(You may recognize Dr. Sanford’s name as the entomologist who updated a classic beekeeping book by Richard E. Bonney for the Storey Publishing company’s Down-to-Earth Guides series in Fall, 2010.)

Constructing an Observation Bee Hive

If for some reason the FullScreen and Download buttons at the top of the embedded document aren’t working for you — those darned computers! — you can download a printable PDF version of this document at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG32000.pdf directly. That way, you’ll be able to see the measurements and instructions on the observation hive plans included.

Build or Buy an Observation Hive

If you’re looking for an alternative style, plans for building a 3-Frame Observation Hive are available free at Bee Source. Also, a fellow on the Beemaster’s International beekeeping forums has posted step-by-step photographs and description of building an observation hive.

Long-time Central Beekeeepers’ Alliance member Earl Gilbey has a four-frame observation hive that may interest and inspire you, too — see Inside An Observation Hive to read about it.

If you’re not into woodworking, you can still enjoy bee-watching as a hobby. you’ll find a remarkably wide range of observation hives for sale at Draper Bee — some of which are quite showy, more like livingroom furniture! — or visit Dadant to see a nice simple 2-frame observation hive priced at just under $100 US (plus shipping, of course).

Starvation is a major cause of winter bee losses.

The past few years here in New Brunswick we’ve been seeing an unusual thaw in mid-December, even getting heavy rain and spring-like flooding in much of the province in December 2010. When the weather acts up like that, it fools the bees. That’s when many colonies break their cluster and the bees become more active, moving about the hive and consuming more of the stored honey than they normally would.

The result is too often that the colony runs out of easily accessible food before spring, when snow melts and temperatures rise enough for beekeepers to get in to start spring feeding.

The answer is to make sure your bees go into winter with plenty of food — both honey and stored pollen — to see them through to spring.

How much food do bees need for winter?

Unless you are in the semi-tropical or tropical regions of the country your bees should have somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds of honey safely stored away when the first signs of autumn show. The colder and longer your winter and spring, the more they will need.

Kim Flottum, the editor of Bee Culture magazine who lives near Cleveland, Ohio, says that his bees typically use about 60 – 70 pounds of honey and 5 – 7 frames of pollen between the end of October and the beginning of April. Here in New Brunswick, beekeepers often prefer to have more like 85 to 100 pounds on a colony when it gets wrapped for wintering. Obviously, the further south you go, the sooner spring comes, and bees in don’t need as much in the way of winter food stores as they do here in Atlantic Canada.

New beekeepers: do not expect to take much if any honey off your newly established colonies in the first year. That honey belongs to the bees, to help build them up for next season.

If you figure about eight pounds of honey for a deep frame mostly filled on both sides you can estimate how much honey your bees really have. A medium frame like I use holds 4+ pounds if it’s filled completely on both sides. Either way, that’s a bunch of frames of honey that the bees need. And don’t forget the pollen.

There is some controversy in warmer climates, with a longer growing season, about whether or not to feed bees. Up north here, especially if the fall honey flow is weak or we get a dry spell during the late summer and early fall, beekeepers often have no choice about whether to feed. After all, if it’s a choice between bees starving and bees surviving…

One good reason to start feeding as soon as possible after the honey harvest is because bees need time and warm temperatures to convert the sugar syrup to “honey” — this is not the real honey bees make from flower nectar and you would never harvest it for human consumption, of course, but simply the bees converting the sugar-and-water syrup into a form they can use for food.

Pollen is needed for feeding brood in the spring, so it is just as essential as honey stores for the bees. If you don’t see lots of pollen stored in the frames, consider feeding a good quality pollen substitute. And unless you are absolutely sure your bees have enough stores to get them through the winter (and then some extra, in case of a late spring), you’ll want to feed 2:1 sugar syrup as well. This is a good time to medicate against nosema as well, as you can put the medication right into the syrup.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/honeybees-beekeeping/getting-your-bees-ready-for-winter-already.aspx#ixzz1VNztAAap

Read more:
Mother Earth News: Getting Your Bees Ready For Winter…Already by Kim Flottum

After checking my own hives in the last warm spell and talking to some of the larger beekeepers, it may be a good idea to make beekeepers aware of the possibility of their colonies running short of food supplies.

In this part of NB, in Westmorland County, the pollen in the colonies is almost non-existent, which is unusual before spring brood rearing (April). Syrup and honey supplies are not exhausted yet, however, the present supplies will be quickly used up during brood rearing.

Beekeepers should monitor their hives and feed if necessary.

Feeding with pollen substitute patties is necessary if beekeepers find their hives in the same conditions as I have been seeing them.

If they feed, syrup feeders are not the best to use in cooler temperatures. Frame feeders placed next to the cluster and / or pail feeders above the cluster are best for cool weather feeding. (Temperature less than 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.)

The weather this winter has been unusual in every regard which has caused this unusual condition of lack of pollen and little syrup and honey supplies in colonies at this time of year.

Fletcher 

Five-year-old Daniel helped his Uncle Don Miksha with the beekeeping chores at Summit Gardens Honey Farms near Calgary, Alberta in May 2008. We’re not sure who shot the video (Daniel’s father, maybe?), but it’s good fun to watch!

And if the family name sounds familiar to you… yes, this is the clan of Ron Miksha, author of the entertaining and educational Bad Beekeeping book, and his brother David Miksa, a Florida queen breeder — “one of about 50 specialists who are maintaining the endangered bee population by providing thoroughbred royalty to raise colonies,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

In this video, Colorado beekeeper Dan explains how he installs a 3-lb package of bees with queen into their new hive, showing the protective clothing, tools and equipment that he uses.

