Getting Metpropolis Ready for Fall/Winter

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon moving bars of honey around in the top bar hive, Metpropolis. The hive surprised me. I'd been thinking that, while watching from the outside the last few days, it was rather weak. This was not the case. It is thriving with much capped honey, a healthy looking queen, and a solid population. I cannot say the same with the other top bar hive, Plan Bee... . I looks like it was weakened and robbed in some way. It is essentially dead! This was a surprise as well because in August it looked like the strongest hive I had. I fed sugar syrup and pollen patties to the other hives. They seem to be doing well just like Metpropolis.

Inspections: Top Bars Only Good

I went out late morning to inspect my two top bar hives as storm clouds started blowing into Winona.

I went to inspect the hives with a bit of fear and discouragement. I was disappointed with the langstroths the last two days and expected the same in the top bars. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised as both top bar hives are healthy and productive.

Both Metpropolis and Plan Bee... had stored away an abundance of honey already and the brood patterns, though not perfect, were solid. Larvae could be found at all levels of development. I did not find either queen in the hustle and bustle of workers and drones. I added an empty bar between the honey area and brood nest of each hive.

I might harvest a bar of capped honey from each hive next week.

Top Bar Inspections

I inspected the two top bar hives at noon today. I didn't think the weather was going to allow this but the cloud cover broke up and the bees decided to cooperate.

Plan Bee... is doing very well. I did not see the queen but I saw evidence she's there and healthy. There were all stages of brood in the hive and the brood pattern was solid. The bees are storing much nectar and pollen.

Metpropolis is doing well though, it seems, somewhat behind Plan Bee... The same healthy brood pattern (and I did see the queen here) but less bars drawn and less nectar stored. I am not necessarily worried about this as it seems, overall, that the honeybees are doing well otherwise.

I placed two empty bars in each hive, one on each end between the brood nest and honey storage area. I opened another entrance on each.

I also took the entrance reducers off of each langstroth.

Video: A Trip Through Beelandia

I decided to video Beelandia today. I hope you enjoy watching the bees active outside their hive.

Yesterday's Top Bar Inspection

Another scorching day in Beelandia yesterday where I inspected the two top bar hives: Plan Bee... and Metpropolis. Again the weather was hot and muggy with very little breeze.

Both hives were in a similar state.

I had worried needlessly two inspections ago about the state of Plan Bee... and the nature of its brood pattern. I am happy to report that things are going well in this hive. Plenty of brood, good pattern, and the bees have begun to store away honey on the edges. The queen looks fine. I did accidentally break some comb in the hive but wired it together a bit. The bees should repair the rest. I did add two undrawn bars to either side of the brood nest.

The same report can be made of Metpropolis minus the breaking of comb. The queen is laying well, good pattern, and the bees are starting to store away honey on the edges. I also added to undrawn bars to the hive.

Today's Mite Count

I just checked the 24 hour mite count for 4 of my 5 hives. Here are the results:

1. Plan Bee... - 3 mites.
2. Worker Bees... 0 mites
3. Lib-BEE-taria 0 mites
4. Bee Glad... 0 mites

The sticky paper I placed under Metpropolis fell out during the night so no count was taken.

Minnesota Winter is Beekeeper's Ally

I believe Kirk Webster said that it would be more beneficial to see the varroa mite as a beekeeper's ally than as an enemy. The varroa mite "selects" the survivor hives for the bee breeder, allowing the most adaptable bees to survive. I am trying to see Minnesota winters in much the same fashion, as only one of my hives has survived thus far.

In some sense, my survival rate ( one out of seven) does not surprise me. The two top bar colonies went into August with little stores and no amount of feeding seemed to help. The Metpropolis hive was never very strong throughout the season. I was hoping that the two hives I developed from my own mating nucs would survive but they never quite built up either. Surviving the winter depends on building up during the summer and the constant rain during last summer kept that from happening. The surviving hive this winter was also the strongest last summer and the hive with the most surplus honey in the fall. The survival rate is somewhat predictable then.

