[susan rudnicki]

Thanks Karim!! Really funny, and great to see the ’70’s folks that were part of my college years laughs. Just look at those fashions!! Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Danny–this is really interesting and unique news—thanks! To add to the investigative profile this brings up, I will put up this link again, from Food Safety News and their looking into the stuff called “honey” in the US market.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey
Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.VCWRP8ngVEM
That honey is not inspected for integrity, is adulterated with HFCS, water, malt syrup, and contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides has been shown to be a failure of our overseeing government agencies charged with this responsibility. This story is laid out dramatically in the film “Vanishing of the Bees”
By the way, the folks trying to keep a strict meaning to the definition of “organic honey” have been pressured to accept formic acid as a mite treatment into the allowed rules for organic honey production. The Federal agency, the Nat’l Organics Standards Board, is sorta being taken over by BigAg groupies. It is a troubling trend.

[susan rudnicki]

I am afraid of new beeks reading this piece and getting really mixed up about the genetics thing—what the queen does, what the workers do to make a replacement queen, how a queen mates, who is “fertilized” and who is not, where the queen mates (not in her own hive with her own drones) There are a dozen technical inaccuracies here and I hardly know where to start. Suffice to say—come to the next meeting on “bee biology” and learn how it really works

[susan rudnicki]

I am afraid of new beeks reading this piece and getting really mixed up about the genetics thing—what the queen does, what the workers do to make a replacement queen, how a queen mates, who is “fertilized” and who is not, where the queen mates (not in her own hive with her own drones) There are a dozen technical inaccuracies here and I hardly know where to start. Suffice to say—come to the next meeting on “bee biology” and learn how it really works

[susan rudnicki]

YES! this has already been written about in the wonderful book “The Buzz About Bees, Biology of a Super-organism” by Jurgen Tautz. I highly recommend all beeks read it, as so many organizational features of bee society are well explained and supported with photos. This will expand on the subjects brought up in the little film

1) Bees roles in the hive are plastic—when more nurse bees may be needed, other bees such as foragers may be recruited to do that job.
2) The notion of the “busy bee” being a tireless worker is not the same for all bees. Some do 10 flights a day, but some are documented doing only 3 flights a day!

[susan rudnicki]

When moving a existing hive to a new location, it helps the bees re-orient to the new site (set their “GPS”) by not barreling out of the entrance in the usual manner, but having to push a little through a pile of leaves or detritus, etc. placed in the doorway. It slows them down, making them take more careful notice of the different site. The reduced entrance ( as mentioned with the folded screen) helps control traffic flow, too. Reduced entrances are helpful to have always in place as the guards can more effectively patrol for invaders like hive moth or robbers. Bees in nature often select a very small entrance hole as their preference, for this very reason. The full length hive body entrances typical of Lang set-ups are often much bigger than helpful

[susan rudnicki]

HI, Brie—I will copy and insert comments.

Susan, this may be a question directly for you since you’ve known my hive’s behavior, but I wanted to open it up for any experienced beeks. My hive is 5 medium boxes, just for reference.

I did a hive check a couple days ago, and I no longer have any brook or eggs in my bottom box. The bottom box was all beebread and empty comb. There was some brood (both drone and worker) in the 3rd box up from bottom, but was not as much as in the past. There was a lot of open frames throughout the hive, and they seemed a bit rowdy by the entrance, which is unusual for them. I WOULD CONSOLIDATE THEM, REMOVING THE UNOCCUPIED FRAMES, PUTTING THEM IN THE FREEZER FOR A COUPLE DAYS TO KILL ANY HIVE MOTH OR SHB EGGS AND STORING IN A AIRTIGHT BOX. TARGET IS SELLING SOME NICE CLEAR CRATES WITH A GASKET FITTED LID THAT IS VERY TIGHT.

YOU DO NOT SAY IF THERE IS OPEN BROOD OR EGGS, SO I AM ASSUMING THEY HAVE NONE. IT IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN YOU COULD LOSE THE QUEEN, HAVE FEED ISSUES AND PEST ISSUES THAT BUILD UP OVER SUMMER —VARROA, AND ITS VECTORED DISEASES.