He places his hives on a hivestand (base) with a sloped landing deck on the front, set up on wooden pallets levelled into the ground to keep everything dry. His supers are 10-frame full-depth and the frames are filled with plastic foundation — more durable than wax, “and the bees don’t care,” he says. A thump of the package sends the bees to the bottom, then he sprinkles a little sugar water to distract them before dumping the bees into the new hive.

The process for installing the caged queen is demonstrated: removing the cork from the cage and replacing it with a piece of candy that the bees will eat away in a few days, releasing the queen.

An entrance reducer cuts down on the territory that this small new colony will need to protect. Sugar water (syrup) in a feeding jar with holes in the lid is provided for the bees to find and feed on, as it’s too early for forage plants to be much in bloom. Interestingly, he uses a field feeding system — the feeder is set out near the hive, rather than placed directly in or on top of the hive.

You’ll notice a two-wire electric fence set up around the hives. Dan explains that Colorado has quite a bear problem, and the 9000-volt fence gives enough of a jolt to the nose of any curious bears that they’ll keep away. It’s a “short pulse” current, however, so no real harm will be done to the bears or to any passing pets or children.

Later in the video, three days later, you’ll see that it seems like the queen didn’t make it out, so Dan comes to the rescue. He opens the cage, taking care that the queen won’t fly away, and shakes her gently into the hive between the frames.

If you have any comments or questions about this video, please contact Dan by email at mtnbee@msn.com.

Traditional chemical controls for Varroa are failing to keep the pest below economic thresholds, as the mites build up resistance, and the weakened colonies are more vulnerable to Nosema and other disease. Beekeepers are desperate to find new weapons to keep their colonies alive.

As the Edmonton Journal reports (Bugs, fungus attacking Alberta’s bees: Keepers say chemical warfare not working):

[Alberta] Provincial apiculturist Medhat Nasr said while beekeepers expected losses due to the failure of pest control, they were still taken by surprise by the extent of the problem.

“It was fast, and losses were far above their expectations.”

The effects of Varroa mites and Nosema, combined with a long winter, played a major role in losses, according to a new report from Alberta Agriculture.

Emergency approval last fall of a one-time use of Apivar, a chemical product popular in other countries but not approved here, had some effect on the varroa mite, but new treatments are “desperately needed,” says the report.

Also, traditional antibiotic treatments did not effectively control the new strain of nosema, which gives the bees a form of diarrhea.

Even colonies that survived the winter were severely weakened by the two pests, the report says.

Colony Collapse Disorder, which has so greatly affected bee populations in the United States, is not a factor in Canada — including New Brunswick — according to apiculturists, but many Canadian beekeepers have seen their colonies strugglel under the combination of weather factors, pests and diseases as is the case in Alberta.

Apivar® (active ingredient: 3.33% amitraz) is a sustained-release plastic strip designed for use in honey bee hives.

This emergency registration applies in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island for the period beginning July 1, 2009, and ending June 30, 2010 — subject to the following Conditions:

• Honey supers must be removed from hives before undergoing treatment wtih amitraz, and cannot be replaced until 14 days after the strips are removed.

• Residues of amitraz equivalents in/on honey and honey-derived products must not exceed 0.1 parts per million (ppm) (as per subsection B.15.002(1) of the Food and Drug Regulations.

• End-users must be informed that various countries, including the United States, do not have a maximum residue limit (MRL) for amitraz in honey, honeycomb, and beeswax, and that they assume the risk that use of Apivar® may affect export of their product.

Instructions for Apivar Use in Bee Hives

• Correctly identify the pest and ensure economic and agronomic thresholds are being met before treatment.

• Remove honey supers before application of Apivar®.

• Use 2 Apivar® strips per colony.

• Separate the double strip and hang each strip between two comb frames inside the brood area or bee cluster, with a minimum distance of 2 frames between strips.

• Suspend Apivar® strips in the brood chamber in such a way that the bees can walk on both sides of the strips.

• Leave the strips inside the hive for 42 days and then remove.

• In case of movement inside the bee hive far from the strips, a repositioning of the strips should be done into the bee cluster, and the strips left in place for 14 more days before removal.

• Strips must be removed after a maximum of 56 days.

• Do not re-use the strips.

• Timing: Hang Apivar® strips in the hives in spring before the first honey flow if varroa mite infestations have reached treatment threshold. Remove honey supers before use of Apivar strips.

• DO NOT USE APIVAR STRIPS WHEN HONEY SUPERS ARE PRESENT.

• If the varroa mite infestation is severe, treat colonies in the autumn after all surplus honey has been removed from the hive.

• Wait 14 days after removing strips before placing honey supers on hive.

• Monitor treated pest populations for resistance development.

Follow all instructions on the product label.
New Brunswick beekeepers, please contact the NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture (Fredericton — (506) 453-2108) if you require more information.

Apivar is a sustained-released product in the form of plastic strips impregnated with the active ingredient Amitraz.

The use of Apivar in Canada is subject to various conditions.

Fortunately (?) there were a couple of deadouts too — a useful learning opportunity as we carried out a “post mortem” to figure out if disease was present, or if the bees had died for some other likely reason. As soon as the rain stops again, the next step will be applying formic acid pads (for Varroa mite control) to those hives that were successfully over-wintered.

