January 19, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Queen Raising
February 1, 2010 Red Maple blooming in Piedmont
February 4, 2010 Advanced Beekeeping Workshop
Agenda: Marketing
February 11, 2010 Advanced Beekeeping Workshop
Agenda: Advanced Techniques
February 16, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Taxes, Fair Booths
February 18, 2010 Advanced Beekeeping Workshop
Agenda: Anatomy of Flowers & Honeybees
February 25, 2010 Advanced Beekeeping Workshop
Agenda: Pesticides
March 5-6, 2010 NCSBA Spring Convention, Lumberton NC
March 6, 2010 SCBA Spring Convention
March 13, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, New Bern
March 15, 2010 Dandelion blooming in Piedmont
March 16, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Installing Packaged Bees, Swarm Control Liability
March 20, 2010 New Beekeepers Workshop, Wake Office Park, Raleigh
March 31, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, Pittsboro
April 3, 2010 Sumac blooming in Piedmont
April 3, 2010 Clayton Farm & Community Market Opens
8A-1P every Saturday thru Oct. 31st
April 3, 2010 Wendell Farmer’s Market Opens
8:30A-1P every Saturday thru Nov. 20th
April 9-10, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, Troy
April 10, 2010 Blackberry blooming in Piedmont
April 14, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, Winston-Salem
Ladino Clover blooming in Piedmont
April 16-17, 2010 VSBA Spring Meeting, Wytheville VA
April 20, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Honey Processing, Spring Management
April 24, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, Dallas
April 25, 2010 Tulip Poplar blooming in Piedmont
April 26, 2010 Black Gum blooming in Piedmont
April 27, 2010 Black Locust blooming in Piedmont
April 28, 2010 Vetch blooming in Piedmont
April 30, 2010 Holly & Raspberry blooming in Piedmont
May 1, 2010 NC Born & Bred Queen Rearing Workshop, Waynesville
May 1-2, 2010 Smithfield Ham and Yam Festival
May 8, 2010 Privet blooming in Piedmont
May 18, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: NCSU Research Update
May 20, 2010 Persimmon blooming in Piedmont
May 28, 2010 Sweet Clover blooming in Piedmont
June 10, 2010 Sourwood blooming in Piedmont
June 15, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Roundtable, Requeening
June 21-27, 2010 National Pollinator Week
June 26, 2010 Johnston County Pollinator Festival, Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center
June 28, 2010 Pollinator Week Celebration, Chatham County
July 8-10, 2010 NCSBA Summer Convention, Chins Grove NC
July 4, 2010 Heartsease & Smartweed blooming in Piedmont
July 24, 2010 Chapter Field Trip
Agenda:
August 2-6, 2010 EAS Annual Meeting, Boone NC
August 8, 2010 Goldenrod blooming in Piedmont
August 17, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Fall Management
August 21, 2010 National Honeybee Awareness Day
August 28, 2009 St. Ambrose Day, Patron Saint of Beekeeping
Sept 1-30, 2010 National Honey Month
Sept 21, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: 2011 Nominating Committee, State Fair, Winter Management
Sept 25, 2010 Bug Fest, Raleigh
Aster blooming in Piedmont
Sept 30-Oct 9, 2010 Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair, Goldsboro NC
Sept 30-Oct 9, 2010 Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair, Lumberton NC
October 14-24, 2010 NC State Fair
October 19, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: Bee Horticulture, Present Nominations
Nov 2-6, 2010 Harnett Regional Agricultural Fair, Lillington, NC
November 6, 2010 VSBA Fall Meeting, Weyers Cave VA
November 16, 2010 Chapter Meeting
Agenda: 2011 Officer Election, “Does your Honey make money?”
December 21, 2010 Chapter Year-End Party
December 25, 2010 200th Anniversary of Rev. L.L. Langstroth birthdate
CONDITIONS
WEATHER: We have short days and long nights. Even though the average daily temperature in Winter is too cold for flight, we seldom have more than 2 weeks without a day that is warm enough for the bees to take cleansing flights. It’s not unusual to have several consecutive days warm enough for bees to forage. The fresh pollen perks up the queen and bodes well for the hive.
