Are we killing our bees with kindness

Last week when it was raining, I watched for the umpteenth time, "More than Honey".  The very first time I saw it I was interested in the beekeeping methods used in the mountains of Europe, but of course, did nothing about it.  But after I lost all my hives last winter, I thought that maybe there was a better solution, so as an experiment I purchased 2 Slovenian hives and am now building a 2nd bee house. But I digress.  As I watched the documentary this time, my attention was attracted to one of the bee keepers from, what looks like Texas, talking about how his bees have become Africanized and how aggressive they had become.  But, along with there manageable aggression, he states that his mite and beetle problems have disappeared.  This then got me thinking on the subject of queen rearing and how ( because we are such pussies) they are working harder and harder to develop strains of bees that are more and more gentle.  The bees it seems, have now become so gentle that they could give a shit on who or what has invaded the hive.  For me, I work without a suit and when the bees don't want me around, they let me know.  I for one, would rather a few stings than deal with all the other problems.  By the way, last year I found 1 mite in all of my drop boards in all 7 of my hives.  Later

First swarm caught this season.

I had set up my trap behind Debra's house a week ago and checked it Friday.  It had a large amount of activity so I picked up my wife from the ferry and after a beer, it was dark enough to close up the entrance.  Any bees not making it back could go to the original hive and live.

Got back just at dark so I decided to just transfer the frames into one of the Octagons.  Yesterday it was cold and rainy so I fed them some honey comb and added some sugar water with HBH.  Today they are flying strong.  Will check on Thursday to see if the queen is laying.  Later

Showing my new A_Z hives to Staten Island Beekeepers

Saturday we held our annual spring meeting of the SIBA.  We discussed winter survival and what techniques were used by those who had survivals.  Almost everyone lost 1 hive, I was the clear winner with 6.  2 weeks ago I drove to NH to pick up my new A_Z hives and they became the center piece of the conversation as I demonstrated the unique features of the hive (http://www.slovenianbeekeeping.com/index-one.html.  As I was doing the demonstration I shifted to my recently populated Octagon hive and pulled the bottom tray to show how I use lime in the drop pan under the screened bottom board.  To our surprise, it was crawling with beetle larva, just as it was suppose to, but I didn't think so soon.  Only 3 weeks since I installed the package.  All I can think of was that 1 or 2 beetles must have come with the package.  I killed the only beetle I saw and all the larva were dried up by this morning.  I think the lime works better than Diatomaceous earth, and a lot less expensive.  I sprinkled a little more lime in and will inspect again later in the week.  My new package upstate at my new property is doing great in the Top Bar hive but I am going to switch it over to the new AZ hive later if it ever warms up.  I am presently working on a portable 10 box unit to take upstate.  With wheels, they can't tax me for having a structure on the property.  Later

The picture shows my 2 AZ hives stacked on top of each other with a shed built around them.  The access doors are in the back.  If interested, watch this video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MitGad0qU4

Slovinian AZ hives

Staten Island Honey for sale

AZ hive buildings for sale.  Custom sheds, built to order or per-designed.   Call  464-201 2461

Final cleanup

Just finished cleaning out all the hives.  2 had very small clusters in the center which looked like they froze during the cold snap we had.  All the others were empty of bees, less a few dead on the bottom board.  None had any full brood cells.  All hives were full of honey which is a bear to strain as it is so viscus this time of year.  My 1st swarm hive of the spring had 2 and 1/2 boxes of honey, but all hives had enough for winter survival.  I found 1 beetle larvae and only a couple of beetles dead inside the hives, the most, surprisingly were in the strongest hive.

Just ordered 2 packages, I said I wouldn't but since I caught no swarms last year, I thought it would be prudent.

Crocus were in full bloom this week, they seemed lonely without the bees.  Later

Total loss

Just got back from our annual trip to Key West and it looks as though all my bees just up and left during the warm spell in Dec.  No dead bees in 2 of the hives and no activity in the last 3, so I'll be setting traps at friends home's this spring.  There is a slim hope that they just remained inside the hive the last warm day and didn't come out.  Will just have to wait till spring to see.  Later

Winterizing the yard

Today I put the final touches on insulating the hives.  I kept one hive un-insulated for comparison next spring to see if it is all worth it.  I removed the top box from the hive I combined (No 6) as the bees had moved down and no honey had been stored in it so its less area for them to keep warm.  Still unsure if this hive will make it or not, although it seem active at the moment.  I set out some sugar water with HBH for the bees and hordes of yellow jackets showed up for the feast, so now I have to make a trap for them.  Other than that, not much happening.  Time to start cleaning up the summers mess.

                                                                                                                                                                       
Decided to buy some cardboard nuc boxes for next spring.  Keep my yard to 7 hives and let the swarms move into the nucs for sale later.

Put a piece of dryer sheet inside a disk case in the hive just above the top bars as I had read it works for controlling beetles.  Checked the drop pan 2 days later to find a dozen or so dead ones.  I had placed lime  dust in the pan too, so not sure which is working.