Bay, WI

A
   Good Questions Ken. As for temperature and humidity, remember that the states in the Deep South are not regions with temperate climates such as Wisconsin. We in Florida do not have a winter like you. Certainly we have cold snaps, but being a lot closer to the equator and surrounded by water, we have mild temperatures, sometimes in the 70-80's in November and December, with spring coming in January in North Florida. Because of this, the plants in our environment are not hurrying up to sprout, bloom and reproduce in a few months. We have a few flushes of things early and late, but summer is really hot and most flowers stop blooming. Summer for us is a down time generally where bee populations drop because resources, pollen and nectar are in short supply. Not a lot of honey is being capped. Our situation and circumstances are different. However, high moisture honey is a routine problem for some southern beekeepers. The commercial southern beekeepers have learned to how efficiently dehumidify honey and use a variety of methods varying from simply heating it to running it through sophisticated honey dryers.
  Honey is pre-digested if you will. The complex sugars have been "inverted" and made molecularly simpler by the addition of enzymes by the bees as they collect the nectar. Our bodies require fewer B-vitamins to convert these simple sugars into energy. We don't use proteins; we use vitamins, primarily the B complex of vitamins to change the carbohydrates into energy. The fewer B-vitamins used to convert a complex sugar into energy, the more we have for other cellular energy needs. Let me know if this makes sense.

The Classroom January 2012

by Jerry Hayes

(excerpt)

Q A Stinky Situation

We are new to the hobby of beekeeping and this will be our hive’s first winter. The hive has been established for about eight months now. For the past few weeks I have smelled a sour smell from the hive, but thought nothing of it, attributing it to the fig tree with so many fallen figs next to the hive. It is apparent now though that the bees are discarding larvae onto the ground. The larvae are white when they are on the ground and do not have spots or any other markings on them. From some of the research I have done, it seems as if the hive has EFB, but I would appreciate your opinion of what is the matter and some possible treatments.


A
I am assuming that you live someplace in the Southern US because of your “fig” tree reference. Honey bee colonies drag, pull, and yank out larvae for only a few reasons. 1) Lack of resources. Not enough pollen in particular is coming in to fuel brood rearing and they can’t feed them and sustain brood rearing, so they stop and pull them out instead of leaving them in to rot. 2) The larvae have died at this stage of development prematurely. Usually this is a result of improper application of varroa mite treatments or pesticides brought into the hive by foragers exposed or the nectar or pollen they are collecting and feeding to growing larvae. 3) Cold or chill damage. If you had an early cold snap, there may not have been enough workers to protect, cover and warm this developing brood.
European Foulbrood (EFB) is a bacterial infection causing the larvae to decompose within the cell. The larva could not be removed in one intact white larva. The sour smell could be from decaying dying brood or adults from a variety of reasons. It is hard diagnosing digitally. Take a closer look and get your honey bee disease book photos out.


Q Short But Sweet
 
Jerry, is high fructose syrup a good bee feed?
Thanks
Daryl


A   
Real bee-stored honey is better than sucrose syrup, which is better than HFCS (corn syrup) which is better than nothing.


Q Competing Buzz?

My bees in south Philadelphia have me stumped. This is their first season in this location on the roof of a fine restaurant. After a fair season of production the bees are now slowing down their harvest. Recently, they have been attacking the air intake fan of the neighbor’s HVAC system. The bees have been sucked in and killed in such great numbers that the filter is getting clogged and tripping the breaker. Now the chef wants to move them to his other restaurant a few doors down. It is one continuous roof, so the bees would not have to go to ground level first to do this. It is not practical to move them off the roof and then back a few weeks later. Can I wait until November when the bees are in cluster and move them, hoping they won’t get as confused? Why do you think they are attacking the fan? Any suggestions that would help me to keep the bees at their original site?

Thanks
Trey Flemming
Urban Apiaries


A
Trey, the only reason I can think of for the bees being attracted to the air intake is the noise, movement, vibration associated with it.  It may be a defensive issue, but I’m not sure.  Could the air intake be screened externally to stop this at the source? I hope that the fan hasn’t eaten too many bees going into winter cluster.
You can wait until it gets cooler to move the bees when they are clustered.  But, and there is always a but, any excessive bumping and bouncing could dislodge the cluster and if  it is too cold, they may not be able to regroup and reorganize and could freeze to death.  If you are successful with the initial move and there are subsequent warm days, any of the older bees that are still imprinted on the old site may still go there, but being winter, they will freeze and be replaced eventually with new members.

Q Oh What Tangled Webs....Varroa Screen On Solid Bottom Board

Hi Jerry, I have been a hobby beekeeper for 10 years or so. I keep an average of 14 colonies. This past year I put screens above my bottom boards to help control mites. I check my colonies just before winter. I put on pollen, check the brood and make sure that they have adequate food supplies. I have a fair success in overwintering. In checking my hives I discovered that I have an infestation of wax moths between the screens and the bottom boards. No sign above the screens or in the hives. Not sure that the screens helped for mites so am wondering if I should get rid of them. Thanks for a great column and the help you dish out to the hobby community.

Doug

A
Doug, wax moths and small hive beetles can live and even pupate on hive debris which has collected on bottom boards. Screens help with varroa control for sure, but they really are not effective if the screen bottom board is placed over a solid bottom board. If the mites can fall a distance onto the ground, it is better than if they fall an inch or so onto a solid bottom where they can walk back up into the hive in summer. A screened bottom board without the solid bottom, of course, would eliminate the debris that the moths are using for food. But, winter’s freezing temperatures should take care of all these problems.


Q Two For One

We have two questions:
1) We may not be able to extract until November. What is the best way to store the honey supers in the meantime?
2) We made lots of sugar syrup last year that we did not use and has been stored in sealed plastic jugs at room temp. Can we use it this winter? Or should we make fresh sugar syrup?
Thanks!
Philippe and Dana Gerschel
Brooklyn, NY


A
At some point you will want to warm up the supers/honey so you can actually extract it from the comb. Your goal is 80 degrees F or so. Until then, cool is better than hot and keeping the last wax moths and mice looking for a winter home away is a consideration. I would always leave supers on the colony or bring them into my unheated basement until warm-up time. Cold honey does not come out of the comb. Plan ahead how you will warm up supers. If left unextracted for a long time, sometimes the honey will granulate in the combs. 
Your stored sugar syrup will be fine unless it has started to ferment or mold has started growing in it.



Q A Sticky Question

I would like to know if you can feed honey bees sorghum molasses instead of sugar water or a sugar syrup? Will it hurt them?

Thank you
Maynard



A
If you live in the tropics or subtropics where the bees can get out just about every day to defecate, you could probably successfully feed sorghum or molasses instead of sugar. Molasses (of any kind) is what is left behind in the process of producing sugar. Sorghum molasses is a bit of a misnomer because it isn’t produced as a by-product of sugar production, but as simply sweet syrup itself from the sorghum plant. Sorghum syrup is dark because it has tannins, and particulates that are dark. Honey bees cannot digest these. This is “roughage” if you will for them. If they can fly daily and void, you can get by with this as a substitute or supplemental honey bee feed. If they can’t fly because of cold weather, this roughage builds up in their intestines and facilitates Nosema growing and other gut organisms. Let’ say you ate a pound of cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts and you couldn’t get to the bathroom. At some point you will be in discomfort, and may embarrass yourself. It is the same with the honey bees confined for weeks or months because of winter. They may be forced to defecate in the hive. Pure, clear honey or sugar syrup is best to feed under these prolonged confinement conditions.

The Classroom- December 2011

by Jerry Hayes

The October Classroom had my take and calculations on why 8 or 9 frames in a 10 frame super would always produce less honey. Yes, the cells may be longer, but this did not make up for the lost frame(s). There was quite a lot of response. Some said my math was off. Some said my math was fine, but my logic was off. (How Rude) A few said it made sense. Here are some of the responses:

1) Jerry, I have converted some supers over to 8-frame instead of 9-frame. For me I could care less if they held the same amount of honey because I can always add supers. The real advantage for me is the fact that if the 8-frame is drawn out my chain uncapper will remove all the cappings. With 9 frames many times, even when the frames are capped, some of them are not drawn out far enough to get with a knife or an uncapper. I have not done any exact comparison on which super will hold the most, but I believe that the 9-frame does seem to weigh a bit more.

Charlie Parton
Maryville, TN

2) Hi Jerry, I tried the 9-frame idea 30 yrs ago and didn't care for it. I'm not sure where you came up with the cell length numbers used in your analysis of the capacity of the combs. My observation has been that the bees draw the cells out until there is the standard bee space between the combs. Therefore, the only difference between 10/9/8 frames in a super is the number of beespaces between the combs. To be exact, there is also one less cell base (foundation) thickness for each comb removed. The increase in super capacity for one less comb would be equal to one bee space between frames, or ~ 3/8" x 8" x 17" = 51 cubic inches = .03 cubic feet = .225 gal. Less than a qt/frame for a deep.
This is not worth the hassle, unless one desires deeper cells for easier uncapping. Of course, there is 10% less equipment to purchase and assembly cost. Also, 10% labor savings when blowing bees, uncapping, loading extractor, unloading and placing frames back into supers, etc. On a large scale, all that could be significant.
All that labor savings is offset by time spent throughout the year re-spacing frames in the super every time it is manipulated. There are many factors other than simple "capacity" to consider, including honey flow size and hive moving frequency. Each beekeeper must decide for himself if it works. But the answer to the initial question is less than a qt/deep super for each frame removed.

Terry Holcomb
T-H Apiaries
Walnut Creek, CA

3) Hi Jerry, I read your 8 vs 9 calculations: arithmetic seems fine, but I dispute your logic. You will get about 30 of these. If I'm right, and the first one in, send me the XXL t-shirt with the big Florida Orange.
You worked from the inside out. Think about negative space. I will assume that in a strong honey flow the bees will cap all combs leaving a uniform bee space between faces and super sides. Nine frames have ten bee spaces, eight frames have nine. I will call bee space 3/8" or .76 cm. A medium depth frame has a comb face of about 13 cm x 43 cm. 13 x 43 x .76 = 424 cubic centimeters. 16% moisture honey is about 1.4 g/cc. 1.4 x 424 = 602 g or about 1 1/3 lbs more honey in the eight-frame mediuim depth super.
The last time I looked into it, I was getting about 37 lbs average from medium depth supers, so I see no significant issue here one way or the other. You are the kind of guy who is going to run out next spring and put out 100 supers with 8 and 100 with 9 and weigh them full (tare for the ninth frame!) to prove the shortcomings of abstract thinking like this. I like to run 8 frames over an excluder for ease of uncapping and because I can store my extracting comb off the bees without chemicals if I allow no pupal cases or pollen in them. I imagine most larger beekeepers would place more value on versatility and prefer 9 frames everywhere.

David

4) Jerry, regarding the question you end your October column with ...while it seems that by the numbers you get more honey in a nine-frame super than an eight-frame super, I believe it is an example of our rational minds leading us astray.
Think of it this way...you have a given volume of space. The bees are going to fill it up with comb and they will fill the comb with honey. The only space they will not fill is the bee space between the combs. This is true whether you are using eight frames or nine. Since the volume of the cavity being filled by the bees is constant, I would argue that 8-frames will always provide more space for the bees to build comb and store honey, thus providing more honey in the end. This is simple because with eight frames you have fewer pieces of wood and metal (or plastic) taking up room within the given volume of space (the ninth frame) and you have one less bee space between the combs. To focus on the number of combs and cells rather than the volume of the cavity that the bees will fill with comb and honey and the physical materials that will fit into this given space allows one to get lost in the "numbers" and creates the illusion of 9-frames providing more honey storage.

Bees be with you,
Ross Conrad
Dancing Bee Gardens,
Middlebury, VT

5) Hi Jerry, I have followed "The Classroom" for many years and have learned much from it. It's a strong feature in the ABJ. I hope you find this interesting... it seems the debate is still going on.

Dick LaForge
Eureka, CA

Re: The Classroom, October 2011 8-Frame Vs. 9-Frame Supers
Well, you asked what we think. I think you have a math error. The same factors that allow 9 frames to hold more than 10 allow 8 frames to hold more than 9.
You calculated an increase of 8,000mm of cell length for a frame in an 8-frame super. Then, you compare this to the loss of an entire frame containing 25,000 mm of cell length. You are comparing the increase in one frame to a loss in the entire super. Actually, in an 8-frame super, there is 8 x 8,000 = 64,000 mm extra cell length. So, there is an increase in capacity in an 8 frame super of 39,000 mm of cell length.
I did my own calculations, in a different way: The inside width of a super is 14.75 inches, or 37.46 cm. The bee space is let's say 5/16 inch, or .80 mm
I assume that the bees can build out the cells until there is only the bee space between frames and between the outside frames and the wall. I'm ignoring wax volume.

Looking at the width:
10 frames means 11 bee spaces 11 x .80 cm = 8.80 cm of bee space
9 frames means 10 bee spaces 10 x .80 cm = 8.00 cm of bee space
8 frames means 9 bee spaces 9 x .80 cm = 7.20 cm of bee space

Since the area of the frames is always the same, fewer bee spaces means there is more room for honey.
10 frames: 37.46 cm - 8.80 cm = 28.66 cm width of honey, 2.87 cm/frame
9 frames: 37.46 cm - 8.00 cm = 29.46 cm width of honey, 3.27 cm/frame
8 frames: 37.46 cm - 7.20 cm = 30.26 cm width of honey, 3.78 cm/frame

A frame is 2 cells wide, so the 9-frame cells are .20 cm longer than the 10-frame cells. The 8-frame cells are .25 cm longer than that.
Comparing the "width of honey" numbers, the 9-frame super can hold 2.8% more than the 10- frame super. The 8-frame super can hold 5.6% more than the 10-frame super.
Assuming honey density of 1.50 gm/cubic centimeter (cc) allows us to calculate the theoretical maximum capacity of honey supers. I measured the inside of a medium frame to be 43.2 x 13.1 cm = 566 square cm.
10 frames: 28.66 cm x 566 square cm = 16,220 cc, x 1.50 = 24,300 gm honey
9 frames: 29.46 cm x 566 = 16,670 cc, x 1.50 = 25,000 gm
8 frames: 30.26 cm x 566 = 17,120 cc, x 1.50 = 25,700 gm

Converting:
10 frames: 24,300 gm = 24.3 Kg, x 2.20 lb/Kg = 53.6 lb
9 frames: 25,000 gm = 25.0 Kg, x 2.20 lb/Kg = 55.1 lb
8 frames: 25,700 gm = 25.7 Kg, x 2.20 lb/Kg = 56.6 lb

The increase in capacity with fewer frames is not large. I'd say the major advantages are 10 or 20 % less frame handling, easier uncapping, and less honey lost in uncapping. Also, the bees need to produce 1132 or 2264 square cm less of capping wax.
Of course, reality can be different. The real test of any advantage of fewer frames is to use them and weigh them.

6) First off, I want to thank you for all I have learned over the years by reading ABJ and your column. I currently run 9 frames in my supers, but after reading your column I came to realize that storage loss of 8 frames was actually the way to go. When I read the column, the math didn't quite look right. You calculated a 17,000 mm loss in storage of the 8 frame super. It sounded good, but you took into account a one frame difference as apposed to an overall gain. The way I see it is like this: 8 frames x 2000 (cells/frame) x 16.5mm = 264,000mm. 9 frames x 2000 (cells/frame) x 12.5mm = 225,000mm. That would actually give a net gain to the 8-frame super of 39,000 mm. This just in time for my fall flow.

Thanks for all,
Blue Skies!
Jim

Q  Coconut Oil for Varroa Control?

Jerry, I just read your article on coconut oil and varroa in the Oct. ABJ. You based your skepticism on the lack of controlled study and then went to prove your point without using a controlled study. What happened in the untreated hives?

Kurt Johnsen

A
Good Morning Kurt. Was this a study suitable for the Journal of Apicultural Research (JAR)? Absolutely not! I think I said in the article that I simply wanted to see if it lowered the number of varroa mites in X number of colonies. It was advertised as a great way to do this. And it didn't. It was only controlled as to my basic preliminary question, did it lower varroa mite levels? If it had been amazing, we could have expanded the study and double-blinded it and expanded the number of colonies with the same number of controls etc.,etc. But it was so poor I thought I would share the caveat emptor with beekeepers.
Anecdotally, of all the colonies in the yard another 35 that were not treated with anything at all, two died of whatever.

Q  Neem Oil for Mite Control?

Mr. Hayes, I asked Dr. Jamie Ellis if they have experimented using neem oil mixed with sugar syrup in eradicating mites, varroa mites, and he said no they have not, but he referred your name and said that you are familiar with neem products.
A year ago I did add 1-2 drops of neem oil to sugar syrup, to see if this might eradicate or minimize pests. The feeding was only one jar and I stopped as not knowing if this would kill the whole hive, as I do not know much, i.e., how worker bees feed the queen. Tell me what you know?

Thank you,
Chandra

A
Good Morning Chandra, Dr. Ellis gives me way too much credit for knowing miscellaneous stuff. I can't remember what I had for breakfast, but I do remember all sorts of other things:)
If memory serves me correctly, Neem oil has been experimented with for varroa control for many years without getting to the point that it was reliable and safe. The studies I remember mixed various concentrations of Neem oil and emulsified it in water and sprayed it on bees with phoretic (exposed) varroa mites. The treatment was 6 applications, sprayed on the colony, over a 4- day period. Varroa control was upwards of 90%. Honey bee mortality was around 10% (not good) and it shut down the queen's laying ability (not good) and killed them (not good) and had a detrimental effect on brood and brood rearing (not good). The question has been which of the many components of Neem oil is responsible for varroa mortality. The hope was to identify that or those so they could be used to control varroa more efficiently rather than spraying the whole colony and not have so much bee, queen and brood mortality.
Lots of materials kill or dislodge varroa mites. Finding products which do not harm the adult honey bees, queens or drones is the goal. In fact, one can get pretty good phoretic varroa control by spraying the colony with innocuous distilled water every few days because it heightens grooming behavior, but this may be not practical for all beekeepers and thus is not on the varroa to-do list.
Feeding Neem does not do much for varroa, but does negatively affect all life stages of honey bees at higher doses and at lower doses does nothing.

Q  High-moisture Honey

Hi Jerry, I have some honey from this year that is 19% moisture. Is 19% in the danger zone of the honey fermenting?

Thanks,
Phil

A
Yes. If cold no, if warm, you are on your way to not only being a beekeeper, but also a brew master!

Q  Winter Frame Storage

Jerry, I have been reading all about storing frames for the winter and trying to prevent wax moth damage. Some store them outside with a screen on the bottom and top to keep the mice out. The theory here is that they will be in the light and cold weather and the wax moths hate that.
Some beekeepers keep them in the garage and spray them with some kind of chemical or they use moth crystals.
Could you please give me a recommendation of how you would best store them. I have about 30 to 40 frames, so sticking them in a freezer is not a practical solution. HELP!

Thank you,
Mark

A
Stacking the boxes with the frames in them, crosswise, alternating them back and forth on each other in a location that gets the full effects of winter cold is the easiest. Wax moths do not like light, so having the large open spaces with the boxes stacked this way help. You can also use one or more light bulbs dangled down in and amongst the stack to add more light if you need it. Stacking them in a perfectly sealed stack and using Paradichlorobenzene wax moth crystals, not naphthalene, according to label directions works well if storage outside or in a unheated shed or garage is not an option. If you only have 30-40 frames that is only 3-4 boxes, so this should be easy.
One caution: Make sure if you store frames in a plastic sack with paradi-chlorobenzene that it cannot be pierced or entered by wax moths, because then you may open the sack in the spring and discover a very unwanted present-expensive fishing bait!

Q  Small Hive Beetles in Indiana

Dear Mr. Hayes, I am a beekeeper in southern Indiana. I recently was going through my hives and noticed a few black bugs in a super on one hive. In researching this, I am sure they were hive beetles. There were only a few of these, but I was concerned. I removed the super and did not find any down in the main hive. The question I have is: Should I be concerned since this is a strong hive? I ordered some beetle traps that I installed a week before I removed the super. Is this the only treatment option I have? The most I trapped and killed was 15 or so and I left the beetle traps in the main hive. Thanks for you time.

Dave Motsinger

A
Good Morning Dave, you are actually the third person from Indiana to contact me about seeing what is assumed to be small hive beetles (SHB) in their colonies. I don't doubt it. There are lots of different kinds of beetles that many times live in a colonies of honey bees. Most SHB will die in a normal long, cold Indiana winter. They are coming from the environment to your colony of honey bees to stay warm and have access to food for themselves. It is really too late for them to reproduce by laying eggs and producing the real destructive culprit, the larva, but this is still possible if you have a warmer than normal fall. The beetle traps are good. Don't put any type of pesticide in the trap as it doesn't make the trap work any better and these products can jeopardize colony health. If we found only 15 SHB adults in a colony in Florida we would be happy! We start getting worried when it gets around 100:)

Q  Queen Banking

Hi Jerry, I have a few questions that I can't seem to find the answers to anywhere. I'm raising a few queen bees each year. My problem is queen banking. How long can virgin queens be banked before their mating flight? How long can bred queens be banked and what is the best method of banking? Which is better, banking bred or virgin queens? The queens I breed here seem to be better, stronger laying queens than the ones I order, so I would like to bank a few. I enjoy your Classroom each and every month. Thank you very much for your work.

Charles Roberson
Ben Wheeler, TX

A
Ben, keeping queens available for immediate use is a good idea. There is an expiration date on virgin queens from when they emerge until they "need" to mate. After a couple weeks confinement, they lose the desire and ability to go out and mate. Mated queens are best banked in a small nuc, so they can always be laying a little and leading a functioning colony. The pheromone profile is better if the queen is doing what a honey bee queen is supposed to do. There are a variety of ways to cage or confine queens individually on a comb face using queen excluder material and keep them functioning at a low level.
I think the best thing any beekeeper can do is keep nucs around. Nucs not only are a functioning small colony that can contribute a queen, but there are frames of brood and honey and beebread all for the taking. If you have a colony that is failing, you can take the 4-5 frames out of the nuc, plug them into the failing hive and voila!, no harm, no foul. I vote for as many nucs as you want.

Q  future global food shortage?

This has nothing to do directly with honey bees. I just read a Food and Agriculture Organization (United Nations) report about a drop in global food production and how availability and cost is on the verge of a crisis. You can see people starving in Somalia every night on the 6 o'clock news. What do you think?

A
What concerns me is that ‘we' all are at the mercy, if you will, of those who produce, process and transport our foods. In many cases we all have gotten very lazy agriculturally. Most people think food comes to a location called a "store" and if we have enough money, all is well. But, this attitude puts all of us in jeopardy, calorically, nutritionally and culturally.
Even those of us who grow a garden, have fruit trees or harvest food from the environment never totally depend on this for our complete supply. We may be on the brink globally with economics that mirror The Great Depression of the past. If this happens, access to food will be affected. Will transport, shipping and the logistical challenges continue or even be considered if no one has the means to purchase? Do we individually or collectively need to address the need for food production, a food reserve or long-term food storage as a valuable insurance policy?
Ask our struggling brothers and sisters in Somalia or Sudan what they would have done if they could have prepared in some way. Or, think of past history where millions died in China or Ukraine because someone decided that food could be a tool of control. Something to think about.

