Marla Spivak on the Disappearance of Bees
Click here to see the Sept. 15th talk, about 15 minutes long, that she gave on TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.
In case you are not familiar with Dr. Spivak, she has worked for some years developing a strain of bees which are vigorous in their hygiene behavior, which helps dislodge varoa mites. She works out of the University of Minnesota.
With our bees, I checked honey supplies, which are very good in each hive, removed all queen excluders and put partial frames in a box atop each inner cover. I put the lid securely on top and turned the inner cover so the open slot is down in the main hive body. In a couple weeks I'll check again for food stores and also check to see how brood looks, and hopefully will get a nice warm day yet to do that. I put the entrance reducers in place as well. Highs in the coming week to ten days should be in the low 70's with lows in the low 50's, so cooler weather is on the way.
I had thought we might get a bit more honey, but none of the frames were completely capped and ready, though some were on one side. Still, if they don't consume any of this in the fall I'll just save it for spring feeding. We were able to get about 100 pounds this season, which is a good number considering most came from one hive. If all 3 survive the winter well, we may expect a much better harvest next year.
In case you are not familiar with Dr. Spivak, she has worked for some years developing a strain of bees which are vigorous in their hygiene behavior, which helps dislodge varoa mites. She works out of the University of Minnesota.
With our bees, I checked honey supplies, which are very good in each hive, removed all queen excluders and put partial frames in a box atop each inner cover. I put the lid securely on top and turned the inner cover so the open slot is down in the main hive body. In a couple weeks I'll check again for food stores and also check to see how brood looks, and hopefully will get a nice warm day yet to do that. I put the entrance reducers in place as well. Highs in the coming week to ten days should be in the low 70's with lows in the low 50's, so cooler weather is on the way.
I had thought we might get a bit more honey, but none of the frames were completely capped and ready, though some were on one side. Still, if they don't consume any of this in the fall I'll just save it for spring feeding. We were able to get about 100 pounds this season, which is a good number considering most came from one hive. If all 3 survive the winter well, we may expect a much better harvest next year.
Good luck with your bees over this winter Jim! I hope all 3 survive and produce well next year :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to Marla's presentation on TED, I'll definitely check it out!
I had watched that presentation and it was very well done. Good luck overwintering this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks all. Hopefully the farmer's almanac will be off on this year's winter predictions. Bees could use another mild winter.
ReplyDelete