August 2024 Newsletter

Good news this month is the picnic. So instead of a meeting we are having a picnic. See details elsewhere in the newsletter. We will not be having the hive demo.

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. Some products can be used with supers on but, I believe they are more effective without the supers.

The bees raised at the end of the season are the ones that need to live through the winter. During the summer they only live 6 weeks. To get through winter they will have to live 6 months. The bees raised in fall are physiologically different to make this possible. We know that a bee that has been fed on by varroa during pupation will have a 10-15% shortened life span. There are average thirty days in a month times 6 months (normal life span) times 15% (amount life span is shortened) = 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 with it 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”.

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. Remember you are looking for an average of <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. If you want some honey tested, bring it to the picnic. You only need about a teaspoon.

Even if the honey was dry enough when you removed it from the bees; the method of storage of the supers before extracting is important. If you have it in a humid environment, it will absorb moisture from the air even if it is capped. Therefore, if you are not extracting it immediately be sure to store it in a warm (>75dF) dry (<50% humidity) room. You want to 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 which hatch in 3 days. These larvae will destroy your 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 3 deeps the top box should be full of honey and you are good. If you have your bees in 2 deep they will need to get the top box full of honey for winter. Hopefully it is not full now because they need the brood space to get a good population of winter bees. You will 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 you must pre-register so do that early (deadline August 8). Register for anything you think you may enter. There is no penalty if something goes wrong and you don’t bring in an entry. https://www.mnstatefair.org/competitions/ag-hort-bee/bee-and-honey/

Gary

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