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

Screened Inner Cover

Screened inner covers, left, help ventilate a hive and keep bees from flying up. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Screened Inner Cover

It’s the middle of winter, bitter cold outside, and a number of beekeepers I know are getting cabin fever. Perfect time to introduce something we can all make at home for our bee hives, screened inner covers.

Most hives have solid inner covers that fit under the hive lid. They usually have an opening in the middle that helps with ventilation and bee traffic.

In summer, though, homemade screened inner covers are handy to have. They not only improve hive ventilation but keep bees from flying up so a beekeeper can take a peek under the lid without fear of getting stung. It’s great to have bees in the garden but bees in a hive can get defensive of their home.

Screened inner covers are easy to make. Using the solid inner cover as a guide, make a wooden frame the same size as the solid inner cover. If you have any woodworking skills, you can cut the corners at an angle. I don’t so I make mine the simplest way I know how, gluing the pieces like a picture frame.

A wood frame is simple to make using a solid inner cover as a guide. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The biggest challenge may be in locating No. 8 hardware cloth, a gauge of wire mesh that keeps all bees from getting out.

Once you locate the hardware cloth, cut the wire mesh to the size of the wooden frame and attach with staples.

Number 8 hardware cloth attached to the frame with staples. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Then add a two-bee wide notch in the center of one of the sides so bees have an entrance at the top of the hive through the screen.

Add a little exit in the middle of one side of the screened inner cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I paint only the top side to preserve the wood.

Once you make some of these, you will wonder how you ever made it without them!

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

Swarm Catching Tips

Swarm is in the nuc, it’s right before a rain storm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Swarm Catching Tips

It’s swarm season in Missouri. In the past it has started around Mother’s Day but this year we’ve had swarm calls for about a month earlier.

Bees swarm when the colony runs out of room. The colony raises a new queen. Once she’s eclosed, the old queen leaves with a percentage of the colony to start a new colony.

For the past three swarms, I have watched people put swarms in cardboard boot boxes and nucleus boxes (photo) without frames or with just one frame.

This nucleus box has two frames of drawn comb to entice a swarm. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

That’s a good idea at first if you are cutting the swarm out of a tree but the best way to entice a swarm into your beekeeping equipment is to use a frame with drawn comb. Remember they are looking for a new home. Offering them frames of drawn comb means they can get started laying eggs and collecting nectar.

Or better yet, a frame with both open and closed brood (baby bees). Nurse bees travelling in the swarm will want to care for the brood and will want to stay with the frame you have included.

Also once the swarm is in the new home you have offered, add more frames so they have a structure to climb on.

I like to add at least 2 more frames of drawn comb and a frame of honey.

Here’s the swarm when it was settled in the boxwood. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Bees in a swarm tend to be docile in the first couple of days of swarming. As they run out of stored honey, they can become hungry and aggressive.

Once in the nuc and settled in their new home, feed them 1:1 sugar water so they have easy to access food.

If they are settling in during a nectar flow, they will soon prefer to bring in flower nectar than consuming the provided sugar water.

Charlotte

Small Hive Beetle Lure

Small hive beetle lure fermenting in my refrigerator. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Small Hive Beetle Lure

My bee buddy David was the first to share this recipe for a homemade lure to keep small hive beetle numbers low inside bee hives. For years we called it “David’s Cocktail.”

You can buy lure or you can make your own. I tend to make my own since I have banana peels galore.

Small Hive Beetle (SHB) 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 (or two cut up banana peels if using white vinegar)

Combine all ingredients and allow to ferment for about 2 weeks. 

Fill center of re-usable traps with lure. Fill side traps 1/3 full with mineral or vegetable oil.  Replace when full of small hive beetles or every few days. Also make sure the lids are securely down or bees will die in the traps.

With hotter weather, traps should be checked and refreshed more frequently. Clear top of traps of propolis.

During spring-fall, place small hive beetle traps in opposing super corners and rotate the placement as you add supers.

For winter, place small hive beetle traps in the center of the hive where the bees will cluster.

Using small hive beetle traps is not a replacement for checking frames for small hive beetle larvae or for beekeepers themselves killing small hive beetles in hives.

Small hive beetles can take over a stressed strong colony in just a few days so carefully monitor your hives for these destructive, invasive species from sub-Sahara Africa.

Charlotte

Russian Scion Swarm Catcher

I have one of the Russian swarm catchers on a nearby tree. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Russian Scion Swarm Catcher

Some beekeepers love to make, and try, new, and sometimes old things. Luckily I have two beekeeping friends who regularly are up to trying something, this time a “Russian scion” swarm catcher.

Now there are a couple of special things about this old gadget:

First, my bee buddy David, well known for not doing much if any woodwork, made one for me. Actually he made me two, one for each of my apiaries.

Secondly, I am past the period in my life where I want to climb trees, even if it is after a swarm of honeybees.

My northern apiary primarily faces down hill. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Basic Russian Apiary Tool

From what I read about the Russian scion, it is a basic tool in Russian apiaries. The device is designed to catch swarms in midflight, effectively interrupting their settling high into trees. Most swarms move in small increments to keeping scions close to hives is probably a good idea.

In illustrations I found online, Russians hang the scions from tall poles.

I placed mine on the side of a tree downwind from my apiaries, hoping the scion will attract any swarms that my colonies may generate.

Two pieces of wood form the foundation of the Russian scion. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

How to Make a Russian Scion

According to David, Russian scions are easy to make. He made the ones he gave me from wood remnants.

The center round pole is covered in melted wax. David said it should also be lightly covered with lemongrass, which I have yet to do.

According to a reader, lemongrass smells similar to the nasonov pheromone, which bees share to guide other bees to an area. Lemongrass is also used asa a swarm lure in swarm traps and bait hives.

The center round piece is covered in melted wax and lemongrass. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Of all of the swarm “traps” and ways to try to entice swarms, this is definitely the easiest one to make. Especially since someone else made them for me!

Charlotte

Candy Plug

The white candy plug replaces the cork in the queen bee cage. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Queen Bee Box Candy Plug

The tiny boxes queen honey bees are shipped in are not all the same. It’s why we advise our beekeeping students to check the boxes to make sure the queen bee and her entourage have food to nourish them before they are released into their new home.

Some suppliers include both a candy plug or some sort on one side of the box. That candy plug is what feeds the queen bee and her attending worker bees while they live inside the box. Some “plugs’ are made out of sugar cane sugar and has to be kept moist with a daily application of a drop of water so bees can eat the sugar.

Another way to make the candy plug is to use miniature marshmallows.

I prefer making my own out of confectioner’s sugar and honey.

The trick is to thoroughly mix confectioner’s sugar into the honey. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To make this candy plug, start with a few drops of honey that you start mixing with confectioner’s sugar.

Don’t mix it in the palm of your hand; the heat from the friction will warm up the honey and make it runny. A cold surface is better.

Keep working sugar and honey mixture until it’s very dense. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Keep folding the confectioner’s sugar into the honey until it is the consistency of a bread dough.

Don’t get discouraged, it will take time and patience but you will get there.

Once the candy plug is ready, you can store in a container in the refrigerator if you don’t need to immediately use it.

Charlotte