Sugar Cakes Recipe

My bees now have both winter protein in winter pollen patties as well as sugar cakes for winter food. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Winter Bee Feeding

When I first started beekeeping, the more experienced beekeepers only talked about using sugar - mush bags, sugar cakes, candy boards - all carbs for winter supplemental feeding. I understood the concept, that this was to supplement stored honey supplies in case bees ran out mid-winter.

However, even honey, real honey, contains pollen, which is a protein source, or food for bees. More specifically, nurse bees need protein to trigger their glands to produce royal jelly so they can feed bee larvae. Studies show that under-nourished bee larvae grow up to be unhealthy bees. With the other bee stressors including pesticides, pathogens and poor foraging areas, good nutrition has become a priority in my apiary.

For two winters now I have been feeding my winter bees both sugar cakes and winter protein pollen patties in addition to giving the a medium super full of honey at the beginning of fall, then replacing empty honey frames with more frames of honey end of November. At this point in a relatively mild winter, all of my colonies are now in the top box showing very healthy colony numbers on warm days so I worry less about them pulling through winter because the cluster is too small.

So let’s take a look at a few of my hives and what I found under the inner cover when I inspected them on a sunny day that was 67F in early January 2019. I am located in mid-Missouri.

What do you find in your quick winter hive inspections under the inner cover? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This is a second year queen that went into winter with very strong colony numbers. All colonies were treated with formic acid strips end of August to knock down varroa mite numbers going into winter. I treated because my varroa mite count was 10 mites per hundred when voluntarily tested by the state and analyzed by the USDA Bee lab in Maryland.

This colony has once again finished their winter protein patty. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Even with replenished honey frames, my colonies seem to gravitate to the top of the hive on warm days.

This particular colony was like the rest, the colony had consumed the winter pollen patty so I replaced it.

Another winter protein patty quickly added before I closed up the hive. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Here’s another hive check. This colony is in its third year and also had finished their winter pollen patty so I added another one.

Homemade sugar cakes with winter pollen patties. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I make my own sugar cakes and now add Honey Bee Healthy to the mix in early winter, and pollen substitute for the sugar cakes I add to the colonies in January and February. Here is the recipe:

Charlotte's Bee Winter Sugar Patties Recipe 

5 lbs or 11 1/4 cups sugar
7 1/2 ounces of water (make sure it's exact)
1 teaspoon white distilled  vinegar (don't use apple cider vinegar, attracts small hive beetles)
1 tsp Honey Bee Healthy

For January-Feb use, I will add
1/4 cup Bee Pro protein to each batch
​
​Add Honey Bee Healthy and vinegar to measuring cup; then add water to 7 1/2 ounces. Mix well. Spread in bread pans and re-used fruit clam shells.

Leave overnight in cold oven to dry out. Once top is dry, remove and turn over on a cookie sheet to let the bottom dry out for a couple of days. If you end up with still moist patties, re-mix and add a little more sugar, then dry again.

If you don't need to use immediately, store in sealed plastic container.

Sugar patties not only provide supplemental feeding but also help to keep moisture out of the hives.

Now to yet another colony check, this one the smallest colony with a first year queen.

Smallest colony is also consuming winter protein patties. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As beekeepers, especially ones who keep bees for honey, it’s easy to focus just on the carbs or sugar. For a colony to be healthy, however, and be able to collect flower nectar as both flight fuel and winter food storage, or honey, they need to be healthy and that means they first need pollen, which is protein.

I will be interested to see how my colony numbers are coming out of this relatively mild winter with the colonies getting both the nectar-substitute in the form of sugar cakes as well as protein patties.

These are the size of the protein patties I shape for each colony. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Since small hive beetles also winter over inside the colony cluster, I keep my winter pollen patties small, about the size of the palm of my hand. The larger colonies may get two pollen patties, one each on the edge of the cluster and I checked the pollen patty bottoms to make sure there are no small hive beetle larvae getting established.

Do you feed your bees both sugar and protein pollen during winter feeding?

Charlotte

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Using Glass Feeders Inside

Homemade feeder, left, compared to Boardman feeder, right. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Using Glass Feeders Inside

One of the changes our state association made to recommended best management practices a couple of years ago was to no longer feed colonies outside the hives. Outside feeding encourages robbing and the spread of viruses carried by bees with compromised immune systems due to Varroa mites.

