Minimize Small Hive Beetles

Joining my bee buddy David, left, at a first spring hive inspection.

Minimize Small Hive Beetles

We have had a mild winter this past year, which means another bad year combating small hive beetles. 

Last year, the little black beetles devastated many hives, including strong ones, in the matter of a couple of weeks. Originally from sub-sahara Africa, the ladybug-size black bugs can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day in dark hive corners. If left undisturbed, the larvae will quickly slime the comb, honey and even the bees, eventually chasing bee colonies out of the hive.

There is a definite rotten smell to a colony infested with small hive beetle larvae.

What is worse, most beekeepers first dealing with this pest will scrape the larvae into the ground, where the worms will pulpate and grow into more small hive beetles. The beetles will fly up to 7 miles, infesting other nearby colonies.

As beekeepers start their spring inspections, it's important that they take a plastic container with a lid with them where they can scrape the bottom of the hive, sight unseen. The frass at the bottom of the hive will contain left over wax where  small hive beetle larvae will hatch. To try to control the beetle population, scrape that out of the hive and burn it.

Frass and debris off the bottom board was scooped into a plastic bag, not poured onto ground.

Look at the photo above, can you see the small hive beetle larvae in the frass?

Initially, many beekeepers were telling me small hive beetles would die over winter. Inspecting colonies that died, we found that the beetles were wintering over inside the colony clusters and, in some cases, surviving where the bees had died.

Small hive beetles have been wintering over inside the clustering bees.

So in addition to killing the small hive beetle bugs, beekeepers need to remove the actual larvae, often found in the bottom of frames and boxes.

Here is what one looks like:

Kill the black beetles, then look for the larvae growing in frass and hive nooks and crannies.

In addition to killing the black beetles, and removing the larvae, make sure to use traps with lures to try to keep small hive beetle populations down and replace the lure every week or so.

Colonies also need to remain strong and packed in the hives to make sure there are few uncovered frames where small hive beetles can hide.

What are you doing to manage for small hive beetles?

Charlotte

Bee Plate Find

Sweet find at a local Goodwill store, this little bright blue plate with a bee on it.

Bee Plate Find

I was literally taking refuge in browsing when I came across this little find at one of our local thrift stores. 

The day had not gone as expected. I was trying to sort through the twists and turns without jumping to conclusions with only partial information and yet feeling like the developments were not headed in a good direction when I saw bright blue. 

As I approached the blue, I also spotted the little purple flower at the bottom, and then the hand-painted bee towards the top. The whole landscape appeared to be something a child would have drawn.

It's not easy to find bee items, let alone charming ones like this one. It was enough to distract me for the moment from the swirling information going around in my head; I concentrated on the plate and what drew me to it.  I liked the bright color, the whimsical bee, the simple flower. A friend who is also a beekeeper immediately came to mind and I wondered if she would like this for Christmas. Then I saw the motto at the top.

One of my favorite mantras is that life is all about choices; it's not so much what happens to us but what we do about it that counts. I had just reminded another friend of this recently; it was time I took my own advice. No, I thought, this is going home with me.  I had just the spot for the plate over the daily calendar in my kitchen, a good reminder to start my day not only being grateful but choosing to "bee happy."

Waiting in line to pay for the plate, I turned it over to see how much it would cost and literally laughed out loud.

The back of the plate was even better, it seemed to describe the kind of day I was having!

Glazed and confused. That was me that day but I was choosing to make it better. And how appropriate that I should find this reminder at the Goodwill.

Charlotte

Tying a Hive Down

Tying a Hive Down

Not that beekeepers have a derth of topics to discuss but if you want to start a lively conversation, ask a beekeeper how he/she ties down a hive.

When I first started beekeeping, I was told a rock was required to keep my hive lids on. I love rocks, I collect them on walks but having a big chunk of the earth sitting on top of my beautiful white topped hives doesn't quite fit with my hive aesthetic.

I did use rocks for my first years, then graduated to red bricks I had in my garden. The bricks were ok but I still wasn't too settled on the idea. Besides, I was short of red bricks and now I had a mish mash of rocks and bricks on my hives. Sheesh, that was worse.