Here’s a selection of photographs for those who missed this afternoon of spring hive inspection, socializing, and cinnamon buns.

Click on any picture for a larger image and more information about what it shows:

The Provincial Apiarist will assign a registration number for each apiary, and send the beekeeper a certificate of registration that is valid until May 31st, 2010.

There is no fee, but annual registration is required by law.

You can download the registration form as a PDF file here, pick up a copy at the next Central Beekeepers Alliance meeting, or contact Chris Maund at the Crop Development Branch, New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.

Langstroth brood box

Which is the type of hive I will use to raise bees. As a beginner, I will use the standard equipment and practices available in my area, which allow me to expand my beekeeping education beyond books and the internet to include local beekeepers and supply stores. In the event that something breaks or is lost, I can easily replace it locally too. But I am sure I will start to experiment as many beekeepers do, with equipment and styles as my experience level grows.

Different types of hives include traditional skeps, top–bar hives, William Braughton Carr (WBC) hives and the National hive used in the UK.

The WBC shown in the thumbnail at left (from Caddon Hives in Scotland) is similar to a pagoda style of architecture. Although, the exterior of this hive structure is different, the inside resembles the standard frame and foundations found in National hives.

An interesting style of bee hive can be found at the following link:  http://warrebeehive.com

The Warre Hive resembles a WBC hive but uses a top–bar frame internal structure to encourage a natural formation of wax cells from the top–bar down. As the bees construct the comb, it grows in a downward direction. Boxes are added to the bottom with new top–bars in each. The bees will stop the comb just above the next set of bars. This style of natural beekeeping is further explained by following the link. It also includes plans for building your own hive.

Prior to joining the group, I’d heard stories of honeybee colonies collapsing (CCD) around the world and became quite concerned that a tiny little creature, who pollinates and makes honey, could quite possibly be encountering its greatest challenge — survival! Sadly, I knew so little about them and have no idea how I could help. I’ve learned — I’m not the only person wondering where to start.

Luckily, a few friends became beekeepers in the past couple of years. They are both members in the CBA and encouraged me to attend a meeting, which is the same advice many books offer if you are interested in beekeeping. My next step was attending a meeting.

As I approached the entrance to the meeting, I was greeted by a friendly man who guided me in and introduced me to several other beekeepers. I don’t remember much about my first meeting except there were quite a few people in attendance and I volunteered to help out at the next public show in Harvey. At the show, I got to see honeybees for the first time in an observation hive. My friend, her mother and aunt were tending the booth and patiently answered questions from the curious crowds (and me). Watching the bees was a treat for all; while the poor girls had to stay close to each other for warmth — it was a cool day in April.

At the next meeting my good fortune continued because the guest speaker that evening was the provincial NB Beekeepers Association’s President Paul Vautour. He spoke of overwhelming losses to the bee colonies and the priorities and approaches to combat the the many challenges facing beekeeping. Most of what he discussed was beyond my experience but I tried to keep up, diseases, insurance, research, Apiary Act… oh no… but then Paul ventured into a topic that struck a chord. He glowed when he spoke of the Central Beekeepers Alliance and their success with recruiting new beekeepers and maintaining an active community interest in beekeeping. This was a sign of hope for him. They were attracting new beekeepers and creating continuity for an ancient hobby and profession.

At that point I decided I wanted in, this experience is for me. Although, I joined the club in Spring, I felt that I had a few too many personal and work commitments coming up through the summer so I decided to learn about bees first and welcome them home in 2009.

I went to the library and checked out Beekeeping for Dummies which offers step-by-step introductions to beekeeping; even though the name isn’t that appealing, the pictures and information help. One bee book I highly recommend is Keeping Bees: a Complete Practical Guide by Paul Peacock. Other reads include Hivelights, a Canadian magazine, and Bee Culture, an American magazine that is stocked at our local library. It has a wide variety of information that keeps experienced and new-to-the-experience beekeepers interested. Also, the CBA site is a fount of information from bee gardens to public speakers discussing the latest on honeybee research. It is always nice to see beekeepers interact with each other and the community.

Welcome to my adventures in beekeeping! I hope you will check back in from time to time for lessons learned and the laughter they may generate. I also look forward to helpful advice! Let the learning begin….

That’s why I got out the snowshoes and shovel today, and went out to take some snow away from the upper entrances.

The hives in this picture are doubles, set up on a stand made from hefty timbers, and this is the first time in 10 years we’ve had so much snow that the upper entrances were completely covered. Only the top of the outer covers, and the rocks we put on top to hold the covers down, were still visible when yesterday’s snowstorm ended.

Fluffy snow has a lot of air trapped in between the flakes, and the relative warmth of the hive body itself tends to create a little air space between the hive and the snowbank — much as you’re likely to see a gap along the edge of a house foundation where the snow has melted away — so I’m not particularly concerned about the bees suffocating. Except when ice forms at the upper entrance.

And ICE is exactly what I found at one of those hives.

Inside the bent-metal wind guard that we always put around the entrance when we wrap the hives for wintering, a chunk of ice had formed that almost sealed up the whole entrance. The open area was less than a quarter-inch square, I’d estimate.

