Keeping Bees

[matt walker]

I am really glad to hear you figured out the problem Guy, let's hope it's not too late to save them.

[pa_friendly_guy]

The American foul brood is a very bad decease to have in a hive, the spores that effect the larva can stay in there for up to 40 years. So if I don't decide to burn the hive to get rid of it I will have to treat then for life. I guess that is still better than having the bees abscond, There is no recovery from that.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I went up and checked on my bees today. I have been treating them with antibiotics for almost 3 weeks now. [ it will be 3 weeks on Monday ] and it takes 21 days for a bee to hatch from an egg. The AFB kills them with in the 1st 5 days of their life. I was very encouraged to see more bees flying around, The hive has been getting smaller and smaller for awhile and it looks like the medicine is working and they may just make it. All of the butterfly weed in the upper field had 7 to 10 bees on each plant and you could see many bees coming and going from the hive. I may have caught it in time to save the hive. I am excited to see the change in my bees.

[mannytheseacow]

I'm glad your hive is improving, Guy. On the bright side, you are learning a lot about beekeeping, even if it's not the learning experience that you would like. I don't know anything about the bee parasites and viruses. I guess I'm lucky that I haven't gotten them yet, but I might be turning to you if that time comes.

On another note, my hive seems to be doing very well for a first year colony. I think introducing them to my old boxes was beneficial. I was recently contacted by the Dept. of Ag, they said there is a wild hive near my house with strong genetics and asked me if I wanted to have it?! We're going to extract it on Monday! They said they will work with me to incorporate the genetics from this new hive into my current hive over time. I'm really glad I complied with the law and registered my hive with the state, now. What a great opportunity this is!

[pa_friendly_guy]

That is great many, getting the wild hive is a wonderful thing. Do you need to purchase more equipment for the 2nd hive? of do you already have enough? I was hoping that a feral hive would occupy my hollow tree, but so far no luck. I am not sure but that hollow tree may be the source of the AFB that is effecting my bees. Something made that hive leave, or something killed them, I am not sure which, but something dramatic happened to make then go away. I too registered my bees with the state, but so far they have not cashed my check, I am thinking that I should re-register because it must have gotten lost in the mail.

[matt walker]

Hey, right on! This thread is turning around, great job you two. Manny, that's amazing about the wild genetics. Fantastic. Guy, same to you on the recovery, I'm so glad. I am more and more sure I need to get into this now, especially after seeing how much my new plantings provide the pollinators. My plantings are feeding all the neighborhood pollinators, I might as well get some honey.

[mannytheseacow]

Guy, I wouldn't hesitate to give your inspector a call. Government works at a snail pace, and as they say "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".

I don't think I'll need any new equipment except maybe to build a second deep hive to get this new colony through the winter. The department of ag has some extra equipment to get me started. We'll see tomorrow. I hope to take lots of pictures and post the events that take place. I'm really excited for this extraction and to work with some professional bee keepers!

[pa_friendly_guy]

I went up and messed with the bees today. Taking apart their home is never a Good thing, it takes them 3 days of work to put everything back the way they want it, so at this point I do not mess with them any more than I have to. I took out the feeder and replaced it with a regular frame. They have not been using it anyway, and there were a number of dead bees in it. I guess that they drowned in the sugar water. I took out all of the frames with comb and bees on it and treated them for varroa mites with powered sugar. I simply dust them heavy with the sugar and they lick each other to get the sugar off, and that dislodges the mites. I also took this opportunity to wash off the lower base and the screen base with water and a stiff brush. That will not get rid of the American fowl brood, but I will make things smell a bit better, and well, I figured that it couldn't hurt. The last operation was to treat them again with antibiotics, so they stay healthy. after everything that I set out to accomplish was done I put the hive back together and just watched them for awhile. It was good to see more bees coming and going. They are not what I would call out of the woods just yet, but I do feel a little bit better about their chances since I started using the medicine on them. Time will tell if I caught it in time. Nothing to do but wait and see at this point.

[mannytheseacow]

Dang, Guy, kudos to you for sticking with it and persevering through all your problems with your colony. I honestly don't know if I would have stuck with it had I faced what you have in my first year.

Something that has been sticking with me through this feral hive extraction is something you hit on above: leaving them alone! I mean, shoot, this feral hive has been doing fine without any assistance for 50 years. No sugar, no medications, no treatments and checking. These are the kinds of bees everyone should be breeding, not these sissy, sickly, shrimps that you and I have been buying.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I understand your point. Strong bees with strong genes are what we should all be working toward. Forget about Honey, what is good for the bees in the long run is good for us all. But the facts of life are that the mites are virtually universal today. The AFB disease is not as common and I am wondering now if it came with the bees when I bought then. If they sold me infected bees I would be a little peeved, but there really is not much I can do about it, and no way to prove it. So I just hope that I can nurse them through the winter and have a stronger hive by this time next year. I am really not that worried about how much honey I can sell, I am more worried about how my trees and garden are being pollinated. Its all in your perspective .