Successful Queen Rearing Short Course

I started reading April's issue of the American Bee Journal yesterday and caught sight of a news item on page 305, announcing the scheduling of a queen rearing course at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus July 10th to 12. I may not be at the point of raising my own queens but I do have a great curiosity for all things apis, so I registered for the class last night and mailed my check in today.

If anyone else is interested you can read more about the course at www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees/components/publiccourses.htm . Enrollment is limited to 32 people, so they encourage people to register early.

Getting Myself Psyched

One way I get myself psyched all winter for spring beekeeping is to watch videos on youtube. Here is a nice video of an inspection of a top bar hive located in Texas.

Lake No-Bee-Gone Goes Solar

I just received my Sunjet 150- Solar Powered Pump in the mail today, already to be installed in Beelandia's pond, Lake No-Bee-Gone. Besides being more sustainable, it will eliminate the sight of that ugly extension cord in the apiary. I don't know how the bees felt about it but this orange cord was always getting in my way.

Some Neglected Photos

Here is a photo from the last few weeks that I forgot to serve previously:




The above photo was taken of the bottom board of Bee Glad... two weeks ago. Notice all the dead mites. Surely this must've been a factor in this hive's demise.

Beelandia Re-arranged

In light of the dying of both Metpropolis and Bee Glad... , I've decided to move the hives around a bit in Beelandia. I suspect that one cause of the bee demise was their placement in the apiary. They just did not get much winter sun where they were placed.

I am moving Metpropolis further away from the north facing fence. During the winter, this fence shaded the hive from any winter sun. Hopefully, the hive will get more just one or two feet south.

Bee Glad... will be moved a few feet east, away from the house, right in the middle of Beelandia. Lake No-Bee-Gone will be positioned right where Bee Glad... use to sit.

Three feet behind Bee Glad..., the new langstroth, Lib-BEE-taria, will be placed in all its green splendor.

Finally, on the far south side of Beelandia, Monta's newly built top bar hive, Plan Bee from Outer Space, will be positioned, facing Beelandia's garden of sunflowers and such.

Carniolans Due on April 11th

I checked out Nature's Nectar's blog today. It looks like my carniolan packages will be in on April 11th.

Hive Autopsy Finished on Bee Glad...

On Saturday, I finished examining Bee Glad... and found a disturbing surprise. The bottom board was covered with thousands of varroa mites. What part this played in the death of Bee Glad... is still debatable but my surprise lies in how did this occurred. I checked the hive for mites all spring and summer, did periodic drone brood frame extraction, along with sugar dusting. When the mite count became too large in August, I treated it with Thymol and the count went down significantly. I was confident going into winter that the mite load was reasonably low, but, having seen the state of the bottom board, I imagine my confidence was unfounded.

I will be publishing some photos of the bottom board later this week.