Bee cleansing flights

[charlesh]

We have had some crazy weather here in SW Michigan.  After 20-30 inches of snow in November there has been less than an inch in December and temps have been mild.
  
I wish I had taken a picture of my hives yesterday (yes simplynaturalfarm I am still photographically uninspired...) but our girls were enjoying a sunny 50 degree day by getting in some late December cleansing flights.
  
 For those of you who may be new to bees, they apparently only defecate when they fly, which means they hold it all in during the winter.  They are designed for this, so it isn't normally a problem, but if winters go too long, it can make them unhealthy.  Getting to relieve themselves in December should be a nice bonus for hive health.  Also, in years past I have been able to tell something about their health by looking for defecation stains on their landing board.  I have heard staining there is a sign of diarrhea or a dysentary like disease (Nosema). Happily there were no stains at all on either hive.
  
I was more proactive in medicating this year.  I lost all my hives last year and the one that made it to spring before failing had clear signs of th Nosema in the form of staining outside on the landing board.  So I used Fumigilin in both hives.  I also dosed both hives with menthol crystals, and Apistan strips for two common forms of mites.  Non-medicinal preventives were to establish the hives behind a very good windbreak, to put small broken pieces of shingle between the top super and inner cover for better ventilation, and to cover the top of the inner cover with regular sugar to soak up some of the condensation.
  
Both hives were active yesterday, hurray!  One went into winter considerably stronger than the other, so we will see how they do, but I do not plan to buy any more bees for spring and trust to get at least one through and for some swarms to get me up to four hives without purchasing any.

[simplynaturalfarm]

Glad to hear this - my bees did not take advantage of the 40F day we had a couple weeks ago - all the WI people were talking about their bees taking cleansing flights when it was 27. I pounded the hives but there was no buzzing yesterday I told my youngster I was going to take out her Papa's cardiology stethoscope and see if there was anything to hear - I know there's lots of food!

[charlesh]

The picture of you out in the cool air pounding on the hives and yelling at the girls (bees, not your daughters!) to hurry up, come out, and go to the bathroom has me laughing as I write this!

Generally if I rap on the hive with my ear next to the super I can hear them without a stethoscope. My hearing is kind of poor from the army, so I would guess you or your daughers should be able to hear them if they are there.

I'm finally getting around to extracting a shallow super of honey we got off the stronger of our two new hives today. I have a heater in the milk house now so I am doing it out there.

[simplynaturalfarm]

I admittedly only have 60% hearing in one ear and 20% in the other from spinal meningitis when I was 2, so I don't know if I could hear them, and my 5 year old was trying to "knock" with a glove and getting distracted. I have to admit that earlier in the year I could hear them when I knocked . . . .

[charlesh]

Gotta love hearing loss. I qualify for a hearing aid, but the ones the VA provides are kind of bulky looking and I am not ready to slap those on my skull.

If this cold air that's coming hasn't completely overrun you yet (it is supposed to reach us tonight), you may want to have your kids give the hives another listen. Not sure what good it would do to know unless you want to put in an order for a package. The folks in the south seem to run out of bees in a hurry.

[simplynaturalfarm]

I have decided that if they all die this year, I will get one package for pollination purposes on my property and stop with the bees - it is an expensive hobby and when I calculated my costs this year I gulped!
My Sil loses 80% of her hives every winter. She said it costs her so much to produce a quart it isn't funny. . . I asked why is she wasting her money and she said she enjoys it too much LOL. Part of her problem is that she robs her bees of all the honey and then just feeds them sugar water and hopes they'll be healthy without any mite checks etc . .
I think I need to stop while I'm only 4 years into it before I've lost thousands

[charlesh]

Dec 27, 2014 12:39:16 GMT -5 simplynaturalfarm said:

I think I need to stop while I'm only 4 years into it before I've lost thousands

I definitely hear you on that ("hear you", isn't that an ironic phrase given we were just talking about our respective hearing loss!).  But dog gone if I don't love my bees.  How many hives did you have this year? I remember us talking about it in the spring when we were waiting to see if we had any survivors but can't for the life of me remember now.
  
My dad kept bees and it is one of the things we did together.  I suppose some of my commitment comes from there.  Good memories and all.

[simplynaturalfarm]

I had 7, I had 1 abs... abscond? (a nuc thatIcouldn't stop from leaving a day after I got it as the queen was DOA orsomething), and then 2 swarmed and I "caught" one (and I caught a wild one!) and another disappeared. I combined a weak one with a strong and have 4.

[Debbie Lincoln]

Dec 27, 2014 12:39:16 GMT -5 simplynaturalfarm said:

I have decided that if they all die this year, I will get one package for pollination purposes on my property and stop with the bees - it is an expensive hobby and when I calculated my costs this year I gulped!
My Sil loses 80% of her hives every winter. She said it costs her so much to produce a quart it isn't funny. . . I asked why is she wasting her money and she said she enjoys it too much LOL. Part of her problem is that she robs her bees of all the honey and then just feeds them sugar water and hopes they'll be healthy without any mite checks etc . .
I think I need to stop while I'm only 4 years into it before I've lost thousands

I have spent way too much on bees, too - and lost one of my two hives last year. This year, my one remaining hive netted several quarts of honey, but wax moths invaded and the bees abandoned ship. I am now bee-less and debating about ordering more. I am tempted to cut my losses and just stay open to acquiring a wild swarm. We have plenty feral bees in the neighborhood, so I don't need them for pollination.  I just want the honey. BUt they require SO MUCH CARE! And I feel so helpless when it comes to their needs. 