The Classroom - November 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q. Apiguard or Mite-Away

Hi Jerry - fantastic column - thank you for taking the time! I'm heading into my fall varroa treatment so am hot into research. I have 2 third-year hives. I found Randy Oliver's method for using only 25 g of Apiguard, but placing it between the two deeps. I am drawn to this because it lowers the dose. What do you think?
I've also been reading the threads on the internet about the Mite-Away Quick Strips. From what I read, I decided to wait until next year, read some more and then perhaps try this method.
Lastly, do I need to worry about how the bees fit (or not) into a two-deep hive after expanding to fill two deeps and two supers?                                                 

Thank you!
Roma

   
A
  Thanks for the compliment. It is appreciated. We did some of the testing here for Apiguard years ago for warm/hot weather treatments. What we found at 90+F temperatures is that the label directions and 50g were tolerated well with large populous colonies. As the material off gases, the thymol concentration irritates the colony and they start "fanning" which moves the vapor around and out and actually distributes it better for varroa control. In a smaller colony they do not have the collective strength, horsepower or bee wing power if you will, to move the product around and out and it can cause some of the colony to move to the outside front of the hive temporarily to ventilate better. The goal is to kill, damage, disable varroa and 50g is the labeled amount for FULL size colonies. Smaller colonies and especially nucs cannot tolerate 50g well. 25g would be more appropriate, but then you get into an independent decision of what is large and what is a small colony.
  We also did some of testing of MiteAway Quick Strips. Waiting on this is a good idea.
  The colony will expand and contract as needed. So "fit" is variable. The only caveat to all this is if you are in a heavily infested small hive beetle (SHB) region. Colonies treated with essential oils and acids release large amounts of stress pheromones, which attract SHB adults. If the colony is strong, they can adjust. If weaker, it can be compromised. You are asking good questions and thinking through treatments appropriately.


Q MOLASSES EXTRACT BALANCING ACT?

  While recovering a swarm of bees, I fed them sugar water and molasses! It turns out that there are not any drowning bees in the hive top-feeders, and I have reduced it to: 1 teaspoon per gallon and a half. If it’s light brown, they do not drown. Second swarm does not have any drowning bees either. The clear color of the syrup is the problem! Molasses extract for bee feed is available. Is it all right to feed a low dose of molasses; it does stop the drowning                                                                        

Thanks,
Mike                                             


A
  Mike, I think you are just lucky. I am not sure what is in molasses extract, but be careful as it probably has some indigestible stuff in it that may make it a feed that is hard to overwinter on in the North. Sometimes it is good to experiment. Let’s see if the results are consistent and the bees are alive in April.
  If colored syrup is what you are seeking, why not use a bit of food coloring to accomplish the same thing?



Q POOR GENES = LAZY BEES

  Hi Jerry-- I was just reading your column in the latest ABJ, and realized I could ask you a question. I've been trying to find information elsewhere with no luck.
  I have two hives, one a year old and one new this year. I checked them both a week ago, and there was NO honey to speak of. There is loads of capped brood, larvae and eggs in both, in some cases extending to the wooden edge of the frames. Not really any drone brood either, and just a few cells, here and there, of pollen. This was late August, which is almost past peak in some areas around here--Portland, Oregon. I still have loads of flowers blooming, and more bees on said flowers than I saw when it was blackberry season (the big collection flower for much of our area).
  Although I've given up on any honey harvest for this year, I am still curious about the phenomenon. My bee mentor found an expert who said this is "typical" Italian bee behavior. He recommended confining the queen to the lowest box with an excluder, and feeding them ample sugar syrup in hopes of at least motivating some winter stores. The day after I did this, the upper (more populous) hive seemed ready to swarm-- bearding the front and crowding the main entrance airspace. In a couple hours it all settled down-- I don't think a swarm left, as I was watching pretty constantly. I feel good about the strength of these hives, and am willing to give ample feed, but remain confused as to what this behavior means and what I might expect in upcoming years?
  A bit of history? I started my first hive with a package of Italians in spring of 2010, and had an ordinary, uneventful year with them. Fed them through the winter, they survived, and I spotted some low queen cells in May of 2011. I was nervous and excited, and managed a "controlled swarm", starting my second hive. That one has also progressed successfully into the summer. I must not have gotten all the queen cells, though, because I caught a swarm nearby shortly after, and gave it to a friend. My parent hive didn't seem too affected, but I was fairly certain the swarm came from there. In June, I managed to catch ANOTHER swarm that stopped through-- I checked both my hives, and again, neither seemed severely reduced, and had some honey and pollen stored. (Two weeks later THREE more swarms came through my yard, one medium, one small, and one that didn't actually land. I figured I must be on a bee highway of some sort.)
  Mid summer I put the honey super on my older hive, but the bees have never even drawn out comb in it. I put an additional brood super on the lower, second hive, as they filled +/- 6 frames with brood, but again, they seem to care less, and have stayed at a constant population, more or less, in one super.
  I am very confused by what is going on, and would like to continue beekeeping regardless of collecting honey. But, as I run a small Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food network, I'd like to have some honey to put in my shares at the very least, and know that, ideally, bees are supposed to feed themselves through the type of relatively mild winters we have here in the Pacific Northwest.                                                   

Kelly


A
I wish I could tell you quickly what is wrong or was wrong specifically. The thing I do know is whether or not you had enough honey bee population to draw comb from foundation, or go out and collect enough nectar to store as surplus. They were existing at a level below that required to make it through a Pacific Northeast winter. They appear to have been bringing in enough nectar and pollen resources to raise more bees that probably left by swarming leaving you without a large enough population to do what you wanted them to do. They were doing what they needed to genetically to spread themselves around time and again. To use a politically incorrect term these are "welfare bees”. You take care of their needs by supplementary feeding and other care, such as varroa treatments, to get them through winter and then they do the same thing the following year, which is nothing. You may have enough time (Sept) to get a new purchased queen from a reputable supplier and you may still have to feed to get them through this winter, but the new genetics may prove themselves better in spring. Or, you could let Mr. Darwin take over this winter and eliminate the weak and start over with new bees using packages and a good queen in spring. Or, you could keep feeding the colonies and keep things in the status quo. In my mind this is not typical Italian behavior. But I am not sure in our mongrel population what Italian behavior is any more. It is just poor genetics. Let me know what you decide.

The Classroom - October 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q His Bees Won’t Draw Out His Plastic Foundation

Here is one I haven’t seen you cover. I have over 100 frames with hard plastic foundation. These were put on late in the honey flow. All the bees did was track them up badly. The following year I put them back on and all the bees did was pull comb between the frames. I have found that no matter what you do with a frame that has plastic that isn’t pulled out the first year, the bees will never do it. I have painted beeswax on the bare plastic and the bees still ignore it. Do you any advice other than putting them in the burn pile?

Jim

A
I have seen plastic frame, foundation combinations that the bees would not touch. The supposition is that the type, quality, grade of plastic used was “off gassing” a solvent or mold release that was repellent to the bees. Coating the entire plastic surface of the foundation with high quality fresh beeswax should have helped. But, obviously it didn’t. Also, remember that it takes a good honey flow or plenty of syrup feeding to induce comb construction. If you have had poor honey flows, it would be difficult to obtain good comb construction on plastic foundation. Most commercial beekeepers now use plastic foundation coated with beeswax, so this is obviously not a universal problem. Before you give up and pitch them, why not give them another chance during a good spring nectar flow.

Q Kitchen Chemistry

    I am wondering how much essential oil should be added to sugar syrup for control of mites (how many drops of oils/gallon of syrup). I am assuming that if the mixture is too strong it will harm the bees, and am also wondering if the odor of the essential oils masks any of the pheromones that the queen uses to control the actions of the hive causing more problems for the hive? Also, is it advisable to use these oils? I am trying to avoid harsh chemicals for mite control if at all possible. Thank you.

Troy Mastin

A
Troy, I do not know what the answer to your question is because there is little or no data on this. None of this is registered or labeled. Beekeeper “kitchen chemistry” is to be discouraged because it is inexact. When using chemical treatments without specific tested and approved directions, bad things can happen. That could be anything from “it didn’t work” to “it killed all the brood” or “it killed all the bees” and everything in between. Products such as Api-Guard and Api Lif Var that have data, and doses that are FDA and EPA approved are better. I applaud your effort to stay away from “strip” varroacides. Good idea. But, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. All the work has been done for you.

The Classroom - September 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Thank you for your very informative column. I have a question not addressed here before to my knowledge. I hope you can help or direct me to someone who can.

Are you aware of any research that has been done that would help us understand exactly what happens when there is a reaction in a person's body from a bee sting? I've heard many people say, "Oh, I'm allergic to bee stings." I wonder if it's always true? There seems to be different ways a sting or stings can affect the body. Do medications that someone may take affect a reaction to a bee sting?

My case in point. I have been into beekeeping now over 10 years and run a small commercial operation with my boys helping. At present we're running about 140 hives on pallets, selling nucs in the spring and producing two to three honey crops a year, depending on where we move our bees. My boys and I have always worn full bee suits and gloves whenever we work the bees, but we still get our share of stings throughout the year with the operation we run.

Over the past year I have noticed, not always but sometimes, that when I've gotten stung I get some phlegm in my throat that stays with me for awhile making me want to clear my throat over and over, but then it goes away. My airway is fine. Recently, however, I have had two episodes that got quite severe before clearing up. Last evening we were loading bees and it was hot and humid and after dark. I got stung a couple of times right before leaving, crawling around on the load, one of which was on my throat. While driving the truck I got exceedingly hot with various other reactions and felt like I was almost ready to pass out. I was praying hard and it gradually did subside. When we got home, I took some medicine and started feeling better.

I can't tell what's going on in my body. Does venom build up in your body? I don't know if it was a convergence of a number of factors that brought it on or is my body now saying it can't take bee venom at all? If I can't get a grip on this or learn to take something, I just might have to sell out!

I know you are not a doctor to whom this question may be best addressed, but any help you would know of would be appreciated.

Thank you,
 David Simonson

A. David, sometimes it takes longer to get answers than one would think. Here is some information that I have found out for you. Dr. Dawn Sollee, Florida/ USVI Poison Information Center-Jacksonville and Dr. Shih-Wen Huang, Allergy Clinic at Shands Hospital, were very helpful with providing these general answers. However, since each person's health situation is different, you should consult an allergist about your specific post-sting reactions to determine the best solution for your individual case.

Q. When a honey bee stings someone, they will experience pain, some localized swelling and redness at the site. Sometimes people refer to this as an allergic reaction. I thought an allergic reaction was different involving the whole body in some way.
A. You are correct. This is not an allergic reaction. It is expected that a sting will produce localized pain, redness and swelling.

Q. Can you describe in concise terms what happens in a person's body when they are stung?

A. When the honey-bee worker stings, the stinger with venom sac are left behind lodged in the skin. The venom sac continues to pump venom through the stinger into the body and can empty itself within two minutes. The venom contains various components including: mellitin, phospholipase A/2, peptides, hyaluronidases, histamine and others. These compounds produce the local effects. Antibodies to the phospholipase A/2, hyalurnonidase and mellitin are what can produce anaphylactic (whole body) effects.

Q. I am assuming that there are various levels of immune response initially and over time or with subsequent stings.

A. The more a person is stung, the more antibodies are created and the more sensitization occurs.

Q. There seems to be differences in the ways that a sting or stings can affect the body. What makes the difference?

A. The size of the person in relation to the number of stings and volume of venom can be an issue. A person can have a severe reaction if they are stung numerous times at once. But, this and of itself does not mean they are allergic to bees.

Q. What are the true signs of an allergic reaction?

A. A whole body systemic reaction or anaphylactic reaction usually occurs within the first 15 minutes after a sting. Initial symptoms include: itching eyes, flushing, coughing. It may progress to a feeling of the tightening of the throat. This can be followed by wheezing, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Someone may even lose consciousness. If someone has true diagnosed honey-bee venom allergy, they should wear a medical alert bracelet or tag.

Q. Can someone be desensitized to stings in a medical setting?

A. Yes. Venom immunotherapy has been successfully used to prevent future sting reactions in hypersensitive people.

Q. Can some medications that a person is taking influence the reaction to a sting?

A. Yes. Ace inhibitors are prescribed to some heart patients and pain relievers called NSAID's, common ones are Celebrex and Motrin, can all make someone who was tolerating stings well into someone having major adverse reactions.

Q. Can someone who has tolerated stings over time, sometimes for years, all of a sudden change in response for the worse to a sting?

A. Absolutely. Over time the body can increase its sensitivity to the venom.

Q. What, if any, over-the-counter products should a person have at hand to treat the "normal" sting reaction? What preparations should a beekeeper have made for a worst-case scenario?

A. Diphenhydramine (an antihistamine) should be on hand to minimize the normal sting reaction. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain and ice can help swelling. A person who has had a bad reaction in the past should consider having a doctor-prescribed epinephrine syringe on hand at all times.
Things to do if someone has been stung: Remove the stinger as quickly as possible. The longer the stinger is in the flesh, the more venom load from the sac is pumped in. Then, wash the area with soap and water. Apply ice to the area of local reaction. See medication suggestions above. If someone is having swelling in their throat, difficulty breathing, or you think they are having an allergic reaction, 911 should be called immediately.

The Classroom - August 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (full version)

Q GREASE IS THE WORD
 Has anyone ever proven the efficacy of grease patties with essential oils and such? I know the literature is out there, but not much has been said of late I believe. Snake oil?

 Ed Markus

A
 Data indicates that vegetable shortening patties (grease patties), by themselves, help with control of tracheal mites. But we hardly see tracheal mites anymore, so it may be a Darwinian kind of thing happening such that over the last 25 years the weak have died and the strong have survived. Or perhaps it is that the Varroa mite chemical controls
used have virtually eliminated tracheal mites. Essential oils in a vegetable-shortening patty may or may not do much for further tracheal mite control in the current picture.
 This is not a varroa mite control strategy. Vegetable shortening doesn't do anything for varroa and unless you put in a significant amount of a proven essential oil that would not help much either. Dosages, release rates and quantity need to be exact to do much good. That is why we have registered and labeled products available.
   Could you use vegetable shortening as the carrier for an essential oil-sure you could. But, then you would be re-inventing the wheel as Apiguard and Api Lif Var are already proven, registered and available for this use of essential oils for Varroa control.

Q   SCREENED
            BOTTOMS?

 I am confused as to the value of screened bottom boards for Varroa destructor control. Dr. Calderone at Cornell University has published that screened bottom boards are ineffective and he recently told me that he no longer uses them. Additionally, a report published by Jean Pierre Chapleau in Quebec demonstrated no statistical difference in varroa counts with or without a screened bottom board. More recently in the March 2011 issue of ABJ, Roy Hendrickson recommends against screened bottom boards claiming that they are both "ineffective against varroa and detrimental to spring colony management."
 Here in the Philadelphia, PA area, I have noticed in my own bees that hives that were over wintered with screened bottom boards do not rear brood along the bottom frames during the cool spring. However, many people, including you, recommend screened bottom boards for varroa control. Is there a regional difference to the value of screened bottom boards such that they are more effective in warmer areas (or during the summer) than they are in cooler areas? Thanks for your advice. I always enjoy reading the Classroom.
 Vincent Aloyo

A
 Vincent, isn't that the allure of beekeeping, being confused, unsure and mentally/intellectually challenged? If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. If you look, you will find a variety of data that indicates screened bottom boards do or not do many things.

 I am an old guy. Old guys have stories. That is why people tolerate us. Here is a story. When varroa mites first burst onto the scene smart PhD-types thought that these mites had traits and actions similar to "other" mites on plants and animals. These other mites, when separated from their host, would search around for another host and if they couldn't find one, would stop their search, stand still with some of their appendages extended, and go into what is called a Questing Stance waiting for something to walk by to grab, jump on and be carried along. So at that time in my mind, I envisioned varroa being knocked off, groomed off or otherwise being detached from adult honey bees stopping where they were and going into this Questing Stance. Whether on the comb surface or frames or even the solid bottom board in a busy colony, grabbing another bee easily seemed like a logical sure thing.
 At that time, we were collecting live varroa mites for various research projects. We used powdered sugar to dislodge mites. When we had enough, usually several hundred, we would separate the mites from any powdered sugar residue. One of my staff brought me one afternoon, a large plastic tub 10" long 8" wide and 7" high that held several hundred live varroa mites. I was doing some desk administrative stuff at the time, so put the tub about 3 feet behind my desk on the carpeted floor. After about an hour and a half or so I started feeling that itchy, tickling funny feeling on my legs that one gets when you have something on your skin. The varroa mites had climbed up the 7" sides, down the 7" sides across my floor and started up my pant's leg! I was impressed with varroa mites and unimpressed with the Questing Stance. That is when the screened bottom board really made sense to me. I could see on a solid bottom that varroa, which get knocked off, bounced around in the normal course of events and wound up on this firm platform. Then, they could pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again:)

 Another quicker story. We did some comparison studies between small cell comb and regular comb and the bees raised in both and varroa levels. The story being shared around was that small cell comb helped reduce mite load and so we wanted to put data with the anecdotal reports. What we found was that initially small cell comb did reduce mite load, but when you compared data over 12 months, there was no statistical difference. Varroa seem to be able to change reproductive rates and adapt to different environmental challenges.
 Data show screened bottoms help remove a lot of varroa mites that fall to the bottom of a hive. True. Data show over time varroa levels ramp up to match the loss. True. Data show in early cool spring weather hives with screened bottoms do not extend brood rearing to the bottom of combs close to the open screened bottom. This changes as the weather warms up and colonies adjust. True. Data show that varroa treatments of all kinds hurt, temporarily damage varroa mites and these can be removed from the colony as they fall to the bottom. In our area where we have brood rearing 24/7/365, I think making varroa work for everything they do is a good thing. In the north where brood rearing stops and varroa are phoretic for weeks or months, having a screened bottom would positively help in removing any mites that fall to the bottom of the hive.

 The trade off of slower use of the bottom of the comb in early spring brood rearing is a reasonable one I think because they pick it back up when temperatures moderate. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Q    RUSSIANS  AND  DIVERSITY

 I am a beginning beekeeper in California and have started my first two hives. I was very interested in Russian Bees. However, most suppliers in California have either stopped selling Russians outright or only do a hybrid Russian cross and there are very few of them. Most have just stopped selling Russians with no explanation. I was wondering if there was some reason the Russian bees' "popularity" seems to be waning?

 My two new hives are now six weeks old. Everything was new-8 frame from Dadant and packages from CF Koehnen & Sons-placed side by side, same sunlight, feeding, protein, etc. One hive has drawn out 12-13 frames and I am thinking of adding a super. The other hive has drawn out 8 frames and I am wondering if this queen is up to par or should I replace her? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Robert D. Michael

A
 The Russian project and many others that want to produce and distribute queens with varying degrees of hygienic behavior, especially those targeted towards varroa, are still quite active. I think hygienic queens are a solid part of IPM and a key element to work towards for fewer chemical introductions in the hive. Virgin honey bee queens mate with multiple drones outside the hive. These drones can come from the queen producer as s/he coordinates this important process. But Drone Congregation Areas (DCA) can also attract drones from other beekeepers' colonies, and drones from feral colonies. These drones may not have the genetics that enhance and stabilize the hygienic behavior of the Russian Queen, in this case. There is genetic dilution and genetic diversity in open mating. Getting and keeping consistent genetic traits in populations of honey bees is virtually impossible. Because of this, the Wow! factor of Russian Bees has also been diluted. I would take a look at the Russian Queen Breeders Association  www.russianbreeder.org, and see who fits your needs and criteria.

 The diversity in queens open mated with 20 to 40 drones is why you see diversity in your two colonies. As a rule of thumb, if you had 100 colonies 33 would be excellent, 33 would be mediocre and 33 would be terrible or dead. Honey bees are survivors and they have learned that this diversity means that under varying environmental factors, pathogens, pests, parasites and beekeeper mismanagement there will always be some that survive because of the diversity. There will be some genetic combinations that will allow a certain number of colony members to tolerate some kind of stress and they live. If the bees are isolated in an area/region/locale over time, they will become more genetically homogenous as they adapt to that small area, i.e. Russian Bees, Carniolans, Italians, etc. We don't do that this in this country. We send honey bees around all over the country and the world and as a result, we have bees that are adapted to commercial queen breeding, transportation and miticides. Not great, but it is what it is. Hang in there. You and the bees will be fine.

Q  ANTS
 I am having a major problem with large black ants (in Minnesota) that are getting into the beehive. When I fed the bees with feeder pails, there were large numbers of ants getting the sugar water that slopped on the top of the inner cover. I quit feeding, as it was not necessary by then, and put a screened top box on top of the hive for ventilation. When I checked the bees today, the top boxes were full of ants and ant eggs. I took the top boxes off for now, and went back to the usual inner cover and top cover. I found one anthill, dug it up, and spread poison in the hill and around it. My question is: How close do you think I can get to the beehives with the poison? I have been staying six feet away in the front, and four feet to the side and rear.

 Second, is there any treatment you know of that would be safe for bees? I hate ants, and have to deal with the small ones in my own home, too.

Many thanks,
Dewey Hassig

A
 Dewey, so the ants were in the ventilation device safe and secure from the "bees". If I were an ant in Minnesota, I would do the same thing. What a great, safe, secure, protected, warm place to live. Whatever will kill an ant will kill or damage a honey bee. Ant baits that are in "bait stations" and not exposed to the direct outside environment would be my first choice. Anything else has a smaller margin of error. Be careful.

 Providing hive stands with the legs of the stands placed in containers of mineral oil is another option.

Q  MITE ZAPPER
 First I want to thank you for answers to so many questions. The April Bee Journal had an article about a mite control (MITE ZAPPER) that uses a 12 volt battery. It sounds like it is the answer for mites, but I would like to know your opinions about it. I got their web site and it says about the same as what the Journal news release does.

Thank you,
 Merl

A
 As part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan drone comb that facilitates drone production for attractiveness to Varroa mites and then removal is a great help in mite control. Historically, the capped drone brood is removed and frozen to kill varroa mites within those cells reproducing. The Mite Zapper simply eliminates removing the drone comb frame for freezing, opting instead for heat to kill the brood and thus the mites as well. Then, the colony will clean out dead brood and reuse the comb.

Q  CHALKBROOD
 A rural homeowner asked me to look at a colony that was untouched for approximately 5 years because the beekeeper passed away. It's no longer a strong colony, but how it made it through all the cold winters we have in Northeast Wisconsin is hard to believe. It probably could still keep going on its own. In trying to help it along and replace any rotting woodenware, etc., I notice some chalkbrood in some of the cells. Because of the chalkbrood, can I re-use the excess honey for consumption or for feeding bees? Can I reuse the good boxes and frames? Will freezing the honey, etc., eradicate the chalkbrood spores. The surface of the sealed honey was slightly moist. Is this anything to be concerned about?