One of the more popular outside feeders are Boardman feeders, plastic or metal trays that hold sugar syrup-filled glass jars a half inch off the surface so bees can feed from the punctured tops. This design also has horizontal legs that hold the feeder at the hive front.

Even though those are no longer recommended on the outside of hives, the feeders can still be used by putting them inside the hive.

Boardman feeders used inside a hive to supplement feed. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

And in the event you’re short of a feeder, you can make your own. The idea is to hold the jar lid off the ground so bees can access the upside down jar. A square piece of wood with two glued smaller pieces on either side will hold the jar so bees can feed.

So no need to throw out the Boardman feeders, they can still be used just not at the hive entrances.

Charlotte

Queen Bee Marking Pens

Organizing queen bee marking pens in a gardening apron. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Queen Bee Color Pens

There are few things most beekeepers like more than finding new ways to do something. I certainly fall in that category so it was with great interest that I spotted this gardening apron turned into a queen bee color marking guide.

Queen bees are marked with a special color to indicate the age of the queen. There is an international queen bee marking code based on 5 colors and the last number of the year:

White: year ending in 1 or 6

Yellow: year ending in 2 or 7

Blue: year ending in 5 or 0

Green: year ending in 4 or 9

Red: year ending in 3 or 8

This system helps the beekeeper know the queen’s age while making it easier to spot her in a crowd of moving bees.

Now if all of your queen bees are the same age, you only need one marking pen. They’re special pens, by the way, not a marker you buy at your local big box store. And if you have different-aged queen bees, then you need different colored pens.

This is where the gardening apron comes in. This particular beekeeper has set up a system on the gardening apron to keep track of his marking pens. Sounds simple enough but once you’re out in your apiary handling bees and need to grab a marking pen - this marked gardening apron will make the pens very convenient and easy to find.

Charlotte

Wax Moth Protection

Paper towel pieces with Para-Moth crystals ready to keep wax frames free of wax moths. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Wax Moth Protection

There was a time when wax moths were the main challenge for beekeepers. Today wax moths can be an early warning that the colony is not healthy since wax moths are opportunistic and move in when a colony is struggling.

There are two wax moth species, the Greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and the Lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella). The Lesser wax moth looks like a smaller, juvenile version of the Greater wax moth.

Both species eat beeswax, particularly unprocessed wax, pollen, remains of larval honey bees, honey bee cocoon silk and enclosed honey bee feces found on brood cells walls.

Wax moth cocoon, left, two adult wax moths and the frass they leave behind.(Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Both Greater and Lesser wax moths will damage wax frames in storage. Since wax is more valuable than honey, beekeepers want to protect the waxed frames for reuse.

One of the easiest ways to protect wax frames is to use Para-Moth crystals.

Making Para-Moth crystal packets to put into totes to protect wax frames. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Cut paper towels in half and place one scoop of Para-Moth crystals in the paper towel piece center.

Pull the paper around the crystals and tie with a bread tie.

Place inside totes full of wax frames to keep them safe from wax moth damage.

Make sure all bees are out or the Para-Moth will kill bees.

To use the stored wax frames, remove the remaining Para-Moth crystals and air out the wax frames for a good week before placing in the hives.

Charlotte

Wear a Veil

My removable veil I use on a pith-helmet like hat to prevent stings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Wear a Veil

Some of the pictures are a bit disturbing, images of beekeepers with swollen faces because they were stung. There’s an attitude among some beekeepers that they should be able to work bees without protective equipment. Some of it is bravado; most of it is ignorance and the combination of the two is a dangerous option.

A recent popular online video of a young woman in perfect makeup without a suit has literally gone viral although her claims of being an experienced beekeeper has understandably been questioned. Her appeal, in my opinion, is that she’s attractive and making beekeeping look benign. People already are fascinated by the idea of beekeeping; she and her husband has just make it look good.

Here’s the bottom line. If you are going to work bees, wear head protection. It can be as simple as mosquito netting over a baseball hat or the easier to maneuver pith helmet shaped hat draped with netting.

