Bees and Datacenters, XKCD

http://xkcd.com/1439/

Hive inspection

Last weekend we inspected the hives. They are taking 2 gal of 2:1 syrup in less than a week. The top feeders we bought run dry and bees hang out I'm the syrup well waiting for a tsunami of sugar to come down them. The frames all seem well drawn out in both boxes. Saw brood in hive 1 but did not check in hive 2 due to aggression, we saw no reason to press the point.
3 weeks ago we treated with half dose of mite-away strips. We started feeding protein patties and doubled the syrup strength after that treatment, and we added the top feeders from Virginia bee supply in Remington.
His trick of scrubbing pads as a beetle trap seemed to gather beetles but we had to catch them. We tore the pad a little to see if that helped beetles get in it. I wonder if we need to put some sugar syrup on the pad so the bees tear it.

Strange honey from Turkey

This honey will make you hallucinate http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/PLDd4_DvTbM/this-honey-will-make-you-hallu.html
Your honey is what your bees find. From a natural plant, a honey with the same effects.

hive check from 8/16/14

Hive one is looking so much better these days, lots of brood in the cells, lots of bees on the frames. they are about filling two boxes now, they are getting close to secure for the winter. We spotted our first hive beetles, so we need to think about ways to handle that pest.

Hive two got a bit bothered when we opened it up. They had not done anything with the 3rd super, no comb drawn at all, so we removed it. They still have very full heavy frames in the 2nd super. We did not see any brood in the 2nd box, and we did not get into the bottom box because they came out to harass us. I got stung on the hand, through the seam of my glove. There were hive beetles, and also some kind of wood roach.

We are still feeding sugar water in 1:1 ratio (cup sugar to cup water) as that ratio stimulates brood rearing.  They are taking a quart jar each hive, in less than a day. We will switch to 2:1 for heavier syrup in mid-September to load them up even more before the winter. We are interested in some of the vitamin or essential oil supplements, we may pick some up at bee supply when we go get the mite-away strips, to knock back the varroa mites before their numbers increase. We've also seen some ants getting at the sugar water, and one of the hives had some insect drill a hole into a frame - it had been propolized in place by the bees.

We went to a PWRB fall refresher meeting on 8/12 to listen to re-learn things to do to prepare for winter. It was nice, and we plan to get to more club meetings.

Super on hive 2

Bought 2 more boxes from va bee supply, Added another 8-frame deep box to hive 2. We put a plastic queen excluder under it. Those bees have fully drawn the comb in the 2nd story and brood chamber is like a big half circle in those frames. Really looking good. Removed Boardman feeder.

In hive one, The queen was out of the cage, just some workers had got in. Pulled the screen off and released them. Did not add box yet.

New queen in hive one

Installed new queen yesterday. Italian hygienic, $35 shipped by us mail. They have a green mailer envelope just for this purpose, L picked her up at the post office and put the cage in the hive.
Guaranteed to arrive alive and lay eggs within 10 days.

survey: 23% hive loss this past winter

http://www.wtop.com/884/3622770/Quarter-of-nations-bees-died-this-winter

Beekeepers nationwide lost about 1/4 of their hives, so I won't lose any until I have 4, right?? :)