It’s hard to imagine how there could have been much ventilation going on, to prevent moisture build-up inside the hive. And here’s a piece from The Biology and Management of Colonies in Winter (PDF document) written by Adony Melathopoulos, Beaverlodge Research Farm, Alberta — one of the educational freebies on the CAPA website — that made me glad I’d gone out to check the entrances:

It is estimated that bees produce 0.68 kg of water per kg of honey they consume. This water is important to the bees and they use it to dilute honey, feed brood and flush metabolic wastes from their bodies. Nonetheless, some of this water escapes as a vapour, which in itself is important as brood develops best at 40% relative humidity. A problem occurs, however, when outside temperatures drop. Cold air does not hold as much water as warm air, so as warm moist air leaves the cluster, it condenses on the comb. Bees can cope with some moisture outside the cluster, but if the moisture accumulates and begins dripping back on the bees it saps them of heat. This issue is significant when we consider the role of the upper entrance in your colonies.

Since the main role of the upper entrance, in winter, is to vent extra moisture from the hive, I think it just makes sense to keep it clear of snow — especially when there’s a spell of milder wet weather in the forecast, and a risk that the fluffy soft-fallen snow could turn into solid ice.

But that’s just one beekeeper’s opinion, based on what I read and observe.

And there’s a saying that if you ask 10 beekeepers a question, you’ll get 11 different answers — so let’s hear yours, too! Do you try to keep the top entrances of your hives clear of snow in winter?

Click on any of the photographs at right to see a larger version. Top to bottom, they show:

The front of the observation hive, doors open;

Busy nurse bees tending the brood; and

The queen bee and workers.

In the top photo, notice the vertical arrangement of frames. This is a working hive, and capped honey is clearly visible in corners of the top frame. The bees have access to the outdoors via a tube through the outside wall of the house, but not to the indoors.

In the second photograph, you can see the white larvae in the uncapped cells as well as the wax-capped brood.

The third photograph shows how the queen’s distinctive long abdomen makes her out from the much-smaller worker bees, her daughters. Yellow pollen fills one cluster of honeycomb cells in this picture, while some other cells are shining with stored nectar.

Cabinet doors are normally kept closed over the glass, to create the comfortable darkness of a normal brood chamber and make the hive look like any other handsome piece of furniture.

Unless a visitor is told the secret, he’d never know that he was sharing a livingroom with tens of thousands of honeybees!

A much smaller observation hive — just two frames, with plexiglas on both sides — makes a wonderful public education tool for giving talks on beekeeping to schools or community groups. Even people who say they “don’t like bugs” seem to be fascinated by the compact community of live bees.

Photographs of Earl Gilbey’s observation hive were taken by DeVerne Jones, Toronto, ON.

Click on the map to see a list of honey bee forage species and their blooming periods for any region within a state.

Although the text says “state” on all pages (e.g. “state of NB” for New Brunswick’s listing), this resource really does give plant information for our provinces — forage plant species and blooming periods.

Honey Bee Forage Species:
• New Brunswick
• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island

The large pink area of the map that covers the northern boreal region of Canada has no species listed at present, but clicking on other areas of the map will take you to a list of honey bee forage plants for that area. The most important nectar sources for honey bees are highlighted. Here in the Maritimes, however, where the bee season is rather short, the earlier blooming species (such as maple, alder, dandelion, and willow) are important as sources of pollen as well as nectar. Pollen sources are needed for brood production to help the bee colonies build back up to strength after wintering over.

[Thanks to Bob Seaman for suggesting this link.]

Here are direct links to the most recent recommendations
(dated 2007 and last modified on 15 December, 2008):

Recommendations for Honey Bee Disease Control

1. American Foulbrood
2. European Foulbrood
3. Honey Bee Trachael Mites
4. Varroa Mites
5. Nosema
6. Chalkbrood
7. Sacbrood
8. Monitoring Methods: Varroa Mites
9. Monitoring Methods: Honey Bee Trachael Mites
10. Monitoring Methods: American Foulbrood

French language version:
Recommandations pour la lutte contre les maladies des abeilles mellifères

The Urban Bee Barn

During a lively conversation at the grocery store checkout, one day, a man in line told the rest of us shoppers about his innovative version of urban beekeeping: a “bee barn” among the birdhouses near his patio.

This “bee barn” provided an artificial habitat for native bees in and around this man’s downtown property. It was basically a shaped chunk of wood, decorated to look like an old-fashioned barn with a hip roof, that had all sizes of holes drilled in it. When he put it out in the spring, wild bees — solitary bees — took up residence in the holes, picking whichever hole was the right size for them, and stayed all season.

The bees gave the man’s children a wonderful close-up view of Nature in action, and pollinated his patio tomatoes. Win-win!

I didn’t ask this man where he’d got his “bee barn” because I figured it would be easy enough to track down a source on the Internet… but I haven’t yet found anything that’s quite like what he described.

The Bamboo Bee House

However, I did find a solitary bee house or two on Amazon.com, like this one made from a lot of pieces of bamboo. Since the bamboo is hollow and comes in different thicknesses, naturally, according to how far along the stalk the section has been cut, it makes a suitable home for bees.

Wooden Block Bee House

You could also make your own bee house, like Lise Mahnke, who wrote up her construction method (complete with photographs) on Dry-Ideas.com, based on the bee house built by Robert Engelhardt (shown at the top of this page).

Or follow the instructions in this “how to” video of the Build a Bee House” “science project” lesson from YES magazine:

There are more than 1000 species of native bees in this country, according to Pollination Canada, and they’re struggling to survive in this modern world the same way that honeybees are — so a frustrated wannabe-beekeeper could do a lot worse than to set up a home for those wild bees!

