Wishing our Bees a good Winter

Fall is almost over, the leaves are everywhere but on trees. The air is cold, and the bees know it. They don't fly around much anymore, except when  a sunny 50 degree F (10C) day is announced! They are busy organizing themselves, and making sure their hives are "wind proof". The honeybees are busy filling gaps in their house...they have one motto: No air drafts. 

We went to visit our bees on last time last weekend, November 12 2011. We cleaned out the bottom board, and removed the last feeding pails. We made sure that all the boxes were stacked properly, and that the whole colony was leaning slightly forward. This helps with the moisture that can accumulate inside and freezing and  killing the bees. Then we placed a black waxed cardboard box over the hive, not really to insulate but to protect against the winds. On top of the hive we put a moisture board that will absorb any dampness. We left one upper entrance for them to fly around during  sunny and "warm" days. The bottom entrance will be blocked soon by snow. 

The colonies in Shakopee seem to have more bees than in Chanhassen but overall they all look in good health. We left them plenty of honey and they have collected a lot of pollen late into the season. Our hope is that our honeybees are safe and strong enough for another Minnesotan winter.

Colonies in Shakopee wrapped up for winter.

The long walk through the field in Shakopee

One happy beekeeper!

  

Covered in black, our 3 hives in Chanhassen. The painted one is empty.

Bees taking up the last rays of sun!

End of Fall...Slowing down

Pollen patties:proteins

Sunday, October 23 2011

We visited our bees and they are still doing well. They are not drinking their 2:1 syrup so quickly anymore. We actually left them 1 gallon each until next visit. It is becoming difficult for the honeybees to drink because our night time temperatures are colder 32-38F (0-3C) and the sugary water crystallized, and the syrup stays cold and thick. However they still seemed to enjoy the pollen patties (proteins) so we replenished each colony as needed. Obviously the chores for us are decreasing, the bees know well that winter is looming. 

The queen will eventually stop laying eggs to preserve her needed energy to survive the harsh winter. However she has already diminished her production dramatically since September. The workers are moving honey and pollen around the hive, so the reserve will be close to the honeybees' cluster that they will form soon. The workers' work is almost done preparing the hive for the long wait until spring. They have done all they could to make their "family" strong and healthy. They took the time to remove weak, diseased and unwanted bees. The poor drones have been kicked out of the house, so there are less mouths to feed during winter. But of course the queen will "make" males next spring, so her genetics can be disseminated. Just to be clear, the queen DOES NOT mate with her own sons. But males are  important for queens so they can  pass on their genetics, and life can go on, continuing the cycle.

The honeybee looked just like this one!

We saw few very dark, black honeybees in one of the hive in Chanhassen. It was a surprise but I reminded myself that a queen mates with about 20 drones from many different colonies, so in essence she is carrying many drones' DNA. As she lays an egg, it can be any combinations in various degrees. And this is why the species can survive! Diversity of traits!

In  Shakopee, under the smaller hive we have a mice's nest! We saw them running between our feet during the colonies' inspection. Strange feeling to have something moving so fast when we focus on something else. It spooked me, and made me do a "little dance, and during my fright I crushed one unintentionally. I did not like that but I don't like them squatting in my hive either! We will deal with them and evacuate them presto next time!

NATURAL LOCAL HONEY FOR SALE

Karine and Ben Pouliquen Beekeepers

       12 oz Glass Hex Jar .................$ 8.00

    12 oz Inverted bottle.................$ 7.00

     2 oz Little Bear........................$ 2.50

 

Honeybees Know best!

Saturday, October 15 2011

Since I was very busy Ben took care of the bees yesterday. The only comment I got was that everyone looks good, and no one drinks or eats too much! I guess the honeybees know what to do! Ben did not have to use a lot of sugar syrup or pollen patties. I think the bees are ready for winter. They will eat less and less, especially as the daylight is shrinking and the nights are getting colder.

Since a few weeks now, the queens are diminishing their eggs production tremendously, reducing the workforce, and keeping a minimum but sufficient numbers of honeybees to survive for the next 6 months using only their honey and pollen storage. Hopefully they ALL have enough storage to go through winter. As a beekeeper I feel we have done what we could for our little darlings again this season, and now they have to rely exclusively on themselves. Their survival is mostly determined by their genes , instincts and having a smaller wintering population. Very soon, the workers will kick out of the hive any remaining drones... their days are counted. The poor rejected males will be walking aimlessly in front of the hive knowing that they are absolutely not welcomed back. Yes, it is sad and I don't like seeing them being pushed away, but this seemingly tragic event is of utmost necessity for the survival of each colony ....less mouths to feed.  Remember drones don't work in any shape or form in a hive, not in spring nor summer, not ever. They will mate once in their whole drone-life with a queen IF they are lucky and die soon after. Better luck to play the lottery! But we love them anyway!!!

