September 19, 2021
We have two bee hives, started in April using packages from Kelley bees, with Italian queens.
Previously we had honeybee hives for a few years however we went with the natural hands off approach and did not treat for mites and also did not provide sugar syrup and we eventually lost the hives.
The hives are standard 10 frame deep Langstroth types.
We are using solid bottom boards, the entrances are fully open at present, each hive has two deep brood chambers, with 10 deep frames in each deep brood chamber.
A little more than half of the frames are using Mann Lake Rite cell waxed plastic foundation, and the rest are foundation-less frames that the bees have drawn out. We have a mix of natural and black colored waxed Rite cell plastic foundation, we will probably stay with the black color for the deep brood chamber frames as it makes it easier to see eggs in the cells.
On top of the upper deep brood chamber is an inner cover and on top of that is a four hole screened feeder tray that is enclosed with a third deep box, topped with another inner cover and finally a top cover.
It is easy to feed sugar syrup to the bees with this setup, just go behind the hive (away from the entrance in the front), remove the top and inner covers, glance inside to look at the sugar syrup jars, we have been using two inverted quart jars with holes punched in the lids, this leaves two round screened openings for ventilation. No smoker is needed, the bee hive is not opened up or disturbed because the feeder tray holes are screened.
An alternative approach used by some commercial beekeepers is to place an inverted sugar syrup container directly on top of the top cover, we may try that approach in the future. For some setups frame type feeders are preferred.
There is a flow going on here now in mid September, the bees are not taking much of the sugar syrup. The sugar syrup is 1:1 ratio (weight or volume) of pure granulated white cane sugar to water.
Today the forager field bees are coming in to the hives with white pollen in their hind leg baskets. There are all kinds of wild flowers in bloom right now, but I'm not sure what plant is providing the white colored pollen.
Mites are a serious issue for honeybee colonies these days, primarily the varroa destructor mite.
In August we treated the beehives for mites using three separate treatments of Apiguard (thymol) spaced one week apart. The active ingredient in Apiguard is thymol which is a natural substance.
For each of the three Apiguard treatments we used 25 - 30 gram doses of Apiguard placed in between the two brood chambers of each hive.
Temperatures in August during the Apiguard (thymol) treatment varied from low 80's to about 90 degrees F.
We did not perform any alcohol wash mite counts on the colonies, perhaps we will try that in the future.
The bee hives are located at the edge of the woods and pasture, the hives get morning and mid day sun and are shaded in mid afternoon. Natural water sources are available nearby.
We are only providing sugar syrup feed, no pollen patties or other supplements.
We will not be providing feed or performing any treatment when we have honey supers on the hives.
We plan to treat for mites again in December when the hives should be broodless, using oxalic acid vapor treatments. Oxalic acid is also a naturally occurring substance.
If all goes well the bees should come out of winter in good condition and be ready for spring.
At the moment the bee hives look good, the bees are gentle and busy.