Veteran beekeeper Allan Dick, writing in the December issue of the Alberta Beekeepers newsletter, warns that a failure to feed enough protein to bees can cost the lives of colonies.

A year or two back, some very good beekeepers I know and who had fed patties for years quit feeding patties because they figured they had enough — or even too many — bees and did not think they needed to stimulate the colonies. Since they had been feeding patties for years, they had become used to great wintering success and good spring build-up and got to taking that for granted.

HOWEVER, this year, for the first time in a while, they had late winter losses and bad build-up that affected their honey crop very significantly. Sad, but entirely predictable. The patty feeding had given their bees an edge, but the charm wore off after they quit feeding.

Allan Dick says that his beekeeping operation feeds protein patties until mid-June at least, as many as a colony will take. After beginning this regimen, he “immediately noticed that the bees were more robust-looking, BUT the huge bonus was that our wintering loss the following winters stabilized at around 12% – 15%, meaning that 85% of the previous year’s colony count was viable in mid-April” — and this consistently high survival rate kept up over a period of many years, compared to typical losses of up to 40% or “even 50% on occasion. Small, predicable losses were a huge relief after the catastrophic losses we formerly experienced and convinced us that feeding patties was good, cheap insurance.”

Patties are expensive, Dick acknowledges, but so are bees. The cost of losing a single hive, which can be estimated at something around $100 or more, would cover the cost of feeding 4 patties each to more than 20 hives. If feeding protein patties can help colonies to overwinter, helping some to survive the spring dwindling that otherwise wouldn’t make it, and possibly increase the number of hives that could be split — the cost of the patties would be more than repaid by earnings from honey production and pollination, and the reduced work load needed to deal with dead or weak colonies in spring.

A short version of Dick’s article is available on the Global Patties website at http://www.globalpatties.com/pages/articles/cost.htm along with another interesting article on protein feeding from Heather Mattila (PhD Student, Environmental Biology) and Gard Otis — Influence of Protein Surplus and Deficit on Worker Bees and Their Colonies, the results of a honeybee nutrition study in Ontario.

“Colonies that had pollen supplements in early spring produced two to four times more brood than control and pollen restricted colonies, respectively, and only supplemented colonies reared brood in significant amounts before natural pollen foraging began,” Mattila reports. “The earlier and increased rate of rearing also translated into higher honey yields by mid-summer, when pollen-rich colonies produced two times more honey than pollen-stressed colonies.”

Sammataro D, Finley J, Underwood R (2008) Comparing Oxalic Acid and Sucrocide Treatments for Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) Control Under Desert Conditions. Journal of Economic Entomology: Vol. 101, No. 4 pp. 1057–1061

Bottom line: Oxalic Acid treatments were successful in killing Varroa destructor mites, but Sucrocide™ treatments were not effective. In fact, the study’s authors found that Sucrocide™ treatment was no more effective than giving the hives no treatment at all.

This seems to be in line with last year’s report of research by Alison Skinner, Janet Tam, Rachel Bannister and Melanie Kempers carried out under the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association Tech-Transfer Program. (See Can Sucrocide Control Varroa Mites in Canada?) The team evaluated Sucrocide™ as a Varroa mite treatment from July 2004 to July 2006, and found that the product did not show much promise as a mite control technique.

My area is overrun by black bears — a virtual population explosion that has benefited outfitters catering to hunters from south of the border. All out yards are protected by bear fencing that normally puts out 6500 to 9000 volts of jolt. These fencers are powered by deep cycle twelve volt batteries with the charge maintained with solar panels to avoid having to change batteries every two weeks — with the panels, the battery maintains its charge for about six to eight weeks depending on the grass load.

Winter yards are usually equipped with barbed wire and posts as these are more susceptible to bear damage in the spring — I run 5 strands on these about six inches apart and the wire is less likely to sag under the weight of snow. I power up the strands as they become accessible with the snow melting and usually do not power up the strand closest to the ground. In summer yards, I run four strands with the last strand at hip height. Keep the colonies at least four feet away from the fence as bears will reach under to topple a hive.

A good deep ground rod is the key to a good fence. If the ground is dry or rocky, I will put in several spaced out by 6 feet until the fence puts out good voltage. Anything less that 6500 volts is not acceptable. Battery/solar panel/fencer unit will run around $400. for a good setup but a well worth it when you consider the damage racked up in one night of bear damage let alone multiple visits.

You need to get a voltage tester to measure volt output on the fence (Gallagher puts out a good one for around $80.00) — it’s hard to find hired help willing to manually test the fence on a continuing basis and my faithful companion “Max” now turns up his nose at the smell of bacon baited fences. On this subject, I find that sardine cans work much better than bacon. Partly peel it open and punch a hole through the tin and run a wire through the hole and wire it to a strand nose height for a bear. Two at opposite ends of the enclosure is even better. Bears are no different than Max and they are easily trained to avoid the fence. Many of my yards are handy to old apple orchards and I have seen numerous bears and/or droppings outside the fence even when there was a problem with voltage output.

When all else fails…

In this case, this 375 pounder male got a bad case of lead poisoning. Late Friday afternoon, I found a yard damaged and my only option was to call the wildlife people (seen loading the bear) to ask for the live trap. They were unwilling to set it up before Monday. The fence was checked and voltage output was 8500 volts and was also baited with sardines. Bears will always return once the taste is acquired and usually around dusk. I watched this guy from a distance and he crossed the fence at will even taking the sardines. He went down with one shot to the neck which is the best place to shoot as you either miss or hit but at least you are not looking for a wounded animal in the dark… The shot on his flank was the “coup de grace” to finish him off and dispatch him quickly.