We will visit the bees next week and see if we are done feeding them, that is if they do not consumed anything (syrup or pollen patties) our feeding chore will be over until spring. Mid-November we will cover the hive with a black waxed cardboard carton to protect them against the frigid winds.

PS: I have some honey for sell! See my next post :)

Another Spectacular Fall Day!

Sunday October 9, 2011


I went to visit the bees today. All look nice and beautiful. In Chanhassen our 3 colonies seem strong, and I saw a lot of honeybees bringing back orange pollen. The paper wasps , yellow jackets and hornets were not bothering them anymore...just saw a few. No drones thrown out yet either.

 Last week, I had given them 2 pails each of 2:1 sugar syrup, but I could tell that  they did not seem very interested. In all I only added a pail of syrup in that apiary. As they also need proteins at this time of year, I gave them some pollen patties. But they had not finished their last serving! Despite the astonishing warm and very dry weather, the honeybees must find some nectar and pollen somewhere because they seemed happy , in good health and calm.

When I opened the covers of each colony, I could smell the honey. Right now it has a very strong and sweet scent... heaven!

On the other hand, in Shakopee the honeybees had almost drank all their syrup and ate all of their pollen patties. I replenished all. They were also calm and seemed in good health, flying around and being bees.

A little anecdote: In Shakopee, before  removing  the outer cover of the colony with the golden honeybees I found a penny next to the  rock that is placed on the top  to prevent the wind or an animal to take it out! I took the penny for good  luck  and in its place I  put an acorn!

Science Does not Explain Everything!

October 7, 2011

Judy pulling larvae to inspect!

I finally brought my frame and some honeybee samples to the University of Minnesota. Judy took a look at the frame itself, and started poking. She noticed some very dark capping. She opened the capping and we saw some brown/black unhealthy larvae (A sign of a brood disease: a virus ), and inside the cell some Varroa mites!

 

Bottom left: unhealthy, grey larva-- Upper right: healthy, pink/white larva

Pupa: Top, healthy Bottom, Unhealthy

The adult honeybees that I collected had deformed wings...could be a virus like Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)but...not necessary the virus transmitted by the  Varroa mites that we found. It is complicated and not well known. Scientists around the world are looking at  that "Soup of Viruses" that seems to afflict and kill our honey bees for what seems no reason. What is clear with our hive is that the population of bees had deceased dramatically in the last few weeks.

 This is our combined theory:
 A small group of honeybees may have swarmed but  we are not sure. The brood was affected  first  by a virus making the colony  weak as those potential bees were not viable, reducing the total population and leaving a smaller aging bee  population to care for the whole. This older honeybee population under tremendous pressure to save the now reduced and sick colony and the queen became weak and more susceptible to other diseases and viruses which are always present in nature. In addition, this weakened colony attracted  invaders and they could not fight due to their affliction. The result: They ALL died together in their hive.

Still strange and unexplained is the fact that healthy pupae in their cells were next to unhealthy pupae, only separated by a thin wall of wax.

Ben and I went back later on  to clean up the hive. It was a gruesome sight... no bees were alive, no humming sound. Only devastation.  On the bottom board we observed  2-3 inches thick of dead bees.  Very sad indeed.

While cleaning I kept thinking  that this colony was already weak and could not sustain such internal and external pressure; however our other 3 hives were doing just fine.  It reminded me of  the Spanish Influenza of 1918 which  did not affect everyone but kill many.  Has great as  Science is,  one cannot know the exact cause of death of our colony. We may be curious, we may extrapolate, and guess but not all is known in the honeybee world...yet.

Bottom board: full of dead bees 2-3 inch thick

Dead bees on frames

The Mysterious Loss of a Colony

September 23, 2011 .

 As I report today on the first day of autumn, I have witnessed the loss of a colony in less than 3 weeks. It is very puzzling because this green little hive gave us a good super of honey this year,  about 40 lb.  This hive, Chanhassen #1 was "born" on April 20 2010 and was still a strong hive on August 27, 2011. Everything was perfect all summer, good brood pattern, lots of eggs, good queen, happy hive.

This is the hive we moved a few feet away to expose it to more sunshine. This is the hive which its occupants stung Ben 25 times! We know it was alive and well! How did it just die without a fuss, without giving us hints?

