One Month 'til Bedtime

I fed my bees three times at the close of August and beginning of September. I wanted to give them just enough of a jump start so that they could take advantage of the goldenrod and aster fall flow, unlike last year when I just fed, fed, fed until Nov. 15 (and gave a ton of money for sugar to Costco). I was going to be smarter this year (hoping that I did it correctly and that it all works out ... we'll see). But now it's a month before the cut-off here, the date of our normal first frost in mid-November and when the bees go to bed for the winter. That's how it was last year. So I prepped some cheap beetle traps by cutting every other rung out and turned them into pollen feeders. Tip: use containers to hold your feeders upright so you don't spill out all your pollen.

Ever since reading Michael Bush, meeting him and now studying the observations of Huber, I've become treatment-free. That includes no sugar dusting for Varroa mites. A USDA study last year proved it had no effect on survivability of bees relating to Varroa. Actually, those who didn't sugar dust had slightly better results. I'm convinced at going with 11 frames in a 10-frame box is the way to go. Narrow frames that are 1-1/4" wide have a ton of benefits, that I hope to impart to my bees. You can read about that with this link to Michael's observations. I shaved down a shallow super with a little plane to make my first box worth.

Then it was onto feed the bees. I was quite sure they were doing not only fine but well. My smallest hive, the feral one, had plenty of traffic, a good sign. There was a slight sour smell I recognized from last year, but stronger, which also was good: aster nectar, I hoped. I opened the little hive, and was happily surprised to see they'd begun to draw out a couple of frames in the 3rd box on top where the feeder is located. That means all other frames down below have been drawn. Success! Even better, was that shiny liquid I'm seeing in those cells? And my GOD, is this smell super sour. Whoo-ee, aster nectar stinks! No visible signs of wax moth or small hive beetle problems in the first two nucs.

Now, compare the foundationless frame above to this one, from my fifth colony, a much stronger nuc than the feral one. I was using some of the built frames with foundation in them that Keith had given me. The bees weren't particularly enthused to draw them out, especially with the slight feeding I'd given them and then a fall flow. I've been seeing goldenrod all throughout the city, in culverts, along the roadside and lake in my neighborhood, coming up through pavement at the school bus depot on Wilkinson Boulevard ... everywhere. Nectar has been flowing.

I hefted all 6 hives, and all were half of the weight they needed to be. That, though, was a drastic improvement over how light they were when I'd hefted them previously, about half of what they were on Oct. 14. Success, the fall flow was happening and they were doing well. Then it was time to pop open the tops, do some quick inspections just to see bee strength, and feed all 6. I was thrilled with what my two smallest nucs had done. I was even more thrilled to see goldenrod and aster nectar being put away, as well as some, not a lot, but some pollen. I knew my bees would love a pollen and heavy syrup boost.

My third nuc in, one of my strongest and kept in a single deep with one shallow above, had 10 or so small hive beetles run up to greet me when I opened it up. I smashed each one, removed the super and pulled a center frame from the brood box. All was well as far as I could tell, and it didn't smell different than the first two nucs, which I'm keeping in stacks of three 5-frame deep nuc boxes. Sometimes when you inspect the beetles escape the propolis jails the bees had kept them trapped in, and that's part of what I experienced with this hive. It was the only one of my 6 hives to have SHB visibly greet me and in so many (for my apiary at least) numbers. I'll keep a close eye on this one when I inspect in a week.

When I popped the top off of Natasha, my friend here surprised me. I am THRILLED to see him this year. I saw him last year, and some of his buddies. I scooted him to the side of the hive and kept working. These little fellers LOVE eating wax moths, one of the bees most hated enemies. I'm naming this one Gordon. Thanks, Gordon, eat all the moths you want, on me!

This was a typical frame I pulled from Natasha and Boris. I routinely saw half-filled frames of beautiful glistening, sour and stinky aster nectar in them. Still, not very much pollen being put away. They'll definitely love my homemade feeders. Also, check out the freaky cool comb these girls drew out on my strongest nuc from a spring split this year, another single deep with a shallow above it. My bees had eaten away the foundation, and then spun fresh wax among each small section at a time. Freaky cool!

And I just had to share this photo. The weather in mid-October is glorious, as my 45th birthday approaches. The highs are in the low '70s, and the lows are in the high '40s right now. And on my way home one early evening, I saw Snoopy in the clouds, no doubt chasing some of those industrious bees out collecting goldenrod and aster nectar and pollen.