Category Archives: Q & A

Record keeping

I would like an “I failed to keep track” option for number of queens and splits made!
RESPONSE – Yes I know this to be the case. We encourage good notes/records in our Master Beekeeper program and we all need to record. Our survey does suffer when we fail to have the notes to include what we did and when we did it. I encourage your keeping of hive records

Warre forum link

In the Education section, the other source of great information is the Warre forum hosted by David Heaf
RESPONSE – Thanks for sharing. We have little local expertise on Warre hives and because the management and hive are so different from movable frame Langstroth we need a good source of information. Here is a link as suggested  http://www.bee-friendly.co.uk/

Beekeeping Comparisons

I am curious about the differences in commercial beekeepers losses vs. hobbyists and urban vs. rural beekeeping losses. It seems that commercial beekeepers lose a lot. This year my very first loss was one hive, which I am proud of since I hear about veteran beekeepers of far many years experience whom loose half of their apiary to winter losses. I attribute my success to attending bee association meetings regularly and education through WA State Beekeeping program, reading sources such as books, internet and magazine subscriptions. Also the invaluable networking with other beekeepers and/or conferences.
RESPONSE – Our survey has found the opposite – commercial beekeepers have only about one-half the overwintering losses of backyard beekeepers – and this has been consistent in the PNW surveys now for a number of years. They lose heavier during the season than the backyarder beekeepers – they are requiring/expecting more from their bees and “using” them multiple times a year (for pollination primarily but also for honey production – they need more productivity to cover their time and costs.) What is “unique” about our current losses is that an individual may do the same management; same location, etc but have heavy losses one year and lighter another. Much we still don’t understand about bees – the survey effort is designed to enable you to look over your beekeeper neighbor’s fence. Networking and well-designed training materials and programs such as OR and WA Master Beekeeper programs are helping but are no substitute for the actual doing – to learn and benefit form understanding what bees are doing. I appreciate your sharing

Weak Swarm Hives

Most significant loss was 3 weak swarm hives to yellow jackets in September – should have requeened. Thanks for conducting the survey!
RESPONSE – Weaker colonies are always more vulnerable. And what a great yellow jacket year it was (for them) – hopefully they will have smaller populations and fewer successful nests this coming fall.

Survey suggestions & Michael Bush’s methods

Some of the early questions did not have the year changed. They use 2014 / 2015. I treated them as if they said 2015/2016. The question about monitoring mite counts did not allow me the option of saying I frequently monitor my white boards. It is the only thing I did this year because all four of my colonies were new. I do not intend to treat. I am following Michael Bush’s methods. The distance between the hives in a single apiary would be interesting. Mine are spread out. Special things one does would also be interesting. I add fresh mint and thyme to the fondant and a pinch of salt; sometimes brewer’s yeast. I also grow a patch of thyme in front of each hive. I have also turned my land into forage. Borage and Cleome (Spider Wort) was very popular. Only bumblebees like phacelia. Borage bloomed until late November and started up with a huge self-seeded crop in February. It’s like the Garden of Eden out there. I talk to my bees! (tsk… tsk..)

RESPONSE:  Data should be 2015-2016 period. We did miss some date changes in our update. We asked what months you monitored using sticky boards – as you have done; use Comments at end for any additional items you think you need to clarify. Treatment decisions are your personal decisions – some beekeepers prefer to not treat. The reason for monitoring (using the white boards) is to confirm mite numbers. New colonies can die from heavy mite numbers as well as established colonies. It is excellent, when conditions permit, to space between colonies and to give all colonies a distinctive “look” to reduce drifting of adult bees (and spread of mites).  Beekeepers will add various additional materials to their feeding of bees – for virtually all of them we do not know how effective they may be, nor if they might be harmful. A bit of fresh mint or thyme or pinch of salt should not be harmful. Honey bees, along with bumble bees, like the phacelia – borage (which blooms a long time is good bee forage and we know they need more forage.

Marking Queens

Overwintering 2 nucs in an 8 frame deep and medium that was divided seemed to work well. Both hives thriving now – they clustered on the separating board. Only some of my queens are marked. No way to indicate that. Am learning to mark myself.

RESPONSE: Marking is a good skill to develop. Good to hear both nucs and 8 frame hives overwintered.

Importance of Community in Beekeeping

I teach Sustainable living Classes …and… took up Bee keeping in 2013 and bought Italians from Portland and tried to run a top Bar hive with no Beekeeping experience, I lost all my bees the year to a severe Varroa  Mite infestation, I then had to find and pay a beekeeping teacher and started on the basic fundamentals using a Langstroth hive, IN short Not being plugged into a community is hard and there are so many variations of Beekeeping that make being a beginner very difficult.

RESPONSE: I agree that a mentor can make the starting and success with bees much better. Good luck this season.

Do “tiny” hives count?

The second swarm we caught was *tiny* so we did not expect it to survive winter, but thought we would give it a chance. Not sure that it should really count in statistics? Also, I think you might have a typo in section 3. It asks for how many colonies we had going into fall 2014, coming out in 2015. Shouldn’t that be 2015/2016? Thanks for doing this!

RESPONSE: First question of section 3 asks how many overwinter colonies from 2014 (so it was a colony overwintered in fall of 2015, i.e. not a nuc or package started in 2015) survived until 2016. It is an awkward wording so we will make it better for next survey year survey.  A tiny or large swarm – we are not discriminating on basis of size.

Survey glitch

A few questions required typed answers (such as how much honey you extracted) even if you said you took no products.

RESPONSE: we attempt to reduce such questions. Thanks for catching this duplication.

Survey didn’t seen to fit my Warré hive

I want to clarify, because the required options didn’t quite fit. My queen/hive was brought to me by a mentor, and I don’t actually know where it originated. Because it was brought (caught?) late in the season, about May, we decided not to bother the bees much. They filled one Warre box with comb before the cold weather set in, so I removed the second empty box. We also gave them a couple of sugar-water feedings due to the drought and early expiration of blooming flowers in the neighborhood. By spring we discovered no living bees in the hive. Lots of honey stores, almost no brood, and the few dead bees clustered together (to keep warm?). My mentor inspected, and we posted photos on the PUB page that were reviewed by several experienced beekeepers. The consensus was that the hive failed because of a combination of late-season transfer and varroa. As a result I currently have no active hive.

RESPONSE: A Warré hive is not meant for extensive manipulation. We expect heavier losses of Warré hives when we keep our American mutt (Italian) bees in them.. SO in the survey you could leave the origination blank (since you did not know where your mentor got it originally) but indicated 1 Warré hive lost over winter. Under the feeding questions you would click on sugar water. When we do the forensics on a dead hive, we might eliminate some possibilities but still have more than one probable winter loss option – the suggestions of late season transfer and varroa are good guesses. You would check varroa or under option, list the two possibilities on that line.