FOOD STORES: One of the Beekeeper Tasks in the Fall is to be sure each hive has 50 to 60 pounds of food stores before cold weather, so hives should still be heavy from the Fall. With minimum activity and minimum brood rearing, food consumption is unusually not heavy until late Winter when brood rearing increases.
HONEY BEE ACTIVITIES
CLUSTER: Honey bees do not hibernate – they cluster during cold weather. As the temperature drops below 55° F, the bees stay in the hive. As it gets colder, they cluster closer together and generate heat by ‘shivering’. In a strong hive, there will be a 2” layer of bees around the cluster that serves as insulation. This keeps the heat within the cluster so it is not lost out to the cold environment. Bees from inside the cluster continually replace those on the outside so none of them freeze to death. Even when it’s below freezing outside, the bees keep the temperature around the brood nest about 92° F. Beekeepers can help bees maintain cluster temperature by wrapping their hives and providing a windbreak.
BROOD REARING: By the middle of January, brood rearing begins again in preparation for Spring. As the days begin to get longer, the queen begins increasing her egg laying. She is at first limited by how many adult bees are available to keep the brood warm. Later she will be limited by how much honey and pollen is available.
BEEKEEPER TASKS
If we did everything right in late Summer and Fall, there’s not much to do with the hives. Do a 3-day sticky-board count for mites in early December and treat if needed. Be sure to remove any chemicals after 6 weeks. Lift the back of the hive occasionally to check the weight.
This is the time to plan for the coming year. How many hives would you like to have? How much equipment will you need? When you’ve made these decisions, order the bees, queens and equipment you’ll need. Then start getting your equipment ready for the coming season. There’s always a swarm to catch and having a hive ready to go sure makes it easier.
VARROA MITES: Varroa mites require honey bee brood to reproduce, so there is little or no reproduction in Winter. When temperatures are suitable, chemical treatments can be highly effective in Winter because there are few, if any, mites hidden in honey bee brood cells.
HIVE BEETLES: Hive beetles shut down reproduction in Winter. The adult beetles survive with the bees often within the honey bee cluster. On warm days, the bees will still chase the beetles so a beetle trap will kill most if not all the beetles over the Winter.
ANTICIPATING THE NEXT SEASON: It takes 8 to 9 weeks to build a colony population up to full strength for the honey flow – over 60,000 bees. The bees should have all the brood they can cover and keep warm. If there are plenty of bees and not much brood, give the colony a pollen patty. CAUTION: If you start feeding sugar syrup, you will have to continue feeding until plenty of nectar is coming in. Monitor food stores closely, so they don’t run out and starve.
FACTORS INFLUENCING EARLY SPRING COLONY GROWTH
The beginning adult population determines how much brood can be fed and kept warm. If the adult population is small in mid-Winter, brood rearing will begin very slowly.
A shortage of honey stores inside the hive can limit brood rearing. Throughout mid-Winter and early Spring, brood rearing will consume more stores than what is available for the bees to forage.
The number of days of suitable foraging weather influences the intensity of brood rearing. Fresh pollen and a little nectar encourage brood rearing. When rain and cold temperatures keep the bees inside, stores must be available inside the hive.
How much nectar and pollen is available on the days the bees are able to forage also influences brood rearing. Blooming is sporadic in early Spring. Check food stores weekly; feed if needed.
CONDITIONS
WEATHER: The weather is unstable in March, but we begin to have more warm days and more sunshine. By April, the really cold, rainy days are practically gone.
FOOD STORES: Checking food stores is important right up to honey flow. As Spring progresses, more nectar and pollen are available, but the bees will use more resources for brood rearing than they are bringing in.
HONEY BEE ACTIVITIES
Their first objective is always survival. That means a good population and some stores reserves. When the bees ‘feel’ like they have plenty of bees and resources for survival, they begin to prepare for reproduction – that is, they prepare to swarm. And they can be very determined!
BROOD REARING: For the hives to reach maximum population by the honey flow, the queen has to be laying heavily 2 months before. This creates several critical conditions for the bees the beekeeper must watch closely: they need to keep enough food stores in the hive for brood rearing and have empty combs above the brood nest for upward expansion.