To be honest I had noticed some weeks ago,  few honeybees with deformed wings but not enough to get alarmed. This happens in nature, and it is usually taken care of by the honeybees themselves; they remove diseased bees, pushing them out of the colony. Furthermore, I did not see any mites which can lead to diseases or viruses. A puzzle of grand proportion.

A  weekend ago (Sept. 11) , Liz a friend came along to help us with our weekly honey bees' chores and like us she saw with sadness the pillage occurring. Many yellow jackets , paper wasps and bald-faced hornets were trying to get into the hive, attracted by the honey accumulated and robbing it. The small contingent of honeybees seemed powerless to defend themselves. They were however fighting fearlessly, dying to prevent the intruders to come in. Many died fighting, their cadavers were scattered in front of the colony. It was a very gloomy scene.

I needed to see more, I proceeded to open the hive to find a small amount of bees 200-300 many of them having deformed wings (DW). There is a virus called "deformed wing virus" that is vectored by the vireo mites, but I could not see any. Still a mystery....

I took a frame of dead brood with a few half emerged bees on it, as if no one was there to help them come to the world. I kept saying how sad it was to see this. The words in my head were echoing...how could  that be possible, that fast with no warning signs that I could have seen? It was devastating.  After a few minutes, I got out of my torpor and decided to do something about it. I could not save the colony but I could try to find out what had happened. I collected  few dead honeybees, and put everything in plastic bags. I also kept the doomed frame. In addition, even if  I knew the colony would not survive I could not let the invaders kill them mercilessly. I decided to close all the possible entrances with cork plugs and make the tiniest opening as I could for the honeybees to get into their hive, a safe place. I thought that at least they would die inside among their precious honey, and among themselves.

Now that I had regain some mental strength, I made the decision to bring all my specimen to the University of Minnesota and  have them analysed. I have to know what happened. Judy ( A PhD entomology student at the U) and I will take a look together using her expertise and the tools available to us in our lab. We will  try to solve this enigma. Someone has to know what happened to that colony.  I really hope to have answers soon.

In the meantime, I am feeding the rest of the colonies with heavy Syrup 2:1. This helps them as the winter is coming soon, and the nectar available is very scarce. Plants are drying, and pollen is reduced. We help our bees the best we can, and know. It is always difficult to lose a colony but maybe we will learn something that will make us better beekeepers. You see I love my bees.

Honeybees with deformed wings

Honeybee with deformed wings

Yellow Jacket (vespula)

  

Paper wasp (Polistes)

Bald-faced hornet (D. maculata)

   

The Golden Harvest

Saturday September 10, 2011
Honey: Vintage 2011

Our friends Lori and Ken had lost their colony last fall. They decided to try again this year and to their amazement, their bees rewarded them with 2 supers!

Lori and Ken working hard...Ben directing!

Yes, the honey is being extracted!

It took 4 hours to extract 2 supers...we knew Ben and I were going to "live" in the garage the whole weekend. Lori and Ken left around 2pm . Happy to have collected some honey and wax. 

Then came our turn, we never stopped the extractor since 10:30am...we finished (Ben did) at midnight, taking 30 minutes for lunch and dinner! 

Ben using a hot knife to open the capped honey

At an angle the hot knife slice the wax, revealing the honey

Ben place the frame inside the extractor, all cells are open(no more wax covering)

The extractor is full: 9 frames at once! and electric too this year!

Sweet pure honey

You must wonder where do I fit in that extraction day... Well I was busy taking pictures, bringing coffee, diet coke and such. And oh reading in a chair, watching the whole operation! The best was that I was with Ben doing what I love...being with him:) 

Our total honey for this year 2011: 160 lb. Average moisture content: 18.9 %

We are happy, our honeybees worked hard and we love them...what a sweet, sweet reward! Next bottling the precious gold liquid at the end of the month.

The collection

September 9, 2011

Karine brushing the frames

Ben and I collected all our supers (surplus honey) on Friday September 9th. To make the honeybees go down into the hive , we use a natural spray smelling like almond...the bees apparently don't like that very strong odor. However, we still had to remove few tenacious bees on each frames using a soft brush.

The Burley to transport the supers

In shakopee we had to carry the 40 pounds+ boxes full of honey. Our hives are about a football field from our car! Ben had a wonderful idea to bring the Burley along. We use to bike with the kids all the time, so they were inside taking naps!)

Ben "tasting" our  2011 Honey

It was easier in Chanhassen because the access to the apiary is maintained and the distance to walk shorter. And It is  a good thing; this is where we got the most honey! when we harvest honey, we do not disturb the bees. We only "take" the boxes that are on top of the hive, thus not opening the brood nest, or their own "reserve".

