Week 4: Dandelion Time

The weather this week has been fit for neither man nor bees. With temps in the 50s and drizzly rain, it's been a tough time to be a bee. 

I have held off on this week's hive checks for fear of exposing the brood to chilly temps, which would kill thousands of bees-to-be and set back honey production.

The farthest I have gone is to peek under the lid to see how things are going. My primary concern is my new hive (Green) that I split off from White a little over a week ago. They are making a queen, which is a good sign. Hopefully, she will mature over the next few days (queens mature im 16 days), fly off to mate and return safely to start building a new colony.

When I lifted the lid, I could feel the heat coming off the colony. Bees keep their hives around 93 degrees F to grow brood and dehydrate nectar into honey. The 50-degree temperature difference was obvious!

On the plus side, the rain is bringing out flowers. The blooming is booming. And while daffodils are lovely and fruit trees are nice, the real stars of this week's bloomfest have been the weedy stuff that pass unnoticed underfoot -- dead nettle, henbit and, of course, dandelions. 

While gardeners hate the, dandelions are ambrosia for bees, providing loads of nectar for honey production. Now that I know that, I wish my yard had more of them!

Week 3: Mite Check

The biggest pest of honeybees is the varroa destructor mite, a tiny arachnid native to Asia that has spread around the world. Like ticks, mites spread disease, so managing them is crucial to keeping hives healthy. This is the part of beekeeping that really feels like farming.

Testing for mites is pretty direct: dump a frame or two of bees into a bucket; scoop a measuring cup filled with bees (about 300); drop them in a special device with alcohol. Put on the top, swirl the cup. The alcohol kills the bees and the mites, which fall through the inner basket and collect in the bottom of the cup.

It seems cruel, but 300 bees out of a hive with 30,000 or more is a small sacrifice that will be replaced in a few days -- aa long as you don't accidentally include your queen in the sample.

This first test of the year came up clean: No mites in three of four hives. The Blue hive had a single mite in its sample. Ideally, you want 9 mites or fewer in a sample. That's 3%. Above that, it's time to treat the hives. 

Commercial keepers smoke their hives with oxalic acid, which require them to wear a respirator. I prefer formic acid, which comes as patties you put in the hive for two weeks. With no mites to speak of so far, I'll hold my treatments until later in the summer.

Week 2: Growing Fast

This week's hive inspection showed lots of changes from last week's. All four hives are headed for a population explosion in the next week or two -- just in time for the peaches, pears, and tulip poplars to be in full bloom.

The plums have already started blooming heavily. We're also seeing little things like henbit and violets that are favorites of the bees but not at flashy as the trees.

The hives show a mix of recently capped (bright yellow cappings) brood and older (dark cappings) brood that should start emerging within the week. There are also plenty of eggs and young larvae. The queens are loading the place up with new bees. In most cases, what was a few frames of brood in a single box last week is already double or triple that in two boxes this week.

They're even making drone brood, which is obvious because their cells are so much bigger. Given that drones are the preferred host for varroa mites, this is probably a good time to do another treatment.

The rule of thumb is: one frame of brood = two frames worth of bees. If that holds true, we are about to be loaded with bees, which means I'll be heading off swarms by this time next month.

I also spotted the queen of the White Hive, who happens to have a white dot. She was part of a nucleus I bought last year to rebuild after my back-to-back bear attacks and has proven herself to be prolific.

This was the week that I gave the hives their first dose of 1:1 sugar water, a magical elixir that simulated a natural nectar flow and boosts the queen's egg-laying rate. 

(A bit of henbit pollen stuck in beeswax)

I'm not sure how much it was needed, to be honest, but it can't hurt, especially since I plan to use these hives to spin off at least two more hives this year. 

First Inspection of 2025

Winter is always a tenuous time for beekeeping. You feed the bees in the fall so they can build up honey resources to live for the coming months, then you shut them away. Fingers crossed. If things go well, your bees will be thriving come March. If not, you'll find a dead hive filled with bees.

Last year, I had a hive die over the winter. It was too small going into the cold months, and I should have lifeboated them with a larger hive but I did not. Live and learn.

This week I made my first official visit to the four hives (White, Blue, Periwinkle, Yellow) to check on their status. I'm happy to say they are thriving. All four still have loads of resources -- primarily sugar water converted to honey that they didn't eat over the winter.

They are already packing in pollen from all over in all kinds of colors, including yellow, olive green and even hot pink! The pollen will feed the hives' growing brood as the world wakes up and the spring nectar flow begins. (Nectar is the foundation of honey.)

These bees are the tail-end of the "winter bees" that are born fatter and longer-lived than the summer bees. Winter bees live several months, rather than the month-and-a-half for summer bees. Winter bees, basically, keep the hive alive until spring.

During my inspection, I spotted two of my queens -- Periwinkle and Yellow -- which was good. They have green dogs on their backs, indicating that they were born in 2024. This year's queens, if I make any, will get blue dots.

I also got to see a new bee emerging from her cell after completing her pupation. She is the first a thousands more to be born in the weeks to come. Bring on spring!

The First Blooms

After a miserable, cold, and snowy February, we are seeing our first signs of spring -- the crocuses have started appearing!

They are following the hellebores (Lenten roses) that started appearing last week.

 Hopefully, these few brave blooms are the vanguard of this year's honey flow, which is running about a month late so far.

What's next to bloom?

Almost Spring

Winter has relented this week, giving the bees a chance to stretch their wings. 

Blue and Yellow hives were especially busy today as the midday temperature kissed 60 degrees. Blue has chewed through two sugar blocks, so I swapped a piece from White hive since they are still working through their honey stores. 

Today was also the first appearance of our hellebores, which means Spring is not far behind!

The Big Snow

It snowed all day on Tuesday -- full 12 hours later, we had nearly 10 inches of snow on the ground. 

Hoping to avoid the task of clearing snow from the entrances of my hives, I thought I'd try something new. I cut sections of PVC to serve as a sort of snorkel so the hives could continue to get air though the snow. 

My little experiment worked om two hives, White and Periwinkle. The other two, Blue and Yellow, have angled front porches that created a place for the snow to collect. Eventually, it covered the snorkels, so I had to clear them. 

Progress comes in small steps. I'll try long pipes or a new design for the next snow.