Bees in Spring

While this spring has been blustery and wet, it's also been relatively warm and provided lots of forging opportunities for the bees. The maple bloom peaked about a two weeks ago, the apple blossoms down at Hartstene have faded, and it was about this time last year that I started seeing the first blackberry blooms beginning to emerge.

The primary tasks for the urban beekeeper this time of year is managing hives for varroa mites and keeping an eye out for swarming behavior. The earlier you can address the mite issue the fewer problems you'll have later in the summer when mite infestations start to peak. I've been applying powdered sugar to my hives every other week–when the bees get dusted (see the worker in the photo at right–note her red tongue) they lick both the sugar and the mites off their bodies. The sugar (I use regular granulated sugar that's been powdered in a coffee grinder) also loosens the mites' footing and often they'll fall off the bees and down through the hive. Another technique for managing mites is putting out drone frame traps, something I learned from Randy Oliver.

Seattle Hives
Hive 1: This hive now sports two supers with approximately 40 pounds of mostly uncapped maple honey. I installed the first drone frame trap two weeks ago and will change it out next weekend. Because this hive has been putting away honey, I've refrained from applying powdered sugar as I don't want the bees to mix it with the maple honey. Overall the brood pattern inside is disorganized and I’m wondering whether I should requeen. I'll definitely split this hive soon as it’s extremely crowded and will likely swarm.

Hive 3: Applied powder sugar two weeks ago, but forgot to do so last weekend. Cut out a mostly full drone frame trap and replaced it empty. Like Hive 1, the brood pattern here seems really disorganized–with a pollen cell next to a brood cell next to a honey cell. Here's another hive that might be a good candidate for a new queen.

Hartstene Hives
Hive 5: This queen (right) is laying at a rapid rate, although it seems like it's taking a long time for this hive to draw out new comb. Last week this hive went through about 3.5 quarts of sugar and only drew out two frames. Last weekend I replenished the feeders and will add a second deep of undrawn plastic foundation next weekend.  Also applied powdered sugar two weeks ago. I won't likely see honey out of this hive year.

Hive 4: Hive is making good progress. Administered powdered sugar and installed a partially drawn drone frame trap three weeks ago. You can see the bee's progress in drawing out this frame over last three weeks in the photos below. I'll apply one more powdered sugar treatment this Memorial Day weekend, tend the drone trap, then super ahead of the blackberry bloom.

Swarming
Last year my hives didn't begin swarming behavior until late June and July–after the blackberry bloom. So far I've seen no signs of swarming despite some fairly crowded hives. This is counter to my experience in that most of the swarming that I've observed has happened about this time of year.

Last week on Science News I ran across an excellent article about the nature of collective decision making in the insect kingdom and the work of Thomas Seeley, a behavioral biologist at Cornell University. The article includes a lucid description of the swarm process and the role of the scout bees in making the collective decision about where the hive should go. The article is a preview of Seeley's forthcoming book, Honeybee Democracy, which is due out in 2010.