Nosema: In the dead of winter

We had a warm spell at the end of 2010. These photos are from January 1st. I was only able to upload them now. So on January 1st of 2011; we had a +8C day. Almost all of our snow had melted over the previous 2 days. This caused an ideal opportunity for the bees to get out of the hives to relieve themselves.

I was excited for the chance to be able to see a couple of bees.

Almost no snow left!

As I got closer to the hive, I noticed some bees flying around and some bees were pulling out some of their dead. But when I got to my green hive, I saw a terrible sight.

A sure sign of Nosema? Spotty streaks of mustard-brown poop.

It was upsetting to see one of my hives with what appears to be nosema.

Mouse guard removed and some dead bees were scrapped out.

I ran into the house to check my books as to what I could do. One of my books said that Nosema is a most common sight in colonies in the spring time; after a colony has spent the winter confined to the hive. Infected colonies will build up slowly or not even at all. My book also says that you can discourage nosema by selecting a hive site that has good airflow (check) and a nearby source of fresh, clean water (check and check). This particular hive has a slatted bottom rack, and an air gap all along the top of the hive. The problem with this hive is that I waited too long to treat them with Fumagilin-B in the fall. This hive did not take in all of their treatment because their hive was already stuffed with honey stores.
The Fumagilin-B instruction sheet says that a heavily infested colony which is no longer taking in syrup may be sprayed repeatedly directly onto the bees frame by frame with 1:1 sugar syrup containing 2 g of medication per litre of syrup. I will keep a close eye on the colony and treat them as soon as I am able.

See air gap all along the sides of the top cover.

As a precaution I started lifting off the hive cover to see if their was evidence of Nosema in the hive (check by sight and smell). As I was lifting off the cover, bees started pouring out to attack me and the hive smelled amazing; like warm honey. So I assume that it is not too bad in the hive yet and that not all of the bees are affected.

News Article: Honey Laundering

An interesting article in the Globe and Mail this morning about the shady world of honey laundering. It talks about how dirty Chinese honey is being mislabeled as Indonesian, Malaysian or Taiwanese so that it can avoid tariffs which have been implemented to protect the US honey industry. I call it 'dirty' honey because Chinese beekeepers use "illegal" antibiotics to keep their hives healthy. Antibiotics that they use contaminates the honey. Then to make matters worse, they mask the off flavours by mixing in cane sugar or corn-based syrups!

These money launderers are running a massive scam which is throwing off the base prices of honey in the United States. There are apparently 15 people and 6 companies from Asia to Germany to the US who are in court in Chicago and Seattle for apparently $80million of unpaid tariffs; let alone the fact that they were illegally importing honey. They have loads of emails and phone correspondence of obvious fraud that they are presenting in court. They are handing out jail sentences and deporting people. The article goes into tons of interesting detail about this massive problem.

This further hits the point home about buying local honey. Not only does it support local beekeepers and the bee population but it also ensures that you are buying high quality pure honey!

Globe and Mail: honey laundering the sour side of natures golden-sweetener/article1859410/

Tv Series: Honeybee Blues

I saw a commercial for a tv series called Honeybee Blues. It is on channel 1625 OASIS for those of you who have HD channels from Expressvu. It is starting at 9:00pm tonight!

It is about the plight of the Austrailians with the Varroa mites.

Oasis HD: Honeybee Blues

It looks like it is an older series (from last year). But really, it is not everyday that you can watch a show about bees in HD!

We have had a major snow melt due to temperatures at 7C for the last couple of days. There has been movement around the hives. Bees have been pulling out some of their dead. I hope that they do not break the cluster because it is going to get much colder by tonight and for tomorrow. We are expecting -8C by tomorrow evening.

Happy New Year!

British kids' bee study

The British seem to be on a forefront of bee research; even grade school children are publishing scientific papers! This is borderline embarrassing at first, but if you read through the article you will see that it is a great exercise. These kids, under the direction of their teacher set up experiments and tested bumble bees for their colour pattern and spatial abilities. Their research seems interesting; take a look at the article to see the way that they carried out their different coloured light experiments. They determined that the bees can apply what they learned and visit the digital flowers even after they are rearranged.

I am glad that the kids got to do this study with bees and learn how to do scientific reasoning and testing.

CBC: Kids' bee study published in science journal

Self destructing Varroa Mites?

Close up view of a Varroa Mite

UK scientists have applied a Nobel Prize winning theory called "RNA interference" which controls the flow of genetic information to attack the mites on a genetic level. They plan on targetting a specific gene which would force the varroa mites to self-destruct.

This treatment would be introduced to the hive by feed. So you would be able to put this in a pollen patty and the bees will deliver it to their young (where the majority of the varroa reside).

Read the article for yourself:

UK Guardian: Genetic breakthrough in fight against honeybee killer

National Geographic: Bee vs. Spider

This National Geographic video is of a jumping spider taking out a beloved honey bee.



Pretty cool! I am sure that you were hoping that the bee was going to sting the spider...

Winter! Mouse guard cleaning

See dead bees in snow!

It is just crazy to see how much time has gone by since I have posted. I am sorry for the disconnect. You can tell that it is winter time in the bee yard because there are so few articles in the newspapers about beekeeping! It is rather depressing. I suppose it gives us time to catch up on our magazine subscription reading.

Custom mouse guard: with bee bodies stuck in between the nails

For the last 2-3 weeks in my area we have had sub zero temperatures, meaning that the girls have not been able to get out of the hive and fly. This leaves a fairly big pile of dead bees waiting to be pulled out of the hive to clean up the hive. When there is a nice day(I typically do this twice per winter season), I take off the entrance reducer/mouse guard and clean the dead bees off the bottom board.

Scaped out dead bees

Moisture buildup

My side hive which I combined to make a two box hive right before winter, had a fair amount of moisture build up on the bottom board. To counter this moisture, I put a wood chip on the edge of the hive cover to allow more air to escape and be exchanged from the hive. When I removed the mouse guard to scrape out the dead bees, I noticed that there were some alive bees mixed in with the dead ones! That is because this is the only hive that I do not have a slatted rack for! Which would have allowed for an air space (which helps with moisture and allows the bees to hang lower in the hive).