Hive Talk May 2021

Hive Talk - May 2021 Happy May! This is the month where it May rain, May snow/freeze, or May hit us with unbearable heat and drought. Whichever it is, Mother Nature sure keeps us on our toes. This is the month where beekeepers open up their hives to remove miticide strips, insulated tarps, and inspect the bees to see how healthy they are. The temperatures have to be on an average of 10 deg C and higher during the day, and 0 or above at night. The bees keep their hives pretty warm this time of year so that the up and coming ‘summer’ bees develop to their full potential. I’ve done all of the above, but….there is alway a ‘but’ in beekeeping, one of the hives is indicating a missing member of the royal family. Yup, the queen. There are no eggs present, no pupae, but I failed to notice any capped brood. If there is, I’m still ok. I’ll just have to open the one hive up again to check. I hate to open the hives up too aggressively, and too many times, as it chills the brood and sets them back a little. Another job that is necessary is to check for Varroa mites. Remember the little ‘suckers’ I talked about in previous ‘Hive Talks’? I will have to do a ‘mite wash’ with rubbing alcohol to see what the mite count is, and to confirm that the miticide strips did their job. What I will do for the ‘mite wash’ is to open the hive, take a cup full of bees and put them in a special jar designed for this procedure; pour the alcohol over the bees so that they are floating in the fluid then shake the jar like your making a martini, for about 2 minutes. This process dislodges the mites that are tightly adhering to the bees which will fall to the bottom of the jar, after straining the bees and separating them from the fluid. What you have left are tiny little red mites about a quarter the size of a pinhead. I will then count the mites and realize a percentage against the 300 bees that I sacrificed. If it is over 3 % that is too high and will repeat the miticide treatment in the fall, or use a different type of miticide control that doesn’t affect the honey production, right away. I’ve had many reports from friends and neighbours saying that they have seen the ‘girls’ visiting the trees that are blooming, and other wild flowers. I’ve been watching them come and go from their hives and they are loaded with pollen. It’s amazing to see the rainbow of pollen that they are bringing back to the hive. The ‘girls’ are patiently waiting for everyone to plant their flowers in their yards so that they can help the flowers, and fruit trees provide you with a bountiful harvest. ………………………….. Well, here’s hoping I don’t have to replace her Majesty. She certainly isn’t cheap!