POPULATION: The bees want rapid population growth in early Spring. When they have lots of bees and whatever they consider ‘enough’ honey, the bees will prepare to swarm. If the beekeeper can avoid swarming until the heavy honey flow begins, the bees will usually turn their focus to storing as much honey as possible.
BEEKEEPER TASKS
Check food stores weekly.
Reverse hive bodies every two weeks to keep the brood on the bottom.
Add a honey super before the bees get crowded.
SWARMING: Our first defense against swarming is to re-queen in the Fall. Young queens less than a year old tend to swarm less than older queens. Even then we need to reverse the top and bottom boxes every few weeks to keep the brood in the bottom box. Again, add a third super before the bees get crowded.
SWARM CELLS: If you find a dozen or so queen cells near the bottom of the frames, you can bet the hive is ready to swarm. Do not try removing all the queen cells. It’s usually a losing battle. You may want to try the Demaree method. The objective is to separate the queen and foraging bees from the brood and nurse bees – which is what happens in an actual swarm.
VARROA MITES: As the weather warms and bee brood becomes more plentiful, the varroa mites begin rapid reproduction. If treatment was not applied earlier, March 1st is the latest that chemical treatment can begin in order to finish before the honey flow. All chemicals must be removed before honey supers can be put on the hives.
HIVE BEETLES: Install a beetle trap at least by April. It keeps the beetle population inside the hive to a low enough level that they’re should not be an issue.
ANTICIPATING NEXT SEASON
Make a thorough hive inspection around the middle of April, making good notes for reference. The objective is to have the hive in good shape so the bottom two boxes won’t have to be disturbed until after the honey flow.
CONDITIONS
The weather is fine and the white comb (heavy) honey flow begins around mid- to late April. By the end of May, the heavy flow is over. Some areas continue to produce through June and even into July, but most areas decline significantly after May.
FOOD STORES: This is the time that honey bees collect more honey than is needed for their survival. If we have a strong hive – 15 frames of bees – when the honey flow starts and plenty of supers for nectar storage, we can average over 60 pounds (5 gallons) per hive. The key to a good honey crop is having strong hives and controlling varroa mites and hive beetles.
HONEY BEE ACTIVITIES
Their Primary Objective is to store as much nectar as possible. The urge to swarm becomes secondary, but it’s still possible if they get crowded.
BROOD REARING peaks early in the honey flow according to the queen’s capacity to lay. Queens will occasionally exceed 2,000 eggs per day, but 1,600 to 1,800 is more common.
POPULATION is maintained at the maximum for the honey flow. If the population is not near maximum when the honey flow starts, the bees have to use a lot of your surplus honey raising brood. Of course, building such a strong population early in the season makes swarm control more difficult. You have to closely watch for swarm cells in March and April so a swarm does not leave with half your bees.
BEEKEEPER TASKS
Disturb the bees as little as possible. Check or re-arrange the honey supers, but don’t go into the bottom two boxes unless you suspect a serious problem.
Keep plenty of supers on the hive for nectar storage. Later, there will be empty combs after the bees have evaporated moisture from the nectar and moved some of the honey to different combs.
VARROA MITES: Use a sticky board in late May or early June to be sure the mite load has not reached dangerous levels earlier than expected. If you consider the hive overloaded, you then have to decide whether you want to leave the supers on for the remainder of the honey flow or take them off and begin treatment. If you do not treat, you may risk losing the colony.
HIVE BEETLES: This is the only time of the year that you want more combs and supers than the bees can cover. Normally we don’t want any more empty space in the hive than the bees can effectively patrol and keep the hive beetles chased to the bottom. That’s why early installation of a beetle trap is critical. The hive beetle population needs to be near zero by the time the honey flow starts.
ANTICIPATING NEXT SEASON
Make preparations to extract the honey crop.
Make plans for varroa mite control in the Summer. Select and order whatever chemicals, materials (powdered sugar) or equipment (screened bottom board) you intend to use.
CONDITIONS
WEATHER: Hot and usually dry.
