Kois Farm Hive Must Be Queenless...

Jaimi, Maddi, and I went out to the Kois Farm Hive (KFH) today to see if we could find a queen.  My eyes aint what they use to be up close so we took some video to get some other opinions.

This colony has been in this hive for about 9 days.  They came from another TBH that did not over-winter for my cousin very well and we assumed it was queen-less...that was almost exactly one month ago so I didn't think it would even last this long.  So take a look at some of these videos and tell me if you see a queen...I've looked pretty hard and did not see one.

Video Links:

Opening Kois Farm Hive - KFH

KFH Bar One

KFH Bar Two

If you're seeing a queen let me know.

We've got Bees!

Today Theresa (cousin) and I took a nuc that she had that wasn't doing so well and moved it into one of my TBH's.  We're not sure, but the colony could be without a queen.  There's a chance that there's a laying worker bee that is laying eggs, but she can only lay drones (males), who really have no jobs in the colony accept to breed with a queen.

We had to take her 18" bars and cut an inch off to fit in my hive.  Keep in mind they had bees and comb on them and the comb was too wide so we had to cut away some comb too.  It was a bit of a cluster, but thanks to my Milwaukee Hackzall I was able to trim the bars quick.  We got the bars to fit and duct taped any openings so they couldn't get out.  But they did anyway.

Jaimi and I took the hive out to the farm and set it up and then put a baggie feeder in just in case.  The hive entrance is closed with a screen right now, but I'll stop by tomorrow over lunch and open it up.

We're not sure this hive will make it this year, but it seemed like a waste to let them just stay in the nuc box to die...and I had an extra hive anyway.

All for now...I'll take a few pics tomorrow and post them.

So what exactly did go wrong? I think I took the "keep" out of Beekeeping.

I've probably talked to 5 honeybee experts this week about what went wrong in my first attempt with the TBH.  I've also been reading about the many people who had the same thing happen to them with TBH's.  As a result I have a long list of what the problem could have been, but I believe it wasn't one problem but a combination of a few.  Here's the three most likely situations:

• No comb to call home - I didn't mean for that to rhyme - so if someone gave you a new home for free but there was no furniture and no food how long would you stay?  Yea, me too.  I'd be gone so quick their head would spin.  The top bars are made for bees to build comb, but these bees had never built on top bars and although they tried, the queen wasn't interested in trying too hard and decided to leave.

• The queen was never accepted by the colony - this is an interesting one.  Queens are introduced to the bees in the package by being put into a cage with screen on it and a cork in the entrance hole.  At first, the bees in the hive want to kill her and will bite at the screen.  Just by being there with the bees they will soon accept her as their queen.  So what I did, which I was told was right, was to replace the cork with a marshmallow and by the time they eat through the marshmallow she will be accepted.  She may not have been accepted that readily being a young queen.  They may have killed her when she came out of the cage.

• No accessible food, they may have starved to death - I did provide them with food.  I gave them a feeder that was a bowl with a can of sugar water turned upside down and foam pieces floating in it to keep them from drowning.  I placed the feeder in the hive.  What I recently learned was that when they are in the hive they do not fly.  Therefore, they could not get to the food.  Had I given them a zip lock with little holes in it they could have crawled over to it and soon would have been eating.  With the bowl, they could not climb up it or never even found it.

Each one of these explanations has about ten different answers to how you can fix it, but I've decided to go the route of having a colony started for me on top bars called a nuc (nuke).  The nuc will have 3 bars of brood and 1 bar of "stores".  The queen will be laying eggs and the colony will be tending to them.  All I will need to do is to move the bars into my hive and then it should take.  Karen is getting one as well.  the nuc's will be ready around June 1st.

For my third hive I'm going to try and get a swarm.  I have my name on two swarm lists and I also know of two bee trees that may swarm.  If I get a swarm it will be placed out at The Kois Farm.

So that's the plan...I'm not giving up....my garden really needs the bees.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: HONEY BEE COLONIES LOSSES IN THE U.S., WINTER 2009-2010

The Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and USDA-ARS Beltsville Honey Bee Labconducted a survey to estimate winter colony loses for 2009/2010. Over 22.4% of the country’s estimated 2.46 million colonies were surveyed. A total loss of 33.8% of managed honey bee colonies was recorded.  This compares to total losses of 29%, 35.8% and 31.8% recorded, respectively, in the winters of 2008/2009, 2007/2008 and 2006/2007. 

In all 4,207 beekeepers responded to the on-line survey and an additional 24 were contacted by phone. This response rate is orders of magnitude greater than previous years efforts which relied on phone or email responses only (2008/2009 n=778, 2007/2008 n=331, 2006/2007 n=384).

On average responding beekeepers lost 42.2% of their operation, this is an 8 point or 23% increase in the average operational loss experienced by beekeepers in the winter of 2008/2009.
 

Average losses were nearly 3 times greater than the losses beekeepers reported that they considered acceptable (14.4%). Sixty-one percent of beekeepers reported losses in excess of what they would consider acceptable.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is characterized, in part, by the complete absence of bees in dead colonies and apiaries.  This survey was not designed to differentiate between definitive cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the “absence of dead bees” symptom. Only 28% of operations reported that at least some of their dead colonies were found dead without dead bees.  However, this group lost a total of 44% of their colonies, as compared to the total loss of 25% experienced by beekeepers who did not report losses indicative of CCD. Responding beekeepers attributed their losses to starvation (32%), weather (29%), weak colonies in the fall (14%), Mites (12%), and poor queens (10%).  Only 5% of beekeepers attributed CCD as the major cause for their losses.
 

It is also important to note that this survey only reports on winter losses, and does not capture the colony losses that occurs throughout the summer as queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced.  Preliminary data from other survey efforts suggest that these “summer” losses can also be significant. All told the rate of loss experienced by the industry is unsustainable.  

Hogan's Hives Were Abandoned

No idea what happened.....at 5:00 today when I left for practice they were busy and bringing in pollen.  When I returned at 7:45 the hive was 100% vacant.  Headed over to the farm to check that one and there were only about 150 bees in a ball at the top, not sure it there's a queen.  Regardless, with only 150 bees it will be tough to get established and they will likely depart as well.

In both hives they had started to build comb.  My guess is that the queen did not get fully established and when she ate through the marshmallow she either left the hive or was killed.  There may be a swarm hanging in a tree somewhere in the neighborhood.

As an adventure I'm pretty bummed, but I'm not done trying.  As an experiment I guess I need to learn why this happened.

Next step is to try and locate a nuc from another beekeeper and try again.  Nucs are usually ready around June 1st.  A nuc is an established colony meaning the queen is laying eggs and brood is developing in the hive.

I'll keep you posted on what's next.