With the use of fencing, I have been able to avoid this situation and have only had to resort to shooting bears twice in the last twenty years. The downside is that solar panels/fencers/batteries are attractive to theives. I can only guess that pot growers are using them and nothing against their enterprise but heck, they surely make more money than I do so I wish they would just buy their own…

A few more thoughts on electric fences…

When setting up your posts, make sure your corner posts are leaning out from the pen so that when you tighten the wires, tension is maintained.

The smallest unit I have is rated for 1.7 joules. Enough power so don’t scrimp on the joules. I use mainly Gallagher fencing units and I have never had one fail. I cannot say the same for Parmac or Bay guard. I did a quick search and found Gallagher dealers in Oregon.

I mentioned earlier how handy a fence voltage tester was. If you are running solar panels with your fencer, you can’t rely on the voltage reading without covering the panel as it will power the fence during the daylight even if your battery is down. Once the sun drops, so does your fencer. I always carry a battery tester and check both the fence voltage and the battery. Some of the Gallagher models have a low battery light indicator which is a nice feature. Some also come with an on/off switch but with a clip to the fence, it is not really necessary. The setup should be kept inside the enclosure anyway to prevent the bear from tampering with it.

To deter the two legged predator — thieves — I set up a good strong nuc on top of the empty super and cover containing the battery and unit. I screw the solar panel to the outside wall of a two story colony. Works every time!!

A Beekeeper’s Bear Fence by New Brunswick beekeeper Claude Hachey of Nectar Valley Apiaries was first published on the Central Beekeepers Alliance website in 2006. We thank Claude for contributing this article and his photographs!

Fumagilin-B, an antibiotic registered for the treatment of nosema infection in honey bees, is the recommended method of control. Fumagilin-B works by attacking the actively multiplying disease-producing parasites in the bee’s digestive tract.

Fumagilin-B should be fed only in sugar syrup, as dusting and extender patties are not very effective.

Medicated syrup should be fed in the fall after the honey supers have been removed. This fall feeding is very important to protect bees during the winter season, when they’re cooped up in the hive. About 8 to 12 litres (2-3 gallons) of 2:1 sugar syrup will usually be needed for each colony. If you’re making your own sugar syrup for fall feeding, mix 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Commercial bee syrup may also be used.

Mix 1 rounded teaspoon of Fumagilin-B into 4 ounces of warm water (38-49°C or 100-120°F), and stir this into 4 litres (1 US gallon) of sugar syrup until it has dissolved. One 454g bottle of Fumagilin-B will usually be enough to treat 50 colonies.

Country Fields Beekeeping Supplies website has a fact sheet with more information about the safe and effective use of Fumagilin-B to treat both Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

It’s not a simple matter of just giving up the use of synthetic chemicals and medications, of course — to begin with, going “cold turkey” on miticides and antibiotics is one fast way for a beekeeper to lose his/her livestock to pests and disease.

The Canadian standards for organic beekeeping require a number of stringent conditions to be met, before the hive products (e.g. honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax and bee venom) from a beekeeping operation can be “sold, labelled or represented as organic.” Did you know, for example, that organic standards for apiculture say that “destroying the male [drone] brood is permitted only to contain infestation with varroa mites”? Or that honey is not to be extracted from a comb with live brood in it? Or that queen bees may not have their wings clipped?

There’s a lot to learn — Organic standards address all aspects of the beekeeping operation: from making the transition to organic beekeeping, to Origin of bees, Location of hives, Forage and Feeding, Colony Management, Hive Construction, Health Care, Disease and Pest Management, right down to Extraction, Processing and Storage.

In general terms,

• The treatment and management of colonies shall respect the principles of organic production.
• The sources of nectar, honeydew and pollen shall consist mainly of organically produced plants and spontaneous (wild) vegetation.
• The management of bee health shall be based on appropriate measures such as selection of stock with diseaseresistant traits, availability of suitable forage, and good apiary management practices.
• When bees are placed in wild areas, consideration shall be given to the indigenous insect population.
• An operator of an organic apicultural enterprise shall prepare an organic plan providing a detailed description of the sources of bees and production methods. The plan shall include a description of colony management for diet, disease, pests, breeding and related problems with production, in accordance with this standard. The operator shall also outline the details of crop management practices, where applicable.

This information is provided here as a service to beekeepers who may be considering a transition to organic apiculture. For more information — and the official word on the subject — please see the Standards for Organic Agriculture, available through the Public Works and Government Services Canada website, or download PDF files of the Organic Production Standards documents in English or French.

Fletcher Colpitts, Chief Apiary Inspector, and Michel Melanson, P. Ag., Crop Development Specialist – Blueberry/Apiculture, for New Brunswick, have just sent out this advisory to beekeepers:

At this time of the year, bees usually do not produce much surplus honey. This year however, the nectar flow is not even adequate to supply the daily requirement of the adult bees in the colony in some regions.

A few beekeepers have observed that the older bees may be eating the eggs, young larvae, and in severe cases, chewing the wax capping to eat the older larvae.

Beekeepers that have removed the honey super, supplementary feeding is definitely required, especially in the Southern region. If you haven’t removed your honey super, make sure that honey supers have adequate amount of honey stored. There are confirmed cases where bees have starved and may continue to do so unless supplement feeding is done immediately.

