Things are going well for the bees. The institute currently has four hives as part of its mite-tolerant breeding program. To increase the number of hives going into the winter, about a month ago, I split our two original hives into four: I pulled the queen, two frames of brood, and two frames of honey, … More Bee Report — Study Hive Splits and Bee Vacuum
A healthy bee colony will outgrow its hive most years. When this happens, a swarm is sent out, dividing the colony into two or more: the original queen leaves with half the hive and those left behind raise new queens from left-over eggs. The swarm parks itself in a convenient location as a large mass … More Bee Report — “Cutout” becomes a “Trapout” in Brodhead
It is now July and Varroa destructor mite populations are likely on the rise, so it is time to start testing the hives regularly. Of all the testing methods, some of which require the beekeeper to kill off drone brood or euthanize a sample of bees, the “powdered sugar roll” (PSR) seems to be the … More Bee Report — Mite Testing
Last month I split out my hives and used on-the-spot queen rearing to raise new queens for three young colonies (read about this process in Part I and Part II). It takes about 23–30 days for a queen to grow from an egg (3 days) to larva (5 1/2 days) to pupa in capped brood … More Bee Report — Update on Splits
This is the second and final part of a short discussion of splitting hives using ideas found in Mel Disselkoen’s On-The-Spot (OTS) queen rearing method and the Coweta Beekeeping Method. In this post, I’ll go over how to finish the split by making hives for honey production or population increase. Check out the first post, … More Bee Report — Splitting Hives and Raising Queens (Part II)
Many beekeepers depend on purchasing packages (screened boxes full of bees with a queen) or nucleus hives (mini-hives to be inserted into a full-size one), which cost between $150 and 250 each, depending on the local variables. Some beekeepers end up purchasing bees each year to replace dead-outs (bee colonies that died during the winter). … More Bee Report — Splitting Hives and Raising Queens (Part I)
Last year I profiled a bienenhaus (“bee house”) at the New Glarus Swiss Historical Village & Museum in two blog posts (part I and part II). This is a purpose-made building that holds bee colonies in cabinets with frames attached to the sides of the cabinet. The bees enter and exit through small doors in … More Introducing den Bienenstall
I got into the beehives yesterday or, more accurately, beehive. Last fall the apiary lost two hives due to robbing (wasps stealing honey and brood. Three colonies went into the winter. The weakest colony died in December and the next weakest hung on till February. Luckily the strongest colony did last through the winter. Good … More Bee Report – Good Spring Activity
The institute is hosting a potential study on rearing mite-tolerant drone colonies. Funding requests are currently under review. Title: Varroa destructor–Tolerant Honey Bee Drone Breeding Project Project Leader: Dr. Scott A. J. Johnson, Director, Low Technology Institute Project Partners: University of Wisconsin Extension–Milwaukee and local beekeepers Anticipated Dates of Project: Funding requested for April–December 2018; … More Research Project No. 3 — Mite-Tolerant Drone Colony Breeding
Last night, Scott gave a presentation to the Dane County Beekeeping Association about Varroa destructor, a parasite afflicting the European honeybee across the world. An audio recording was made, but due to technical difficulties (wrong microphone selected on recorder), it is not available. Instead, the notes with citations are available as well as links to … More Varroa Mite Presentation Slideshow, Notes, and Resources