I’m wondering if this is the time of year I should reduce the hive size down to 4 boxes? YOU SHOULD REDUCE IT MORE THAN THAT. PUT THE EXISTING BROOD IN ONE BOX, WITH HONEY AND BEE BREAD TO THE SIDES. PUT HONEY FRAMES, AS FULL AS YOU CAN FIND, IN A BOX ABOVE. IT SOUNDS LIKE 2 BOXES MAY BE THEIR MAX FOR RIGHT NOW. YOU DON’T SAY HOW MANY FRAMES OF BROOD REMAIN, SO HARD FOR ME TO SAY. Is it common for bees to move eggs/brood upwards? IN WINTER, THEY WILL SOMETIMES DO THIS, BUT I SUSPECT YOU HAVE A LOST OR DYING QUEEN. IF THE BEES HAVE NOT ANTICIPATED THIS LOSS BY MAKING A SUPERCEDURE QUEEN, YOU WILL SOON HAVE A DRONE LAYER, IF YOU DON’T ALREADY. SIGNS OF A DRONE LAYER ARE MULTIPLE EGGS IN CELLS, EGGS ON TOP OF BEE BREAD, EGGS ON THE SIDES OF CELLS, AND FALSE QUEEN CELLS DRAWN OUT.

REMEMBER, WORKERS CAN NOT LAY FERTILE EGGS, SO IN THEIR STRUGGLE TO OPERATE WITHOUT THE QUEEN’S PHEROMONES, THEIR OVARIES BEGIN TO PRODUCE UNFERTILIZED (DRONE) EGGS. THE LACK OF BROOD ALSO LIMITS THE EXPOSURE OF THE WORKERS TO THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF THE LARVA’S PHEROMONES. IF THEY MAKE FALSE SUPERCEDURE CELLS, IT COULD FOOL YOU INTO THINKING THEY HAVE THE RIGHT IDEA, BUT IN A FEW DAYS YOU WILL FIND THE CELLS TORN DOWN.

THE REMEDY FOR THIS PROBLEM IS TO NEWSPAPER IN A SWARM WITH A QUEEN– THAT IS BEST. YOU CAN ALSO ADD A FRAME OF EGGS FROM A STRONG HIVE, SO THEY CAN MAKE A QUEEN, BUT THE LONGER THEY HAVE BEEN WITHOUT THEIR QUEEN, THE MORE ENTRENCHED THEY ARE ON THE “WRONG PATH” AND THEY MAY NOT RESPOND CORRECTLY. A FRAME A WEEK FOR 3 WEEKS IS WHAT MICHAEL BUSH RECOMMENDS, TO OVERCOME THEIR ISSUES. HOWEVER, I KNOW YOU DO NOT HAVE THOSE RESOURCES. THIS IS WHY I RECOMMEND ALWAYS HAVING AT LEAST 2 HIVES, SO YOU CAN “RAID” FOR RESOURCES AND LEARN THE DIFFERENCES IN COLONIES.

Top box is still honey and empty comb.Last month when I checked them they had brood and eggs in bottom 3 boxes. Maybe this is normal behavior, I just haven’t ever noticed it with my bees so wanted to know if I should be concerned or take action to reduce hive space. YOU ARE JUST EXPERIENCING THE TYPICAL TYPES OF PROBLEMS, SO DON’T GET DISCOURAGED THAT YOU “DID SOMETHING WRONG” GETTING OUT ALL THAT OPEN COMB SO THEY DON’T HAVE TO GUARD IT FROM HIVE MOTH AND OTHER BUGGIES WILL HELP THEM. LEAVE THE HONEY ON, AS YOU MAY HAVE LOW FORAGE RIGHT NOW.

WRITE BACK THE ANSWERS TO ABOVE AND LET US KNOW! SUSAN

Thanks!
Brie

[susan rudnicki]

Ray took these

[susan rudnicki]

HI, Enci—there are a lot of questions here that could be interpreted wrongly, so the best assessment would be a hands-on mentoring situation. You are right to think that this is very important, as the hive YOU have and the situations it is showing you can only be fully addressed by a site visit. Unfortunately, our very small group of qualified mentors is all on the Westside of LA or in the Pasadena, Echo Park, SilverLake area. There are only about 4 of us all together and many more newbees than teachers.
I would post for a mentor to do the drive to Covina with a offer to pay for the time and effort and perhaps someone would make the trip. Maybe there are some HoneyLove members out Covina way, but none I know of—more importantly, there are no mentors.
How much is a good compensation? I go for $85 and stay as long as the student needs me for the visit. Then I stay in touch by email and phone.