If the case where supplementary feeding is required, you should mix sugar:water at a ratio of 2:1 or 1:1. Continue to do this until possible return of nectar flow. Normal winter feeding may have to be started early if fall nectar flow does not come.

This is also a good time to verify your mite population. The opportunity may be taken now to apply Formic Acid for varroa control because there is a break in the nectar flow.

Nationwide honey bee losses of 35% over the winter of 2007-2008 are up from last year’s mortality rate of 29% of colonies, and more than double the long-term “normal” of 15% that Canadian beekeepers were accustomed to seeing before the arrival of the Varroa destructor mite in this country.

“Successive annual losses at levels exceeding the long-term average are unsustainable by Canadian beekeepers,” CAPA warns, “and are likely to lead to decreased honey production and shortages of colonies available for pollination. Indeed, more demand than supply was evident for pollination in British Columbia during the spring of 2008, where some blueberry pollination contracts were not entirely fulfilled.”

Honey Bee Losses in Canada (by Province) 2007-2008

Above-average losses hit Alberta (44%), British Columbia (38%) and Prince Edward Island (36%), with Ontario not far behind at 33% of colonies lost over the winter. New Brunswick beekeepers reported a better winter than in the past few difficult years, with losses of 29% of managed colonies. The lowest mortality rates were reported in Quebec and Nova Scotia, at 19% and 18% respectively.

These statistics refer to colony losses reported as of 30 May 2008, and they include losses due to spring dwindling as well as those honey bee colonies that died through the winter months. In Alberta, the spring dwindling component (14%) was defined as the number of weak colonies having three frames of bees or less.

“Though high losses for individual producers may occur in any given year, high regional losses are of potentially greater concern,” says CAPA. “Across the country any unusually high losses have been investigated by provincial apicultural specialists. Initial indications suggest that these losses may be attributed to the three principal causes, listed in descending order of importance”:

1. Ineffective control and mismanagement for the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor;
2. Inadequate control of the internal parasites Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae; and
3. Starvation. Inadequate nectar flows and fall feeding in some areas prevented colonies from storing enough nectar or sugar syrup to survive all through the winter.

Comparable 2007-2008 Losses by US Beekeepers

The Canadian experience matches that of beekeepers in the United States, where surveys commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the USDA-ARS Beltsville Honey Bee Lab recorded a total loss of 36% for managed honey bee colonies in 2008. This represents an increase of 13.5% increase in total losses compared with the US figures for 2007.

“The survey commissioned by the AIA was not able to differentiate between true cases of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and colonies lost due to causes that share the ‘absence of dead bees’ symptom that is typically associated with CCD,” the CAPA report notes.

Interestingly, “at least 71% of all operations had no CCD-like symptoms in any of their colonies that perished, underlying the need for research, not only into CCD, but into pollinator health in general.”

A researcher at the institute, Ruchira Tiwari, said: “Using cow urine we have seen that within 7-8 days the breed becomes healthy. The workers work as cleaners and the queen bee lays the eggs. After the urine is sprayed on them, the workers start working more efficiently and then take out unhealthy larva from the eggshells.”

“Sometimes the most bizarre treatments can be used to get great results,” says Independent Television News reporter Lynsey Hooper, who brings this story to video:

Beekeeping for Women

A question much discussed in books and journals on bees is that of beekeeping for women. Many women can and do handle bees (Fig 14) with marked success. In those parts of the business which require delicacy of touch and minute attention, such as queen-rearing, women often surpass men in proficiency. As amateur beekeepers they are at home. The question which usually presents itself, however, is whether beekeeping is suitable for women as a means of earning a livelihood and repeatedly has the writer been asked for advice on this subject. Professional beekeeping on a scale sufficiently large to supply an adequate income requires long hours of work in the hot sun, heavy lifting and unremitting physical endurance. On a small scale these obstacles may be overcome, but in a commercial apiary, the work must be done promptly, for delay means loss. While some women have found pleasure and profit in the commercial beekeeping, it emphatically cannot be recommended for the majority of women, and this should be made clear to avoid disappointment for those who may be attracted to it. Of course, this applies only to those women who have no man in the company to do the heavy work. Many a professional beekeeper has received assistance of incalculable value from the women of the family. It should be made clear that the obstacles to the commercial success of women beekeepers are physical ones only.

Beekeeping: A Discussion of the Life of the Honeybee and of the Production of Honey
by Everett Franklin Phillips (1878-1951)
The rural science series, L.H. Bailey editor
New York: The Macmillan Company, © 1915, reprinted 1917
p.15-16

Gail Duncan is lucky enough to have a printed copy of this book, which she brought to show us at the the last CBA meeting, but the rest of us will have to enjoy it online. The full text is available in The Hive and the Honeybee: Selections from the E. F. Philips Beekeeping Collection at Mann Library, Cornell University.

The Phillips’ Beekeeping Collection at Cornell’s Albert R. Mann Library is one of the largest and most complete apiculture libraries in the world. The Hive and the Honey Bee consists of the full text of 30 rare beekeeping books from the Phillips Collection, and each book is fully searchable. To find out more about supporting this growing collection, please contact Eveline Ferretti, Albert R. Mann Library, by telephone at (607) 254-4993 or email ef15@cornell.edu or visit http://bees.library.cornell.edu.

Myths about honey bees abound and the Central Beekeepers Alliance (CBA) is devoted to smashing these misconceptions.

