Whoopie! Just caught our very first swarm!

[soarwitheagles]

50+ of honey per hive per week is a lot of honey. Can I be just a little jealous ? ...just a tiny little bit as it know jealously isn't really a good thing. I don't put enough time in on the bees and I know that. It is so stupid hot here in the summer I feel like I need to be in the hive at about 7 AM or it is just miserable; and I am usually milking or doing goat chores at the hour. My DH said he would take over the bees but he never did so they are still my responsibility.

I have learned a lot over the years, and mite treatment is probably #1 on my list of "have to dos". I mistakenly thought that I wouldn't have to treat a package the first year so that cost me. I also made the mistake of not checking for brood when I go into a hive. If they are in the bottom deep it is hard for me to move that top deep without taking many of the frames out so I was just skipping that check and hoping all was well. That didn't work to well either. Also, I had hives that were 10-15 miles from my house which made it even harder to get to them to check on them. Right now I have two at my house and then a failing hive (laying workers) at another site. I think I will stick to just the two at my place and feed the heck out of them this late summer and fall and hope and pray I can keep them alive.

I bought two nucs with 2 year old queens; I could get them earlier if I took older queens and I wanted them here for the apples and blackberries. Come summer I will requeen which should help with the mites. I used Hopguard for mites last year but never did the official counts. Well those hives are gone so this year I may do the oxalic dribble in the fall and then actually do a count. I have to either pay closer attention or just give up.

Keeping bees makes raising goats look like a picnic.

Babsbag,

Yes, I agree, beekeeping is much more work than tending sheep/goats!

I didn't mean to tempt you to be jealous...and I did not word my statement correctly regarding 50lbs a week...

During the drought, we had very, very little honey. In fact, I had to feed each hive lots and lots of syrup just do they could survive!

Every two years, these Eucalyptus trees bloom...and when I say bloom, it is a massive understatement. Please let me explain. For some reason, these trees only do the massive bloom once every two years...but when they do bloom, it is outrageous. Imagine hundreds of thousands of trees all blooming at the same time or nearly the same time. Two years ago, it was so intense, it looked similar to snow on top of all the trees...but it wasn't snow, it was white Eucalyptus flowers so thick, so dense, so full of pollen that my wife and I had to wear pollen/dust masks for a number of weeks every time we came home. And the bloom has just barely begun this week! We just began to cough and sneeze every day. When the master bee keeper came over this last weekend, he spotted the beginning of the bloom. We could see the flowers blooming on only two trees, but it has begun. Once in full bloom, then the honey harvest will be massive. And we look forward to this for honey, but not we do not look forward to wearing the pollen masks for weeks at a time.

Wow, 50 pounds of honey a week! CA is such a dry climate that we don't get honey yields like that!

I purchased my extractor from Maxant. I'm very happy with it, and I specifically wanted one that is US made. I have a thread here in the beekeeping section about it.

babs - I've used Apiguard with great results for mites. I'm considering trying MAQS this year, as it kills the mites under the capped brood as well as the mites on the bees. We'll see when that time rolls around.

Happy Chooks, please see my explanation above. Large honey harvest is seasonal for us here.

I will read your post on the Maxant. I hear only good things about their extractors.

Here, we treat with Oxalic acid vaporizers often. I also use the Apivar and at times, the Apiguard too, but we mostly vaporize the Oxalic acid and if it is done correctly, it gets the job done.

Hope this helps!

 

[Latestarter]

I really need to study up on the OA vaporizer technique and how to do it. I understand it's pretty stressful on the bees, but if it keeps them from dying on me, I'll stress them willingly. Of course I'm going to have to be much more proactive and diligent as well.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I really need to study up on the OA vaporizer technique and how to do it. I understand it's pretty stressful on the bees, but if it keeps them from dying on me, I'll stress them willingly. Of course I'm going to have to be much more proactive and diligent as well.

My understanding is that OA vaporization is the least stressful of all the treatments and that is why we use it. If it is done correctly, the bees barely even notice it and it has little to no adverse effects upon the bees. But the OA crystals stick to the varroa mite's feet, killing them very, very effectively.

The important factor is purchasing the correct vaporizer. To hot, and it burns the OA. To cool, it does not vaporize the OA.

Gotta find the right vaporizer, and that is the key to success.

Presently, the VARROX-vaporiser appears to receive the best reviews and write ups. I purchased a less expensive one and now I wish I purchased the The VARROX-vaporiser.

OA is about 70 times as toxic to mites as it is to adult bees—which is a much greater spread than with either thymol or formic acid.

Hope this helps!

 

[babsbag]

I remember seeing those blooms when I lived in Lodi and Modesto; Fairfield too before Caltrans cut down the trees. But I never lived close enough to mass quantities of them to have it bother me or to know that it was bi-annual. Pistachios are a bi-annual crop as well. Hope your bees enjoy all the flowers and make it worth your mask wearing.