Now I am a hobby beekeeper. I don't "run" my girls to make honey, I like having them in my garden and appreciate having a little extra honey but it wasn't my primary motivation to get bees. Which is another way of saying I do care how my hives look in my garden and I am willing to take the time to make them look nice.

Enter a non-beekeeping friend who prides himself on coming up with solutions. MacGyver has little on this man, and I appreciated his suggestions, especially about things I can't resolve to my own satisfaction.

On this particular visit, he noticed my hive rocks lined up on a wall. I told him I was trying to make them blend in better into my garden landscape. A few days later, he gave me a ratchet strap and suggested that may be the solution.

Do you know what I'm talking about? These are heavy duty straps with a belt-like contraption that helps tighten the straps. My challenge is how to make the straps loose, especially without breaking off my nails to pull back the little levers.

After several training sessions, my friend politely suggested this may not work. By then I had invested in several red ratchet straps and winter was just around the corner. No more time to play around with matching rock sizes or coming up with an alternative for holding down my hive lids.

During the same shopping spree, I had also purchased yellow and black bungee cords in various sizes. Yes, I bought them for the color to tie the black insulation I wrap around my hives to give them some wind protection.

I now hook ratchet strap ends to my bungee cords to hold my hive lids on.

Oh, I still use the ratchet straps, only instead of forcing the belt side I hook the ends onto the bunge cords. Easy to take off and put back on, and no further damage to my nails.

MacGyver would be proud.

Charlotte

Honey and More Gift Packages

My honey gift boxes this year included honey samples, bee ornament and sweat head band.

Gift-Giving Honey

When I started harvesting honey, I had the hardest time finding containers I liked to showcase my honeybees hard work. It takes a bee a lifetime to make 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey. Ever since I read that, even a tiny spill seems like a waste.

In the years since, when I have had very little honey to share, it's even more of a challenge to figure out how to bottle what little I do have. This year, I decided to make gift boxes combining several items:

I found 2 ounce plastic containers I liked so I could easily ship and share different honey colors and flavors of the season with friends, family and fellow beekeepers. The trick was to have labels that shared good information.

Two ounce honey jars harvested from different times of the year demonstrate different flavors.

In addition to the honey samples, I made them what we laughingly-called our "bee ninja" sweat bands, terry cloth head bands made to custom fit different head sizes designed to keep sweat out of their eyes as they inspect hives. I asked them to give me individual head measurements this spring without telling them why.

These will come in quite handy next spring and summer.

Bee sweat band made out of terry cloth with elastic band on the back.

The little embroidered bee matches the beekeeping club mascot. He was a bit of a challenge to find but I lucked out at a craft store during a business trip this fall. The head bands would have been fine without him.

Handblown in Missouri honeybee ornament.

The little hand-blown bee ornaments were made by a local glass blower for our bee club honey contest prizes.

My beekeeping friends, who can be quite competitive, expressed disappointment that their honey didn't win in the earlier honey competition but only I knew I had some extra ornaments set aside. 

Simple things each by themselves but packaged together, I thought they turned into very nice little thank you gift packages.

Charlotte

Beekeeper Tree Topper

Charming flying angel chasing a bee is my Christmas tree topper this year.

Beekeeper Tree Topper

Ever since I can remember, our Christmas trees have had an angel as a tree topper. 

Our first ones were beautiful wax-faced angels my mother hand carried from her days living in Germany, followed by hand-carved ones from Brazil. Somewhere along the way, those angels made way for a handmade fabric angel a neighbor made my Mom. Then for many years, there was a lighted angel bright enough to substitute for an aviation homing beacon my kids liked a lot.

This year, as I was contemplating getting an angel for the first tree I was putting up for the first time in a number of years, an angel appeared all on her own. They have a tendency to do that, don't they. It was a little ornament an office colleague had given me years ago as part of an office Secret Santa gift exchange shortly after I started keeping bees.

She was such a favorite, I kept her hanging from a plant in my office all year. When I retired, I combined all of the ornaments and re-discovered her as I reopened the boxes. She's perfect, a little gardening angel in a wide brimmed hat chasing a wayward bee. That would be my kind of angel!

Charlotte

Handmade Lightbulb Bee Ornament

This old lightbulb was painted and recycled as a bee ornament gift.