Established in 1963, the CBA is one of the most proactive beekeepers’ groups in the province.

On Saturday, 24 May 2008, Fredericton’s Daily Gleaner newspaper published an article by Andrea Dimmock about honey bees and beekeeping in general — and the Central Beekeepers Alliance in particular! If you missed the item in print, you can still read it online at DailyGleaner.com.

See:
• Honey bees are important to food production
  Andrea Dimmock : DailyGleaner.com
  24 May 2008

What is SuperBoost?

SuperBoost is a slow-release product that replicates the 10-component pheromone produced by larvae within the cells. In nature it tells workers, “We’re hungry, please go out and get us some food.” As I understand it, the effect is basically to make the bees think that there’s more brood to tend than the colony actually contains. Extra brood to feed means bees are stimulated to forage more actively. More food coming in will stimulate the queen to lay more eggs, which produces more bees, which can bring in more food. And so the cycle goes… and so the colony builds up.

SuperBoost is delivered through the membrane on one side of a small plastic pouch mounted in a 35 mm photographic slide frame. The corners slip into a holder that is set into the brood area of a hive so the product hangs down between the frames. Bees pick up the pheromone by walking on the membrance and gradually distribute it as they move around the hive.

My SuperBoost Trial

The pheromone supply of each unit will last for about 30-36 days, according to the instruction sheet, and 3-4 treatments a year are suggested: early spring, later in the spring, late summer, and over the winter.

My partner Rick and I are going to follow a similar treatment pattern (assuming that we get good bloom and good weather) with two overwintered colonies here in Keswick Ridge. This is not intended as any kind of a scientific study, of course, but just from a curious beekeeper’s perspective, to see how the bees respond to the product.

Colony #1 was started from a nuc with queen cells early last summer, so the queen is new. It built up well through the summer, was overwintered as a double, and came out of winter with enough bees to make a fairly good single. I started feeding at the end of March (medicated syrup in a top feeder, plus pollen patty, in both hives) and reduced it to a single super as soon as the weather warmed up enough to do so — about the third week of April.

Colony #2 is as strong an overwintered colony as a beekeeper could hope to see, a full double. The bees were sluggish to begin with, however, with bad signs of Nosema dysentery. At first those bees were very slow to go up into the feeder and I had to open the hive to pour a bit of medicated syrup right onto the cluster. Feeding soon perked them up, and by the third week of April they had well-filled the two supers.

Also, Colony #2 has an old queen who must be replaced as soon as possible, and I’ve split off four frames into a nuc box, including one frame with capped brood and one with young larvae and new eggs. Hopefully the bees will raise a new queen; if not, we’ll try it again in another couple of weeks.

Oxytet treatment was started and SuperBoost was put in the brood area at the first of May on both hives (the new queenless nuc isn’t getting SuperBoost) and we’ll be starting in with the usual spring formic acid treatment shortly.

SuperBoost has been in these two hives for exactly 2 weeks now.

Just now I was out counting the bee traffic at the entrances, and both colonies are well up to pollination strength. Is it luck or SuperBoost? We don’t know… but so far, so good.

SuperBoost Q & A

I had some questions about SuperBoost, which the Pherotech sales person passed along to Dr. John Borden, their Chief Scientific Officer. Here are my questions and his answers:

What is the difference between SuperBoost and that BeeBoost that came out a few years ago?

We have changed the name of BeeBoost to PseudoQueen to reflect that it is a device that emits the five-component queen mandibular gland pheromone, and can replace or temporarily supplement the queen within the hive.

If a beekeeper is going for organic certification, will using SuperBoost break the rules for organic honey production?

Don’t know the criteria. The product is an exact replica of the natural pheromone with a good-grade additive to prevent breakdown of four of the 10 components. Without it, there would be no shelf life.

Disposal of used product: is household garbage okay or does there need to be special handling as for chemicals?

The components are all methyl and ethyl esters of long-chain fatty acids. They are all very safe.

If SuperBoost goes into a hive, and isn’t replaced at the end of the 30 days or whatever, is the colony likely to go into a decline and/or produce extra queen cells, as it would in the presence of a failing queen? (Or worse, some workers start laying?)

SuperBoost should last five weeks. After it runs out, there is no reason to remove the device and holder from the hive until it is opened for some other reason.

In all of the studies that Tanya Pankiw has done at Texas A&M she has never seen the kind of withdrawal symptoms that you fear. It seems that the colony just keeps functioning at a higher level.

Because of colony growth, I would expect that you would have to deal with a larger colony sooner in the year than without SuperBoost, but this is only good. The queen is stimulated to lay additional eggs in the presence of SuperBoost (a new finding just last year at Texas A&M), but I have not heard any suggestion that the extra effort causes her to fail prematurely.

If you have questions of your own about SuperBoost, feel free to add them in the comment section below along with any other thoughts about the topic.

Going Forward

Pherotech is now doing a year-long study with Mike Campbell (Campbell’s Gold, Abbotsford, BC) in which 50 of his colonies will be put on a SuperBoost regime, and compared with 40 control colonies throughout the year. They’ll be doing two initial treatments back to back (10 weeks) for the pollination season (blueberries, cranberries and blackberries in sequence), then a long break until late summer for another 5-week treatment “to beef the colonies up” as they head into fall, and a final five-week treatment in late winter to stimulate feeding on pollen substitute.

Rebecca Leaman
14 May 2008