Ken
Green Bay, WI

A
 Ken, immunity or sensitivity to chalkbrood is a genetic trait. Seeing a few cells in spring is also not unusual. Since they have survived for 5 years without major attention, this seems to indicate they are survivors, unless this is a case where the original bees died and the vacate hive was reoccupied once or more by a passing swarm.

 I would be cautious on several different disease levels about feeding honey from one colony to another. Chalkbrood spores are tough and long-lived, so freezing won't do much. However, you can eat the honey yourself. It is almost organic! There would be no varroa treatment residues accumulated over the last several years.

 Honey is a liquid that heats and cools slowly. If it is cold and the day is a bit warm or you have let warm moist air into the hive when you opened it up, condensation can occur on the areas of sealed honey-just like condensation on the surface of your cold glass of lemonade. The possibility of fermentation on the wet capping surface is always there, so be aware, but I doubt it.

Q BANANA AND MANGO HONEY PRODUCTION?
 I enjoy your section of ABJ. It is really interesting and informative. I was looking for the honey potential of banana and mango. There is some evidence of honey potential as stated by Eva Crane in her book, Honey: A Comprehensive Survey. My curiosity has not been satisfied, as there is no data available regarding honey potential of both these plants.
 In Pakistan we have a large potential for both these honeys, as there is a vast area of Punjab and Sindh where bananas and mangoes are cultivated.

Naveed Ahmad

A
  Naveed, banana does not need pollinators, as they are self-fertile. T­he wild birds come to eat pollen sometimes, but they are not major pollinators. Honey bees are not involved or attracted to banana. Mango is a different story, but there is some disagreement in the literature. Some research indicates that honey bees can and do work mango blossoms, but this tree often blooms when there is much competition from other blooming plants and trees. It has also been reported that bee pollination can increase yields of this fruit. On the other hand, others have said that honey bees are not attracted to the little nectar available in mango blossoms as it has repellent, volatile substances in it. Hoverflies and ants visit, but rarely honey bees.

Q ROTATING HIVE
Re:http://www.apiservices.com/anivet/index.htm
What is your opinion of this wacky way to raise bees? Is this rocket science or science fiction?

Roger Quebec
Canada

A
 This device/hive has been around for a while, Roger. Honey bees are survivors just like we are because they are adaptable and flexible. Just because honey bees can live in and on a round rotating comb doesn't necessarily mean it may be the best answer to honey bee health and vitality. We could probably come up with the technology and devices so cows could live in trees, but it may not be the best, most natural, cost effective way to do it. If you have enough money, give it a try. If not, then a more natural stationary cavity and frames might be more successful.

Q BUCKEYE POISON
 In one of Randy Oliver's articles within his "sick bee" series... Randy explains that (at high levels) the California buckeye, Aesculus californica, is toxic to bees. I live in the Midwest, and we have related trees/tall shrubs: Ohio, yellow, and red buckeye. I have been planting these trees for their attractiveness to hummingbirds. Now I am wondering: Do all buckeyes (and the related horse chestnut) have somewhat toxic pollen?

 I have read mixed things on the Internet. Everyone states the California buckeye example, but no one addresses the Midwest buckeye's pollen and its effect on bees, if any.
 Below is part of a San Francisco Chronicle article on the related subject that cites Dr. George Ayers, the ABJ honey plants expert from Michigan State University. "Honey bees will visit buckeye blossoms, but the fare doesn't agree with them. (Native bees are immune, as are the checker spots and other butterflies that are the tree's major pollinators.) The tree's large shiny seeds are so loaded with toxins that few animals attempt to eat them. California Indians ground the seeds to a powder that they used to stun fish for easy capture.
 It's not clear which of several chemicals is the nasty ingredient in the flowers, or whether both the pollen and nectar are toxic. Dr. Ayers says the consensus is that it's only the pollen. What happens when a colony gets "buckeyed," as beekeepers say? The foraging worker bees don't succumb right away, but with cumulative exposure develop paralysis-like symptoms and fatal constipation.

 Meanwhile, there's big trouble back at the hive. A buckeye-fed queen may stop laying eggs, or produce only male (drone) eggs. The eggs she lays may fail to hatch, or the larvae die in infancy. Those that develop into new queens or workers have malformed wings and bodies, and the workers don't attempt to forage. Eventually, the queen may be dethroned.
 By that time, as UC Davis entomologist, G.H. Vansell, wrote in 1932, "The demoralization of all the individuals in the colony is often complete." To humans, buckeye honey is no more toxic than poison oak honey. (We all have different susceptibilities: Birds thrive on mistletoe berries that would kill us, and dogs can't handle chocolate.) Buckeye honey also appears not to poison the bees. The good news is that a buckeyed hive can recover if it's moved away from the trees. Early research also indicates that some honey bee varieties, including Italian x Carniolan hybrids, are more resistant than others. Ayers suggests that the effects are worse in dry years, when few other plants are blooming and the bees get a concentrated dose of buckeye.

A
 I think all of the species in the genus Aesculus (horse chestnut, buckeye, etc.) have the toxic aesculin glucosides associated in some amount or another with them. Aesculus californica has more than others-enough to show acute colony damage. When an insect is a vegetarian (honey bee), the vegetable plant wants to protect itself from all of the other vegetarian insects and it is tough being selective with your toxin. Ohio, Red and Yellow have the glucoside as well, only not in the concentration or quantity to harm honey bees acutely, generally. The longer-term consequences of toxin (poison) exposure are probably not good.

Q STORED POLLEN SUB AND TWINKIES
 Would commercial pollen substitute that was stored in a refrigerator for 5 years, and then frozen for a year still be fit to feed to honey bees? It feels/looks/smells completely normal. Is it a good idea to see if the bees take it and let them be the judges of its quality?

Michael

A
 Michael, anything that can stay in the fridge for 5 years and not get moldy means it probably has little nutritional value. The only other "food" product that lasts forever is Twinkies. Don't feed your bees Twinkies! When we have all been dead and gone from this planet for thousands of years and some archeologist is digging around the Wal-Mart Super Center, s/he will find Twinkies. The bees' real food from flowers, which is natural diverse pollen, is better. Be sure they have enough and save some frames of it for next year.

The Classroom - July 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q: AFB Treatment Value . . . Again

My question has to do with chemical suppression of American foulbrood (AFB). It is my understanding that honey bees in the USA long ago developed resistance to the effective ingredient in Terramycin. I know that Tylan has finally been approved for apicultural use in the USA, but for the non-commercial beekeeper, it is so expensive to buy a 100 gram bottle (500 doses!) when you only have 2 or 3 hives to treat.

Two years ago I contacted Elanco about preserving part of the powder by freezing, but that kills the antibiotic. Can you tell me if it would still be okay to treat my colonies with Terramycin or should I stick with the Tylan?
Thanks in advance for your savvy advice.

Best wishes,
Doug Stream
Belgrade, MT

A:

Doug, everything you said above is pretty much true. Mixing Tylan properly, because it is so concentrated, is beyond the scope of most of us. As a result of this, there are indications that there is Tylan AFB resistance beginning from improper dosing.
All that being said, I need to ask my perennial question, "Do you have American foulbrood to treat?" Antibiotics do not eliminate AFB. Spore-forming bacteria cause AFB. Spores are like seeds, long-lived, hard, that can survive as a stored embryo until it germinates. When AFB is exposed to antibiotics, some of the vegetative state is killed and some it form spores in response to this threat. If you don't have AFB, what are you treating? Are you taking antibiotics now because you are afraid of getting Strep Throat next week? Prophylactic AFB treatment is of dubious worth.

Q: Upper Entrances

My name is John Chuey a fourth-year beekeeper in Mahoning County, Ohio. I have read one of your older articles on Beesource regarding upper entrances-a great study that makes a lot of sense. I have a few questions. I have only two hives now, both 3-year established hives with a small upper entrance-only about 2'' wide-and a standard bottom entrance. The bees rarely use the bottom entrance. Within 3 weeks both hives will be relocated. Could I at that time close off the bottom entrance and just go with a larger top entrance? And, what about a drone escape at the bottom; will a 3/8 inch drilled hole be okay?
Within the next two weeks I will be installing two packages and sometime in late May I get two nucs. I would at that time like to start them on upper entrances. I have two more questions: With fewer field force bees depositing nectar below the excluder, will they build up enough honey reserve in the bottom deeps to get them through winter?  On my future packages and nucs I wanted to start a few on all mediums, so how will it affect the bees if I need to keep moving the top entrance? Let's say I start with one medium or a deep with the top entrance on that and then weeks later I add another brood chamber. So should I just keep moving the top entrance up until I have my permanent two deeps or three meds and just leave it there? I know I am a bit confusing and long. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,
John Chuey

A:

Good morning John. What I have done is  just use an entrance reducer or a purposely-cut piece of wood that closes all but about 3/8ths of the bottom entrance. There is no need to drill holes in anything. You can establish an upper entrance at any time you may want. It is not generally at the very top all the time; it is simply above the brood nest area or brood boxes. You don't have to wait for any particular time or hive arrangement. Just move the entrance; the bees will adjust over a few days time.
Once established, it is always there-whether at the very top of two deeps or after you take off supers or with supers on.  It is in the pretty much the same position right above the brood boxes. It is positioned not at the very top, but always right above the brood boxes. If you take the supers off at some point in late summer/early fall, the bees then have no other place to store nectar/honey in the over-wintering box arrangement that you have chosen, except in the brood boxes. As a result, they fill up the top brood box with late summer/fall honey. If you have no late summer or fall flow, that is a different matter and you would then need to feed or leave some of the spring/summer honey for overwintering. I hope this helps.

The Classroom - June 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Lots of comments on the USDA Organic process that is available to "Growers and Packers" Here are a couple:

Hi Jerry, I simply wanted to say that I thought your recent Classroom article in April ABJ on the current status of the so-called USDA organic designation for honey was a much-needed explanation. Thanks for taking the time to follow up on that for the rest of us.

Ever since we've started seeing so-called USDA organic honey show up on market shelves (seems like only over the past few years), a lot of us beekeepers have wondered how such claims could be made...much less verified. I think your questioning and follow-up were right on the mark in terms of what many of us have thought.

Personally, I'd like to see the USDA drop that organic designation as I think it's nearly impossible to substantiate. I feel it also gives an unfair market advantage to non-U.S. beekeepers as well as perpetuates a false perception in the general public's mind about honey in general. I think there is nothing wrong with the newer Certified Natural movement that's been developing which would be much more truthful and honest with respect to honey.

Thanks again,
Allen Summers

Jerry, thank you for all the time and work you expended in all those letters about "organic honey." I have long suspected that there are plenty other things questionable about calling things organic. I like edamame beans. My local grocery sells packages of them in the pod, frozen. The front of the package has that familiar green and white encouragement USDA ORGANIC. One day I looked on the back of the package, and in really tiny letters it said, "Product of China." Wait a minute! Who inspects the various Chinese fields from which these beans come? Does the USDA send inspectors? Or do we (Ha Ha!) take the word of Chinese inspectors there? Is the "night soil" they are probably fertilized with free of contaminants? Gimme a break!
You called the Organic Honey a bogus process. I submit that the major part of the "Organic" certification is bogus.

Allen Cosnow
Glencoe, IL

Another group called "Certified Naturally Grown" (CNG) contacted me. They have a whole list of Best Management Practices available. They also have a list of allowed and prohibited substances found at www.naturallygrown.org/apiaryprogram.

Q  Are Screened Bottom Boards Advisable For My Location?

Hi Jerry, I want to start out with giving you a BIG Thank You and a pat on the back for the excellent job you do with The Classroom! :)

I just read your point of view on "Queen Excluders or Honey Excluders?" posted on Beesource, and have some questions for you. I am constructing 4-way pallets for my bees and have been debating between using screened bottoms or a solid plywood bottom with top entrances like your design of a shim and a queen excluder.

Your comments lead to the brood in lower brood box being more to the back of the box away from the drafty bottom openings. How would a screen bottom work as it lets in lots of cool draft directly onto the brood? (By the way, I am located in the mountains of Northern Idaho and we have cool nights even in the heat of the summer, "good recovery" as they say in firefighter terms)

I realize that in modern beekeeping techniques that wide-open screened bottom boards year around is the "only way to go", and I have read this thousands of times, but it seems to me that in the wet, quick-to-change temperature area of the Pacific Northwest that chilled brood would be an issue, especially in the spring. Your thoughts on this please?
I was also wondering about your recommendations for placement of the shim/excluder top entrance set up when wintering over nucs in a single deep box with a medium honey super for winter food supply. Would you place the shim/excluder entrance between the honey super and the deep brood box or would place it on top of the honey super? If placed on top of the honey super, how would you keep the top cover cleat from blocking the entrance?
I have also experienced bees becoming stuck/wedged in a queen excluder when it was left on for winter ventilation under my migratory covers and the bees died from not being able to release themselves. Would this affect where the shim excluder entrance should be placed during the winter months or should a beekeeper use something else besides an excluder for the top entrance?

Thanks again!
Mike
Hugus Creek Honey Farm

A
Mike, thanks for the compliment. That research/article "Queen Excluder or Honey Excluder" was done a very long time ago before varroa, screened bottoms, small hive beetle, honey bee virus problems, neonicotinoids and before I had so much gray hair:) My goal was simply to make an adjustment in existing equipment to duplicate more closely what was happening in feral colonies way back before varroa eliminated most of them.
All of that to say screened bottoms were not a part of IPM strategy to control varroa back then. But, it shouldn't make any difference on the use of a screen-bottom in relation to the entrance location. It won't be any "draftier". Keeping over-wintered colonies in a southern exposure, out of shade, dampness and wind is the ideal. Even then, data shows colonies with screened bottoms do develop slightly slower than solid bottom colonies in spring. They actually catch up quickly and surpass solid bottom colonies as the season progresses. The varroa control feature of having a screened bottom is a critical feature of colony health related directly to the beekeeper's desire to not use as many chemical products in the hive. I would remove ALL excluders from colonies in the winter. They are not needed and could restrict colony movement to food resources.

The Classroom - May 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q Swarming Behavior

I have often heard speakers say that if a hive is requeened, using swarm cells, that the keeper is selecting for swarming behavior. This usually gets a laugh from the audience. However, if I requeen using either supersedure queens OR swarm cell queens, the genetics would be identical! Wouldn't they? Speakers, and the literature, often seem to imply otherwise. I think it is time to debunk this idea that one queen is preferable to the other.

Bob Dye
Missouri

A
Bob, I am not sure if these situational genetics are the same or not. The stressor to supersede a failing queen, in my mind is different than the "reproduction" urge that facilitates and supports swarming. But, as you say, the process is the same. So many genetic traits are tied to other genetic traits-kind of like a business flow chart or writing computer software. If one thing happens, it triggers another cascade of events. Genes and when and how they kick in are the variables. In the question you asked about queen rearing, yes at the very basic level queen rearing is queen rearing. Why queen rearing takes place is where other genes and other behaviors take place. Some are linked in parallel and some are not.

Bob Replies:

Q
As an afterthought, for someone (an expert?) to imply that requeening from swarm cells increases the swarming tendency would imply that the queen's spermatheca can selectively choose which sperm are more likely to carry swarm traits and/or that her ovarioles can do the same with eggs? This seems highly improbable. I wouldn't rule out, though, unknown environmental influences by the workers who raise those queens for supersedure or for swarming. Until then, I hold with you that queen raising is queen raising is queen raising and I feel that the ‘experts' are wrong about reinforcing swarming traits through requeening from swarm cells. It seems to be a myth which should be retired. On the other hand, if it is a truth, where is the supporting data?

Thanks,
Bob Dye

A
Then, you have to consider Africanized honey bee (AHB) genetics in my part of the world. Data shows that AHB sperm will "swim", " migrate", "relocate", from where they are stored in the spermatheca to its opening so they are used first preferentially to produce more swarming, absconding, and other AHB-like behavior. Honey bees are survivors and have amazing survival schemes.

Q  Too Much Light Discourages Brood Rearing?

Your "Classroom" is very interesting and helpful to me. A situation has been of considerable concern lately. My hives are on stands about one foot high, clean and open underneath. In most of them I notice a tendency for the brood to be in the upper part of the brood chamber and the super above. Is it possible that light from the open bottom is causing the bees to move higher thereby wasting comb space? Should I shield these stands in some manner to make them darker? Thanks for an opinion on this.

George Wheeler

A
George, I suppose that you are using screened bottom boards because it is a great way to let varroa & hive trash fall to the ground and get it out of the colony. Light I think is of minor concern. Honey bees move up or have moved up at this time of year (February) for a variety of reasons: 1. Food reserves may have been eaten over winter and they are accessing food stored in supers above. 2. Warm air rises. It is easier to begin brood rearing that requires warm temperatures if it happens at the top. 3. Colonies with screened or open bottoms in spring do not begin brood rearing in the bottom areas of bottom combs because there is not a critical mass of bees to cover, warm, feed and protect brood in cool weather. Give it a month or two to determine if the top brood rearing is the norm, even during warmer weather. I assume that since you are running two brood chambers that you will reverse them at some point this spring anyway.
In early spring it is a trade off. Remove mites in an Integrated pest management (IPM) strategy with a screened or open bottom in cool/cold weather or have the bees move up into warmer areas if given space to begin brood rearing. If the bees have enough space, this is a good trade off in my mind because nothing is lost and varroa control is gained.

The Classroom - April 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (full version)

Q      Organic Honey A Fake Standard
Let me set up this story: A beekeeper
 sent me a small jar of honey that had
 a "USDA Organic" label on it plus a statement "100% Organic" and a small sticker that said "Certified Organic by the Organic Crop Improvement Association (O.C.I.A.) International. On the label, on the back, the statement "Product of Brazil and Canada". The beekeeper who sent this had several questions, just like you have. He asked me 1. Since Honey Bees can forage efficiently within several miles of their colony, how can anything be produced that is organic? 2. What are the USDA Organic requirements? 3. How does the USDA quantify "organic" in two different countries Brazil and Canada? Excellent questions and perhaps I was opening up a Pandora's box of stuff I would rather not know. It is a long slog to find answers.

For those interested specifically in the process and the requirements search up the National Organic Program (NOP)/USDA Organic Certification and enjoy the read. I contacted the packer of the honey with all the organic labels and stickers and statements on it and I contacted USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Let me share the email conversation with the company that packed the honey and then my conversation with USDA/AMS:

Jerry's inquiry to the XYZ Company who shall remain nameless:
I have had a consumer in Florida question the "organic" standard of "Organic Honey" sold under the XYZ label. The consumer sent me an 8 oz container purchased in a local grocery store. The consumer, a beekeeper, questioned how it could be "organic" if it is a blend of products from Brazil and Canada knowing the pest, parasite and disease control measures needed for honey bees. And the consumer does not think the USDA offers an "organic" standard for honey as displayed on the label. If you would be so kind as to answer the questions posed above and any other description of your basis for your "Organic" label, that would be helpful.

XYZ Company response:
Yes this can be and is certified to all standards under the NOP/USDA ruling for organic honey. There cannot be any use of herbicides, pesticides or GMO crops grown for 3 years on the area where the beeyards are. We blend the honey from Canada and Brazil and both have been tested and verified by an independent inspector from O.C.I.A. trained in the NOP rules.

Jerry:
Thank you. How have they been tested? The consumer who sent the product is a well seasoned beekeeper who is aware of the chemicals needed to keep honey bees alive and active. He is also aware that honey bees can forage in a 5-mile radius of their colony, which exposes them to lots of unintended toxins. What chemical residues are tested for? And, do you have batch documentation of these tests?

Thank you,

Jerry
XYZ Company:
Thank you for your inquiry. In order to obtain NOP/USDA organic certification the first step is an organic bee inspector from the organic certifying agency inspects the forage area.
Due to the far range of bee flying distance the vast forage areas must be free of any contaminants. This includes having clean air, soil and water. These requirements make it extremely difficult to find organically approved forage areas and are not available in the U.S. This is a part of the stringent organic certification requirements and these forage areas are only available in remote parts of Canada and Brazil. From the beginning to the end, full inspections are done by the organic certifying agencies in Canada and Brazil-not by us. We have organic certification documents issued by the organic certification agencies from the two countries.

Jerry:
Thank you. It must extremely difficult to find areas that are not impacted by our industrialized society. So, after the area has been approved for organic production, is there subsequent product testing to validate the organic certification of the end product? And, if so, what chemicals and/or their metabolites are looked for?

Thanks,
Jerry

XYZ Company:
We do not do testing; this is not a requirement for organic honey processing.

Now my exchange with the USDA/AMS:

Jerry:
Good Morning,
I was sent a container of a product labeled as "Organic Honey" under the XYZ Company label by a consumer in Florida. The consumer, also a beekeeper, was questioning the label that states that the honey was a blend from Brazil and Canada. Being a beekeeper and knowing the chemical inputs necessary to keep honey bees free of parasites, disease and pests and that honey bees can forage in a 5-mile radius of their colony, the statement made to me was, "That is impossible." I have been asked by the consumer if honey is on the NOP listing, are there certifying organizations in Brazil and Canada that would allow the USDA/AMS Organic label to be used and is there batch testing of honeys for chemical residues? The O.C.I.A. label is also displayed on this product and do their standards conform to NOP/USDA standards?
Thank you in advance for your help.

USDA/AMS Response:
Hello, and thank you for your email. According to the National Organic Program, it is possible to certify organic honey, provided that producers can meet the organic livestock standards. In other words, bees are considered livestock and are currently covered under sections 205.236 through 205.239 of the standards. Honey may be certified to the NOP standards using the livestock and handling standards. Bees must be managed from the second day of life as organic, as with poultry; consume organic feed; and avoid contact with prohibited substances. If certified in accordance with the NOP standards, the honey product may be labeled according to the NOP regulations. In the future the organic standards will be amended to cover any unique production and handling requirements as the NOP is currently working to developing these standards.
Concerning honey from Brazil and Canada, several USDA/AMS accredited certifiers operate in the former, while the USDA has an equivalence arrangement with the latter that would allow honey to be USDA certified organic in both countries.

Jerry:
Thank you so much for your response. "Livestock Standards", that is the rub. One can control what a chicken, cow or pig is exposed to or is fed and watered with as these animals can be contained, corralled and housed in some fashion. Honey bees can forage successfully in a 5-mile radius of their colony. No one can control what a honey bee feeds on, what water it drinks or what it is exposed to in the environment. How does a visual inspection of the beeyard by a NOP inspector address these realities? How does the USDA/AMS reconcile these realities? Thank you in advance for your help in my learning curve.
Jerry

USDA/AMS Response:
Truthfully speaking, these are the types of questions that the NOP is working to address.

So.....folks, You can pay some person, an accredited certifier, (what is that? how are they trained?) $$$ in this country or another country to come out, look around and give you Organic Certification. After that, there is no testing to say what Organic Honey is. The USDA/AMS sanctions this bogus process for bogus Organic Honey. Amazing.