Handmade Lightbulb Bee Ornament

A work colleague and beekeeping student gave me this handmade recycled lightbulb bee ornament last year. He said his wife made it and I thought it was so clever to recycle an old lightbulb yellow and black, then add pipe cleaners to the head for antenna.

The wings are wire, and the other charming feature is the wire stinger added to the back. 

Wire glued to the back gives this lightbulb bee a little stinger.

I think someone was paying attention in class!

Bees and beekeeping haven't made it into the marketplace as favorite Christmas tree ornaments yet so nice to have a handmade one as a gift from someone who also now has the beekeeping bug.

We warned you in class, beekeeping can be addictive!

Charlotte

Halloween Honeybee

My friend Mary Frances dog Freddie in his bee costume Halloween 2016. Bzzzz!

Halloween Honeybee

For the first time in years, I noticed there are a lot more bee Halloween costumes available. It's easy to assume a beekeeper already has a ready costume with his bee suit but finding a good bee costume can be a challenge.

Many costumes confuse honeybees with bumblebees and one I saw on the shelf called a wasp a bee. They are cousins but definitely different species.

So it was delight that I spotted this bee costume on my friend Mary France's dog Freddie. Freddie is cute as button as it is but this bee costume was just, well - wait for it - the bee's knees!

This costume would be easy to make if you could find the right fabric, maybe something in fleece. The head piece would be more of a challenge but let's face it, Freddie makes it worth it!

Charlotte

How to Safely Provide Bees Water

My honeybees get a little sugar water treat in a bird bath shaped like a flower.

How to Safely Provide Bees Water

I can't say for sure that the shape of the bird bath makes a difference but my bees seem to think it does. I have a number of bird baths throughout my one acre, hillside garden. The one the bees seem to visit the most is the one shaped like a two-foot flower.

I use this favorite watering spot to give them a regular source of water. The bird bath is lined with rocks and sticks to give bees a safe place to land and I don't worry about keeping it immaculate. The bees seem to prefer water with a little age to it.

It also works well when I have a little sugar water treat when I empty jars feeding my beginning colonies. August is a hard time for bees. Bee colony numbers are at their highest and food supplies, especially when temperatures are over 95F, are almost non-existent. Plants stop producing pollen when temperatures rise over that thresh hold for several days in a row.

To make sure my beginning colonies get a good start, I feed them 3:1 sugar water to encourage them to draw wax comb. When I clean their sugar water jars, any extra gets poured into the nearby flower-shaped bird bath. Bird bath rocks and sticks work well for sugar water, too.

My honeybees enjoying a little sugar water drink safely in a flower-shaped birdbath in my garden.

Adding rocks and sticks has been a practice I have used since I started beekeeping. The rocks give them a safe landing spot and the sticks ensure they have a safe place to climb should they fall in.

It also makes it possible for more bees to access the liquid without piling on top of each other. I love having bees in my garden, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Concrete frog in my flower-shaped birdbath seems to be enjoying the company!

The little concrete frog provides bees another safe landing spot. I didn't think about when I added him to the bird bath, I just liked the way he looked there!

How do you provide your bees water in your garden?

Charlotte

Adding Small Hive Beetle Lure Traps

This is one of the small hive beetle traps available. I like these because they are easily reusable.

Adding Small Hive Beetle Traps

2016 has been a bad year for beekeepers trying to manage the sub-Sahara Africa-based small hive beetles in mid-Missouri. Record hot temperatures may have contributed to their increased numbers but it was heart-breaking to hear beekeeping students loosing their bee colonies to these little black bug larvae in only a matter of days, in some cases.

The principle with the traps is to install small hive beetle traps filled with a lure to entice the beetles away from hive dark corners, where they like to congregate. The traps are not a guarantee of pest prevention, they are one of a series of strategies beekeepers can use to try to control the small hive beetle populations.

You can buy a pre-made lure, use mineral oil or make your own. Here is the recipe I use but note it takes a couple of weeks to ferment so plan on keeping mineral oil on hand to use in the interim:

Small Hive Beetle Trap Lure Recipe (also called David's Cocktail)

½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 ripe banana peel cut up finely

Directions: Combine all ingredients and allow to ferment for about 2 weeks. Fill center well of the trap with lure. Fill wells on either side with an oil - mineral oil, vegetable oil, something that will drown small hive beetles when they fall in. Replace when full or every few days. With hotter weather, traps should be checked and refreshed more frequently.
 

