February 19, 2009.
After about 4 days of crazy rain here, today the sun was shining and the bees were flying big. Particularly the wine barrel I got from Matthew W. Stegman. You remember him... he’s the guy that got stung and went into anaphylactic shock so he gave me his barrel full of bees. I certainly won't forget him, he fed me sushi when I went over to pick-up the bees. His sushi was amazingly fresh, he had all the salt water aquariums around. I guess it was okay if we were eating his fish, I just could help but think about it. All those poor fish swimming around in his tanks looking out at us chowing their aquatic relatives. The thing is, if Matt loved those fish/sushi as much as he loved those bees: the pleasure was all mine.
After I picked-up his bees Napa had an incredible hot-spell, like a hundred and ten degrees. His bees must have been baking in that barrel because they threw off at least 3 swarms almost immediately. I tried to alleviate some of the heat that was trapped in the barrel by drilling a couple 2 inch holes in the top. But they must have preferred their privacy to the venting because they propolized that hole shut in about a week or two. Probably for the best, because now that it is dumping rain those propolis plugs are pretty water tight. The bees appear to be pretty strong, piling in the mustard pollen, and holding the ants at bay. I didn't see any curly wing bees staggering around in the front of the hive like I’m seeing in some of my other colonies. My GOD, the dollhouse hive is spewing curly wing yet the population of healthy bees seams to be growing. They too are bringing in buckets of pollen and standing their ground with the ants as well.
The mite load discrepancy is curious to me… For a long time I thought the bees that would end up being our survivor stock were the colonies that were presenting the most hygienic behavior. I would get excited when I saw a colony that had a spotty brood pattern (to a point) and a number of larvs with their heads chewed off dead in the cells. What this was telling me was that the bees were hard wired to recognize a family of mites living in the cell, chew it open liberating the mites while sacrificing the young bee too. Sad but true…
That’s one theory, how bout those three or four colonies I have that the mite population is crazy high but the bees appear to be unaffected. One of the colonies I am managing – and initially acquired from one of my mother colonies – at AVM’s Madrona property has the absolute highest mite load I have ever seen in a hive of bees. Literally, almost every bee in the brood chamber had a mite visible on their back during one of the final inspections last fall. I did a sugar dusting as a diagnostic to get a visual I could wrap my head around. I was completely blow away with the drop, countless mites! That was the night Leigh and I both ate a pinch of powered sugar mites to insure we truly knew our enemy by injesting them. Whether it was us eating the sweet sacrificial mites or not I’m not sure, but the colony is booming this spring. What I’m wondering about is, will the survivor stock be honeybees that are hygienic or bees that just happen to be able to live in coexistence with the parasite. This is something I will be looking at very closely this year and certainly be an on going discussion with Serge.
The mite load discrepancy is curious to me… For a long time I thought the bees that would end up being our survivor stock were the colonies that were presenting the most hygienic behavior. I would get excited when I saw a colony that had a spotty brood pattern (to a point) and a number of larvs with their heads chewed off dead in the cells. What this was telling me was that the bees were hard wired to recognize a family of mites living in the cell, chew it open liberating the mites while sacrificing the young bee too. Sad but true…
That’s one theory, how bout those three or four colonies I have that the mite population is crazy high but the bees appear to be unaffected. One of the colonies I am managing – and initially acquired from one of my mother colonies – at AVM’s Madrona property has the absolute highest mite load I have ever seen in a hive of bees. Literally, almost every bee in the brood chamber had a mite visible on their back during one of the final inspections last fall. I did a sugar dusting as a diagnostic to get a visual I could wrap my head around. I was completely blow away with the drop, countless mites! That was the night Leigh and I both ate a pinch of powered sugar mites to insure we truly knew our enemy by injesting them. Whether it was us eating the sweet sacrificial mites or not I’m not sure, but the colony is booming this spring. What I’m wondering about is, will the survivor stock be honeybees that are hygienic or bees that just happen to be able to live in coexistence with the parasite. This is something I will be looking at very closely this year and certainly be an on going discussion with Serge.
Matt's Barrel Hive
Matt's barrel hive with burlap stuffed in it's bung getting ready to transport.
Inside Matt's hive when I picked it up last summer.
Close-up of the barrel bees earlier today.
Much more comb than last summer.
Outside the barrel hive earlier today.
DOLLHOUSE HIVE
Dollhouse hive x4.
Dollhouse hive action cam.
One of the numerous curly wing bees found wondering around in front of the hive aimlessly.
One of the numerous curly wing bees found wondering around in front of the hive aimlessly.
Survivor stock at AVM
Hive in the foreground is the one I'm watching closely this year.
Looking down - clover tells me hive may be in area that is too moist.
Monitoring tray on survivor hive after 2 weeks, nice cluster.
Face up to the life with smile , no matter what will happened.
Posted by: Coach Bags | May 03, 2011 at 01:17 AM