Q Moving Day

Is it true that a colony can be successfully moved a short distance, without confusing or losing the foragers, by screening it closed for 3 days? If the weather is warm or hot should the colony, say a nuc, be placed in a basement (to prevent overheating) for the 3 days and then relocated to its new spot? I would worry about small hive beetles if I were to put it in the shade for 3 days.

Thanks!
Libby Mack

A
It won't work Libby unless you kill off all of the old foragers who are already programmed to the location. Newly emerged workers don't know where they are so can be moved in the way you select. Locking them up for 3 days won't help unless it kills off all of the older foragers. Tough to do.

Q   New York, New York

I am a NYC rooftop beekeeper. I peeked into my hives today just to see if they were alive. Ordinarily, I never open the hives in the winter to avoid chilling them. I noticed that the hives were dead. The bees were in the lower deep and not moving. It appeared that there was still capped honey so I don't think that they starved. I am not sure whether they froze, died of mite infestation or something else. How can I turn this into a learning experience and determine what they died from?

Phillippe Gerschell

A
Philippe, many times determining what an animal, person or especially an insect like the honey bee died of is difficult. Probably varroa and/or a combination of disease and resource issues. In a perfect world you would have been sampling your bees, approximately 100 and using powdered sugar or alcohol or, every month, the soapy water method to get a snap shot in time of varroa levels. Because all colonies have varroa, selecting treatments that are the least stressful when the threshold level is reached is important. Powdered sugar every 3-4 days, Apiguard per label directions, ApiLife Var per label directions and then Apistan/
Checkmite as a last, last, last resort in that order. Having lots of bees in the order of 5 pounds plus is the goal. Without this critical mass of bees they can't efficiently maintain a warm cluster.
Then, having diseases like American foulbrood (AFB), and European foulbrood (EFB) and Nosema as non-issues is the goal. Add plenty of honey, beebread and a mild winter and you will be successful.
If you have met the requirements above and they still are dead, then it needs a closer look. If you haven't, you now have a basic 2011 game plan.

Philippe responds:
Thank you so much for the fast response. I was not adequately paying attention to mites. Is there anything I can do after the fact now that the colony is dead to see what killed them? Also, is it unwise to introduce combs of brood to bees in another colony?

A
There is probably not a lot of investigative work that you can do now other than check for AFB and EFB spores, as well as dead varroa mites on the bottom board. Varroa reproduces on brood so if you put frames of sealed brood in another colony, assuming they haven't frozen to death, they will emerge with possibly lots of varroa mites. I would suggest you take your losses up front and treat surviving colonies with Apiguard when you have a nice break in the weather.

Q   Bee Accurate Books

Have you or your readers found any books that are accurate when it comes to talking about honey bees for younger aged children? I have been asked by our local library to talk about beekeeping, pollination, etc to a group of elementary aged children. Prior to my presentation the librarian wants to read a book. When I asked which book they wanted to read they said, "The Bumblebee Queen." Hmmmm. This doesn't bode well. So I thought I would ask you and maybe your reader base. Any suggestions?

Bruce Vilders
Mount Vernon, WA

A
Bruce, I am out of the office at present, but check our web site: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/plantinsp/apiary/images/Bissy%20Bee%20Lesson%20Plan_web.pdf and I believe we have a K-5 curriculum called "What's the Buzz". Check it out, as it may be what you need. The National Honey Board also has a curriculum for young children that you can access at their web site, www.honey.com.

In addition, there are also many children's beekeeping books on the market and many of them do a great job of introducing young children to the world of bees and beekeeping. Try Googling this on the Internet or check out the catalogs of the major bee suppliers. They all carry children's beekeeping books.

Q  Nightlight Confusion
In late 2006 or early 2007 I noticed honey bees on the front of our house in Miami Shores at night. The house is white. The coach lamps stay on all night. They were not grouped, just one here and one there totaling 12 to 15. Some were still there in the morning. All were gone by afternoon. I had never seen honey bees out at night before.

The other day I saw a honey bee walking along on the sidewalk. Something about her pace made her look lost. I spend my summers in NC. I'm an agricultural crop consultant working in cotton, etc. I noticed a few more bees this summer and thought maybe things were normalizing with the bees. Can you tell me what's going on?

Thanks,
Toni Wade

A
Toni, honey bees, like many other animals, organize their lives individually and communally by day and night cycles. Not unlike chickens, honey bees use the diurnal cycle of the sun rising and setting to give them biological/physiological cues of what to do and when to do it. Once years ago we lived at a place where we decided to get a few chickens and being novices, we got a rooster as well. The place where we had them was close to a streetlight. The rooster was motivated by this artificial "sun" to crow all night. Our neighbors were not impressed nor were we, so he had to go.

Honey bees can get confused about artificial lights and be attracted to them no differently than moths and hundreds of other insects. Honey bees, especially feral honey bees with some African genetic introgression that is exhibited in your area, are easily attracted to outdoor lighting. They think it is the sun.

Honey bees age, are exposed to toxins, can be physically damaged while foraging and may not be able to fly. If they can't fly, they walk until they get eaten. The bees you saw this past summer may be a healthier feral colony or with the huge growth in hobby beekeeping, these may have been beekeeper-managed honey bees some place close by. I am glad you are noticing. That means you care.

Q Partial Truth

I have a "Classroom" question for you: I've had numerous friends forward me news stories about the EPA allowing clothianidin, which allegedly is provably harmful to honey bees. These news items usually pin the blame for Colony Collapse Disorder on this and a recent documentary (The Vanishing of the Bees) that's making the rounds also firmly blames everything on Bayer chemicals (and more or less dismisses disease vectors as a cause!). Reading these stories it would sound like the chemical in question is indeed quite harmful for bees, but I know all too well how wrong the media can get things, so I've been holding out for an opinion on this from a member of the beekeeping scientific community. What are your thoughts on this?

Kris
California

A
The problem is, primarily, in agricultural settings where honey bees are brought in for fee-based pollination or beekeepers looking for a good free nectar source. Production agriculture requires lots of chemical inputs to make this system work. Fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, surfactants, growth regulators and many other chemicals are used topically and/or systemically. Honey bees are exposed to these chemicals when in these production agriculture systems, sometimes in acute lethal levels and sometimes in sub lethal chronic levels. Being an insect exposed to things that are designed to control bad insects or to chemicals, which synergistically are toxic to honey bees, stresses them. Too much stress in this small insect with limited ability to breakdown these toxins and the honey bee suffers negative health effects.

For instance, we have preliminary data that show that some "chemicals" in the ppm level affect the gut lining of honey bees which makes nosema more aggressive and in turn allows more viruses to infiltrate the gut and affect overall honey bee longevity. As we thought all along, honey bee health is a mixture of many different positive and negative inputs. Can we point our fingers at certain chemical companies for doing bad things? Sure we can, but what we really need to do is to prove honey bees and ourselves valuable, so we are part of the protective labeling process and not an after thought.

Q   Varroacide Brood Rearing Disruption

I have been using Apilife Var for four years with mixed results. I've been inserting it for both spring and fall (early May and late Aug to early Sept.) for the three 7 to 10 day periods. I have been placing the second and third dose with the first dose left in place and all were removed after 30 days. In conversation with another beekeeper, he informed me that when it is used in the fall, it might restrict the queen from laying brood, resulting in fewer young bees to over winter. Do you know if this is possible?

B Graney

A
Anything put into a colony that is a varroacide, antibiotic or essential oil can disrupt the colony, the foragers, nurse bees and queen and this impacts brood production. That is why miticides that use essential oils have specific timing specifications on their labels. As an aside, in its simplest there are two kinds of bees, summer and winter bees. Summer bees are physiologically designed to be lean, fast and live 6-8 weeks after working themselves to death. Winter bees are different in that they have more fat bodies and a metabolism designed so they can live for months during a normal temperate winter as found in many parts of North America. These winter bees start being produced in late summer, early fall (Aug/Sept) in preparation for a long cold winter as these European genetic honey bees are programmed to do.

So, products like Api-life Var need to be used no later than late summer as sometimes the queen shuts down for a few days during treatment. The number of bees lost or not produced is only about 2-3000. But, when bees are coming out of winter in March or April and need every bee they can get to maintain hive warmth and brood production, having them is better than not having them.

Q Beekeeping Isn't Really Easier In The South

I have a question for you. Here in Florida, is it better to have one deep for brood or are two deeps better?
It would seem that there would normally be a lot more bees in a double deep than there would be in a single deep, and that more honey would be produced as an end result. Some beekeepers are of the opinion that a single deep with a queen excluder on top of it is the preferred way to go. However, if an individual wanted to increase his colony count, it would appear that a double deep would be more conducive for splitting into another colony.
I will be looking forward to receiving your opinion on this topic.

Kind regards,
Tim French

A
Having kept bees in the north and in Florida, they are two different worlds because of weather and the bees. We have a hodge podge of honey bee genetics from northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa now. We live in a tropical/Subtropical part of the world called Florida. We keep honey bees from Europe because they store enough honey to make it through a long cold northern European winter. What folks forget in Florida is that with our warmer temperatures (generally) in winter this actually means the bees are using MORE resources as brood rearing continues through most of what we call winter. But, there are not the flowering plants to support this continuous growth in our winter.
In Florida we do have things blooming all winter for this temperate insect, but never enough to support the brood rearing triggered by warmer temperatures. The bees are confused. They are supposed to be taking it easy in December, January, February and March, but temperature is telling them it is time to get going. Anyone who can successfully keep honey bees year round in Florida without a lot of artificial inputs is a good beekeeper. Double deeps make more sense to me than pushing the envelope with less room and hoping temperature and blooming plants will appear in parallel in winter in Florida. If you want to feed all winter, then it doesn't matter. Your choice.

Q   Snow Blind Bees
Jerry - Greeting from a New Hampshire Bee Yard (Snow Covered). Although I grew up in Maine farmland surrounded with honey bees most of my young life, I just recently, at age 71, became involved with the amazing insects. I now live in Exeter, New Hampshire, a near coastal New England community. When I attended the local Pawtuckaway Beekeepers Association's Bee School I discovered that I was not "the unique" old duffer. There were many of us in attendance. Nonetheless, my questions:

On sunny days, which we have had few of this year, many of my Italian ladies take flight. I observe them at temperatures as low as 38 degrees. I am aware of "winter cleansing flights." Also, I am not overly surprised at the numbers of dead bees on the snow in front of the hive. I assume these are part of the cleansing process - removing the dead from the colony. However, I observe that dozens of the bees in flight fall to the snow and ultimately die. When I pick them up and try to coax them back into the warmth of the hive, they simply return to their original pursuit. Why is this? Are these old and weak bees? Do I have a disease problem?

Thank you in advance. Your ABJ articles are my bible.

Wayne M. Patten
Exeter, New Hampshire

A
Congratulations on this new amazing relationship with the honey bee. Remember that honey bees orient towards the sun and navigate by it. On a bright sunny warm day with snow on the ground, it gets pretty bright doesn't it? In humans it gets so bright that sunglasses help. In many parts of the world there is a condition called snow blindness where our eyes (retinas) get overwhelmed/over loaded by this reflected light. Honey bees have "eyes" that can get overwhelmed by bright light, UV especially. They simply fly around blind and eventually fly right into the snow....crash. The reflected light is brighter than the sun. The bees fly around; start getting cool and fly into the snow. Some entomologists also believe that these dying bees are old or diseased and that is why they do not make it back to the hive. That is why having many healthy honey bees going into winter is better than less because so many are lost along the way for many different reasons.

The Classroom - March 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q   Alternate Food Source

We enjoy reading your articles in the American Bee Journal. We have a question:
We have a few hives and also feed a few cows. Last fall we were feeding the bees high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), but noticed the bees were drawn to the cattle feed with dextrose and molasses. They really seemed to like this over the corn syrup. Will the dextrose and/or molasses cause any harm to the bees? Will this make the honey darker?

Steve Heston

A
Actually, Steve, honey bees can locate "food" more easily away from the colony rather than if they are near a feeder. The closest a honey bee can direct her sisters to a food source (flower), is just a few meters from a colony. When food such as HFCS is fed in a colony, each individual bee has to find the sources herself as it is too close to dance/vibrate/and squeak to her sisters about. All that said, your cattle sweet feed was easier to locate and tell the whole colony about than your in-hive feeder. The molasses part of this equation would introduce lots of indigestible material to the honey...not good in full winter. But, they  were probably not able to eat, collect and store a lot of this, so I doubt it did any great harm to the bees or any already dark fall honey such as goldenrod or aster.

Q Do Bees Have Mops and Sponges?

Thanks for your classroom. I look forward to reading it with each new issue, and have just ordered your book. This has been my first year in beekeeping. I placed my extracted frames outside to let the bees clean them up, and before I put them away for the winter, it rained (a lot) and filled the cells in the comb with water. I shook the frames out and tried to dry them up, and then stacked the boxes with the frames in them in my barn. I placed a board over the top of the stack to keep the mice out.
It seems there was still some moisture in the boxes, the frames, and the comb. Now I have a  fair amount of mildew growing on the surfaces of the wood and on the wax of the combs. Is it okay to use these frames next year? Will the bees clean out the mildew before storing honey in the comb? Can I do anything now to make it easier later when I want to add these supers?
Thank you,
Jim Dyreby

A
Jim, the bees will clean them out but less stress, cleaning up icky stuff, is always better than more. How about a low pressure spray with a household bleach solution (1 tablespoon per gal of water) to kill the mold and leaving them to air out exposed to the sun before using them successfully in a colony. You should be fine.

The Classroom - February 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

TED Lecture
Wherever you are, it might be a cold, miserable February Day when not much is going on and spring may still be over the horizon. Or, it could be a really nice spring or fall day, depending on your location relative to the equator. Regardless of where you are or what you are doing, I'd like you to take a look at an online TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) presentation by Chef (yes, a Chef) Dan Barber, titled "How I fell in Love with a Fish" (Yes, I know). Trust me or don't trust me, but take a look: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish.html.
 It is only about 20 minutes, then come back and read this exchange.

Q
This TED lecture was sent to me and after watching it I thought of you. Maybe you have seen it. I would be grateful if some of its wisdom would be reflected in your Classroom pages. It is about farming fish, but it could be about farming honey bees as well.

Frank Bernstein
Pardess Hana  Israel

 A
 Thank you Frank. Tell me how you think that this information, direction, change in direction can be incorporated into the Classroom? Certainly the small footprint of a part-time backyard hobby beekeeper is "ecologically" something valuable and sustainable. Commercial migratory beekeeping with the thousands of colonies owned by one beekeeper/small business person is not "beekeeping" in my mind. The largest beekeeper in Florida has approx. 15,000 colonies, staff, trucks, loaders, buildings and 1,000's of gallons of liquid feed and 1,000's of pounds of pollen substitute, etc. This is not beekeeping, it is production agriculture. No different than 10's of thousands of chickens, hogs, cattle, fish or thousands of acres of a monoculture such as corn and soybeans.

In production agriculture one pushes the unit of production hard in order to gain a monetary reward. Beekeepers are no different than anyone one else in production industrial agriculture. They push a colony of honey bees hard in order to get a reward. Not that these are bad people, but that is the business model and it seems to work within this world. How do you change a small business person's model and still let them pay their mortgage, put the kids through school, buy diesel fuel and more machinery? Everything is a trade-off. Bringing 2 million honey bee colonies to California for almond pollination is just turning diesel fuel into almonds. And this pertains to any other crop involved in fee-based pollination or honey production. Kind of like turning chicken into tuna in the TED piece. Let me know what you think the new model should be?

Q2
Thank you for your response. You've asked a difficult question, but in your mail I believe you have the basis for the answer.  Not the answer, but the basis for it. I remember when I was taking a navigation exam on a boat off the shores of Haifa. The examiner asked us to plot a direction to Akko, which is on the coast and just a bit north of Haifa.  We had three minutes. My compatriots rushed down into the hold, pulled the charts and started making calculations. A few of us stayed on deck because we realized that we could see Akko from where we were standing. So all we had to do was look a the ship's compass for the answer. What I mean is that sometimes the answer is simpler than the question.

What is the model? The model is the way we get there. I remember an exchange you had with someone who was writing about regulatory questions concerning organic honey. It involved, I believe, Q's and A's and then another round. I don't remember the details, but I believe she persisted in championing her sustainable model of beekeeping which she felt was basic for the potential to produce quality honey and her belief in the importance of insisting on consuming quality honey and other quality foods as a basis for human health.
Correct me if I am wrong, and I apologize if I am, but I remember that you felt that we have a world to feed and that her model could not supply the goods. In my opinion, both of you are right and that the model that must come will be a synthesis of both points of view. The way to get there is through discussion, precipitating discussion in the belief that it is essential that these elemental issues be considered.

One way to incorporate the message of the TED lecture into The Classroom is to include your readers in the debates that are ongoing over why bees today are so difficult to manage, work, and keep healthy. They need to know not just what to do when a problem arises, but why the problem has arisen in the first place. Not just what to do to control varroa, but why is varroa so difficult to control. Here you might consider the loss of genetic diversity of queens from the demands of large commercial operations that require uniformity and specific profit-producing traits and the tradeoffs that involves. Raising hundreds and even thousands of queens from one mother. Here you might consider stress factors such as crowding (of bees), mild air pollution that dulls the honey bees' sense of smell and foraging efficacy and other subtle environmental dangers. You know this stuff better than most, so it would be helpful to those of your readers, many of whom do not have a sense of the bigger world of beekeeping that they have entered, when they have only two hives in their back yard.
Before I continue, I'd like to say that I agree with your description of production beekeeping, except for the small business aspect. The large commercial operations are big business. In the end profits might be marginal, but these are big business operations with large payrolls and a lot of money changing hands. Is a production agriculture modeled fish farm, hog farm or a turkey farm a small business because it is owned by one person? Sure, everybody is trying to get their kids through school, pay the mortgage, bring bread to the table, but the ones who do it pushing around a few thousand dollars a month are not the same as the ones who are pushing around tens of thousands a month or more. And, as you say, they both leave an entirely different imprint on the environment and the bees themselves.
After all, if we are turning chickens into fish, what are we eating? And, if we are turning diesel fuel into almonds, what are we doing? We need to produce income, but that a model works to produce income does not logically define its viability. Maybe the model is intention. With intention, anything is possible.

Frank Bernstein

Q How Many Eggs?
Can you provide a ballpark figure regarding how many eggs a queen would lay during the course of a calendar year? Thanks very much.

Joel
Fox Lake, IL

A
I can say with all honesty that I cannot....nor can anyone else. Too much diversity Joel. Here are some things to consider. Our genetically based honey bees of European origin evolved/developed in a part of the world that had distinct seasons-spring, summer, fall and most significantly winter. These honey bees are led by a fertile queen laying up to 2000 eggs per day in summer and potentially none in the dead of winter. Then, egg laying could be up and down in all seasons due to the amount of nectar and pollen coming in that determines how many larvae can be fed. Add in swarming and a break in brood rearing, incomplete matings, diseases and weather influence and who knows. Define the parameters and a calculation can be done. Keep it in a nebulous, ever changing real world and these remarkable insects survive by being ever adaptable and flexible. They have survived for millions of years by being adaptable, which makes management decisions by the beekeeper hard because they really don't need us.

The Classroom - January 2011

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

Q   Why Aren't Growers Beekeepers?

Thank you for spending your weekend with us at the Cook DuPage Beekeepers Association (IL). We enjoyed your thought-provoking presentation and your sense of humor. I was very touched by your genuine love for the honey bee and concern for its future as well as ours. And, I know that we all left the banquet feeling the importance of what we're doing. And, that we, as part-time beekeepers, have the power to make a difference in how the public views the sweet honey bee. I also feel that we have a responsibility to the honey bee to care for it in the safest, most nurturing way possible.

For the past 10 years that I've been keeping bees, I have been very disturbed by the methods used by commercial beekeepers when transporting, feeding and handling the bees. It seemed to me, and I'm no scientist, that the bees were stressed, ill-fed, and worked beyond their limits. There must be a better way to ensure pollination of orchards and crops without mistreatment of the bees. Given the expense of renting hives, I've often wondered why orchards don't employ their own beekeepers and maintain onsite hives. It could mean less cost to the grower, honey to sell as a sideline and the bonus would be better management for the bees. But what do I know? I just know that for what we reap from the honey bee, we are not very generous to them in return. And they deserve to be treated more kindly. If we would all be more mindful in our beekeeping practices, look beyond the moment, be less greedy and more thankful, the little honey bee would start thriving once again.

Jane Collins - President
Cook-Dupage Beekeepers' Association

A

Thank you Jane for the kind words and insight into honey bee pollination in particular. Let me see if I can give you a poor analogy as to why most growers do not keep honey bees themselves. Remember that they only need them for a few weeks a year at best and that they are not beekeepers but growers and have enough stuff to think about. Let's say you have a lawn maintenance company mow your yard and trim your bushes from June to September. Would you keep them on the payroll paying them the same amount as you pay them weekly or bi-monthly from September through May? Maybe, but probably not. Honey bees are an overhead in the grower's mind not unlike all of the other inputs he/she has to provide to produce a saleable crop. Why worry about the bees and what do I do with any honey production and do I need to do some management techniques and what happens if I lose 30% of the bees right before the trees, bushes or the plants bloom? Isn't it better to just place an order for 100 colonies of a certain strength and have them delivered and leave all the headaches to the beekeeper for the next 50 weeks? For the grower this is not unlike ordering fertilizer, chemicals or pickers.

Q Powdered Sugar Applcation

When you apply powdered sugar, should you apply it over the top bars and let it go between the frames or should you pull the frames and apply it to the bees on the sides of the comb. I don't want to damage the brood. I have seen it done both ways on Youtube. So, I'll turn to the one with the expert advice. Thanks so much for what you do for us new beekeepers who are trying to learn.

Danny
Vansant, VA

A

Danny, the top down method works well without disturbing the colony unnecessarily. Approximately 1 cup per hive body works very well. Screened bottoms or some way of removing the still alive mites as they fall down with the remnants of the powdered sugar is also a necessity. Do this about every 7-10 days. Then, survey so you get accurate estimates of varroa populations and then cross your fingers.You should be pleased.

The Classroom - December 2010

by Jerry Hayes

 (full version)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well, 2010 was interesting. I don't quote Scripture often but, "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places."  Matthew didn't mention the economy in the dumper, but here we are. Be grateful, have gratitude for all you have and all we have in this country and that includes honey bees.  We have that connection to something real and amazing, regardless of what is going on around us in the world. Merry Christmas.

Q Warre (war rey) Hives
As a beekeeper, I am concerned about the health of our industry. I am interested in all methods of helping our industry. I have been hearing and reading about these Warre hives and the way in which they are used. Have you had any experience in seeing or hearing about these hives? If you have, what are your opinions, professional or personal?