A reusable small hive beetle trap filled with a homemade small hive beetle lure in center well.

Reusable small hive beetle trap wells on either side of center filled 1/3 with mineral oil.

Once you have the small hive beetle traps filled, install two traps per hive body at a diagonal to each other in the farthest corner of the hive. You are going to reverse the installation as you go up hive bodies so doesn't matter which corner you start with, just remember one corner so you can install the rest correctly.

install two small hive beetle traps per hive body. install them at diagonally to each other off the farthest frames in hive corners.

As you add a second hive body, if appropriate, reverse the corners where you placed the small hive beetle traps.

On your second hive body, install the two small hive beetle traps in the opposite corners of the first hive bottom, again at a diagonal.

Same thing as you add a third hive body and so forth. Your third hive body should match where your small hive beetle lure traps are in the brood (bottom) box.

Same thing with the third box, place the small hive beetle traps in the opposite corners to the second box. This should look like the first hive box.

Once installed, bees may add propolis around, and sometimes inside, the small hive beetle lure traps. Just remove the traps, clean out the propolis, refill and re-install.

Clean and refill the traps away from the hive or the lure, including mineral oil, will get dripped onto the comb.

Once installed, bees may fill propolis around the small hive beetle traps. The traps should be regularly-refilled with fresh lure.

The lure needs to be replaced every week or so, depending on how hot the weather is. The hotter the temperatures the less effective the lure is so it should be replaced every few days.

These plastic condiment bottles make quick work of refilling small hive beetle traps.

If you use plastic condiment bottles or a turkey baster, you can easily pour out the old bug-filled lure and add fresh lure and not spill much. I refill mine in the garage, then take them to the hives to install. If you try to do this at the hives, it can get messy. Remember you will have your leather gloves on, that can make handling these traps cumbersome.

Here's a full trap ready to be cleaned out and refilled:

This is a small hive beetle trap ready to be cleaned out and re-filled. cockroaches and other bugs - not bees - may also get caught in the traps.

If you can't find these traps and need to quickly do something to manage small hive beetle populations, try Swiffer dust rags rolled up into hive corners in the same configuration as the traps.

Don't use dryer sheets, those will capture as many bees as they do small hive beetles.

Small hive beetles can take over strong hives in a week if they are not carefully checked and patrolled. Using small hive beetle lure traps is one way you can try to keep them in check.

Do you use small hive beetle lure traps in your hives?

Charlotte

How to Capture Bees Loose in a Sorority House

How to Capture Bees Loose in a Sorority House

Missouri S&T students are moving back to campus. In the process, bees are also moving, although not by their own choice. In the case of this bee call, honeybees had moved into a sorority house room and the tenant was "very afraid" of bees.

After looking at the room and making sure the door stayed closed, we went outside to see where the bees might be coming in. At the bottom of the corner of the deck, on the right side, a few bees were going in and out of a small hole.

The house manager did not want to remove the many layers of siding to get to the bees so that hole will be closed up at dusk, trapping bees inside.

Back inside the room, there were about 45 bees flying around the bedroom closed off from a study room by a door. I individually caught the bees in a tissue, then moved them to a plastic cup before grabbing the next. one. Most bees were gravitating to the windows so we checked each one, then went back to double check. During the process, we discussed how bees set up their homes, why they fly towards light and how they sting.

Once bedroom was cleared, I tackled the bees in the study area. Bees in that windowless area were attracted to the overhead light.

With all those bees cleared out, the room tenant came back in and the mystery of how they were getting in was solved. She said she had left the door above the deck open this morning so bees had not found another entrance.

Captured honeybees wait for me to put on my bee suit before I released them in my garden.

Bees are now released in my bee garden; I put on my bee suit first before I released them. Good thing because they were none too happy to be here and let me know what they thought by dive-bombing me.

They won't make it but at least the sorority room was cleared for the new tenant, she's here for one more semester.

Welcome back, Missouri S&T students!

Charlotte

Check Honey Labels

This jar of honey claims to be US honey but look at the four different honey sources.

Honey labelling is a bit confusing, especially whether the honey was made and bottled in the US.