Friday, I will call B & B Honey Farm and order two more packages. I will use my surviving hive to start one or two others. Hopefully, if this year's weather cooperates, this survivor hive can produce some real solid stock.

Moving Some Stores Around

I opened up both top bar hives yesterday in order to check honey stores and move bars around. Metpropolis, my problem hive this year, has absolutely no capped honey to speak of.  Plan Bee has a little more but still not enough to make it through winter. I left some fondant in both hives and hope that the bees are able to store some nectar in the next few weeks.

WAHBA At Blue Sky Fair

In our first official public appearance, the Winona Area Hobby Beekeepers Association has a table at Winona State's Blue Sky Fair this morning. Dr. Bruno Borsari, a biologist at WSU, and I manned the table from 8 to the 12:30. We had a variety of  informational materials to give the public, as well as posters on honey bees and other pollinators. We even brought some bee equipment and comb from Metpropolis, a top bar hive located in Beelandia. We signed up a number of interested potential beekeepers and had a great time talking about our passion: bees!

Yesterday's Inspections

Inspected both of my top bar hives yesterday. Our weather continues to be very hot, interspersed with heavy rains. The Beelandia Apiary is a real jungle right now.

I inspected Metpropolis first. While it is a booming hive population-wise, I am a bit concerned about it's real lack of store honey. Just one bar is filled with honey and I have not taken any honey from this hive this season. On the other hand, this hive is quite gentle. They don't seem to mind me inspecting a few combs.

Plan Bee seems to be doing much better than Metpropolis. It has plenty of capped honey and should store even more as the late flowering plants start blooming here. I am not very worried about this hive.

Top Bar Inspections, July 25th

The weather today was  muggy, 80 degree F, and  sunny. As usual this summer, we had rain the last two days.
 I was finally able to inspect the two  top bar hives.

Metpropolis is doing OK but is playing "catch-up" after its slow spring. The queen is active and laying. Her brood pattern is good. I would have liked the hive to have collected a bit more nectar but it should collect enough for the winter by the time October comes around. I do not expect to harvest any honey from this hive. I will monitor Metpropolis a bit since I found signs of chalk brood under the entrances.

Plan Bee... is even further behind Metpropolis though again is fine in most respects. I wonder if this is simply the effect of the rainy weather we've had through spring and summer, or whether this hive swarmed without me knowing.

The Importance of Being Patient

I inspected the two top bar hives today. The weather was perfect: mid eighties temps, slight breeze, sunshine. We had another torrential downpour of rain last night, leaving one large sunflower toppled.

I am so glad I did not requeen Metpropolis early this spring. The large beautiful queen seems quite prolific. She has been laying a nice solid brood pattern, and her offspring are very, very gentle. I would be happier if they had some more capped honey in the hive but they still have collected much nectar.

Plan Bee... has much less bees than Metpropolis, and the bees are nowhere as gentle. (I was stung 3 times on the left wrist while examining the hive. ) I did not see the queen although the egg-laying evidence indicates she is doing quite well. I added two bars to this hive.

Today's Inspections After 4 Days of Rain

This spring/summer has been exceptionally rainy, and the last 4 days have not broken this pattern. I was finally able to look into the top bar hives, and Atta Bee! today. The weather wasn't perfect but I can't ever be assured of that, it seems, this summer

Metpropolis is looking so great, especially compared to how it looked at the beginning of the season. The brood pattern is excellent with brood of all stages of development. The bees are storing plenty of nectar and pollen. They have begun to build a few queen cells, so I added two empty bars on either side of the brood nest. I did see Metpropolis' queen.

Plan Bee..., the other top bar, also looks fine...pretty much the same as Metpropolis though the bees seem a little more defensive. I did not see the queen during this inspection though I saw evidence of her good health.

Atta Bee! has started building into the second box. Plenty of open brood right now. The bees are bringing in an exceptional amount of pollen.

Finally Connected

I have been unable to connect to Blogger for the last 24 hours or so due to technical difficulties on their end, so I've been late with my last two reports.