Thank you,
Ernie Schmidt

A
First, here is my disclaimer: I have never been a full time manager of a Warre Hive full of honey bees. Here is what I think I know from having seen these in use: 
1) They look like a pain in the neck.
2) Their management is based on "hands-off" beekeeping, which is not good. How does one administer pest, parasite and disease control or anything else efficiently?
3) TBH's (top bar hives) such as the sloped sided Kenyan variety are much better for individual frame manipulation than these things are since TBH's are designed to work with honey comb building biology, not against it. A square box like the Warre hive with only a top bar for the bees to build free form comb on means they attach it to the sides and the top bars of the box below.
4) Under-supering is a pain. With the entire comb attached to something (side, top, bottom), you have to lift up the upper box somehow and use piano wire to separate the comb attached to the top bars from the box above. You kill a lot of bees. Ugh. Plus, when they get tall, the weight is physically tough to deal with. My back is really not getting any stronger.
5) The only possible advantage is that the colony is forced to draw new comb. This is a good thing because it avoids reusing pesticide- or disease-contaminated comb.  On the down side, it lowers your honey production since the extra comb building means less honey production. However, you can compromise by swapping out three or so frames /combs every year from a Langstroth frame style hive and get the same results without forcing ugly words to come out of your mouth when working the Warre hives.
The understanding of "bee space" was the Holy Grail of beekeeping. It allowed beekeeping to become easier, more efficient and enjoyable. It is the basis of all successful beekeeping. Are you sure you want to go back over 150 years into beekeeping history and re-invent the wheel?

Q   Small Hive Beetle Ground Drench

There is a possibility of getting a ground drench registered in Canada for small hive beetle. This would be a Permethrin treatment, GardStar. From what you've seen in Florida, are many beekeepers using ground drenches on apiaries?

Raul Shashinski

A
Florida's soils (sand) are not structured and therefore are conducive to small hive beetle (SHB) larvae pupating in it. In most of Florida we are always just three weeks away from a drought as and rain we get simply runs through the sand and back into the aquifer. SHB larvae have to: 1) burrow 5-6 inches straight down in the sand to get to a location with sufficient moisture and stable temperatures or 2) crawl a distance to get to the margins of woods and thicker vegetation where temperatures are cooler and soil is moister.
All of that to say ground drenches do not do very well because our rains wash and dilute the Permethrin (GardStar) quickly and wash it out of the kill zone. Also, SHB larvae can crawl 100+ yards at times seeking out the cooler moister woods margins. One potentially would have to treat a large area around a colony or an apiary repeatedly to have any effect and it just isn't efficient or cost effective. Plus, most beekeepers consider a treatment like this is after the fact, when their colony has already been compromised. They are usually more interested in killing the reproductive adults in the colony. Unlike you, we have an endemic 24/7/365 population of SHB, so controlling adult infestation pressure is the goal. Winter will be your friend.
We haven't even talked about the environmental concerns, and ground water contamination, etc. My opinion is that this product should not be your first line of
defense or offense Paul.

Q Science Fair Project
My name is Julia Rauchfuss. I am a senior at West Jr/Sr High School and I am doing a Science Fair project on the honey bee's foraging behavior. I have a few questions about my experiment that I was hoping you might be able to help me with. My science project is to determine whether honey bees rely more on their sense of smell or their memory to locate food sources. I am having difficulty isolating the variable in my experiment, which is the method the bees use for finding the sugar water bowl (smell, memory of bowl's previous location, and memory of bowl's appearance) from each other.
My plan for my experiment is to lay out 4 identical bowls equidistant from the beehive, one bowl will contain sugar water and the others will contain plain water. In each test, I will leave the bowls out in this formation long enough for the bees to become accustomed to the location of the sugar bowl. Then, I will switch the location of the sugar bowl with one of the other bowls and
observe which bowl the bees initially go to. If the bees first go to the prior location of the sugar water bowl, then I would hypothesize that they are using some type of memory. If that is the case, I plan to perform further experiments to determine whether they are remembering the previous location of the sugar water bowl or its appearance. I know that was a very brief explanation of my experiment, but are there any apparent problems that you see in it?
Also, I have a few questions about my
experiment that I was hoping you might be able to answer for me. I'm aware of the waggle dance that bees use to tell other bees where to find a food source, and that this could throw off my results if bees are using instructions to find the bowl (instead of smell or memory). But, I'm not sure exactly how to adjust my experiment to prevent the waggle dance from skewing my results or even to take advantage of this behavior. Should I stop recording results after it has become apparent that the bees have been told where to find the sugar water bowl? Will it be apparent when the bees have been told where to find the sugar water bowl?
Thank you for your time.

Julia Rauchfuss

A
Julia, I am glad that you are using the honey bee as your research platform. What I think I know from data about honey bee foraging in a field setting is this. Foraging scouts leave the colony and sample flower nectar to bring back to the colony to share with their forager-age sisters. There is a bit of competition among the returning scouts as they share information about the nectar they have brought back. The nectar will be sampled by other individuals in the colony and assessed for sugar content. More sugar means it is sweeter and may be a better energy exchange for energy expended flying out and energy being returned (sugar) to the colony for use and/or storage. In this nectar sample the nectar will have a flavor and aroma component. Through a variety of "dances", vibrations, angles and speed, which you have already read about, foragers are recruited to go in a certain direction when they leave the colony. After leaving the colony in a certain direction, they also search for aromas associated with the nectar sampled in the colony. At some point the foragers then use their visual field to do a final location and then they taste the nectar to see if it matches up with the flavor they received from the sample in the colony and viola they are there or not. The order may be dances, direction, aroma/scent, visual, flavor and identification. It is a multi-level search mechanism, not just dances.
For instance, if you just put out sugar water that has no "flavor or aroma", then it is difficult for the scouts to go back and "sell" the product. It has no identifying traits that can be used to direct their sisters to a location other than suggested direction and distance. Fewer foragers will go to and ultimately find the site than if there are other identifying components-pretty fascinating for an insect with a brain the size of a period on this page.
Have fun with this. I would run your research design protocol past Dr. Jamie Ellis /University of Florida for fine-tuning and explanation.

Julia Replies
Jerry, thank you! In a simple paragraph, you helped me understand what several books and articles could not. Your breakdown on the waggle dance has really helped me grasp the concept in a way that I can use to plan my experiments. And thank you for telling me about the sugar water. Dr. Ellis recommended that I use water with honey in it.

Q  Beekeeping in Western Australia
Hello Jerry. I never miss an issue and your page. I am confused. Here is my question. There are thousands of beekeeper sites and millions of pages on how to keep bees. They all claim to be experts. Bah humbug! The swarm prevention issue is still the single most important factor. Keeping bees and keeping them balanced and fulfilled is essential.
Just read Kim Flottum's book, which really is very detailed. Unfortunately, he has also missed the whole point as to the center core essentials! People need to read more about animal behaviors. Temple Grandin and Cesar Millan provide such fabulous information.
Having done my reading and research, then following a logical twice-a-month structured management system and inspection routine all through spring and summer for the past 10 years, my bees do not swarm. Raising a new queen during pretty autumn days on top of the hive (above a screen), then easily finding and dispatching the old queen and placing the new queen and her brood box down to the base of the hive, preparatory to winter, is just basic common sense. (I do not have snow where I live.) No STRESS, No SWARMING, No FEAR, No CONFUSION. Lots of honey, happy bees ...and an even happier beekeeper. So many people seem to be doing it wrong. Jerry can we ever agree on a practical beekeeping regime that works for most of the people, most of the time?

Dan
Western Australia

A
Dan, I have thought about your question/observation about how, consistently and successfully, to manage honey bees. So, here goes with my admonition that an opinion is like a nose...everybody has one. I think my opinion is that we are talking about somewhat different beekeeping worlds-Australia and the United States. As such, the basics are the same, but at the same time slightly different due to the changes that have been imposed on U.S. beekeepers generally.
Beekeeping 30+ years ago was one in which the only thing we had to worry about was AFB. Honey bees basically took care of themselves. If one could learn about honey bee biology to a small degree and prevent or discourage swarming, he/she was ahead in the game. Preventing swarming, which is a key reproductive method for honey bee survival, is hard to stop.
Fast forward to tracheal mites, varroa mites, small hive beetles (SHB), honey bee viruses, African honey bees (AHB), Nosema ceranae, systemic agricultural pesticides, sunspots and global warming. All of these, except the last two said somewhat in jest, add in levels of change and concern with their new variables. We lost lots of beekeepers when tracheal mites were introduced. Those who adapted then had to contend with varroa mites and then we lost some more beekeepers who could not adapt. Now slowly mix in SHB, viruses, AHB, etc. and swarming takes on a less important role because if your bees are that healthy to reach swarming stage, that is great!
Most of the time U.S. commercial beekeepers are splitting colonies to make up losses, so swarming is not an issue. Then, with AHB biological introgression and this bee's propensity to send out swarms the size of a grapefruit multiple times (10-20) a year and beekeepers simply can't keep up.
If someone can successfully keep honey bees in the southern tier of states in the United States, they are excellent beekeepers-much better than I am. There are so many negative inputs and one has to know not only the biology of honey bees, but also a whole suite of pests, parasites and pathogens and so only the smartest, most committed and adaptable beekeepers survive. This is Darwinian control of beekeepers, as well as honey bees.
I think at some point in the future we can come up with Best Management Practices for honey bees that will be successful. I just don't think we are there yet.
Thanks for the great question.
Dan Follows Up
Comprehensively answered and very clever as always. We (down under in Western Australia) keep on whacking ourselves and touching as many wooden objects as possible while our luck continues to hold up with our not having to deal with European foulbrood, small hive beetle, Apis cerana honey bees or bee-killers like Varroa and Tracheal mites. We just have light doses of AFB and occasional Chalkbrood outbreaks.
I believe you have answered my query very well.
Recently, I was obliged to participate in a surveillance hive-monitoring program. I had to insert sticky boards and Bayvarol strips in my hives. The state apiary inspector will take out, examine and review all the sticky boards for any signs of a mite problem. I FELT SO BAD on the inside after I had done that to my special friends the bees, felt like I was doing something bad to them, they who have given so much back to me over the years and the queens that have formed great communication connections with me and demonstrated calmness and positive energy to new comers. Such balanced bees and no swarming.
Jerry, please keep up your good work answering all manner of question in the ABJ. You are certainly VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, even 18,000 miles away!
P.S. Western Australia is known as the wildflower state. Average yearly yield from a hive in the suburbs is about 100 kilos (220 pounds). Our casuarinas -paper bark trees flowered three times this past summer, four times in the previous year. Climate change can be weird.

Kind regards,
Dan
Wesern Australia

Q  Temperate Bees In The Tropics
I'm wondering if you could shed some light on how the bees behave here in South Florida during the winter months? Does the queen slow down laying due to the weather and lack of nectar like they do in the north - or because we are tropical, does she keeps up her laying more than the north? My mentor, who has been a Massachusetts beekeeper for 35 years, isn't sure about the winter months here in south Sarasota County and we're wondering if we need to feed the bees all winter? Also, is there a list of plants that provide nectar and pollen during the winter months here in SW Florida since it is sub-tropical? Is there a list of native plants just for our zone 9, 10 that are good for bees? Also, how do you know when to feed them the sugar water mixture? Thanks again for your wonderful help to all of us!

Janice

A
Glad to be able to assist a little, Janice. Sometimes I am a little long-winded, as in my mind answers are seldom neat and tidy in the honey bee world. Bear with me a bit as I weave around your question below.
Genetically based European honey bees developed/evolved in a part of the world that had a significant most challenging season for survival....winter. These are temperate "bees" or bees that have adapted to seasons, temperature swings, daylight length changes and short, intense growing seasons as plants try to reproduce before the next winter. Some flowers produce lots of nectar to encourage quick complete pollination by insects, honey bees included, in temperate northern climates. Honey bees have adapted to collect large amounts of nectar, and have figured out how to preserve it (honey) for use during winter when there is nothing to eat and cold temperatures require more energy to keep from freezing to death. Honey is a high-energy food sought after by animals, including humans, and is the reason humans have had a close relationship to these food-storing insects for thousands of years. The beekeeping industry developed because it was agricultural food production and had individual value and societal cultural value.
European-based honey bees are valuable because they store more honey than they typically need and we can eat it, trade it and sell it. They are seasonally adjusted to respond and survive winter. In tropical/sub-tropical climates European genetically based honey bees do not do well "generally" year round because they have no seasonal cues as they had in temperate climates.
Brazilian beekeepers brought over African Bees in the late 1950's because the European honey bees they had were okay, but not very robust or vital because they didn't know how to biologically respond to few or weak seasonal cues. These beekeepers/
entomologists thought they could breed out the defensive/aggressive characteristics. However, they didn't and we now have the environmental blunder of the 20th Century-and for us the 21st Century. We will have to see how all this works out in the long-term.
So, keeping honey bees successfully in the tropics/subtropics is a bit different. Queens are genetically programmed to take several months off in winter, but now the daylight is shorter in Florida, but not so short as to signal "winter". The temperatures are still warm, so that tells the queen she can lay and there is always something blooming. However, there is not really enough to provide suitable nectar and pollen for significant brood production. There is some of everything, but not enough for large European honey bee populations. Left alone, they are confused and stressed. Beekeepers have to feed liberally to keep the colony alive as they try to raise brood and keep large hungry populations that do not have enough natural resources to access all of the time.
Beekeepers have to monitor colonies continuously as the bees eat up stores quickly in the warm weather. Or, they do as commercial beekeepers do and use this time to split colonies and treat for varroa, waiting for January, February and March when colonies will build up again in the South Florida "spring". You still have to feed and monitor as honey bee populations increase. You have to be a good beekeeper in South Florida, as it will test your management skills. No winter cleansing there.
In the Melitto Files there has been a list of plants blooming in different regions of Florida over the last year or so. Dig out your past issues and you'll find "Management Calendars". Or, take a look at www.
UFhoneybee.com and find past issues of the Melitto Files and in them will be "Management Calendars" listing possible plants in bloom.
If you have made it this far, I hope it made some sense.

Q   Anise Hyssop
I am sure you are familiar with Anise Hyssop. Are there specific varieties that are best for honey bees? Do you know the amount of honey produced with an acre, for example, of hyssop?

A
I have read just like you have that Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is a great nectar/pollen plant for honey bees-that it can support 100 colonies per acre. If that were really true, then every beekeeper would be tilling up their yards to plant it. And since they aren't, it must be 1) not true or 2) a very well kept secret.  Remember the old saying that if is sounds to good to be true...?
Like all other honey plants, it is not perfect and nectar/ pollen production is variable, affected by climate, soil type, moisture, hours of sunlight, pests, diseases and competition from weeds. Many Anise Hyssop enthusiasts have found out the hard way that the plant requires a great amount of money and time to establish. It is not a matter of going out in the field with a planter and sowing 60 acres and then waiting to harvest the resulting honey. Growing a good stand of Anise Hyssop can be difficult. 
However, I always encourage trying new honey plants if you have the acreage, time and money to do so. Read about the plant first and find out where it grows best and where it seems to produce the best honey crops. A great honey plant in one part of the country may be a flop in a different area.  What some beekeepers do is to first find out which plants/trees grow best in their area and then they pick the best honey plants from this list.  

Q  Varroa Control In New Zealand
Since you worked on the research with Metarhizium, I thought you could answer a question for me. Since this fungus is being marketed for Varroa control in New Zealand, can you tell me how they solved the problems that researchers had with it here? Also, has anything been published regarding efficacy with this fungus in New Zealand?
On a completely different note, I understand that different bee dances are used for food or water sources, depending on distance from the hive. Which of the dances would be used when the hives are placed into an orchard when food is both near and far? Thanking you in advance,

Morris

A
I have heard that Dr. Mark Goodwin in New Zealand found a "different" strain of Metarhizium that was longer lived and functions well within the hive environment. If it was that great and consistent, we may have heard more about it, but I have not. Let me know if you do.
In an orchard environment many times the smell of nectar overwhelms the need for specific direction to go a certain distance since it is completely obvious where food is. It becomes a visual/olfactory exercise. Have you ever been someplace and smelled some great cooking, great perfume or a great flower aroma and can follow it to the source? You didn't need Map Quest or a GPS; you just needed your nose first, then your eyes second? Just like a honey bee.

Q   Winter / Skunks
Hello, I have a question regarding my beehives. I am wondering what is the ratio of sugar to water that I should be giving to my bees for winter-feeding. In addition, I wonder how much I should be giving, if I am taking about 30 lbs. of honey from their hives. What is the sugar to water equivalent?
One more question. I live in the suburbs of Chicago and have noticed some scratch marks at the entrance of my hives. What kind of animal would eat bees?
I appreciate your time in answering my questions. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Stan

A
Stan, for your part of the country having 60+ pounds of sealed honey or stored sugar syrup replacement is the goal. If you are not at this level, a 2 parts sugar/1 part water mixture should be fed now until that minimum amount of 60 pounds is reached. To combine two parts sugar to one part water, you will need to use hot water, but be sure to let it cool before feeding it to your bees. It is getting late, Stan. Get the weight up. This may be all a waste of time, however, if varroa control was not administered in late summer or early fall, so it is your call.
Skunks scratch at the hive entrance, bees get disturbed and because it is night, they don't fly. Instead, they walk out where they are eaten-a bee buffet for the skunks!
You can discourage the skunks by adding a strip of tacks (points up) along the front entrance, some beekeepers build screen wire cages to protect the front entrances.

The Classroom - November 2010

by Jerry Hayes

 (excerpt)

From the "That's Interesting Dept"

I think we are all aware of the USDA Food Pyramid and the recommendations for serving sizes. So, this is kind of interesting. Mr. John Schall, president of American Farmland Trust, says, "For everyone in the United States to eat the minimum daily requirements of fruits and vegetables set by the USDA in 2005 dietary guidelines, an estimated 13 million more acres of farmland are needed." So, that means with the now higher USDA 2010 dietary guidelines of even more fruits and vegetables that even more land is needed if everyone eats the recommended daily allowance. That is a lot of land. How come we do not see more land in production for fruits and vegetables? Check the produce country of origin labels in the grocery store the next time you are there.

Q What Bees Eat and See

I have a question. When honey bees forage for pollen, is it true that they select pollen that is rich in nitrogen? How does the protein/nitrogen content of different plant species relate to the bees' ability to discriminate between these pollens? I remember reading something about this several years ago, but I am unsure if it's correct. I am checking with you because I don't want to give false information.
Also, when bees navigate over flowers, is it true they see ultraviolet light reflecting off the flower and then use this cue as a way to determine which flowers to visit? I would like to share this information with some fellow beekeepers.

Travis

A
Protein contains a lot of nitrogen because it is part of protein. But, honey bees can't discriminate nitrogen (protein) in pollen well. Plus, honey bees do not eat pollen because they cannot digest the robust outer coat. Honey bees eat "bee bread" which is a fermented product, which releases the food material inside that has now been partially digested.
Honey bees are looking for nectar and pollen from entomophilous or insect- friendly flowers. This pollen is sticky and designed for insect transport. These flowers also provide their pollen with higher nutritional levels than wind-blown pollen. Wind-blown pollen has to be produced in extraordinary quantities because the chances of wind haphazardly taking it to the right flower parts are not good. So, not a lot of resources are packed into windblown pollen unlike insect-specific flowers, which do not have this problem. The bees' first choice is entomophilous pollen and if there is a lack of this, then they default to wind-blown pollens like bahia grass, corn or others. They collect not because they like it, but because it is a survival strategy.
Regarding your last second question, Google "honey bee see UV photos". There are lots of choices. Pretty cool.

Q Solar Wax Melter
Can Plexiglas be used instead of regular glass in a solar wax melter?

Thank you,
Joe Schultz
A
It depends. In some situations the temperatures that build up and are retained in a solar wax melter can melt the Plexiglas or warp it, and the heat certainly makes it discolor sooner. It is definitely more breakage-resistant than glass in some of the heavier grades. However, glass can take heat better. Everything is a trade off.

Q "The Classroom" Book

I was reading my September issue of the American Bee Journal and I saw a question about when you were going to write another book. I didn't even know that you had written one, which brings me to my question: How can I get a copy of your book? I would be interested in reading it.
Thank you for your time. I really enjoy your classroom section in the ABJ!

Mark Lawrence

A
Dadant & Sons sells the "Classroom" Book. You can buy it at www.dadant.com. Thanks for the compliment.

Classroom - October 2010
by Jerry Hayes

excerpt

Q Small Hive Beetle Chemical Warfare

Could we use diatomaceous earth (DE) instead of vegetable oil in the trap tray for Small Hive Beetle (SHB)? It would be a lot less messy, but would dust from the DE get up into the hive and hurt the bees? Would the beetles crawl back up into the hive and bring DE with them?

Steven P. Christman

A

DE is not really robust enough for SHB. The SHB larvae cuticle (skin) is way too tough for the DE particle edges to pierce the cuticle and damage them You could try lime that you can get as a soil amendment to put in the tray. Keep the bees out of it, as it will produce chemical burns on them as well as other insects and you. It burns the SHB antennae and makes orientation tough for them. It doesn't kill them, just severely damages them.

Q  Mix Them Up

When making splits, should we be concerned about taking frames loaded with brood nurse bees from different colonies and mixing them into the new box? Normally, when combining colonies we use newspaper to separate them initially. Is it that the nurse bees are not as defensive? Thank for a reply,

Ken Sikora

A

Young bees are more easily mixed than older workers that are transitioning to becoming defensive foragers. Young naïve bees mix well from different colonies and adjust to new conditions readily. What you don't want to swap around are diseases like American foulbrood/European foulbrood/
Chalkbrood, etc. So, be sure you are good at disease ID as you scan the frames of brood to transfer.

Q  Poison By Any Other Name

Hello Jerry. This is Tony from Southern California. I hope you are doing well. I have a little question for you. I have around 15 gallons of sugar water and honey syrup that is beginning to ferment. Will it be okay to feed the bees later on or do I need to do anything with it now? Is it okay the way it is right now? You see, I don't want to bees to "get drunk". I want them working instead of sleeping. Your column is always interesting and useful.

Tony Nizetich
Temecula, CA

Classroom - September 2010
by Jerry Hayes

excerpt

Hygienic Bees

The helpful interconnectedness of the beekeeping world is truly amazing. There are lots of good people out there. Here is one small example. I didn’t know what the photo below was showing, so I asked colleagues. Dr. Medhat Nasr from Canada said that Dr. Jeff Harris, ARS/USDA, Baton Rouge might know and voila! He did!

Q

Jeff, I was sent a photo showing what the beekeeper called “volcanoing”. This is where the bees bring up the edges of the caps on brood and it looks like a volcano. The bees never seem to cap the developing brood; they just do this other partial capping activity. It is seen more in the fall than in spring, but can still be spotted throughout the year. What do you think?

A

Hello Jerry, I added some white lines to highlight the areas that look like hygiene. There are trails and two circles around cells that look like recapped pupae. The raised uncapped pupae appear to be in the process of being recapped. So, what are the bees chasing? The uncapped pupae with the raised edges are the result of hygienic bees enlarging the cell diameter to chase something (wax moth larva) around the bee pupa. When they recap it afterwards, the entire wax moth trail will have a raised and discolored appearance (as you see along the white trail). So, my first thought is that this is a hygienic track from bees chasing a wax moth larvae. I say that because there are so many recapped cells and a few uncapped pupae in a single path that it must be the result of a local phenomenon. It may be a L1 or L2 wax moth larva that can be easily missed with the naked eye. I often see this kind of trail and under a microscope, you can usually find a small wax moth larva. The only other critter that could lead to a localized hygienic response like that would be small hive beetle larvae, but a trail that large would also probably show some slime or soiling (which is not apparent).