Our Garage-Honey-House

We brought everything back home and our garage was set up as a honey house (one day I will have a real one). It smelled so good, I told Ben that if this is what a bee smells from a flower; I know understand why they are attracted to those sweet aromas.




     We stacked the supers...we had a huge tower this year!  
The day was done, we were ready for tomorrow. What a good feeling. All our efforts are going to be rewarded :)

A stinging Lesson

Sunday September 4, 2011

2 hives on the left to be moved 15 feet to the right...simple!

It was a perfect beautiful day, sunny with a light breeze.  Ben and I had noticed earlier in the season that  our 2 older hives in Chanhassen were in the shade to much during the day, as a result the honey production seemed low compared to our packaged hive and our split. 

Ben making a little spot in the goldenrods for our hives

New location ready for hives

So yesterday, we decided to move them about 15 feet from their original point. First Ben weed whacked a section of goldenrods, then we put down some weed fabric and spread a good 2-4 inches of mulch. We racked around the hives, and re-used the fabric and older mulch. We did all that work without our bee suits, the bees were flying from their entrances towards the sun, working hard bringing back pollen and nectar.





That same evening, we decided to go ahead and move the colonies. My first thought was that it would be easy and simple. I also said that we might not need our bee-suits because the bees seemed so gentle and busy with their own thing. But Ben thought that we should wear our suits and veils. Nicolas came with us to help. As a good beekeeper, I loaded the car with all our "bee things" including the smoker.

We drove to Chanhassen, and walked to the hives in question. Without smoking them (because they were inside their hive, we thought they (and we) will be fine) I removed the outer cover top, and proceeded to remove every box until the hive stand was cleared. The bees seemed annoyed, but we were still ok. Suddenly Nicolas got stung 3 times and ran away from the scene, which was a good thing. Ben and I started moving the equipment few feet away. The honeybees were now furious, I tried to start the smoker but we had forgotten the newspaper in the car! Nicolas ran to the car, and at about the same time  Ben got stung few times on his ankles, knee and hands but not before moving the hive into its new location. Only then, he moved away from the hives while I was still trying to get the smoker started; in the  commotion my bottle of matches spilled on the wet grass, and could lit nothing at all! Finally, I moved toward  Ben who was still dealing with the stinging bees, removing his shoes and slapping himself. After few minutes, the situation calmed down but Ben had been stung 25 times mostly on his feet/ankles and Nicolas 3 times. Thankfully everyone were wearing their suits and veils. Ben finally got the smoker ready, and we continued to move the second hive...without a glitch. This one was fine and calm.  We were happy and relieved that we were done for the night.

Nicolas and Ben with the colonies at their new site

PS: we were going to move a colony from Shakoppe to a new property using my car! yes, we were going to go at dusk and put the hive in the car and drive. That was such a great plan! However when Ben and I woke up the next morning...our first thought was... WE ARE NOT GOING TO PUT THE HIVE IN OUR CAR, NO WAY! I guess we did learn a lesson after all:)
PPS: Ben and Nicolas are fine and still love bees.

Busy July for All!

Ben with nephews Erwan and Alex from France

What a busy month of July for our bees as well as for us! Our family came to visit us. It was fun and enjoyable and even "educational" at times. We took our nephews to inspect our hives. They really enjoy watching the bees, coming and leaving the hives and love to smoke the bees. They asked a million questions and  they even helped us.

Nice brood pattern on frame, the queen is doing well.

Looking inside the hive, lots of bees

July has been rather hot and humid with often low clouds. Bees don't forage when it is overcast and grey, so few got a bit annoyed at the relentless "Florida-like" weather. However, they seem to collect nectar and pollen as usual. Our 6 hives are doing fine, and the supers where the honey is stored are getting heavier each week. Lots of eggs, brood, larvae, pollen and nectar. The queen are good layers and healthy. Now the urge to swarm is over and the bees are foraging and getting ready for Winter!

Comb structure, beautiful!

This year we have encountered some interesting happenings in beekeeping:

 In one of our colony, our bees have decided to store their honey in a deep box that was originally designed to raise their own brood! Therefore that huge box is full of honey and weighs about 35 lb.  I am doing all the heavy lifting since Ben broke his wrist, and I can tell you that it is very heavy to lift such a weight past your shoulder in the hot and humid Minnesota climate of ours!

Bees also chose not to go investigate the upper "deck", aka the supers that we religiously place for them in order to collect honey in the fall. It was interesting to watch them, they just seemed very shy and uninterested . They were walking on the foundation, pretending to be busy, making little wax and filling few cells with nectar. They should have been loading the cells with nectar. To attract them in the upper level, we placed some frames full of honey: to show them, "Here is where your nectar goes". Then we waited a week. Nothing more happened. We were astonished! We then used every other empty frames and mixed them with frames full of honey, again to show them! Still nothing much!!!!

