August 2023 Newsletter

2023 August Management

This month is our MHBA picnic so we will not have a hive demo as we will all be at the MN Fairgrounds for the picnic Tuesday August 8th.

August is MITES, Mites and mites. Specifically varroa mites.

Hopefully you have been doing monthly varroa checks throughout the season. If not you need to do one now so you know what your varroa mite situation is. I know you must remove the supers to get a brood frame, but this is important information. To get an accurate reading you must get the bee sample from a brood frame. If your mite levels are below 2 per 100 bees, you can relax for a bit (still check again as soon as the supers are off). If your mite levels are above 2 per 100 bees consider removing the supers and extracting as soon as possible (for sure by the end of the August) and treat for the mites. You need to control the mites before your winter bees are raised.

The bees raised at the end of the season are the ones that need to live through this winter. During the summer workers only live 6 weeks. To get through winter they will need to live 6 months. The bees raised in fall are physiologically different to make this possible. We know that a bee that was fed upon during pupation by varroa mites will have a 10-15% shorter lifespan. There are an average of thirty days in a month, times 6 months (normal lifespan) times 15% (amount lifespan is shortened) equals the number of days less a bee lives if it had mites in the cell with it.

(30x6x.15=27) This means the bee that had a varroa mite in the cell will only live about 5 months. This is a cause of weak colonies in the spring.

The next issue with varroa is the vectoring (transferring) of viruses from bee to bee. The more mites in a colony the higher the transfer rate. This spread of virus and resulting death of the bee is a cause of the late fall early winter death from varroa.

To test mite levels, I suggest doing the powder sugar roll. For information on the powered sugar test for varroa visit sampling colonies for varroa destructor   and/or the varroa mite testing kit.

You will need to make sure your honey is below 18.6% moisture before extracting. If at least 80% of the frames are capped it should be ok. If possible, test with a refractometer. If you want some honey tested by a refractometer, bring at least a teaspoon of honey to the picnic. Remember you are looking for an average less than 18.6%. This means even if some is 20% if there is enough at 17% to balance it out it will be fine. This assumes you mix it all together when you extract. 

Even if the honey was dry enough when you removed it from the bees; the method of storage of the supers before extraction is important. If you have it in a humid environment, it will absorb moisture from the air. Therefore, if you are not extracting immediately, be sure to store it in a warm, less than 75 degrees fahrenheit and less than 50% humidity room. Keep it warm because it is much easier to get the honey extracted from the frames. If it is high moisture, you can dry it in the frames by circulating warm dry air through the super. If you have the potential of small hive beetles in your hives do not store supers for more than three days before extracting. The small hive beetles will lay eggs and hatch in 3 days. These larvae will destroy honey and the comb. All things considered I think it is best to keep the supers on the colony until you are ready to extract.

Now is the time to start to consider whether the bees have enough honey for winter. If you keep the bees in three deeps the top box should be full of honey and you are good. If you have your bees in two deeps they will need to get the top box full of honey for the winter. Hopefully it is not full now because they need the brood space to get a good population of winter bees. Remove the supers in mid-August and hope for a good fall flow for them to fill the top deep or you will need to feed 2:1 sugar syrup.

After taking care of the mites, August is the time to get entries ready for the State Fair competition. If you want to enter in any class you must pre-register so do that early, the deadline August 10th. Register for anything you think you may want to enter. There is no penalty if something goes wrong and you don’t bring that entry in.

Gary

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