Having said that, if this is an extremely hygienic colony, they may be uncapping most or all pupae, inspecting them, and then recapping all of those that they do not remove. The two circled pupae could be recapped—and all around them are other pupae with a similar appearance of the cap (what looks like a sunken hole in the middle). This is often caused when a hygienic bee uncaps to smell or look inside, and other bees recap the pupa and never remove it. Some highly hygienic colonies will do this, and we don’t know why yet.

Q2

Thank you Jeff. Interesting that it may be a seemingly “good trait” like hygienic behavior in response to something else like wax moth or…whatever and then repaired. Question: Can there be too much hygienic behavior?

A2

It is interesting; I have found that many stocks of bees are very sensitive to wax moth larvae. I think that the relationship between that hive pest and bees is older than some of the new problems (e.g. Varroa), and bees in general have developed a very good detection and removal ability using hygiene to remove wax moths. However, colonies good at hygienic removal of wax moths are not necessarily good at removing Varroa, chalkbrood or anything else. This seems a little odd to me EXCEPT that the cues for detection are likely different. In the case of wax moths, the bees need to smell the wax moth larvae and NOT necessarily any odors related to an injured host bee. Detection of disease, dead or sick bee larvae probably involve detection of “sick bee” odors.

Yes, I think there can be too much hygiene. I don’t have hard evidence, just a sense of things after many years of selecting for very high hygienic behavior. It seems that extremely hygienic colonies will actually investigate all or about 90% of the capped pupae in a brood nest—uncapping each one, smelling and looking inside, and if they don’t remove an infested or diseased host pupa, they will reseal or recap the cell. I have seen several cycles of uncapping-recapping for a single pupa.

The problem with this behavior is probably two-fold: 1. The cell cap is there for a reason (e.g. humidity control within the brood cell) and removing it for prolonged periods of time could be detrimental to the developing larva and 2. Certain bacteria can be transmitted in the vegetative stage (e.g. European foulbrood bacterium) by hygienic bees. So, the very act of patrolling and hygienically inspecting too many cells could actually accentuate propagation of a bacterium that causes disease. Again, this is mostly speculation, but there must be some reason that Nature does not allow hygienic behavior to become as high as we can make it with breeding. There must be a cost to resistance with hygiene, and we still do not fully understand what it is.

Classroom - August 2010
by Jerry Hayes

Classroom - July 2010
by Jerry Hayes

excerpt

  . . . . . . .Boy Scouts and the Beekeeping Merit Badge

In the April Classroom I alerted you to the efforts being made to reinstate the Beekeeping merit badge in the Boy Scouts. Many of you sent letters to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in support of reinstating the Beekeeping Merit Badge. I even received a letter (see letter) from Mr. Robert Mazzuca, the chief scout executive, in response to the "Classroom" call to action a couple months ago-pretty wishy-washy, but a response nonetheless.

Many of you have told me that you received replies also. Some of you have been told by the BSA that the Beekeeping Merit Badge was "too hard" to obtain.

As of April 28th the BSA has offered new merit badges for Cub Scout Webelos for VIDEO GAMES! They can get pins and belt loops for video games! Give me a break! What a sad commentary on where we are as a society. The Scouts have strayed from the original intent of the program. Lord Baden Powell is spinning in his grave. We need more opportunities to raise boys to be real men. Maybe I am just getting too old, but I don't think awards for video games is it.

West Virginia Beekeepers

Back in late spring of this year I had the distinct honor and opportunity to participate in the West Virginia Beekeepers' Association spring meeting. I had worked previously with Wade Stiltner and Paul Poling in the West Virginia Dept. of Agriculture on some joint apiculture training a few years back. The Heartland Apicultural Society (HAS) held their meeting a few summers back in Huntington, WV and life intervened to prevent me from being able to attend that meeting. So, when I was invited to come to the WVBA spring meeting, I jumped at the chance. Other than the good people I already knew in beekeeping from West Virginia, I really didn't know that much about WV beekeeping or West Virginia in general.
The meeting was held at a very cool place outside of Huntington called the Heritage Farm and Museum, http://www.heritagefarmmuseum.com. A tremendous amount of time, energy and resources have been given by the Perry family, who have championed this project to give the rest of us a glimpse of WV History through the farm and museums. It is really a great place for a beekeepers' meeting and a terrific getaway. Dan O'Hanlon, Gabe and Rhonna Blatt and a whole host of other active and engaged WV Beekeepers made this a smooth, enjoyable and information-filled meeting. There were a number of great talks and training sessions, not the least being Dr. Larry Connor conducting his well-known Queen Rearing Workshops.

Attendance records were broken with 207 attendees from West Virginia, as well as Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida. I am flatlander from Florida, so the mountains, hills, ridges, hollows, hardwood trees and fast flowing mountain rivers were very, very beautiful.
There is a push for more internal queen production by the WVBA, so that is the reason the association sponsored Dr. Larry Connor's Queen Rearing Course. With the opportunity to access remote locations in the state that allows control over drone distribution, West Virginia has a large advantage to significantly and positively add to queen production-queens that will be hardy, reliable and lead big healthy colonies.

Keep an eye on West Virginia. They are quietly moving their beekeeping, queen production and specialty honey production forward strongly. I wouldn't be surprised if we were looking to WV queen breeders in a few years to purchase queens.

Q     Washington Requeening
Hi Jerry. I am one of your loyal readers out in Western Washington. I am wondering if you have an opinion whether annually requeening is a good hedge against queen-related problems or is more expense and effort than it is worth? I keep fewer than five hives, depending on winter survival.

If it is a worthwhile endeavor, is it best to do in spring, fall, or some other time? And, what other considerations or recommendations are there for a successful requeening regimen? Thanks for all you do for the beekeeping community.

A
The first question that comes to mind is: What challenges are you experiencing that are causing you to consider this? Are the queens you have purchased less of what you want the second year than the first? Do they lay less? Do you have less worker brood? Do you have more drones? Are you having more swarming the second year?

The quality of commercially produced queens has not been very good the last few years. We have seen lots of "supersedures". The colony is not recognizing the queen as a queen and replacing her-then replacing the replacement. Data shows even in the best circumstances, queens do not last very long, but this is even worse than that.

We, the industry, have been taught that spring requeening is the best. It certainly is easier with lower colony populations. But, probably the best time to requeen for successful overwintering is to do so in late summer or early fall after mite treatments have been completed. You have a new queen that can contribute lots of young "winter bees" and is ready to go in the spring for quick build up with no delays or breaks in the brood cycle that can occur with spring queen replacement. Give it a try.

Q Can I Feed Raw Sugar to Bees?

Dennis from Lonestar Farms referred this question to you; it may be a little early, but I can start planning now. I raise ribbon cane and some sorghum and I usually make some syrup and sugar in the fall. I am new to beekeeping, but I was wondering if the raw sugar I make in the fall would be okay to mix with water to make the sugar syrup for fall feeding?

The Classroom

June 2010

Excerpt

From the Shameless Commerce Division at the Classroom*
 There is a "New" book by Dr. Elizabeth Capaldi Evans titled "Why Do Bees Buzz". This is a fun, very interesting book that answers lots of those fascinating questions we all have about honey bees. Dazzle your friends with your knowledge of honey bees. I found everything from basic honey bee biology, to African "Killer" Bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, Mayan Beekeeping and everything in between. It was a fun read.
 And no, I don't get a commission :)

*Shameless Commerce Div. title taken without permission from the "Car Guys" on NPR.

Q   Confused
 I would like to start by saying I really enjoy your "Classroom" section in the American Bee Journal. As a new subscriber to the magazine, I find it a must read every month.

 I am new to beekeeping this year, and I am finding that I have a lot more questions than answers, as I'm sure it is with most new beekeepers, so I will go ahead and dive in head first with my first question.

 I have read in several articles that it is suggested to feed Fumagilin-B to all newly installed package bees for the control of Nosema, and then on the other hand, I have been told not to feed it until you see signs of Nosema in your hives. So, my first question is: Do I need to feed it or not? I am starting out with 3 lb. packages in brand new 10-frame deep equipment. I am also using wood-bound 10-frame hive-top feeders with two chambers that are divided. If I need to feed Fumagilin-B, do I need to put it in both chambers, or just one? The mixing instructions that came with Nosema say to feed 1 gallon to each packaged colony. If I feed it in both chambers, that will be two gallons for each colony. I would also know how long to feed it to them before I stop.

 The mixing instructions are this... 1/2 gal water + 8 lbs sugar = 1 gal syrup and then add 1 rounded teaspoon of Fumagilin-B. I forgot to mention that my feeders will hold 1 gallon in each chamber.

 I'm sure these are some silly questions, but I really don't know how to proceed. Any help that you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time,

Mark Lawrence

P.S. Are there any ill effects to bees that are fed Fumagilin-B?

A
 These are not silly questions at all Mark. I generally do not like to or suggest the use of "antibiotics" for prophylactic use such as feeding antibiotics to prevent a disease. As an example, are you now taking antibiotics because you are afraid of getting an ear infection? Probably not and it's the same thing with feeding antibiotics to prevent American or European Foulbrood. It doesn't work very well and has negative side effects.
 But, and in this world there are buts, Nosema ceranae, the predominant "Nosema", is almost an endemic 24/7/365 disease pressure. Fumagilin-B still seems to have some activity against Nosema ceranae, which has fundamentally replaced Nosema apis. So, I would suggest following label directions for mixing, dosage and time frame. If you have a partitioned 2-gallon feeder, only use one side to feed the Fumagilin-B to be sure that they get a proper dosage in the proper time interval. After this, you can use the feeder, both sides, to supplementary feed as needed.
 Fumagilin-B, like any other chemical, is a stressor on honey bees. It is tough on them, but not more so than Nosema. Take care and enjoy the learning curve. It will be fun.

Q    A Smelly Situation
 I have bee frames that were put away in plastic bags for the winter. When I opened the bags, I noticed they had a mouse nest inside. The frames are new and I would like to know how I could clean or disinfect the frames before putting on the beeswax foundation. Thank you and awaiting your reply.

A
 Mouse urine is pretty stinky. Use soap, water and maybe some baking soda and a sponge or brush. Or, take the easier way out and buy some new frames. Even in tough economic times, they are still pretty cheap.

The Classroom - May 2010

(excerpt)

by Jerry Hayes

Q     Should I Buy Queen Cells?

 Since queens seem to be dying shortly after I get them, I am considering ripe queen cells. But, I have read that one has to very careful when handling them. The Postal Service is not designed to be careful. What are the chances of getting them from their breeding places to Illinois alive and well?

A
 Dave Miksa in Florida raises about 100,000 cells each year for sale to mainly commercial beekeepers. They have developed a system to transport hundreds of queen cells by the buyer. It is important to keep queen cells at a certain age in a certain position, warm, humid and not jiggled, bounced or shaken if possible. That leaves the Postal Service, UPS, Fed Ex, DHL or any other commercial delivery service out of the picture. Drive to Florida, pick up your several hundred queen cells and drive back to Illinois with the queen cell transport box securely next to you in the passenger seat.

Q       Politically Touchy

 What do you think about all of the Australian packages of bees coming in for almond pollination?

A
 You are right Jeremy, lots of package bees from Australia have been brought in over the last several years to fill in the gaps caused by shortages of U.S. colonies. Approximately 1.3 million honey-bee colonies participate in almond pollination for this $2 billion dollar crop. California can only provide about 500,000 colonies internally, so the rest have to come from outside the state. Almonds absolutely, positively have to have honey bees to pollinate or their $2 billion value slips and growers obviously do not want it to slip. Can Australian packages come into the United States economically and contribute to almond pollination? The answer seems to be yes, which is a good thing for the almond industry.
 However, some Australian honey-bee import critics speculate that Australian bees are weak genetically because they have not been challenged by varroa and other varroa-implicated health issues. They have not participated in the survival of the fittest scenario. According to some critics, Australian bees seem to succumb to various new parasites and diseases rather quickly in the United States.
 The problem from my perspective is that if they survive long enough to possibly provide virgin queens and drones, these Australian honey bees can mate with our "survivor" bees and, of course, make them weaker genetically, compounding problems we already have. However, the $2 billion dollar almond industry will not be denied. Nevertheless, if Australian honey-bee imports should falter for any reason, and U.S. colony availability continues to worsen, look for the Mexican border to open up to them to bring their AHB colonies to the California almond groves.

Q       Nosema... Fungus or Protozoan?

  Jerry, in a recent communication with a member of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, I was told that Nosema is caused by a "fungus". This was a surprise, as I believed it was caused by a microsporidian. So, my first question: Cause of Nosema...fungus or microsporidian?
Second question: If it is a fungus, why does an antibiotic (Fumagilin-B) work at all, since antibiotics are effective on bacteria, not fungi?

Thank you,
 Morris

A
 Hello Morris. You are correct that the causative organism is a microsporidian, either Nosema apis or Nosema ceranae. Nosema is one of those diseases, which has both protozoan- and fungus-like characteristics. It was classified as a one-celled protozoan before and now with more advanced taxonomic techniques, it is a micro (really small) sporidian (spore-forming) life form.
Fumagilin-B, the commonly recommended antibiotic to control this bee disease, is also used widely for patients with HIV/AIDS because it controls fungus growth in people with compromised immune systems caused by this disease. Remember, antibiotic means anti (against) biotic (life). The term antibiotic is a catchall for bactericides, virocides, fungicides, etc.
 All of that to say-The causative agent for Nosema is now classified as a microsporidian. And, sometimes Fumagilin-B works and sometimes it doesn't. Now that should clear it up :)

Q    Chemical-Free Beekeeping

   Hi Jerry, what I want to know is information you may have on keeping bees free of chemical use. Many Thanks.

Buddy

A
 I think using a variety of integrated pest management (IPM) techniques can get you away from many chemicals generally used in beehives Buddy. Hygienic queens, screened bottom boards, drone removal, powdered sugar dusting every 3-4 days, rotating 3 frames or so of comb out yearly, and continuous surveying will keep you on top of most varroa and disease issues. These techniques are certainly not perfect, but pretty good. You may still have varroa population booms at times that have to be knocked back with Apiguard or Mite Away II.
 Removing the infected comb and destroying it can control bacterial disease like American foulbrood (AFB). Sometimes antibiotics have to be used as a tool. The key point is that you have to know your bees and be a good manager and that requires you to keep tabs on what is going on inside the colonies. This is certainly possible, but proves hard for most people. But, you are not most people, so you can do it!

Q Confused About Sugar Dusting

 I may have missed an episode on sugar dusting bees for varroa. Please, could you explain where you stand on this issue? I refer to the abstract of your paper in the Journal of Apicultural Research, which concludes that powdered sugar dusting did not significantly reduce varroa levels and your continuing advice in this column, which appear to contradict one another. Thank you.

Regards,
Ben Rees
United Kingdom

A
 Ben, I am old enough, and you may be old enough as well, to know that there are vast swatches of gray in this world and relatively few firmly black and white, yes-or-no answers. When you focus on worldly "science", it is a process that is always in flux with new information arising to update previous data, which at one time was thought to be the final answer or at least pretty close. So, I guess you are right that I have seemed to contradict myself.
 Dr. Amanda Ellis, who led on this research in our lab, did great work and gave some insight into powdered sugar dusting within the parameters of the research over a year's time. The data presented in the Journal of Apicultural Research paper was that when you treat every few weeks that it certainly knocks off phoretic mites, but the varroa adjust and increase reproduction. So, over a year's time, even though these treatments remove lots of mites, the mite count has not significantly changed. Would it have grown more if the mites had not been removed? But, the population certainly seemed to hold its own.
 We have done some preliminary trials using powdered sugar dusting every 3-4 days to remove phoretic mites as they continuously emerge from reproducing in cells. This does not give them a chance to re-enter cells and reproduce. They cannot catch up biologically or reproductively. After doing this for 4 -5 weeks, we have covered all brood cycles and mite levels are very, very low. Is this labor-intensive method practical is the question? Probably it is for some, but not for the majority.
 I think removing mites from your colonies of honey bees is a good idea. And, removing mites using powdered sugar is a sane idea that works under application methods as noted above. The more you do it, the better the long-term results are. I would rather someone try using powdered sugar as often as possible to remove mites and hopefully postpone a "chemical" treatment than simply go to "chemicals " first. So, thus arises my apparently contradictory stand. I hope it makes sense!

The Classroom - April 2010

(excerpt)

by Jerry Hayes

Q
Boy Scouts and Beekeeping Jerry back in 1964, when I was in the Boy Scouts, I was flipping through the merit badge book.  I noticed that there was a merit badge offered for beekeeping.  I was so excited that I immediately applied for the merit badge book through my troop master.  From that day on, my life had changed forever.  I have had bees in my life since.  I have had as many as 500 hives.  I have worked for commercial beekeepers in the USA and Germany.

Now that I am in a position in my life to slow down, I decided that I would offer some of my time to the Boy Scouts and help get the young ones interested in receiving their beekeeping merit badge.  I called the "Boy Scouts of America" to inquire about some troops in my local area.  I was totally blown away when I was told that the beekeeping merit badge was no longer offered and hadn't been in a long time.  I thought that the person was joking.  It is no wonder there are fewer hobby and sideline beekeepers.

By the time our youth get to be in their upper teens, they have other interests like video.  I always believed that starting our youth with good things early in their life was the best answer for their success.  Any ideas on how to put a little sting under the "Boy Scouts of America"?  Our youth and our country would be better off if we could offer beekeeping through the Scouting program.

Dennis Bryan, Texas

A
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, Dennis. The louder the squeak (more people), The faster things happen.  How can I help you squeak?  This is not a new occurrence, as you probably know by now.  The Boy Scouts eliminated Beekeeping as a merit badge in 1995.  It was created in 1915. However, with the resurgence of public interest in preserving nature and the environment, as well as producing one's own food, perhaps it's time to bring back the Beekeeping merit badge.  What do you think Boy Scouts?

RESPONSE FROM DENNIS Maybe you could mention this problem in the magazine since that is a pretty big wheel that touches a lot of people, including scoutmasters.  Ask for suggestions from the readers.  Maybe you could find enough driving force to light the fire.  After reading your column every month for as long as I have, I can tell that when you get a passion for something, you don't stop until you have accomplished your goal.

Think of all the young ones who are missing out on the wonderful world of beekeeping and the things it brings to the table!  That special beekeeping knowledge lasts a lifetime and think of all the good it does for Nature.

Because of your current position, you Reach more people than any one of us.  If you could get passionate about this fault in our society, take the reins, and generate the momentum, I and probably thousands of others would help in any way that presents itself.

If we can't encourage our young people to participate in something that is good and wholesome, then what is left?  Thanks for your help.

Dennis
Bryan, Texas

JERRY FOLLOWS UP I took some time to track down the leadership of the Boy Scouts to ask your question "How can the Beekeeping Merit Badge be re-instated?" Man, that wasn't easy!  Unfortunately, they are not a very transparent organization at the top-perhaps because they do not want hard questions?  Because this exercise was so difficult I thought, "Let's go to the top and see what happens?" Chief Scout Executive / CEO Robert Mazzuca, Boy Scouts of America, 1325 West Walnut Hill Lane, P.O. Box 152079, Irving Texas 75015, email Robert.Mazzuca@ scouting.org, 972-580-2000.

Comment: Classroom readers, you are a strong, smart and vocal group.  Ask yourself if you want to do this.  Can we make a difference?

Let's see.  Take a minute to contact Mr. Mazzuca in one or all of the ways above and see if he responds or ducks.  Let me know.

The Classroom - March 2010

Organic and CCD-Comment

I want to thank you for what you said in the Jan. 2010 edition of the ABJ about organic and CCD. On both subjects you said just what I have believed for a long time. We have a small pumpkin farm with about 10 beehives. We will never go through the organic certification process, although we do not use pesticides or herbicides. Our soil amendments are provided by the cover crops, the cattle, donated horse manure we compost and the tons of duck manure in rice hulls we buy. We just tell people the pumpkins and other crops are raised naturally to protect our bees. In other words, we are a bee-friendly farm. People understand that! I also tell them just what you said about the causes of CCD. I remember that talk I heard at Apimondia in Australia where the speaker said it was "death by a thousand cuts". I quote that statement when people ask about it. Keep up the good work educating beekeepers! I learn a lot from your monthly column!

Ettamarie Peterson

Q Cleaning and RewaxingPlastic Foundation

I have a question about cleaning used plastic foundation. I have heard that scraping the old comb off and then power washing it works. Now, specifically, do you try and remove ALL of the wax or do you just scrape it and let the bees clean it up and leave a little "old wax" for them to work?
Next question, I know that bees work better on wax-coated foundation. So, if you suggest removing ALL old wax, how would you go about re-waxing the plastic? Would you melt down your own cappings, dip them in some way and hope the bottom of the cells don't hold too much wax? I'm racking my brain here!

Thanks,
Nick

A
I wouldn't worry about getting 100% of the wax off. Shoot for 85-90%. Yes, bees do better at drawing out comb if they have some in place and don't have to make it all. In some type of double boiler arrangement (beeswax is highly flammable) melt some beeswax and use an old small paint brush and paint the beeswax on. You don't have to be neat. The bees will mold, shape, massage the wax into the proper areas and construct new cells. You are helping your colony by removing old potentially disease-holding brood comb and the negative chemical residues they contain. This will help honey-bee health as much as anything.

Q Which Type of Honey Bee to Use?

I have a small bee yard in mid-Michigan (8 to 12 swarms). I have always kept Italian bees with good success, but have become curious about the Carniolan strain. They seem to be perfect for our climatic conditions in Michigan. I am contemplating trying a couple of swarms this season. However, I am not sure if I should go with Russian honey bees. I have read that the Russians can be "touchy" and require regular requeening to retain their mite resistance and productivity. However, price and availability seem to be on their side. I am just looking for some suggestions.

Thanks,
Tom

A
Tom, I think that purchasing "hygienic" stock from reputable queen producers is the long-term solution to lots of our problems. Hygienic Russians are better than they were a few years ago. There is a list of approved Russian producers on the web. There are legitimate, reputable breeders of hygienic stock and then there are the mass marketers selling junk.

Q Can You Overfeed Honey Bees?

I have a question that has bothered me for some time. Can you overfeed bees? By this I mean, the bees take all the HFCS or sucrose fed to them and store it in cells, which may not be consumed by springtime. This leftover food could be mixed and extracted with honey the following season. We talk so much about contaminated honey. Could it be possible that we ourselves are doing this without being aware of the consequences? Depending on weather conditions and strength of the hive, the bees will consume various amounts of food over the winter. This amount is hard to predict and it's better to be on the plus side than to starve the bees. It still makes sense to over-winter bees with pure honey rather than feed them with other sugars. I know that this is not always possible. Thanks for your help.

Fred

A
Fred, I cannot argue with any of what you have said.