You are working with arthropods that sting when threatened. Why wouldn’t you take precautions just in case you hit a cranky one?

I’ve been keeping bees for 11 years. There are days when I know I can work my bees without gloves but I always have something on my head - a veil works well for those quick hive visits, a bee jacket is better if I have to spend any time with the colony.

If the weather is good, it’s a wonderful days with my bees but I don’t risk having a sting where I don’t want one.

It’s such an easy step to take. Please be a responsible beekeeper.

Charlotte

Lifting Hives

This motorized hive lifter can be operated by one person. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Lifting Hives

If you spend any time around beekeepers, the topic of backs - and more specifically bad backs - will come up. At the end of a growing season, beekeepers have a lot of weight to lift thanks to hopefully busy bees storing and dehydrating nectar into honey. One typical medium frame of capped honey can weigh between 3-5 pounds.

The weight, and wear on backs, is partially responsible for beekeepers moving from 10-frame hives to 8-frame ones. That small transition can lighten a hive box by 10 pounds each per box.

There are a couple of available hive lifting tools that contribute to adaptive beekeeping. One is a manual one requiring two beekeepers to pick up a handle on each side of a hive. I have one of those; it is constantly being borrowed by my beekeeping friends but requires a second set of hands to use.

I recently saw another, more expensive bee hive lifter at Central Missouri State University’s open apiary in support of Heroes to Hives Missouri, the first state chapter of this military veteran beekeeping program. This one is motorized and surprisingly lightweight. The “Bee Hive Lifter” can be operated by one person, making it a more practical tool in an apiary. The manual version costs about $1,000; the motorized version $1,500.

Probably not a practical tool for the hobby beekeeper but anyone going into business and moving a lot of hives may want to add this to their equipment list. Beehivelifter.com, made in USA.

Charlotte

Watering Bees

Preparing one of my bird baths with twigs to give my bees a safe landing spot. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Watering Bees

It’s been getting record hot where I live. In addition to making sure my plants are watered, I concentrate on getting my pollinators, including honey bees, drinking water. Honey bees use water for a variety of things from air conditioning the hive to making food.

Now when I talk about providing bee water in beekeeping classes, usually someone will pipe up that they have a pond within so many miles of their hives. My question to them is, would you want to drive the 2 miles to water or would you rather have a handy watering hole nearby.

Bees are no different. It’s better to have water close by so they can easily access it versus spending extra energy for the water carriers to fly off and carry water back to the hive.

In my apiary, I have concrete bird baths situated within a few feet of my hives. That way bees have easy access to the water and don’t compete to get it. I also prepare the bird baths with sticks and rocks so the bees have a safe spot to land. Leaves falling in? Even better, the leaves and other garden debris offer amino acids that are critical for bee health.

In addition, those bird baths are now favorite watering holes for a variety of pollinators including butterflies and moths. They also use sticks and rocks for safe landing spots.

Not everyone has the room to add bird baths so there’s an excellent alternative: Boardman feeders, the very same we beekeepers use to feed bees sugar water.

Boardman feeders with glass jars on top of frames make handy inside water drinking stations. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Clean out the glass jars and refill with water. Then turn over for gravity to remove the air and place in the Boardman feeder over the bee frames. This way bees have access to water without having to leave the hive and no one can disturb it.

Also a good way to repurpose those Boardman feeders since outside feeding is no longer recommended. Feeding outside encourages robbing, facilitates Varroa mite movement and sometimes can heat up fast.

Charlotte

Shipping Queen Bees

Clearly mark the package so handlers know these are live. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Shipping Queen Bees

If you ever get queen bees shipped, or have a reason to ship queen bees, this is the best example of how to ship them.

First, make sure the carrier you use knows they are on their way. A call to the local post office is usually enough. Provide the shipper’s address and the estimated delivery time. Also provide your phone number and ask them to call you as soon as the package arrives. A little jar of honey at Christmas time helps them to remember who you are.

To help this process go smoothly, this shipment included instructions on the outside of the box.

Not only does this have my phone number but a note that a call was made.(Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you are shipping queens, make sure your package is well-marked like this one. There is a label for the handler, a label for the post office and a note for the receiving beekeeper.

