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Author Topic: A little advice?  (Read 2544 times)

Offline Xperiment

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A little advice?
« on: May 22, 2010, 02:45:03 pm »


Back in February we had to disassemble the hive because the gophers had undermined the cinder blocks holding it up and it was tipping over.   We removed 1 layer of blocks at that time; we had added that layer and put barrel cactus around the entrance to keep the skunks away.   I thought that the cactus alone might be enough.

The 2 FD supers were pretty full of bees and there was stored pollen, capped honey and brood and we spotted the queen.

Since then the hive has become less vigorous, there is little capped brood and only smaller amounts of honey and pollen.   The queen is still there too.

What should I be looking for?

I've restored the extra cinder blocks today and started feeding sugar solution again last week, I will make something to block the sides of the entrance better and install that this weekend.

As of 2 weeks ago I started putting some fresh thyme on top of the queen excluder to dose the hive with thymol (which we can't buy in Calif w/o registering) although I cannot say I know it will have any benefit.  .

Should we re-queen?   Is there something I should do for disease?

Advice?

yrs,
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Offline oldenglish

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2010, 02:59:23 pm »
Pictures of your brood frames would help, almost impossible to diagnose and disease just from ("Since then the hive has become less vigorous, there is little capped brood and only smaller amounts of honey and pollen")
It could be the queen needs replacing, how old is she ?
It could be mites, varroa or trachael
It could be they are starving
It could be something else altogether

Offline Kathyp

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2010, 03:11:12 pm »
you can't get apiguard in CA without registering?  they sell it in the beekeeping stores, but i see no note about it. you can also catalog order it and i don't remember seeing a note about it in there either.

pics would be nice.  what does the brood pattern look like?  what's the weather been like?  what's your nectar source like?

take the thyme off.  i doubt that it's hurting the bees, but i like to start problem solving by undoing the changes i have made.  sometimes it helps....

 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Xperiment

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2010, 03:35:13 pm »


I had dense brood and some drone brood 2.5 months ago.   Now the capped brood is sparse and I don't see any uncapped brood.    I cannot see visible mites, like varroa, but then I'm no expert on that.   If the decline was just a return of the skunk I would expect to see lots of brood.

Its been cool and rainy here but this is coastal Calif so 'cool' means that the bees are flying most days.

There are a lot of things blooming and I see a lot of bees returning with pollen but the numbers of bees on their 'maiden flight' in the afternoon has dropped off.

My current Rx is to continue feeding sugar solution.   And possibly get a new queen.   This one is 1 yr old and a carniolan.    I'm hoping to get the hive back to health in time to get some honey harvest this year.   Right now I'm doubtful.

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Offline Kathyp

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2010, 03:57:22 pm »
the pattern of the brood was what i was interested in.  is it tight, or scattered?  is she filling in as bees hatch out?

the queen will not lay more than the bees can care for.  if something happened that reduced your bee population (skunk, for instance) the queen would lay less until numbers were up.
in that case, replacing the queen would be a waste of money.  on the other hand, if she is not doing a good job of laying, you do need to replace her.

is the skunk still bothering?  the carpet tack strip on the landing board is one of the better suggestions i have heard here.  you might try that.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Xperiment

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2010, 04:16:21 pm »


The brood is very widely scattered.   Does not look right at all.

I'm not seeing anything that looks like the pictures of disease I have seen, but again I am a total ignoramus about this!

Would skunk depredation cut down on brood production?   I'm inclined to go ahead and re-queen rather than waste even more time at this point.

yrs,
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2010, 04:25:54 pm »
the brood should not be scattered.  i would requeen. how many frames of bees are left?  do you have another hive?

brood production would be reduced if number of bees in hive were reduced.  queen will lay what bees can care for.

you sound like you have a queen problem. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Xperiment

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2010, 05:53:54 pm »



Thanks!   We can re-queen on Wednesday next!

I'll let you know how it goes in 2-3 weeks.


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Offline Xperiment

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2010, 12:19:40 pm »


Thanks for your advice I wonder if you would answer a couple of more questions?

I have heard that re-queening annually is a good practice, is that your opinion as well?

We have never used any food other than syrup but right now the pollen stores are thin, should we use some kind of protein food like pollen patties?    It is 'normal practice' to feed with a protein source at regular intervals?

We are just hobbyists with one backyard hive so I would rather adopt 'good general practices' and reduce the risk of losing the hive.

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Offline buzzbee

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2010, 12:36:00 pm »
You could put on a pollen pattie. If they are getting enough fresh pollen they won't touch it.f not it  may save them.
Many people requeen late in the season to have a fresh queen going into fall. the only problem with that is if the queen is poorly mated,you may lose the hive until spring gets there. The queen needs to be able to lay a large enogh batch of brood in the fall to overwinter plus be able to lay very late in the winter to have young nurse bees at the first break of spring.
The bees hatched in the fall need to carry through the winter.
How many frames are the bees covering? If they are only covering a couple frames you need to reduce to one box. Maybe a five frame nuc box would be sufficient. I would hold off on any aromatic herbs at this point,as they may be interfering with the natural smell of the queen pheremone.

Offline buzzbee

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2010, 12:37:37 pm »
Ooops,
PS
If the frames are completely filled with sugar syrup,the queen will  not be able to lay eggs. She needs empty cells to lay in. If this is the case,wstop feeding.

Offline Xperiment

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2010, 01:17:58 pm »
Ooops,
PS
If the frames are completely filled with sugar syrup,the queen will  not be able to lay eggs. She needs empty cells to lay in. If this is the case,wstop feeding.


With 2 FD supers we have ca 1 super's worth.   Very little capped honey or sugar syrup and I started feeding only after the brood had become very sparse.

Looking ahead I think we will plan on re-queening every year in March-April and do some pollen-feeding when the stores in the hive look low.   I should have done both this year.

I left out the thyme but they did do a nice job of cleaning it out.

Well, I'm optimistic about getting the hive back to health but probably won't harvest much this year.

Thanks to all for your suggestions!


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Offline Kathyp

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Re: a little advice?
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2010, 01:20:57 pm »
you can requeen every year if you want.  it's probably a benefit for a commercial beekeeper.  i see no reason to toss a good queen just because the calender changes.  that's a judgment call you'll have to make somewhere along the line.  a lot of the time, the hive will requeen it's self and you'll never notice.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.