Q  Trouble with the Neighbors

I am writing to you because of a problem that I have. It is not with the bees that I have, it is with the neighbors that I have. I have six or seven hives at my house and six at another location. The neighbors have several teenagers who think they can do anything they want to do in the neighborhood. I have had words with them about the bees in my yard because they trespass using my yard to go to their buddy's house. I have checked with the township where I live and can legally have them, so I don't have any problem with the law. It seems every time they see a honey bee or any other flying insect, they call the police to complain.

This summer we had words about the bees because I caught them killing a swarm of bees that was in their yard. About 5 days later, when I checked on my hives, I noticed a foul smell. When I opened the hives, I found that two of the bee hives were dead. I highly suspect that they had been bug-bombed with insect killer because I recognized the odor in the hive. I have also had several of my hives kicked over. Since there was snow on the ground at the time, it told me the story of what happened because the footprints in the snow lead straight to the neighbor's house.

Just this week the boys were outside and made a comment to me that they knew what happened to my hives and if I did not get rid of the rest them, they would do it for me. Their statements indicate to me that they killed the hives since I did not say anything to anyone else.

What I would like is to get some information as whom to call if and when they try to kill another swarm or hive? I think that if the issue is turned over to the federal government because they were killing this vital insect and let them deal with the boys, then they might get the idea to leave them alone. I do not know whom to contact and was wondering if you knew who to talk to?

Sincerely,
Ken Berg
Flint, MI

A
Ken, if I were you, I would have called the police, sheriff or whomever is supposed to enforce Michigan Law. It sounds like this relationship with your neighbors is out of control and you are losing. If you have checked local law and you can keep honey bees in your community legally, you are in the right. Of course, you must also be sure that you are abiding by any regulations about how many hives you have on your land or how close they are to your neighbor's house.

You have evidence with footprints in the snow. Did you take photos? They admitted they destroyed your colonies to your face because they apparently know that you won't do anything.

You should contact Mike Hansen, who is the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture Apiculture Chief and report a honey-bee kill. They can come out, take samples, and analyze dead bees, comb, etc. You might consider putting up a "motion sensing" camera such as those hunters use to monitor deer movement. Turning the other cheek, giving your enemy your coat and going the extra mile certainly is Biblical, but you must hold those who harm you to a level of Biblical accountability and responsibility or you will actually stunt their growth.
It's too bad this situation could not have been nipped in the bud with amicable give and take between you and your neighbor (perhaps even a few jars of good-will honey). However, it may have gone beyond this stage of reason by now.

Q Raising Queens

Mr. Hayes, I really enjoy your classroom column in the ABJ. This spring is my third year in beekeeping, so I still have lots of questions. I got lucky last fall and found a hive, about a half-mile from my house that was abandoned three years ago, according to the property owner. The hive contains a strong colony of bees. This coming spring, I'd like to make a split out of this hive and install a sister queen from this survivor hive.

Here's where I get lost. I've read several of the most recommended books on queen rearing, also every article I can find. I've also read and am familiar with several of the methods commonly prescribed for rearing queens. I have no desire to learn or perform the grafting method. Most every method seems to me to be geared towards the commercial production of queens, or at least towards raising large numbers of queens. I only need one. Can you suggest an easy method of raising my own queen from this survivor stock? I have two other hives of bees at my home location, plus an empty nuc box. That's the extent of my equipment right now, though I'm not opposed to adding more if necessary.
I helped my nephew do what he called a "dirty split" last year, where we just put a frame of eggs, plus frames of food and bees in a nuc and let them produce their own queen. This seemed to work (if they survive this winter, I'll call it a success), but I've read several times that you shouldn't do this as it results in inferior queens. No explanation why. Thanks for any help you can give.

Gary Blackford
Hebron, Ohio

A
Gary, I lived in Wooster years ago where I went to the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute specializing in beekeeping. I like Ohio. The queens with the most ovarioles (egg-producing organs) are raised from the youngest larvae, hours old, that are being fed copious amounts of royal jelly, the food that turns a female worker larva into a queen. Commercial queen breeders manipulate situations in order to facilitate these conditions.
If you want to raise one queen or several, then I would simply identify frames with eggs in spring, distribute them equally in two hive bodies, along with a few frames of honey and pollen. Then, take one of the hive bodies and place it next to the other box on a bottom board, etc., making a new hive. In a couple of days, go in and see which one has queen cells. There you go. Not pretty, but effective!

Q  Treating with Antibiotics

I enjoyed your presentations at the Louisiana Beekeepers Convention earlier this month. I am a new beekeeper who is blessed with a beekeeping club close to me. However, there exists a large experience and age gap within our club. We are told to give antibiotics twice and year, Fumidil in the fall, etc.
I've been in the medical field for 16 years. I have seen that the abuse of antibiotics in people contribute to some of the worst resistant bacteria imaginable. I believe this was through indiscretion and ignorance. I believe this could happen with honey bees also. The reason I'm writing you is because your presentation Saturday at the convention was the first time someone had suggested that bees should only be treated when symptomatic.

I have no real resource within my club and want your input or perhaps some study or publication that could clarify this "medication" dilemma for me. Any help you can spare would be great. Also, thank you for your presence here at our conference. I appreciated your work.

Brent Ingvardsen
Stonewall, Louisiana

A
Good Morning Brent. Thank you for the compliment. I am glad that you are a new beekeeper and it is good that you have the expertise of members of a beekeeping club close to you. Like many organisms, honey bees can take a lot of stress and abuse that does not kill them, similar to humans and our livestock that are exposed to lots of chemicals that are purposely ingested, applied or inhaled. As you know in the medical field, antibiotics are prescribed freely and taken freely and many times incorrectly which has led to MRSA and other really scary stuff. This will only get worse as time passes and practices do not change dramatically from either the medical practitioner side or the patient side.
Production livestock are fed a diet that routinely contains antibiotics to lower infection levels in these animals that are crowded together in stressful and unhealthy conditions. None of this will change soon since food production for the lowest cost per unit output is the goal. E. coli and other organisms' resistance to antibiotics have been documented. As long as the ultimate product does not immediately kill the consumer or make him/her sick, it is considered to be all right.

Honey bees are just as tough as a cow or a chicken. However, the real question should be: Are they healthy and thriving or are they just OK? We have antibiotic resistance in bacterial diseases in honey bees. The most significant and prominent is Paenibacillus larvae, the causative organism of American Foulbrood (AFB). A couple of reasons for this are: 1) Feeding antibiotics inappropriately and 2) applying them inappropriately. To highlight, (1) why feed antibiotics when there is not a disease? My example at the meeting was when I asked, "Is anyone taking antibiotics now because they are afraid of getting strep throat in the future." No hands went up from the audience. And in regards to: 2) Not following label directions as a factor in antibiotic resistance, I believe antibiotics are designed to kill all sensitive organisms, both good and bad, if applied properly in multiple doses over X period of time.
This is similar to when your doctor prescribes antibiotics for you to take over a 10- to 14-day period so all the bad organisms are killed. If you don't follow the instructions, then you are promoting bacterial resistance because some of the bad organisms are genetically hardier and they stay alive after the first or second exposure to the antibiotic. If you quit taking the antibiotic after a few days because you are feeling better, you have then become an evolutionary selective agent who has selected for organisms that are somewhat immune to a partial treatment. When this happens over a large population, over and over again, then at some point in time you have selected for organisms that are entirely resistant to this antibiotic and the disease cannot be controlled easily, i.e. MRSA or flesh-eating bacteria found in all hospitals now.
The same thing happens with honey-bee diseases such as AFB. The beekeeper may not complete treatments using labeled products or he may use antibiotics in "food patties" for disease prevention when there is no active disease, thereby selecting for those organisms that have some natural resistance. These resistant bacteria breed and then you develop an organism over time that requires a different stronger antibiotic. In the beekeeping industry we have gone from Terramycin to now Tylosin and already there is some noted AFB resistance to Tylosin because of the reasons cited above.
Now let's take a quick look at what honey bees eat for protein, lipids, vitamins and minerals. It is not pollen. It is beebread, which is a fermented product that is created by honey bees adding bacteria, yeasts etc., to pollen to break apart the pollen grains sealed in silica (glass) to release and pre-digest this vital nutrition enclosed. If you have an agricultural background, stored bee pollen is kind of like pollen silage. Or, for you or I, it might be compared to a fermented food like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, sour cream, etc. Adding antibiotics kills both good and bad bacteria in a honey-bee diet. Antibiotics even kill the good bacteria that honey bees need to make beebread in order to obtain full nutrition. Thus, unknowingly, the beekeeper may have further stressed and compromised the health of the colony.
Antibiotics are extremely valuable tools for human and animal health. However, any tool is not the right tool. A hammer is not a screwdriver. A crescent wrench is not socket wrench. We have been abusing antibiotics and are now suffering the consequences personally and in our animals. We are relying on our advancements in technology to step up and save us. I hope that they can continue to do so. Sorry to drone on so long.

Q Colonies in the Winter

Thank you once again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to drive all that way to speak to our group. Everyone enjoyed it and I am hoping that we will have more of our members getting registered and involved in the Best Management Practices (BMPs) about which you spoke.

And, since I have your reading eye, instead of your listening ear, I have a question. What are eight-frame brood boxes supposed to look like at this time of the year in this area? I checked mine today and there were only about two or three frames that had any eggs, larvae, and capped brood on them. There was plenty of honey and pollen stores. The frames that do have the eggs and such on them are not very consistent either. I did see fresh eggs, still standing up, just not a lot. When I had bees before, I didn't look into them at this time of year. I am trying to be a good bee mommy, but I just don't know what I am supposed to be seeing at this time of year. Thanks for your help,

Debbie Bohannon
Florida

A
I enjoyed being able to address your group. They will all be good beekeepers with all the support and mentors available. I am all eyes. The European honey bees we have are varieties with a biology/physiology that is attuned to always preparing for winter-a season that has harsh temperatures and is food resource barren. In temperate climates, honey bee colonies and their reproductive queens respond to the shortening day length, downward temperature changes and lack of nectar and pollen availability by slowing down and eventually stopping brood rearing to save food resources in this energy-dependent activity.

In Florida, it is a bit confusing for European temperately evolved honey bees since the days are shortening and the temperature is dropping (but not by a lot). However, a few flowers are still blooming. If your colonies have brood in all stages, lots of stored food and parasites, pests and diseases are at nonexistent or controllable levels at this time of the year in Florida, I would say you are in good shape.

Q Medications and Ventilation Questions

First, I really enjoy your column, "The Classroom". There are always great questions asked by fellow beekeepers who have run into problems and need your help with fixing them. This might be a problem someone else is having also or may just help them to prevent a future problem with their bees. Great job!
Jerry, here is my first question. When hives are medicated in the fall and early spring with medicated syrup, there is a time limit on when it must be removed before a honey flow and supers can be put on. Later, there comes a time to put the queen excluders on and then supers, whether above a single deep, double deep, one and half, or three mediums as the brood boxes. These colonies are still expanding the brood nest and making room for more brood. Do they move the medicated nectar or honey from the brood area up into the supers as they are making room?

My second question, if you have time to answer, is: What is the best cover to use on your hives? Beekeepers talk about hives needing ventilation and to keep the hives cooler in the summer, so the bees don't have to work as hard to cool the hive. The telescoping cover and inner cover create a dead air space, plus you can put a hole in the rim of the inner cover to create a upper entrance and to let the hive vent out some of the moisture. But in the South, it seems that most of the hives I had seen pictures of in the magazines use migratory covers. It seems to me that being in the South where they would get a lot more humid temps, the colonies wouldn't cool the hives much with that solid migratory cover on them.

There seems to be so many different opinions on what is best, but as beginners in this area of beekeeping, which one do you choose! I wish there was a standard to go by, depending on the area in which you live. Which is the best brood box set up, cover, entrance, reduced entrance, vented top, etc.? Can you help me out with some answers? Thanks Jerry. Keep up the great job!

Robert Warnick, Jr.

A
Robert, Thank you for the "Classroom" compliment. I learn things all the time from the excellent questions that are central to an understanding of beekeeping. I'll try to answer your questions.

I guess my first question is why are you medicating in fall and spring? Do you have a disease? If you have a disease such as American foulbrood or European foulbrood, antibiotics can be a valuable tool. If there is no disease to treat, then why treat?

Always follow label directions for antibiotics labeled for honey bees. The directions will indicate how far in advance of the nectar flow the antibiotics should be withdrawn in order to prevent contamination of stored honey.
Honey bees are successful insects because they have the genetics which require diversity. With certain exceptions, Apis mellifera can live in most locations-at high altitudes, at low altitudes, in deserts, in jungles, in cities, in the suburbs, in hollow trees, rock cavities or the attic of your house. They survive because of genetic diversity contributed by multiple matings from multiple drones. Instead of putting their survival into the genetics of mating with one drone, honey bees spread the risk around by mating with many drones. If one drone's sperm carries weak genetics for over wintering, then only those workers produced by that sperm are at risk, not the whole colony. Honey bees go for the averages not a homerun every time at bat. That is why there are only generalities for hive dimensions, covers, bottoms, etc. Honey bees don't care. They adapt because they can.

Use whatever kind of cover you want; it really doesn't matter. Upper ventilation in the hive is something to consider. Honey bees, in the process of eating and processing stored honey, release excess water in the form of water vapor/humidity as respiration takes place. Now, think of putting your warm, moist breathe on a cold windowpane in winter in your house in Farmersville, Ohio. Water droplets form from the condensation of the water vapor in your warm breath. The same thing happens in a beehive in winter. Water condensation can freeze on the top of the hive (inside). It can build up and freeze layer upon layer over weeks of subfreezing temperatures. It can freeze inside the hive because the cluster does not heat the entire hive like your central heating in your home.

The cluster, for efficiency reasons, just heats itself so not a lot of extra heat is produced to keep the condensation from freezing inside the hive. When there is a break in the outside weather, the hive warms up. The frozen condensation melts and the bees have a cold rain on them that compromises their ability to stay warm. Cracking the top to let water vapor out before it condenses and freezes is a reasonable management practice. Too much insulation applied by the beekeeper keeps too much water vapor inside the hive, which like your house, encourages mold and fungus to grow. This is not a healthy situation. Cold does not kill honey bees. In healthy honey bees with adequate winter stores, the honey-bee cluster easily deals with the temperature extremes.

The Classroom - January 2010

Excerpt

Q
IS IT VSH or VHS or DVD?

Dear Mr. Hayes,
Please give us some detailed information about the Minnesota Hygienic stock and the VSH (Varroa-selective Hygienic) stock developed at the USDA lab.

Thanks,
Marcel LeBlanc
 Houston, TX

A
The difference is VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene) is a genetic trait of the honey bee that allows it to recognize capped cells with mite-infested pupae. The bees in a communal way get together and cut through the cap, drag out the infested pupa and the mites and dump them outside as trash.
Minnesota Hygienic Bees have the genetic trait that is one of a high degree of hygienic behavior that targets diseases like American foulbrood and chalkbrood. So, VSH targets "varroa mites" and Minnesota Hygienic target "diseases". Theoretically, one could have both traits simultaneously from 1% to 100% and everything in between. Honey bees have survived for millions of years by having a wide selection of genes for different situations and scenarios. Having a hyper-trait may adversely affect other traits, so everything is a trade off.

Marcel answers:
Jerry, thanks for the reply, but that is not what I have heard. You haven't helped me!

Classroom Readers: I do not know everything, but I generally do know who knows, so I handed this one off to Dr. Jeff Harris at the USDA/ARS Bee Breeding Lab in Baton Rouge to see if he could help me out.

Thanks Jeff

Reply from Jeff Harris
Hello Jerry, I can understand the reader's problem with accepting that there are differences because we are not really sure ourselves as to how or why these two types of honey bees are different. So, I'll try to say what we know as briefly as possible:
It seems likely that hygienic removal of varroa-infested pupae (or Varroa-Sensitive Hygiene) is really the same behavior or a subset of general hygienic behavior that is found in the Minnesota Hygienics. The difference is in selective breeding methods that were used to obtain the two types of bees. Marla Spivak selected for improved performance in removal of freeze-killed brood. The VSH team selected initially for bees that reduced the reproductive abilities of mites. It was only later that we discovered that this disruption of mite reproduction was caused by VSH activity.
As with MN Hygienics, bees with high levels of the VSH trait are also very hygienic towards freeze-killed brood, and our experience suggests that they are also good at controlling chalkbrood, American foulbrood, small hive beetles and wax moths (we just have not published these kinds of data). So, what are the differences between MN Hygienics and VSH bees? The biggest difference is that the VSH bees remove many more mite-infested pupae per unit time. They can uncap and identify 100s of mite-infested pupae in just a few hours. The MN hygienic bees find varroa-infested pupae at a much lower rate. In pure VSH colonies, varroa mite populations decline. In pure MN Hygienics, mite populations continue to grow, but at a rate slower that is significantly slower than in non-hygienic controls. So, it is quite possible that both bees are utilizing the same mechanisms to find mite-infested pupae (in fact, it seems likely), the difference may only be in degree. However, there is also evidence that the genetics controlling general hygiene is different than the genetics controlling VSH behavior. I'll just leave it at that for now. I hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jeff Harris
USDA/ARS Bee Breeding Lab 
Baton Rouge, LA

Classroom - December 2009

by Jerry Hayes

(excerpt)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Fact: Everyone in the world shares the same mtDNA. There is nuclear DNA or the genetic code, the blueprint for that individual cell and you. Cells have separate structures in them that make energy for the cell; they are called mitochondria. Mitochondria have their own DNA separate from cellular DNA. This DNA in the mitochondria comes from and is passed down generation to generation from the Mother. Guess what, whether you are big, little, black, brown, yellow, white, beige, big nose, thin lips, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Eskimo, Mongol, French, Cherokee or whatever, science has proven what the major religions teach that we all came from the same mother. So, if we are really all brothers and sisters and therefore family, why are we so mean to each other? Let's make this season meaningful and not mean. There is a reason for the Season!

WORD OF THE DAY!
The word for today is GUTTATION (gu-ta-shun). This was a new word for me too. Let me tell you about the guttation process. First let me tell you what it isn't. As always, for some of you the caveat is that this might not seem as interesting now as it may at the end. Hang in there deep thinkers!
Plants have to have water for a variety of reasons and water has to be balanced within certain limits so the plant doesn't wilt or the cells explode from lots of water. Either extreme does not help photosynthesis and growth. During the day, when the sun is shining, plants regulate water concentration through a process called transpiration. Plants have structures on their leaves (mostly) called stoma or stomata that are valves that open in the day for CO2/O2 exchange. This CO2/O2 exchange carries along water vapor, just like when we breathe in and out. Think of your breath on a cold day. The roots take up the water and it is transported with nutrients up through the plant and through the leaves with this transpiration process and exits the plant.
Remember, transpiration is a daytime process. What happens at night? Plants don't sleep. Roots don't stop taking up water and nutrients. Plants have a process for balancing water needs in this situation too. It is called, you guessed it, guttation. At night water is still coming in (roots suck it up) and it can't get out through stomata because the daytime transpiration process is over and they are closed. Many plants have other special organs called Hydathodes that are located at the tips of some seedlings like corn or on the margins of the leaf like strawberries. (See photos)
These hydathodes allow liquid to exude. When evaporation is limited by high humidity such as at night when transpiration does not occur, it collects on the leaf tips or margins. Unlike transpiration, where water leaves as a vapor (like your breath), in guttation the liquid is exuded (pushed out) from the plant and can collect as droplets on the plant, sometimes confused with early morning dew.
So, why is this important to beekeepers? Well, one of the proven concerns of beekeepers and researchers is the data that shows some pesticides, fungicides and herbicides can be transported through a plant systemically and appear in the nectar of a flower. These amounts are relatively low, in sublethal doses because it has been filtered through nectaries. Guttation is a straight shot process from roots and out. Because it is a straight shot, the guttation water drops can contain concentrated chemicals. So, any chemical used as seed coatings or applied to the soil or in irrigation water like chemigation, can be transported out with the guttation water. It has been reported to me that a large chemical company in Germany has admitted that their neonicotinoid corn seed coatings can be transported through the small corn seedling hydathode and the water droplet can contain a lethal dose of the pesticide to adult worker honey bees that drink this toxic water droplet.
I get many calls from beekeepers who say their bees have done poorly in or around watermelons, squash, pumpkins, strawberries, corn and flowers in the understory of apples, cherries, citrus, etc. Data shows that pollen and nectar from these plants' flowers can contain pesticides, but in low amounts. Now we know about guttation and all of the short list of plants above freely practice guttation. If bees collect this water directly to drink, share with their sisters, or use it to cool the nest or for any other uses, it can be toxic.
 Take a look at the You Tube video from an Italian researcher found at: www.youtube.
com/watch?v=e8Nsn4KvjM

Q Sanitized For Your Safety

Jerry, what is the practice of sanitization when the backyard sideliner and the commercial beekeeper find hives with CCD?

John McQuown

A
What is CCD? If I can answer my own question, the "symptoms" are a dramatic loss of worker population, the queen is left, and there are no dead bees in or about the colony or apiary, lots of brood and resources are still in the colony recently abandoned. You have probably read all of the possible causes of CCD-varroa, viruses, bacteria, Nosema ceranae, fungi, mold, pesticides, nutrition, queens, sperm, eggs, genetics, development temperature and many other things, along with all of the gazillions of combinations and permutations of all of the variables.
Your choice of the word sanitize is better than sterilize for most beekeepers. Radiation facilities can neutralize most pathogens with the proper rate and exposure. Ozone (O3) seems to neutralize/change some pesticides. Organic acids-acetic, formic, oxalic will kill/disable some pathogens. Air drying/UV will kill some pathogens, etc. So, your question is an excellent one: What can a "normal" beekeeper do to not sterilize but simply wipe the surface clean and knock back the many bad things, negative inputs both intentional and accidental introductions from this environmental sampler, the honey bee?
I think the easiest and most logical choice is to replace comb every 2-3 years-comb rotation. Clean comb is the key. Being exposed to "stuff' 24/7/365, if eliminated, can reduce stress and premature colony failure.

Q Alcohol Isn't For The Bees Either

Hi Jerry, I would like to know if fermented sugar syrup affects bees? The reason for asking is that when I feed bees sugar syrup, after about three days, I notice that the sugar syrup starts to ferment. Does this have any negative effects on the bees? Thanks much.
Regards,
Patroy Foster

A
Patroy, does fermented sugar have an effect on you? Sugar fermented by yeast collects a by-product of the yeast, a waste, called alcohol. This alcohol (ethanol) is a neurotoxin. In people it poisons the brain and central nervous system causing people to lose their balance, equilibrium, speech is slurred, they have difficulty walking and goodness knows, driving. Thousands are killed each year from "drunk" drivers. At high concentrations the bees simply won't consume it. At small concentrations it acts as a toxin on honey bees as well and they become inefficient.
By the way, your syrup should not be fermenting that quickly. Most of the time the bees consume it in just a few days. You may be making your syrup too thin; try increasing the concentration of sugar you are using. You will have to heat your water to do this, so be sure to let the syrup cool before giving it to your bees as feed.