Another label reminds the recipient to get these in the hive as soon as possible. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Inside, the queen bees are traveling with several worker bee attendants. It’s not unusual for a couple attendants to be dead upon arrival but check that the queens are still alive.

The white circles at the top of the queen box are a source of sugar to keep the bees fed on their journey. This will also buy time for the queen bees to get acclimated to their new home by spreading their pheromones for a few days. Usually by the time the sugar is eaten the queen has been accepted and the colony looks forward to welcoming her.

Queen bees with attendants and sugar plugs inside the shipping box. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The queen boxes have been carefully glued to the cardboard so they don’t move around during shipping.

Two more labels to wrap up the shipping. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Some shippers use only corks in the queen boxes, which means the bees need to be fed upon arrival. These bees have a candy plug that the bees will remove themselves.

And finally, an incentive to leave a good review. Unfortunately when I tried that link it did not work so don’t add something with a link without checking it.

Charlotte

Calling a Beekepeer

This “call” has been taken care of but is an example of calls coming in. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Calling a Beekeeper

If you’re a beekeeper, not only is this a busy time of year with your bees but also with the rest of the world. Bees in trees, bees flying around back doors, bees getting into garages - people email and call for help to get flying insects off their property, because they or family members are allergic, and sometimes to “save the bees.”

Regardless of the reason for calling, if you have bees where you don’t want them:

1. Don’t panic. Honey bees won’t hurt you unless they are being attacked. Route traffic around the area until you can identify what is happening.

2. Determine if they are indeed bees. Take photos and videos you can easily share; beekeepers can’t help you with other possible pollinators like wasps.

3. If you don’t know where to start, call your local Extension Office. They usually know who to call if this is an issue with bees.

4. Your local exterminators also usually have beekeeping contacts. Many where i live refuse to kill a bee colony so try to first find a beekeeper.

5. Find the closest bee club. State beekeeping associations usually have a list of local bee clubs. As of this spring, Missouri had 47 local bee clubs.

6. If these are bees established in a house wall, you will need a contractor to work with the beekeeper to try to locate the bees and remove them. There will be a cost involved for sure with the contractor and possibly with the beekeeper.

7. Finally, be patient. Most beekeepers are busy this time of year and help others out on their own time. If they can help they will but it can take time to find someone in the area who can help.

   Charlotte

Putting A Lid On It

The Clauss Hive Done is designed to keep the hive temperature even. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Putting A Lid On It

Beekeepers love gadgets, even more than the chefs and cooks I know. They are either making them or inventing them, and the Clauss Hive Dome is one such new invention. Made out of plastic, the dome is designed to help keep hive temperature even. Bees only keep the cluster, or all of bees, warm in winter. The dome evenly distributes the heat so the colony has warmth on all frames, encouraging earlier raising of brood or baby bees according to the inventor Gordon Clauss.

A super goes over the Clauss Hive Dome to secure it. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Now I have not used the Clauss dome over winter nor do I know anyone else who has. Bees overwinter by clustering, or balling up in the center of the hive keeping only the ball of bees warm, not the entire hive.

Before I researched the use of the Clauss Hive Dome, I thought I could use this as a temporary lid so visitors could see the bees on the frames. To be able to easily take the dome off and on, I would need to add a wood frame around the edge to keep it held down.

One of our students also has the idea of putting a hole in the center to add ventilation and then keep the bees from flying up. That defeats part of the observation of a hive, watching the bees, and would not be good to leave exposed for long or it would heat up the hive. The bees keep the hive temperature regulated on their own.

Interesting new beekeeping gadget.

Charlotte

Checking Bees for Food

Checking my first colony February 27, 2021 to make sure they have enough food. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Checking Bees For Food

The day was cold and overcast but I still headed out to my apiary to check my colonies for food. Many honey bee colonies are lost at the end of winter when bees run out of honey. Even though I gave my colonies extra supplies last fall, I also add sugar cakes at the top of the hive in case they run out.

This is a colony that is now at the top of the hive almost out of supplemental food. They consumed the honey that was stored in the supers on their way up to the top of the hive.

This colony has consumed the extra sugar I gave them a month ago. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s easy to think mild winters are good for bees but the opposite is true. Mild winters mean bees will be consuming more honey as they fly out of the hive so beekeepers have to keep track of honey stores and provide extra.

