Mold , Mildew and Blue Cheese!

Mold on frame  Photo: Liz Vogel

Last week when my husband and Liz were cleaning up the hives, they saw few frames that looked like this one above.  Moldy and plainly ugly! They were a bit worry at such discovery. Of course it is unsightly but there is absolutely no need for concern. Mold and mildew are not diseases, and are not contagious. The few frames that were moldy were found in a hive were honeybees had already perished. The mold did not cause the colony to die.

This phenomenon happens when the humidity level in a hive is too high. This happens when there are not enough bees to ventilate the hive, or when the hive is in decline, or dead. The usual culprit is a mold called : Penicillium waksmaii, which apparently inhibit the growth of certain bacteria!

Interestingly, the mold will not damage the wax, therefore, there is no need to discard the frames, or to clean them ourselves. The bees are champions as far as cleaning goes...they are "cleaning gurus". All we have to do is to place those frames in a strong and healthy colony and the honeybees will take care of the problem. They will clean and polish every cell in a few days. This "special cleaning" is not a real burden for the bees because they always clean old cells thoroughly before re-using them for brood, honey, or pollen.

Let's think about this for a minute....Blue cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, sheep's milk, or goat's milk cheeses that have had cultures of the mold Penicillium added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue, blue-gray or blue-green mold, and carries a distinct smell, either from that or various specially cultivated bacteria.

I love blue cheese a lot....which is of course full of mold; I eat mold! But the bees don't, they clean it! What a world!

The Big Spring Day!

Left over snow from Monday(4/22) snow storm!

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Now we may dare say that spring has arrived! Finally! It is now 77F (25C), a bit warm for spring but I think that I should not complain as it could be worst..we know.

 Friday April 26, 2013 was a big day for the bees...lots needed to be done to get them ready for the nectar flow which will eventually arrive!

This represent a hive with 2 boxes, upper and lower box. In the fall, the bees are reside in the bottom box, and the food reserve (pollen and honey) is on top. During the winter months, the bees eat their reserve. Slowly as spring approaches, the bees gather in the top box and queen starts laying her eggs at that location in empty cells. By now the bottom box is empty. Because it is in the nature of bees to go up (like in a tree trunk), we have to rotate the boxes to simulate that upward motion! This permutation gives them a lot of space and is also supposed to prevent swarming (leaving the crowded nest). So, Ben did that rotation to every hive, some boxes still full of food were very heavy. He also clean the dead bees accumulated at the bottom of the hive, and gave them a larger bottom entrance.

Since, we don't have flowers yet. He gave each colony 2 buckets (2. lb, or 7 L)) of  sugary syrup, to sustain them until the dandelions show up! Apparently the honeybees had plenty of pollen patties left, so none were added anywhere.

Sugar syrup

In this endeavor, Liz helped him in Chanhassen. Smoking the bees was a smart thing to do that day! It was warm and they were flying in and out. Ben noticed that they were coming back with a little pale yellow and orange pollen on their legs... I wonder where in the world they are finding pollen right now!

I know that they will gather the tree sap before the flower nectar is available to them...they are smart. During this spring cleaning, Ben expelled 3 mice from under one hive...probably a family. It is a very nice adobe for them during winter...warm and plenty of food!

After 4-5 hours of heavy lifting, Benoit came back home happy ; the honeybees were on their way to a new season. We wish them well!

R.I.P

April 4 2013
I visited the beehive in Chanhassen, the one that we suspected  that was very small and weak with Nosema. Since it was going to be above freezing overnight now; I was going to give the honeybees some sugar syrup to help them recover...Alas, they were all dead. We have now 5 hives. 5/7 made it so far. That's 71% survival rate...still better than the national average but very, very sad.