I recently came across a jar of honey that said it was "US Grade A Fancy" but then listed honey sources as US, Canada, Argentina and Ukraine.

When buying honey, make sure the label clearly states where the honey was bottled and only select honeys from the US. Many countries sell alternatives to honey that don't contain any pollen, a sure sign of real honey.

Better yet, only buy honey from local beekeepers, that way you know it's real honey.

Charlotte

How to Make Sugar Patties

A bowl, a spoon and a container to put the mix in is all you need to make sugar patties.

It is very easy to make homemade sugar patties, especially the way my beekeeping friend David showed me.

David uses aluminum pie tins so I will start with those quantities. For one pie tin, either 8" or 9," pour 2 cups sugar into a bowl. Spray with 40 squirts out of a spray water bottle. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hands. Pack into the pie tin. Allow a couple of days to dry.

When using clear suet containers, you will need 1 cup sugar and 20 squirts of water from a spray bottle. Mix. Pack into a suet container. Allow to dry.

David said sometimes he adds a drop of lemongrass, food grade essential oil to each patty. I skipped that step in making mine.

The first sugar patties I made I dried in an oven warmed to 100F, then turned off. Not sure that is necessary unless conditions are very humid.

To feed, place in a top feeding shim under the inner cover to supplement winter honey supplies.

One of my bee colonies eating one of David's homemade sugar patties in a pie tin.

Once bees have a pollen supply from the garden they will stop taking the sugar. In the meantime, glad to be able to easily give my bees supplemental food so they don't starve at the end of winter.

Charlotte

Winter Sugar Snack

One of my bee colonies enjoying a sugar patty winter snack.

Honeybees make honey for winter food but having lost a colony to starvation, I hedge my bets with sugar patties. The concoction is simple to make in pie tins so they easily dry out. Once ready, I add them to my wired feeding shims on top of the hive, and where the colony is clustered, so they can easily find it.

On a nice warm early February 2016 day, I found them snacking away.

Charlotte

How to Use a Honey Dipper

Honey dippers are designed to easily transfer honey without getting honey, well - over everything.

To use a honey dipper, dip the spiral end into honey and turn to coat. Move the dipper to where you want honey, then slowly twirl, allowing honey to drip.

Use honey dippers to drizzle honey over breads, fruit, salads, even tea. Wash as you would a wooden spoon.

Honey Facial

Honey is a natural humectant with antimicrobial properties, which means your skin will be happy when you give it some sweet honey love. Try a basic honey wash by mixing a dollop of honey and two tablespoons of warm water and massaging the mixture into your skin. Or you can go all out and try the Cucumber Honey Facial.

WASH

What:  Gentle honey wash.

How: Mix a dollop of honey + 2 tbps. warm
water in the palm of your hand. Gentle massage the mixture into your skin.

Why: Honey has long been valued in Asia for its natural medicinal properties. Combined with rice bran, honey is used there to treat diaper rash and even acne. Honey is also an excellent treatment for dry skin as it stimulates good circulation and helps to seal in moisture.

Can You Still Use Chrystallized Honey?

There's nothing wrong with honey that has turned cloudy and become thick. To return crystallized honey to liquid form, place honey container in hot water for 5-7 minutes. Be careful of how hot you get the water; it can destroy some of honey's natural antioxidants. Do not heat honey in the microwave because it alters the honey taste. It only takes a few minutes for honey to turn back into its original liquid form so every couple of minutes pull it out of the water to see if it's liquified.

Sticky Situation

It takes some finesse to work with honey.

One of it's properties is that it's very sticky!

When cooking with honey, first spray utensils lightly with a vegetable spray.

Allow to dry for a couple of minutes, then pour honey into it.

Vegetable spray will help honey slide smoothly from your measuring utensils and make clean-up easier.

Did you know it takes 12 bees their lifetime to make 1 teaspoon of honey?

How Sweet It Is!

You can substitute honey for equal amounts of sugar in many liquid recipes. In baked goods, substitute sugar for up to half the amount with honey. Since honey is 18% liquid, reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey. Add 1/2 tsp. baking soda for each cup of honey used to counteract the slight honey acidity which may cause too much browning. Skip baking soda if recipe calls for sour milk or cream. Reduce oven temperature by 15 degrees C or 25 degrees F because honey will brown goods more than sugar.