One way I make sure my colonies have enough food is to give them supplemental sugar cakes at the top of the hive. I make sugar cakes out of just sugar early winter; by this time of the year I add pollen supplements turning the sugar cakes yellow. The pollen provides food for the nurse bees to be able to provide new bees food as they eclose.

White sugar cakes need to be sprayed with water so bees can get to the sugar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Whatever white sugar cakes remain this time of year also need to be sprayed with water to loosen up the sugar so bees can access it.

Another advantage of having sugar cakes is that if the hive has moisture, the sugar will absorb it. Cold temperatures don’t kill bees but moisture can.

So far, so good!

Charlotte

Glove Storage

Repurpose plastic jars to store beekeeping gloves when not in use. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Glove Storage

Besides, hive tools, often the most “lost” piece of beekeeping equipment are gloves. That’s because once beekeepers have enough experience to read their bees, they can work in their hives without gloves. Tucking gloves in pockets or buckets raises the chances a glove, or two, will get left behind.

Over winter, the problem is a different one. Beekeeping gloves will easily collect wax, pollen, honey and become a favorite snack for small animals such as pack rats and mice.

Beekeeping gloves get dirty quickly and can attract animals chewing on fingers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To keep your beekeeping gloves out of harm’s way, store your gloves in recycled plastic containers. I use clear nut jars so that I can easily spot where I have the gloves stored.

These containers also work well for temporary storage of wax and seeds.

Wash them out and allow to dry thoroughly before using.

This is a nut container that works well to store my beekeeping gloves. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

During summer, when there are more chances of not seeing a dropped glove because of the greenery, and watching bees on flowers, I keep my beekeeping gloves handy next to my inside door out into the garage, where I hang my bee suit.

The beekeeping gloves sit in a metal hanging pocket with the magnet holder my bee buddy David gave me. The magnet is to help me keep track of my hive tools. Well, it’s a good idea in concept.

I also have these charming metal wall pockets to store gloves inside. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

You can also find buckets and other decorative containers you can hang by a door to hold your beekeeping gloves.

I find that having a specific place for the gloves has decreased the times when I can’t find them when I need them!

Charlotte

Hive Robbing Screens

This screened front porch helps protect resident bees from robbers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Hive Robbing Screens

Honey bee colonies can have a hard time during the late summer dearth in USDA Hardiness zone 5. Without rain and temperatures over 86F, plants stop making nectar and pollen moving into survival mode. That means honey bees don’t have a food source and often start raiding hummingbird feeders and sometimes other bee colonies.

Since my hives are painted like homes, the homemade robbing screens give my hives the look of front porches but with an important purpose. Robbing screens allow the resident bees to go in and out and keep the unwelcome bees at bay.

The robbing screens keep non-resident bees out. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

When you look at robbing screens from the top you will see a space between the screen and the hive. Resident bees move in and out of the hive through that space, making their way up and down the front of the hive protected by the screen.

I put on robbing screens at night so the early morning foragers have time to get used to the new hive entrance.

Robbing screens sit about half an inch off the hive front so resident bees can move in and out. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To ensure a snug fit, robbing screens fit into the hive opening again leaving a space so resident bees can easily go in and out of the hive.

Robbing screens fit into the hive opening leaving a space for bees to move in. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Robber bees tend to fly straight into the hive opening. With the robbing screen on, they may smell honey inside but can’t access it.

Robbing screens are relatively easy to make with scrap wood and some good measurements to allow for the bee space bees need to go in and out.

Charlotte

Honey Buckets

Food grade buckets can be repurposed if you can find them. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Honey Buckets

Missouri has had an excellent beekeeping season this year. Most beekeepers I know have ended up with extra bees and even more extra honey, which needs to somehow be temporarily stored.

When extracting honey, beekeepers need a food grade container to store the honey. They usually use 5 gallon food grade buckets that cost around $5 each assuming they can be found. The other challenge is that a 5 gallon bucket of honey can weigh around 60 lbs each, not easy to lift and move around.

What’s the option?

Work with a local bakery to get the food grade buckets they discard. The ones we picked up this year were frosting buckets, holding about 3 gallons of honey when in use.