Classroom - November 2009

by Jerry Hayes

Q Sometimes Size Does Matter...

Hi Jerry, I would like to know why some naturally raised and fully mated queens are large, and some are small? Recently, one of my hives swarmed, and the new queen is larger than any I have seen in my three years of beekeeping. This queen is over an inch long and as big around as a pencil and is laying a good pattern. It makes me wish that the queens that I pay good money for could look like this one. Thank you for taking time to answer.

David J. Flaugher

A
David, all things being equal, raising queens naturally or with beekeeper intent is a variable process. As a review, all the workers in a colony are sexually undeveloped females. Sexual development or not is based on the diet fed these young female larvae. The optimum age of a worker larva is three days old or less to develop into a premium queen. The younger the larva is, when selected for being a queen, the more ovarioles or egg-producing organs the queen will have and the supporting body structures to allow optimum egg production. The diet fed by nurse bees is called royal jelly. It is produced in the same hypopharyngeal glands of the nurse bees to feed "worker larvae", but is much higher in protein. This diet is fed in large amounts and actually floats the larva out of its cell, out over the front of the cell, so that the colony builds a larger vertical cell that is characteristic of "queen cells".
Let's say that your colony knew it was going to reproduce asexually-swarm. As a result, they started preparing potential replacement queens by feeding young larvae "royal jelly". The planets were aligned and they selected the perfect age larva and there were lots and lots of young nurse bees to feed the larva more than enough royal jelly. As a result, you got a whopper, beautiful queen. This is hard to duplicate, but when it happens it is pretty cool. Enjoy.


Q No Recipe

What is the best mixture for thymol crystals to treat varroa mites?
W. Martin

A
The best mixture is found in two tested, approved and labeled products called Apiguard and Api Life Var. No other thymol preparation is approved for use on beehives in the United States. Garage chemistry is not a good long-term solution or plan.

Q Sweat Lickers

Morning Jerry, I was mowing the grass and worked up a pretty good sweat. I decided to take a breather and sit down in the backyard. Soon my bees were on me like honey, licking up the sweat. What is with this?
John McQuown

A
John, you may have noticed directly or heard about honey bees visiting swimming pools and causing a nuisance, visiting muddy ditch water or even livestock feed lots.
Honey bees are attracted to and need minerals in their diet. If their diet does not contain the small minute amounts that they need, they go and look for them. If you add salt to your food or pepper, then you know what I mean.
Your sweat has an odor profile, which is easily identified and honey bee investigators, if not threatened, will collect your sweat for its minerals and oils. How many people would have been afraid in this situation where honey bees landed on their arms to collect sweat? Obviously, most nonbeekeepers would have been threatened and repelled such advances, but as a beekeeper you were wise enough to not feel threatened and let Nature take its course. Pretty interesting.

Q Use Of Honey-B-Healthy

I feed my bees essential oils (Honey B Healthy) in sugar syrup at certain times of the year. I ran across an article that mentioned bees move honey from one place to another in the hive. I just assumed the bees put nectar (or syrup) in an open area of the hive and that is where it stayed while they process and cap it. Guess I assumed wrong!
The label on the Honey B Healthy clearly states the contents is NOT for human consumption, so the article on honey movement concerns me and raised this question:
Are the bees likely to move any honey made from the sugar syrup containing the essential oils from the brood boxes up to the honey super when placed on the hive?

Deborah Rankin J Bar D Ranch

A
I wouldn't feed anything while nectar is being brought in for honey conversion and you have surplus honey supers on your hives. Hopefully, anything you fed before will have been consumed mostly for early brood production. Uncapped honey can be moved if the bees are so inclined, so if nothing artificial is fed during nectar collection, you are better off.

More From Deborah
I live in a very rural area, mostly pine forests and pasture land. We have had severe droughts ever since I installed my first hive in 2005. Our nectar flows pretty much end around early-May; the next thing that blooms of any significance is goldenrod in the fall, and even it is sparse. Nectar flows here are not very strong any time of year.
I do not use any hard chemicals. I use screened bottom boards year round, grease patties with wintergreen during the winter, and when I feed in the early spring and in August, I give the bees at least one gallon of syrup with Honey B Healthy, sometimes two if the weather has placed a lot of stress on the bees.
What does it do? Well, it makes those girls feel good - and they love it. Honey B Healthy contains spearmint and lemongrass - analgesics and carminatives. They relieve headaches, indigestion and heartburn in humans; they must have some similar effect on the bees. I also have planted several different herbs in my garden - lavender, rosemary, thyme, etc. for forage for the bees.
I monitor mite loads with sugar shakes and if necessary I use Apiguard before summer's end to keep the Varroa within manageable levels for the bees. I don't have any commercial beekeeping operations near me, and the only farming operation of any size is many miles away, so no pollination hives are nearby. You could say I am blessed - or "in the ditch" depending on how you look at it. Love "The Classroom" - I have learned many great tips from it.
Take care,
Deborah


A
You are probably blessed-blessed to be in an isolated place with no commercial beekeepers or production agriculture. And, blessed to care about your stewardship with your bees. What you are doing is probably not going to cause any problem, so keep doing what works for you and bees. Also, keep monitoring varroa mite levels and using Apiguard after honey flows as necessary to control your mite levels.


Q Thunder and Lightning

Hi Jerry, I have recently read that Florida is the thunder and lightning capital of the USA. Over here, across the pond in the UK, it is a widely held belief that thunder and lightning make bees very bad tempered. Is this the case over there and, if so, how do you deal with it?

Best wishes,
Peter Smith

A
Peter, being in a sub-tropical/tropical part of the world, we have a fair amount of heat and humidity that increases during the day and results in afternoon thundershowers. This is a bit different than weather patterns that are associated with "frontal" systems. These "fronts", high or low fronts, have a change in pressure associated with them. This change in barometric pressure is what generally alerts and disturbs honey bees, possibly affecting their disposition.
The thunder and lightning found in the weather, usually after a low-pressure front moves through, happens before and after the frontal boundary has passed and is not really what causes the bees to become disquieted. Florida thunder and lightning are daily isolated events that pop up, then disappear and re-appear elsewhere. These don't have a major behavioral effect on our honey bees.
If you like heat and humidity, Florida and the whole Southeast US were the places to be this summer!

Peter Follows Up
Thanks for the prompt and very knowledgeable reply. I didn't know that you were a meteorologist as well! I have read all sorts of things about this: Some say or write that the increase in electrical fields, as well as the vibrations from some thunderclaps can cause the little devils to become agitated. The pressure theory you expound seems a little more reasonable. Thanks for your time. Peter

Q Where Did The Egg Come From?

Hi Jerry, I inspected my hive today as usual. The bees that I have are of the Russian variety, so I knew that I would have queen cups on some of the frames. This is my first year keeping bees and I know some of the things that need to be known. I had the state apiary inspector inspect last Tuesday and we were able to find the queen.
Today, while doing the inspection, I found a queen cup that had an egg in it. I know that in previous articles you have stated that most hives have a few laying workers, so I am not ruling this out completely. My question is: Do the house bees move eggs to and from these queen cups and if there is an egg in this cup, will it be removed by the house bees or if the egg is in the queen cup, is it set in stone that the bees want a new queen?
This is the only queen cell of the four that I found today that has an egg in it. Also, do queens actually lay an egg in a queen cup knowingly as a precursor to swarm? Thank you in advance for you help.

Daniel H. Burk

A
Daniel, workers do not arbitrarily move around eggs. There are some "old beekeeper tales" that workers do this, but I am not at this time a believer. If laying workers did lay in a queen cup, their unfertilized egg and the drone larva resulting from it would be removed (eaten) by the nurse bees, as it is the wrong gender in a wrong location.
Queens lay eggs in queen cell cups to start the development of a new queen to replace the old one that leaves with the swarm or to replace herself because she is failing, sick, old or all of these. At times, the workers will also "rebuild" a worker cell containing an egg into an emergency queen cell. The best way to handle this is to check the queen cell in another few days. If the egg hatches into a larva and the workers start feeding it, then you are probably safe in assuming that a new queen is being raised for queen supersedure or swarming.
You are witnessing the variability, flexibility and capability of a colony of honey bees. Remember, most of the time, they are smarter than we are!

Q Herbicide, Garlon 3 A

Hi Jerry, my utility company sprays the herbicide Garlon 3A along the right-of-way, under the power lines to control unwanted vegetation. Unfortunately, our ditches are home to many bee friendly plants and provide lots of nectar. How concerned should I be with this chemical treatment?

Thanks,
Eddie Mac


A
Eddie, I didn't know what Garlon 3A was, so I appreciate you asking. I learned something and that is always fun. The active ingredient is TRICLOPYR, which was registered in 1979. It is used to control unwanted woody and herbaceous weeds. There are two forms, triclopyr triethylamine salt (TEA) or, and this is interesting, triclopyr butoxyethyl ester or BEE. According to the label and toxicity from the EPA registration documents, this material is non-toxic to honey bees. It does funky things to rats, rabbits and rhesus monkeys, but not honey bees, according to research conducted thus far.

Q African Bee Traits
Hi Jerry, my husband and I are fairly new beekeepers and have truly enjoyed and learned a lot from your Classroom series - thank you! Now it is time for us to ask you a question. Just this morning, when checking this year's new hive, we removed 13 swarm cells from the bottoms of three different frames. This is the second time we have removed these cells - last time was 23 days ago when we removed eight. It is apparent from all of the larvae and capped brood that our existing queen is doing quite well and there are still empty frames, so they should not be inclined to swarm. Can you tell us why they might be building so many queen cells?
There were some queens still in the cells and two emerged after we harvested them and I did not see any indication of varroa mites. We look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Cyndee and Tony Blenkush

A
Swarming, asexual reproduction, is based on congestion in what is the brood area. Empty frames just mean a smaller brood area and easier congestion. These bees want desperately to follow their genetic predisposition to swarm. This behavior is genetically programmed in these bees. Where did you get them? In Africanized honey bee (AHB) areas, this is not unusual or queens purchased from Southwest AHB strongholds. It would be unusual to find varroa in a queen cell. Let me know.

Cyndee and Tony Respond
Thank you for the quick reply Jerry. We do appreciate it. Yes, because we live in Southern Colorado at an elevation of 8,400 ft, we purchased our queen (and colony) from a southwestern U.S. package bee and queen company. Last year's queen and colony came from there too, but we did not encounter this behavior with them. They are very gentle small bees and we are told that they are a Carniolan and Buckfast hybrid.
Would you recommend we move in an empty frame or two toward the middle of the brood area? We look forward to hearing back from you.
Thanks again,
Cyndee and Tony

A
You may have some degree of Africanization from where you purchased your queens in the Southwest. The production queens there are open-mated and will probably pick up African drone genes from the surrounding feral population. You certainly could keep the brood nest open by continuously moving filled brood frames out and empty comb (not foundation) in. However, it may be easier in the long run to replace the queens with something more manageable from another source and get rid of these genetics. Caveat emptor (buyer beware).

Q Drones and Buckwheat
First, I want to thank you and the Journal for the lessons.
Question 1: Because mites favor the drone cells, would it be to my advantage if I destroyed some of the cells when I am in the hive anyway? I know I need a few drone cells, but how many because the queen has already mated?
Question 2: Buckwheat blooms in the morning and clover in the afternoon, but I like the clover better. What can I plant that the bees (for a July/August bloom time) will work in the mornings that will produce a light honey?
I am new at beekeeping and appreciate your answers. Also, what can I plant that will help me remember what I have read? (Joke) Thank you from northeast Oklahoma.
A
Thank you for the Classroom compliment. Drones are a breeding reservoir for female varroa. As a varroa control, removing a few scattered drone brood cells while routinely checking your colonies probably won't help much, but it is a good varroa sampling tool. On the other hand, an organized and dedicated program of regular drone comb insertion and removal would help since it is a recognized varroa control method.
Are you or a neighbor actually growing buckwheat? If so, how many acres? If you are, I am impressed as hardly anyone grows buckwheat in the U.S. anymore. I would take advantage of the buckwheat since many people want the darker honeys for the health value. Since you already have acreages of clover, I cannot think of anything that you could plant in enough acres in northeastern Oklahoma for white honey production in July/August other than alfalfa that you could let go to bloom. Maybe someone else out there has a suggestion? Sunflowers and cotton come to mind, but their honeys are often in the light to medium amber color range.
In answer to your last question about what to plant to help you remember what you have read? How about some forget-me-nots!

Q Brood  Cannibalism
My 9-year-old daughter was going through her hive today, and said, "There is a lot of dead brood." I was alarmed and checked it for her. I found that the queen was gone and the remaining workers were cannibalizing the pupae-three partial frames of them (probably over 1,000 half eaten pupae)! There were no eggs or larvae and no indication of any kind of brood disease. I observed one bee hatch out, but many more died of apparent neglect from the workers. Its like every nurse bee suddenly forgot her job and turned on the brood. Other colonies in the small apiary were putting up honey. I have never seen anything like it (I have been keeping bees for about nine years and have 60+ colonies).
The colony was split in June (it's winter here until late May) with six frames of healthy bees. On July 7th, I checked them and all seemed to be A-ok. I have had no instances of CCD, so far, and these colonies are well away from commercial crops. I promised my daughter I would consult you for advice.
Thanks for your input. I love the classroom in the Bee Journal.

Boyd Taylor
Alturas, CA


A
Boyd, if the field force dies out in the field from pesticides or dwindles due to queenlessness, disease, mites, etc., then the nurse bees will automatically advance to the next role of forager to fill in the gap or loss. With no foragers returning with resources, pollen (protein) in particular, there is no food. If there are few nurse bees to produce liquid larval food, then brood cannot be fed and it dies. There is still a protein need, so the nurse bees start eating the brood and recycle protein already fed to them that is now in their sisters. Why only this particular colony is in this condition I have no idea.

Boyd Replies
Thanks Jerry, that makes sense. I was pretty focused on the pupae, but now that you mention it, I don't recall any honey, either. I will get them straightened out.

Boyd

Q Queens From South Africa

Jerry, we first corresponded in January of 2006 about some aggressive bees from Texas, but I will be surprised if you recall me from that - anyway, thanks for your
"Classroom" in the ABJ.
What do you think of Dr. David Fletcher's recommendation (September, 2009 ABJ) that we bring in queens from South Africa, which have docile characteristics? I have had contact with Africanized honey bees (AHB) since 2000 and can attest to their vigor! In the past year I have requeened at least 11 AHB swarms. AHB swarms do work for raising queen cells. I make sure these units are small and isolated. If a colony does not accept the new queen, it gets "depopulated" by soapy water or a shop vacuum.
My present project is to get mite-resistant gentle productive bees. I have been doing instrumental insemination of queens under the guidance of Sue Cobey at UC-Davis. I am working with about 50 colonies that have not been treated for mites and are still looking healthy.

Bill Weinerth
Ventura, CA


A
Hello Bill, I just read the article by Dr. Fletcher in the September American Bee Journal. It seemed to cover the accurate and anecdotal history of African honey bees (AHB) in Africa and what we are learning about the population we have in the U.S. It was an interesting article. I would challenge his reports and his opinion on some points, but it really doesn't matter because what we have now is what we have and we can‘t go back.
Sure we could scratch our heads about Dr. Kerr's less-than-perfect scientific decision more than 50 years ago in Brazil, but to be perfectly selfish, I have to deal with the results of this decision for the public and beekeepers every day and it is a scary pain in the neck!
Dr. Fletcher is recommending finding manageable African bees (scutellata), importing them to the U.S. to competent "bee scientists" as he says. So my question is: "And then what?" The USDA has had an ongoing project in trying to distribute the hygienic "Russian" honey bee genetics for over a decade now. Getting the beekeepers in the U.S. to accept and vigorously purchase these has not met with universal success. Sue Cobey, Marla Spivak, Joe Latshaw and a host of other very smart people have also developed lines of genetically improved honey bees. Have all 2.4 million U.S. colonies been requeened with these easily available better queens? No. Will they? Probably not.
The AHB we have in the U. S. is under selection pressure from the environment and from beekeepers who cannot tolerate defensive/aggressive honey bees in the least, especially in close proximity to people, pets and livestock. Zoning restrictions are already causing beekeepers problems, insurance companies are dropping beekeepers who are not participating in a Best Management Program (BMP) such as in Florida and lawyers are getting paid for what lawyers do. This is current reality.
In a perfect world, Dr. Fletcher would be right in suggesting that a breeding program is needed to modify the behavior of AHB. In our imperfect world, he is still right, but the mechanics of this happening are slim to none. Reality will win over the best intentions every time.

_____________________________________________

Classroom - October 2009

(excerpt)  

Q You Need To Do It Once

Hi, I have a home that is going to be demolished, and there is a beehive in the overhang at the entrance to the house. I have a small hive of my own and I want to save and take the bees from the hive in the house. I've tried to use a funnel made of screen for two days and I just can't seem to get it completely sealed up. Do you know of any other methods? I've heard of some queen bee essence? If possible, please help. Is there some type of vacuum that can be used? Thanks much for any and all help.

Hank

A
Hank, first, if you are in an Africanized honey bee (AHB) area of the country, one can assume that the queen to this colony will be mixed mated with AHB and European honey bee (EHB) genetically based drones. They may be calm now, but the potential is for them to be overly defensive in the future. Be careful. If the house is going to be demolished anyway, why don't you just disassemble the part of the house where the colony is and get the whole thing with the queen as well? It takes weeks to trap out a colony using the "cone" method and then the queen is still left behind with the entire comb, etc. Vacuums, pheromones, combs with brood, combs without brood, etc., can all be used, but the only way you get the whole thing is to peel back the part of the house where they are, cut out the comb and tie it into empty frames, no comb or foundation, and get all the resources. Every beekeeper needs to do this once. You will create all sorts of your own personal beekeeper war stories and be able to keep pace with all the other beekeeper sagas at the bee meetings. I think it is an opportunity:)

Q Florida Honey Standard

I find much of Ms.Gentry's comments in the July 2009 Classroom to be rather disingenuous at best. s and serious illnesses from "tainted milk, spinach, peanut butter, pistachios and jalapeno peppers, to name a few." I don't remember the pistachio issue, but I think that the milk, spinach and jalapeno issues involved raw foodstuffs in or on which harmful bacteria were present. From everything I have read, honey does not allow microorganisms to grow. Osmotic pressure and the hydrogen peroxide in honey make it generally a reasonably good antibacterial material. To bring those instances into the picture is just plain wrong.
The real problem most hobbyists and sideliners have with the rules is with the very high cost of meeting the rules for a "processing facility"...a separate building, three-basin sink, etc. Especially onerous are the lengths to which the regulators carry the rule. I was told, when I called the Department that the mere act of placing a Ross Round into the plastic container was "processing" and had to be done in an approved and inspected facility.
When my Rounds are ready, I think I will show up at the grower's market with the super(s) and a bag of containers and ask the customers to place the comb in the container themselves and explain the ridiculous stance of the regulators.
Boiled peanuts, and cane syrup are exempt from the rules and have been for some time. Where are the s and illnesses associated with those food items? I know that everything about this is political. And, I really appreciate all the work Ms. Gentry did on getting the Honey Standard into place. Thanks for that. But please be more reasonable when it comes to the one size fits all processing rules. At least don't pick off-point inflammatory examples when attempting to support your new cause.

Richard Winters

A
Mr. Winters, I appreciate your comments on the "Honey Standard" as enacted in Florida. For specific questions about how this was enacted, I would certainly contact the Florida State Beekeepers Association, the Florida Honey Bee Technical Council, Ms Nancy Gentry, who was given the task to move this protective measure for beekeepers forward, and all of the rank and file of these organizations that had full input into this landmark legislation.
An opinion is like a nose, everyone has one. Here is mine on the Honey Standard. This is the first time in the United States/North America that any state or federal government has stepped up to protect beekeepers/honey producers from unfair mixing, blending and sale of cheap inferior honey products and giving the industry the strength and professionalism to elevate the product and the producers. This is being accomplished while giving the consumer confidence in Florida Honey and separating it from the "junk" that has been blended, modified, enhanced, and is sold to the consumer as "Pure Honey".
The Commissioner, Charles Bronson, is to be applauded for taking this issue forward in support of the Florida Beekeeping Industry. Remember that no one had ever done this before. The Federal Government chose not to do it. Mr. Bronson was not discouraged or dismayed as he drove forward to the benefit of all of Florida. And, there are 17 other states that have been waiting for Florida to take the lead on this and follow our example. This is a National event. It is a win/win for everyone. Having a pure product is much better than having a product that is of poor quality, potentially tainted and at the worst causing sickness. There are already warnings about feeding honey to infants. We do not want warnings on honey as on some fish and seafood products that those who have compromised immune systems or are pregnant should not eat them.
We have the best product in the world and we need to stand tall and protect it so that it continues to be the best product in the world. Florida Food Safety will be charged to monitor and enforce this new "rule". Your obligation and for all Florida Beekeepers is to report honey that isn't really honey to Food Safety. It is no different than someone selling "cat" and calling it chicken. It will make us stronger in our own eyes and in the eyes of all consumers, which at the end of the day is what matters.

Q Varroa? What Does It Mean?

Jerry, some time ago I read about monitoring the debris from the bottom of beehives via a removable tray. I have now made and use some bottom board trays in my hives, inserted from the back, to frequently and easily review the Varroa mite drop. The mites have now shown up here these past few years in Minnesota along the Lake Superior north shore where we have a few isolated hobby beekeepers. Last year, and again this year, I've noted flightless bees crawling in the grass in front of the hives, (occasionally one with deformed wings) perhaps about a dozen daily from three hives, but apparently mostly from one. (These are handy for bee venom therapy for my minor arthritis.)
The Varroa load seems minor, but I'm not sure I fully understand what I'm seeing on my trays. On any given day, often the result of 2-3 days, and mostly only with that one hive, I see about a dozen mites per tray, never more than 2-3 of them alive. The and live ones are about half and half brown and light beige color. Looking with magnification, I see that the are generally dried up. One could suspect that the live mites have ally fallen from the bees. But what about the majority which are ? Might this be normal mortality or would it be the result of grooming, or would grooming of live mites not show up at all due to their being carried away?
I have dusted with powder sugar, but see very few mites from that, a dozen at most after 30 min. from a two-box hive. Is my and alive ratio understandable? What should I be finding?

Rev. Eugene Lehrke

A
Varroa mites pass on (vector) a variety of viruses, some of which cause deformed wings in developing honey bees. The mite fall you are seeing over a 2-3 day period is good. You might want to coat your "tray" with petroleum jelly or spray cooking oil. This sticky coating may reveal more mites. Mites that fall on a non-sticky tray can simply crawl back up into the colony. Some of the mites you are seeing have been groomed off, died naturally or fallen naturally. Some have emerged with the damaged bee and are still maturing, so are different shades of brown. Try dusting each brood box with a cup of powdered sugar separately and see if there is a difference. Sounds like your mite level is growing. You need to monitor that mite increase and treat once you reach the economic threshold (that point at which mite numbers start to damage your honey production and hive health).

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