Some activity! Bees flying around

Today we had one of the first "mild" days of the year where were saw temperatures around 8 deg C. Because of this temperature a couple of brave bees were able to get out of the hive and do some cleansing flights. I took the liberty to take off the mouse guards and scrape out any dead bees that had accumulated on the bottom board. This will make less work for the worker bees and make sure that they are not trapped in the hive with no way to get out.

Lots of snow melting around the yard.

Some bees checking out what is going on.

A pile of bees that were scrapped out from the bottom board.

A bee crawling back onto the bottom board after a cleansing flight.

All three hives at home seemed quite active. The two sheltered hives were just humming and the outside hive had lots of bees on the bottom board.

iPhone app to detect swarming vs. Apidictor

I personally do not have a cellphone on me at all times but I am typically concious of the new technologies and applications which are being developed. The newest potential app caugth my eye.

As explained in the article, scientists observed a couple of hives (not enough hives to make a valid study) to find out what goes on when the hive is ready to swarm. They have found that the bees make more vibrations for a couple of nights previous to swarming. I believe that this is due to the fact that the queen has stopped laying eggs and so their is less work for the nurse bees to do.

Since the iPhone has built in acclerometers, the scientists have figured out a way measure changes in a hive to detect when a hive is about to swarm.

News Article: iPhones app to detect swarming

This reminds me off an electronic circuit designed to detect swarms. It is called an Apidictor. It is described as the ability that humans have to pick up a conversation at a party. Essentially the ability to single out a noise. It was invented by a Mr. E.F. Woods. Follow the next link to find out the awesome story behind it. Seems to be a powerful thing if you can master it.

BeeSource.com: Apidictor

Hive top powered ventilators

I had read an article a few weeks ago about how useful these new powered hive top ventilators. The picture bellow is from a great beekeeping site(Bee Behavior.com); where the author claims that they work very well. It does the work of the bees when it gets really hot in the hive. Instead of a lot of bees fanning the hive, the built in fan ventilates the hive quickly and allows the bees to do more important things (like collect lots of nectar and pollen). This outfit uses a digital thermometer to measure the temperature in the hive. The thermometer is attached to a thermostat which turns on a fan (similar to a brush less computer fan) to pull the air out until the hive reaches the desired temperature. This outfit is also used during the winter.

Bee Cool hive ventilator

To help the bees during the heat of the summer I use a mesh bottom board, a slatted rack and a passive ventilator. I am curious to know how this system works compared to mine. Hive location is also key to avoid overheating. I place my hives so that they are shaded during the hottest times of the day.

Documentary: Queen of the Sun

I just found this documentary called Queen of the Sun. It is a limited release movie about the collapse of honey bees all around the world. In this movie, it appears as though they visit many different types of beekeepers from all around the world who practice natural or biodynamic methods of keeping bees. It also goes into the spiritual aspect of keeping bees.

Watch the trailer:

Trailer of 'Queen of the Sun'

This guy is pretty intense in the trailer. He opens his beehives with no shirt or veil on. It also says that he is 70yrs old.

They plan on releasing this DVD sometime this summer. I would definitely be interested in seeing it!
Queen of the Sun

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!