In addition to being easier to lift, the smaller buckets take up less space to store. They still can serve the same purpose as those 5 gallon buckets from holding honey to collecting honey filtered from a larger food grade bucket.

The smaller buckets are easier to move after its full of honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As a thank you to the bakery that saved more than 30 buckets for our local bee club, we gave the staff of 8 each a jar of local honey.

We also made sure their supervisor knew when we were going to pick them up so they weren’t stacked up waiting for us during their health inspections.

After several visits and honey discussions, there was an extra bonus. We may have a couple of beekeeping students the next time we hold classes!

Charlotte

Testing Honey

Beginning beekeepers learn how to read a refractometer. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Testing Honey

To determine the honey moisture level of extracted honey, beekeepers use a refractometer, a gadget that at first was a bit of a mystery to me. Turns out the used refractometer I have is a more complicated tool to use, especially since I purchased it without instructions.

One of my beekeeping students now turned mentor took mine to check it. He said later he purchased an easier one to use and used it for a demonstration August 7, 2020 at a hands-on honey extraction in my garage.

Beekeepers wait until honeybees cap the collected nectar dehydrated in wax frames before they are sealed. Bees use their wings to get the flower nectar dehydrated. The honey you see in a jar is basically dehydrated flower nectar. it takes 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.

Beekeepers want honey at 20% moisture or less. Nectar is 80 to 95% water and 5 to 15% sucrose (or sugar). The sucrose is broken down into two simple sugars as the bees carry the nectar from the flower to the hive. Once the nectar is in the open wax cells, worker bees fan their wings to create heat that will evaporate the water that is mixed with nectar.

When enough water is evaporated, the result is honey. The worker bees then cap the honey with beeswax to preserve the low moisture level. In general, capped honey has a moisture content of about 18%.  

The key to an accurate reading is first calibrating the tool. Usually olive oil can be used to get the reading to the recommended setting.

Using a toothpick, he covered the blue plate surface with olive oil. The reading was then adjusted to 71.5 on one of the several scales visible through the eyepiece.

The blue refractometer section is where to place the liquid and honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once calibrated, honey is placed on the cleaned off blue plate. Using a good source of light, or going outside, then the percentage of moisture shows up as a fuzzy blue line on the right side.

My honey for this year registered at 18.5% moisture, towards the top of the desirable moisture scale which ranges from 16-18.5%. Below 16 honey crystalizes. Over 19% honey can ferment.

Learning to read the refractometer is key. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I learned, there are several different kinds of refractometers on the market. When getting one, make sure to get, or be able to find, the instructions!

Charlotte

How to Weigh Hives

A luggage and fishing scale will work well to weigh hive boxes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

How to Weigh Hives

There are many reasons why a beekeeper would like to know the weight of a hive.

Bees in USDA Hardiness Zone 5 need at least 50 to 80 lbs of honey to consume through winter. Honey bees don’t hibernate; they cluster inside the hive keeping the queen bee warm in the center. A beekeeper needs to make sure the colony has that much honey before deciding what to do with whatever extra honey there may be.

Each of the frames bees pull out with wax vary in thickness and depth. So a medium frame of honey can weigh 2 to 5 pounds.

Finally a beekeeper monitors hive boxes to make sure the queen bee has room to lay. Boxes with empty frames weigh less than frames full of baby bees, bee bread or flower nectar.

One of the ways to weigh a hive, especially when starting to keep bees, is to use a luggage or fish scale. These easily portable scales can easily attach to the back of a box and provide a good estimation of the weight of each hive box. When full of honey, a 10-frame medium box can weigh a good 50-60 lbs.

Once the beekeeper has experience, just lifting the hive box from the back will provide a good guestimate of how much honey is in the box.

Charlotte

Plastic Queen Cage

A queen bee and her entourage travelled to my apiary in this queen cage. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Plastic Queen Cages

So how do queen bees travel? They have an entourage -really - and they travel in a very interesting plastic cage.

When I first started to teach beekeeping, beginning students would call or text me panicking about how to get the queen out of the queen cage. These cages are known as JZ-BZ queen cages, cleverly designed to give the beekeeper several options as well as more easily fit between frames.