FOOD STORES: Leave enough honey (4 or 5 deep frames) for the Summer dearth.
HONEY BEE ACTIVITIES
The bees hang outside the hive to escape the heat. Instead of gathering nectar, some foragers gather water to put on the combs – the evaporation cools the hive. Others line up with their rear toward the entrance and fan their wings to create a cooling air flow through the hive.
BROOD REARING: As nectar becomes scarce, brood rearing slows down.
POPULATION: The honey flow has stopped, but there’s still a large population of bees.
BEEKEEPER TASKS
Extract honey as soon as possible. Leave enough honey for the bees during July and August when nectar is scarce.
Put the wet combs on the hives. When dry, remove the supers and store them properly against wax moth infestation. Do not leave more supers on the hive than the bees can patrol for hive beetles.
Some beekeepers prefer to re-queen colonies in mid to late August as soon as they take off the varroa treatment chemical. It’s harder to find the old queen in a large population, but young Fall queens reduce Spring swarming. Young queens will also lay more Fall brood for the Winter months.
VARROA MITES: Colony survival and next year’s honey crop depends upon the Summer treatment for varroa mites. Everything may look good at your July inspection – plenty of bees and plenty of honey – but we cannot see the mites because they are hidden in the brood cells and the underside of the bees. Varroa mites can double their population in three weeks. Use whatever treatment method you like, rotating the chemical used for treatment to reduce the chance of the mites building a resistance to one chemical.
HIVE BEETLES: In areas of heavy hive beetle infestation, it is important to extract the honey crop as soon as possible. First, there are too many supers on the hive for the bees to effectively protect. Still, if you cannot extract right away, your honey is safer on the hives than in the honey house. Hive beetles can survive, thrive and multiply in honey supers stored in the honey house. The beetle larvae will defecate in the honey, causing it to ferment and ruin.
ANTICIPATING NEXT SEASON
We want a strong, healthy colony to take advantage of any Fall honey flow we might get. We also want to begin arranging the frames and supers for Fall and Winter. Begin removing empty supers to work the hive down to 2 deep boxes or 3 medium boxes. Begin moving empty frames to the top box for Fall honey storage. Rotate out old, dark comb (2-3 years old), replacing with new comb. Leave several empty frames in the bottom for the queen to lay in.
CONDITIONS
The WEATHER begins to transition from hot to mild.
FOOD STORES: We need to help the bees store 60 to 70 pounds of honey. This is one deep super plus 2 or 3 frames in the bottom box. If you’re using medium boxes, you need 4 boxes on the hive with the top 2 boxes full of honey. We usually get enough Fall honey flow for the Winter and sometimes a little surplus. If not, feed 2:1 sugar syrup to fill the top box.
HONEY BEE ACTIVITIES
BROOD REARING: The Summer treatment for varroa mites is critical for having healthy bees in the Fall. A high population of mites in the Fall will damage the young bees and few are likely to survive or be healthy enough to raise Winter brood.
The amount of brood rearing in the Fall affects the Winter adult population. The more young bees produced in the Fall, the more adult bees there will be available for Winter brood rearing. The queen begins reducing egg laying in November and may stop completely in December.
FOOD STORAGE: The bees work diligently in storing as much nectar as possible. They also work at evaporating moisture from the nectar. As the nectar is cured into honey, the bees will move the honey and arrange the stores for Winter.
BEEKEEPER TASKS
First, we want to see 10 or more frames of bees. Weak hives – those with fewer than 6 or 7 frames of bees – in late Fall probably need to be combined with other hives.
Next, we want to see 3 or 4 frames of brood in early Fall and plenty of food stores. If you do not see heavy egg laying by mid-September, feed 1:1 sugar syrup to stimulate the queen to lay more heavily. We need to maintain 3 or more deep frames of brood as long as the queen will lay.
Arrange the supers for Winter. We want brood in the bottom with honey and pollen in the top. In early Fall, put a couple of frames of honey on the outside edges of the bottom box. If the queen does not move to the bottom box by early October, move all the brood frames to the bottom so honey (or syrup) can be stored in the top box. If the top box is not full, start feeding by the beginning of November.