The person I bought my nucs from does an Oxalic dribble, something I am not familiar with but he said it did a good job for him. I may be asking you many more questions about the correct way and timing on the vaporizer.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I remember seeing those blooms when I lived in Lodi and Modesto; Fairfield too before Caltrans cut down the trees. But I never lived close enough to mass quantities of them to have it bother me or to know that it was bi-annual. Pistachios are a bi-annual crop as well. Hope your bees enjoy all the flowers and make it worth your mask wearing.

The person I bought my nucs from does an Oxalic dribble, something I am not familiar with but he said it did a good job for him. I may be asking you many more questions about the correct way and timing on the vaporizer.

Babs,

It is actually quite simple and easy. Place a half teaspoon in the vaporizer [per deep box], insert vaporizer in bottom slot, seal all openings with wet towels, and turn on vaporizer for approx. 2 minutes [time depends upon which vaporizer you purchased]. Then wait 10 minutes, remove everything.

We usually treat every 3-5 days for 4-5 treatments. Randy Oliver recommends the OA treatment any time between Nov. and Jan. [minimum brood period] but I know people who use it all year round.

I prefer to use it only during the winter.

Hope this helps!

Here's Randy's website:

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/first-year-care-for-your-nuc/

He is well known throughout the USA as a scientist and beekeeper.

Soar

 

[babsbag]

Thanks, that does sound fairly simple. I got my nucs this year from someone that Randy recommended as he was already sold out. His site is wonderful wealth of information.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Lucky you to have so many eucalyptus trees around. (for the honey, not having to wear masks) That is going to be fantastic for you!

No eucalyptus around here. Blackberries are our main flow. I got my first honey harvest the year before last and I was happy with 2 - 2 1/2 gallons from 1 hive. Last year was pathetic with the drought, I shouldn't have even bothered harvesting.

Great to hear about the OA, thanks for sharing.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Lucky you to have so many eucalyptus trees around. (for the honey, not having to wear masks) That is going to be fantastic for you!

No eucalyptus around here. Blackberries are our main flow. I got my first honey harvest the year before last and I was happy with 2 - 2 1/2 gallons from 1 hive. Last year was pathetic with the drought, I shouldn't have even bothered harvesting.

Great to hear about the OA, thanks for sharing.

Happy Chooks,

May I ask where are you in CA? We are near Galt.

The flow here has been extremely dismal here due to the drought. But two years ago, we saw a massive eucalyptus bloom and now we realize it only occurs every two years...so we would like to make the most of this massive flow.

I fed my hives nearly all of last year. It was either feed them or watch them die...

This year has been completely different. Massive flow even before the eucalyptus started blooming. So this is very good news.

Now I only wish I had made many more swarm traps and set them. Today I made another swarm trap and two more ant proof bee hive stands.

I hope to set some more swarm traps tomorrow and in the next few days.

I would like to make 5-10 traps. We are up to two traps now.

I am posting pics of the two new ant proof stands...minus the inverted PVC caps with the high temp lube. Hope to put those on tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Soar

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm just a bit above Auburn in the foothills, so not too far from you. You are flat, so you can do those stands. I wouldn't have anyplace flat enough without a lot of work to level the area out.

We have a ton of wildflowers coming out now and so many plants are in bloom. It looks like it might be a really good year! I'm still feeding to get my hives super strong before the blackberry bloom. We have a dearth just before the blackberry bloom. I didn't realize this until last year, when I did a hive check and there was NOTHING stored. Then it rained on most of the blackberry flow, so it was pathetic honey wise.

Both of my hives came through winter, but they are really low on stores. If I hadn't fed them pollen patties, they probably wouldn't have made it. But both queens are laying strong and there is a lot of pollen coming into the hives, so it's all good!

 

[soarwitheagles]

I'm just a bit above Auburn in the foothills, so not too far from you. You are flat, so you can do those stands. I wouldn't have anyplace flat enough without a lot of work to level the area out.

We have a ton of wildflowers coming out now and so many plants are in bloom. It looks like it might be a really good year! I'm still feeding to get my hives super strong before the blackberry bloom. We have a dearth just before the blackberry bloom. I didn't realize this until last year, when I did a hive check and there was NOTHING stored. Then it rained on most of the blackberry flow, so it was pathetic honey wise.

Both of my hives came through winter, but they are really low on stores. If I hadn't fed them pollen patties, they probably wouldn't have made it. But both queens are laying strong and there is a lot of pollen coming into the hives, so it's all good!

HC, that is beautiful country up there! I hope this year will be much more successful for you. With all the rain, we are seeing a huge difference in the blooming and flow here. I believe most of Northern Cal will see a marvelous flow!

I understand feeding...we did it nearly non-stop for months on end. We stopped the feeding in November because I began to see mold in the hives. We did not feed anything at all after that with the exception of a very small pollen patty in each hive a couple of weeks ago.

I have never seen or even imagined bees building comb this fast. It is amazing.

My only regret is not making more swarm traps and placing them strategically all over the place!

Hope to finish 5-10 new swarm traps within the week, then place them.

Will update on the success.