In addition to grid openings to allow the queen honey bee and worker bees to be fed a drop of honey and water while in transit, there is a small round opening that can be used to add or subtract bees.

Be careful opening that round top, a queen bee can be fast and exit if you don’t quickly place a thumb over the opening.

The small round opening of a plastic queen cage. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

In addition, the whole top of the queen cage is hinged to open, as needed. This is a good option if the beekeeper wants to directly release the queen bee and her entourage into a colony.

The whole top of the queen cage also flips open. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Finally, to allow the bees to release the queen, the tube of the cage can be filled with a small marshmallow or sugar “candy” worker bees will consume to release the bees themselves.

Sometimes these plastic cages also have bottoms that open. This one does not.

The long spout is where sugar candy is added so bees can release the bees. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Here’s how the queen cage sits nicely between the frames. I like putting the sugar plug at the top so that I can gauge how soon the worker bees will release the cage residents.

Placing the queen cage this way also gives the temporary residents more room. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These plastic queen cages can also be re-used now that you know how to open it!

Charlotte

Hive Assembly

My two hive assembly tools, glue and 2-inch nails. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Hive Assembly

Beekeepers are supposed to stay several steps ahead of their bees. Plan; order early; be ready.

Well, this has been a swarmy spring, which means I along with other beekeepers soon ran out of beekeeping equipment including hives.

Right now I am lucky to be one step ahead of my bee colonies and that’s more optimistic thinking than anything. I had to order more hives several weeks ago, an order than arrived late and more than needed.

Many beekeepers have fancy woodworking equipment to make their woodenware. I have a simple hammer and nails, something I learned to use years ago in refinishing furniture.

About 10 years ago, I learned the hard way to add glue to my hive-making. Actually my frames, which came apart with the weight of honey. Screws would be even better but I will settle for two-inch nails added with glue.

The combination of glue and nails produces tight hive corners. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I have used this combination before so I know it works.

And if you want to be helpful, you can give Dad a gift card that says you will be glad to help glue hives together for him for Father’s Day. That way he can decide wether to use nails or screws.

Charlotte

Finding Bee Eggs

A small pen light helps to locate bee eggs on a frame of drawn comb. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Finding Bee Eggs

There is beekeeping equipment and then there is beekeeping equipment. Some of it is offered through beekeeping supply companies. The rest are either homemade or cobbled from other uses like this small portable flashlight.

When I hear from beekeepers, one of the most frustrating aspects of beekeeping is trying to literally see very young eggs. There are several reasons to be able to do so:

It’s confirmation the queen is laying.

It’s the right size for notching to encourage worker bees to raise bees.

It’s fun to look for them.

Young eyes have better luck seeing the eggs than older ones.

Short of eye surgery, one option is to use a small penlight flashlight. The focused beam of light helps to reflect the white milky royal jelly found in the bottom of drawn wax frames where a queen lays eggs. Especially when starting a new colony, seeing evidence of egg-laying is confirmation that the colony is up and running.

The flashlight is also helpful to check bottom board corners for small hive beetle larvae.

I now have two flashlights, one for my beekeeping basket and the other for my short trips outside at night.

Charlotte

Know Your Entrance Reducer

This hive entrance reducer wheel has three settings. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Know Your Entrance Reducer

There are a number of ways beekeepers keep honey bees inside the hive and one of them is an entrance reducer.

There are several kinds of entrance reducers from wooden ones with different entrance sizes to the metal wheel one in the photo.

When using the wheel entrance reducer, it is helpful to know each of the settings:

Full open circle is equivalent to having the hive entrance fully accessible.

Wheel with small round holes is how you seal off the entrance still allowing hive ventilation.

And the one that looks like jail bars?

That’s a tiny queen excluder, you use that setting when you want to keep the queen inside but allow the worker bees to fly in and out.

Here is how the wheel looks in use on a swarm trap. In this case, I added a medium second story since the colony was growing and still needed to be moved to its final destination.

Metal entrance reducers are popular to use on swarm traps. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Metal entrance reducers are popular on swarm traps and nucs. If you don’t know how each setting is correctly used you could easily lose a colony, or two!

Charlotte