[honeybeemama]

Here in BC Canada the central interior we had a record breaking warm spell in mid Dec and my bees were able to make cleansing flights. I moved from a wet climate to a much drier climate this year (6 hours away) so we shall see how well they winter here. I have already started taking NUC orders When I first started I bought NUCS with overwintered proven survivor queens and that is all I rear for my Nucs. Here in BC we have a LOT of keepers who are only useing local, over wintered queens and or Nucs to try to bring up the winter survival rates. They come from all corners of BC so we keep a huge varience in genetics. I only use the best of the best queens from my survivors. Those of you that have at least one hive make can just do a split and have the bees raise a new queens and don't need to spend money on more bees.  I can't wait till spring!! Here we have about 30 inches of snow but my bees are all under a roof so snow doesn't touch them.

[charlesh]

I'm sure it is nice having them under cover. I was just cleaning snow away from my entrance reducers last week to help with ventilation.

[honeybeemama]

It is nice first time I was able too as we moved to the new place this fall.  I also have mine all winter wrapped and drilled 1 inch top entrances in the top super and closed up the bottom entrances completly for winter before wrapping.  I also use screened bottom boards so it still has "chimney effect" to vent out the moist air from the condensation.  It can snow up to 4 feet if they were in the fields and it won't bother their entrances. This is a little trick I read in Micheal Bush book. I also run all mediums so it not a killer on my back to move things around. Our temps here range from 35c to -35c. Screened bottom boards have been my life saver for ventilation both summer and winter. I would like try some top bars hive's eventually just because I love to experience differnt things with the bees I LOVE working with them...a little to much my hubby says LOL 

[charlesh]

Are your screened bottom boards open in the winter? I have used those in the past, but thought it would be too cold to leave them uncovered. I had a weather resistant board that slid into it and I used that. I have regular bottom boards now but I do use slatted racks above it. Have you seen those? I really like them. Based on how few bees stayed outside cooling the hive last summer, I would say they definitely help with the ventilation.

[honeybeemama]

Slatted racks are not commen here (I can't find them on any bee supply sites here) but they are equivalent in ventilation as the screened bottom boards from what I have read. I have seen pictures of them. I wrap the insulation as a skirt past the Bottem of the hive. (I use a sliver plastic thin and easily pliable insulation/reflector insulation) My hives are on planks on bricks little less wide then the hive in long rows with small gaps between the planks so they are sort of covered underneath (exposed to air flow) but the slots where the sticky boards go is fully covered. My hives are all side by side as close as the top allows so it looks like huge silver blanket wrapped around the whole row that goes almost to the ground. If that is easier to picture. LOL I also have them really low to the ground (12/14 inches ).this year I am I am also useing wooden top feeders custom made from our local university who's bee program gets volunteers to test. They have yards for experimenting on new ideas for better functioning equipment but that another story! . The snow then helps to insulate the bottoms with out affecting air flow. In the summer I open the bottom entrance as the mice are no longer a issue that time of year. The other reason I like the screened bottom for those pesty mites! Ugh we don't have small hive beetle or wax moths here just the mites . This year I stuffed thin styrofoam sheets UNDER the skirting to help because they are not in the snow. Here it not the cold that kills bees it the moister that is deadly..a wet bee is a dead bee and condensation dripping from the inner cover in a hive is a recipe for a mouldy dead out I am intrested about quilt boards and I may try some next year! So Sorry for such a long reply!!

[charlesh]

Very interesting. So what other cool things is your university up to?

[honeybeemama]

LOL they have a bee breeding program and teach bee keeping classes. Making prototype equipment and testing it is part of the bee breeding program. It really neat because when they do courses you do your practicom in thier bee yards. I did all that before I ever got bees. I have taken all I can at thier level and need to go another University if I wanted to be get my bee masters. I am not intrested in getting that as I have no intrest in becoming a government inspector or working in apiculture in any teaching capacity. One of things I loved was learning about IPM (intergrated pest managment) and keeping bees. Then of course breeding from survivor stock trying to get climatized and hygienic bees. It is tricky though because of al the variables such as feral or packaged drones mating with the survivor queens but that is another topic! Lol I REALLY LOVE working with the bees and rearing queens. Working with the bees is the best way to get to know bees Those girls are always teaching me something new and how much I really don't know!

[charlesh]

I agree about working with them. I love it. It is just a hobby, but probably my most enjoyable one on the homestead.

[charlesh]

Well, as of yesterday both my hives made it through winter and the girls have been getting in some cleansing flights this week! Now, I did lose my sole survivor from last year in the early spring so I won't get my hopes up too high yet, but I am cautiously optimistic. I am going to give them some sugar water this weekend via the bottom board (I like the feeders that go on top, but don't want to open the hives yet) and will put some pollen out in front of the hives as well. Once th weather is warmer I'll check for queens but so far so good!

[rosalind]

Glad to hear they're making it. Hopefully by this point they should be ok for this year, right?

We're buying 2 packages next month, but I'm so tempted to keep looking for a "native" type hive where someones grabbed a surviver swarm and cultivated queens from that. So hard to find, but I hear they have a much higher survival rate....

[Jenn]

My bees absconded too years a go, but they took up residence in the base of a tree on the other side of the creek, so I still have bees but don't need to tend them.

There is a different kind of bee that pollinates but does not make honey that may be easier maintenance....mason bee? The name escapes me right now.

-Jenn