Yesterday, I examined Plan Bee.... The bees are active and gentle with only one queen cup to be seen. However, I am a bit concerned about the brood pattern I saw. It was a bit too spotty for my liking. (I did not see the queen.) The bees in this hive are bringing in plenty of nectar and pollen. I had to close my inspection of this hive early as a freak shower developed toward the end of the inspection. This hive will be watched a bit.

Today, I examined Metpropolis, the other top bar hive. Readers know I have had concerns about this hive all season. I think the hive has shown a bit of an improvement. The brood pattern on some newly drawn comb looks rather good and the population of the hive seems a bit larger. I was concerned about what seemed to be a lack of food, so I added a comb of capped honey to the edge of the broodnest.

I also examined the 6 older nucs today. I am very pleased with how 4 out of the 6 nucs are doing. Four nucs seem to have productive queens with very good laying patterns. While showing signs of laying queens previously, the two other nucs don't seem to be doing well at all.

I have not looked into the two newer nucs I set up just two weeks ago.

Nucs Ready

The "nuc" hives I set up last month from queen cells grafted from larvae in  Worker Bees are ready. The queens are laying, there is capped brood, and the pattern is pretty good considering. I have four or so hives ready now. I will be using the queen from another nuc to requeen one of the top bars, Metpropolis.

And Now For the Top Bars

I inspected my two top bar hives this afternoon.

I am still concerned about Metpropolis and am tempted to simply requeen it. The queen is alive and laying but the brood pattern is really spotty, possibly indicating an inbred queen. I will give it a week or two more.

Plan Bee... is booming with bees, larvae and eggs. I was unable to spot the queen but I did find one supersedure cell. I am not that concerned about this hive. It looks healthy and active. I might split it in the near future.

Checking Out Metpropolis

As readers of this blog will remember, Metpropolis, a top bar hive with Italian hygienic bees, has been the weakest of my 5 hives. In previous inspections, I found no brood and a small cluster huddled around a healthy looking queen. I was worried. Today, I checked the hive out and found a still small cluster of bees and a goodly sized queen, but, thankfully, capped brood as well.

I moved some comb around, placing some bars of capped honey closer to the cluster, and pulled out a few bars of empty comb to recycle some wax. I added two empty, undrawn bars between the capped honey and the meager brood nest. All this  allowed me to move each follower board closer together, creating a smaller hive space that making it easier for this small colony to maintain temperature in the cluster. (We've had a number of 40 degree nights!)

Metpropolis has surprised me! I didn't expect it to survive and it has.

Delayed Inspection

This last weekend was cold and rainy, so I was unable to inspect any of the hives. Monday afternoon was better, although it was still partially cloudy and fairly cool (mid 60s).

First, I opened up Lib-BEE-taria for inspection. All things looked good. There was plenty of capped honey, pollen and  brood in all levels of development. I even found the queen in the top box. I did a full reversal of the hive, along with cleaning up the bottom board. I put a queen excluder on and one honey super above this.

Second, I opened up Metpropolis, one of  the top bar hives. I had been concerned about this hive after the last inspection and am now a little less worried. Yes, the population of the workers in this hive is less than the other 4, but this time I found evidence of the queen laying in a nice solid pattern. I moved some capped honey closer to the cluster. This hive should do fine but it still bares watching.

Partial Reverses and Concerns

Yesterday afternoon, I spent some time in Beelandia doing some necessary bee chores. I did partial reverses on both Lib-BEE-taria and Bee Glad... and all went well there.

I opened up Metpropolis, the top bar hive, and left a bit concerned. I knew it was a weaker hive but I hadn't suspected just how weak it is. I found the queen, but only a small cluster of workers with her. Also, the queen seems to be doing little or no egg-laying. I found a few capped drone cells, very few capped worker cells, and no open brood. The workers had built one or two queen cells. I think this hive is doomed, but I will watch.

Videos From Beelandia (3/6/10)

I took some videos this afternoon in the the Beelandia apiary of the 5 hives. All were active on this bright, 40 degree day. The first hive is Lib-BEE-taria .



The next is Bee Glad....



The third is Metpropolis:



Fourth, Nuc To Be Named Later:



And last, Plan Bee From Outer Space.