[susan rudnicki]

Allen—it is very important to get the combs out of the hive and into a freezer right away. This will kill any hive moth eggs, larvae, and small hive beetles and larvae. These drawn combs are really good stuff for establishing a swarm or boosting the laying area for a small cutout. SHB and HM both have eggs hanging around in even the biggest hives so the freezing operation stops that process from making the left-behind combs into a mess of frass and webbing. Also, if there are any pollen or honey stores in the combs, all the better. Target is now selling a clear plastic crate with a spongy gasket, so the lid fits tightly. The storage of these frames must be really tight or the moths will find them. So don’t store them outside or in a shed. (by the way, a “deep super” is a hive body on top of a stack–“super” means above. Your brood box is going to be a deep, from the description of what you started with before.)
From what you said earlier, you may have to cut apart the combs/frames to disentangle them. Do this carefully, and use some rubber bands if the combs need retention support to stay in the frames. These “fixed up” combs can be put into a hive with a colony and the bees will repair the wax and detach and throw out the bands eventually.
If I were you, I would work at getting your mentor lined up now, before you are in a tight spot. Our next meeting is in a couple weeks. You can announce there. But you can also offer to pay a mentor and may attract more help that way. We have very few mentors and many more newbees, so the whole teaching burden falls on just a few folks.

[susan rudnicki]

Allen—you are wise to continue to have reservations about the neglect of inspections on this hive. Installed in May, they should have built up quite well by now to occupy the deep box with brood. You do not say how you acquired them—cutout or swarm? Cutouts can go crooked pretty fast because the framed up combs can shift out of alignment, and start a unworkable pattern for the beek. The bees don’t care but it makes it impossible for you.
We have a lot of members in your area and surrounding areas—Silverlake, Echo Park, Altadena, Pasadena—more than in my South Bay area, by far. Getting a mentor from the beginning is VERY important, so keep pushing. If no one turns up, let me know and I will press a bit. I will urge you to compensate your teacher, as this valuable work is not without burden for the mentor. I charge $85 to come out and stay as long as the newbee needs me. Then I stay in touch by phone or email.
The presence of Small Hive Beetles is usually a sign of some underlying stress—it is not THE CAUSE of problems in the hive. It is a symptom, in others words, of other issues related to disease stress, food stress, queen problems. None of these issues can be assessed without a full inspection. When a new hive is installed, I have a look at how they are doing within 5 days. If all is well, the bees are coating the brood combs and going about their business calmly. If something is not right, I have a chance to assess and figure out a remedy. One of the main issues I have seen in my mentoring is the reticence of newbees to get into the hive right away. It is not enough to look at the traffic going in and out. If all is right with the colony, your looking inside the hive body is not going to drive them off.
Let us know if you get help. Call me if you want Susan
310-374-4779

[susan rudnicki]

Bernard!! Yes, I remember—your son got stung when the family came to my house with everyone dressed in black! Well, there is a lot of news here—I have to catch up with what you have been doing with hives in RPV. Yes, I can mentor you in moving the colony from your trash can to a hive. One of my own favorite hives is “the Santa Monica trash can bees” because that was their origin a couple years ago. First, let us talk by phone—I am 310-374-4779–and then I need to know your address. I have several jobs lined up for this coming week, so we have to figure out a time. Your trash can bees may be quite small still so it would not hurt to let them grow a bit. Also, typically, very young, small colonies like this are not aggressive. Let me know Susan

[susan rudnicki]

Bernard!! Yes, I remember—your son got stung when the family came to my house with everyone dressed in black! Well, there is a lot of news here—I have to catch up with what you have been doing with hives in RPV. Yes, I can mentor you in moving the colony from your trash can to a hive. One of my own favorite hives is “the Santa Monica trash can bees” because that was their origin a couple years ago. First, let us talk by phone—I am 310-374-4779–and then I need to know your address. I have several jobs lined up for this coming week, so we have to figure out a time. Your trash can bees may be quite small still so it would not hurt to let them grow a bit. Also, typically, very young, small colonies like this are not aggressive. Let me know Susan

[susan rudnicki]

By the way, all beeks reading this forum—we now have a bulletin board for posting all swarm boxes, hives for sale, trade or give away—also, when seeking a problem remedy for your own hives, it really helps folks trying to offer help if you follow this descriptive guideline! The owners of the website have posted the guidelines for the descriptions to be used defining the size and nature of the colony/colonies and how they have been managed. Please use this model in all future postings for hives and we will all learn better and faster!

[susan rudnicki]

Tom—you are so right! And I am pestering our club to get with it and post just such a guide so people know what to do to be most helpful. We just are very concerned with newbees who can get in over their heads and have had such difficulties in the past. It is not safe for folks with limited mentoring or experience to take on too much without knowing.

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