One more thing that our bees gave us as a challenge: You know very well that honeybees are magnificent architect. So in one hive, the honeybees have again plotted on their own to build a super comb structure making sure that it does not touch the foundation too much! This is going to be fun to extract!

And last week at our  wits' end , we removed all queen excluders, thinking that it would help the honeybees to go up in their hives and store the bulk of their nectar where it belongs...on top! This screen is usually used to prevent the queen (fatter than other bees) to go up in the supers to lay eggs in the collected nectar.
Beekeeping is never dull, now you know why.

Warm Sunny Days of Summer

July 9, 2011

Bees outside the hive getting "fresh" air!

You think you're hot in that weather? What about the bees? They are hanging outside their hives fanning their wings to cool off. They do the same thing inside the hive to keep the air flowing. Ben and I are really hot, dripping. There is nothing we can do, we still need to put on our gear... at least the bee suits are white!

The nectar flow is in full swing. Every week we can see more and more cells full to the brim. The honeybees are working hard; they absolutely love this warm and hot weather. I think that their swarming intentions are decreasing; which is a good thing :) I am a little tired to move all those very heavy boxes, reversing them and inspecting every single frame for queens' and swarms' cells. I feel that the bees make us work a lot this season. But I guess they will also give us honey, so I am happy.

Hive #1, looks like a tower! (Julie & Ben)

     In Chanhassen, we added more supers (2) on our first hive. It is now a tower, Julie had to put the last super on hive #1 today (July 10) because now it is almost above my head! We decided to place a couple of supers on the third hive, and one on #4.

This frame is completely full of honey, and heavy.

Some hives have already lots of honey.  We hope that our honeybees will keep foraging, bringing nectar and pollen. In a couple of weeks we should see some eggs on #3 in Chan. As the new virgin queen should be going on her mating flight soon.
In hive #2, we have decided that the bees know best after all, and can produce their own queen. The only downside for us beekeepers is that we may not be able to harvest honey from it. However, there are advantages to let the bees be bees... the new queen will be adapted to this climate, will be accepted easily and will be young going into winter and should be prolific for the rest of the season, and it does not cost us one dime! Nature at its best!

New Virgin Queen at Hive #3 in Chanhassen

June 25, 2011

Today we did our inspection between rain showers!  It has been a strange month of June with lots of rain and many grey days. Our galoshes are wet and muddy most of the time! 

This mud must add a couple of pounds per boot!

Queen cell

 But most importantly, the honeybees don't like those conditions at all. They feel crowded and cooped up in their hive, even if they actually have lots of space. Thus they want to swarm (move out!). Every week we are reversing the deep boxes from top to bottom to relief the swarming temptation. In addition we remove many queen cells and cups at the bottom of the frames, an indication that the colony "feel" congested and wants to expand which is all natural for bees to do, but as beekeepers, we do want them to stay in our boxes.

Soon, the "swarming season" will be over when warmth and sun will be back. A new nectar flow will come, and the bees will go out again and forage, gathering nectar and pollen; somehow "forgetting" about leaving their hive.

Ben showing a beautiful egg laying pattern

Our 6 hives are doing well, some are perfect, and beautiful. This is due to a "text-book" queen, laying eggs one  at a time in a regular and precise pattern.  We also have some capped honey!

Marked frame inspected for queen cells in hive #3 Chanhassen

    We are also very happy to report that we have a new virgin queen at #3 in Chanhassen. Last week we had taken a frame of eggs and brood  from our best hive, and inserted it in the queen-less hive. We had marked the frame with 2 white dots. Today we saw many queen cells that the workers had made. They fed all queen cells royal jelly and hoped like us to "create" the perfect queen. And they did!

Many queen cells opened, but only one queen will survive

For survival and probably by instinct, the workers constructed more than one queen cell. Their effort was rewarded when the first new queen emerged healthy and ready to be their queen. Her majesty's first duty then, (because the eggs have been laid in succession and not at once) is to  kill without mercy any other contenders to the throne, leaving the first born as sole heir!  We knew we had a queen ,on our frame we saw 6 open queen cells with some still having a dead body in it. Obviously we did not see any eggs, or the queen for that matter but our other clue was the calmness and the soft humming of the whole hive like peace had finally descended upon the colony. It was really something to experience. The workers will do all the clean up while the queen will adjust to her new life. Soon, she will leave her colony and take her "maiden" flight.