Bee Battles

I was asked when I might open up the entrances to the hives. Right now they are only about 5/8 of an inch wide. My response was simple. I'll open them when the numbers of bees increases. Today, we saw a violent struggle at the entrance to Delores' hive. A robber that tried to get in was excused by four bees, like bouncers at a club. One of the bouncers fought the intruder all the way to the ground. They wrestled in the grass until the robber gave up and got away.

I got stung. Doris' bees are getting more brave. While I held a frame, one of the workers was able to sneak up to my finger on the back side of the frame. We were looking at some larvae that were about 4 or 5 days old. She stung my finger tip right under the nail. WOW! it REALLY Hurt! I managed to hold onto the frame even though they did not want me to.

As for the sick bees, I inspected the carcasses very closely. There was no obvious signs of nosema. I spent last night researching what may have been the cause for the losses. Ultimately, it looks to be due to cold and starvation. It happened much quicker than I imagined. In less than a week, the bees were confined to their cluster and unable to reach the food sources I provided them. The Boardman feeder was just out of reach for the tiny group that just kept getting smaller. Also, the hive was spread out too far for them to keep it warm.
So what I did today, dusted for mites using powdered sugar, lowered the inner cover to just above the brood cluster, moved the pollen patty directly over the brood cluster refilled one of the feeding cans from the packages and installed it directly over the brood cluster, and rechecked the bottom for more bee losses. No newly deceased (nosema infection might still be causing them to die). Now, the bee cluster should have a stress free evening no matter how cold it gets.

As for the battle against mites, I counted Doris' today and the 24 hour drop count is 12. I have read some suggestions there should be less than ten in the spring time. Sugar treatments should bring our small colonies into that range so I dusted both hives today. I will continue to dust them each week through the spring and summer.

Doris' colony is increasing daily now. She has three frames full of bees. It will be overflowing in no time. Hopefully, Delores can pull her colony out of this slump.


--MAKE SURE YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG AND HAVE UPDATES DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX--