My friend, Don, and I went to the bee yards yesterday after stopping to eat breakfast and get some ice for the little cooler. It was hot but, the humidity was down, so it felt 10 degrees cooler than the 90+. I wish that I had taken a picture before we mowed and trimmed the worst of all my apiaries. Here is a picture after we finished cleaning up.

Of all of the hives in the yard, I have only 4 colonies left alive. And that includes the one I brought from home. I lost some because of starvation, and some from pests. The main cause of the pests moving in was because of the Varroa mites. Once the mites get stronger than the threshold ceiling, then the bees get weak from the mites sucking their blood. At this point, the bees are not able to combat or control the other pests, such as, the Greater Wax Moth and the Small Hive Beetle.

Three of the colonies are survivors. The fourth colony is cross-combed, meaning the frames did not have any foundation and the bees built their combs long ways through the width of the frames from one side of the brood box to the other, tying all the frames together. The only way to clean this up is to cut the comb between each frame so you can pull them out one by one. Then each frame has to be cleaned and foundation replaced. On that brood box, we put a new brood box then we wait till next Spring to work the hive. The queen will lays eggs until she has no more empty cells in the bottom box, then she moves up to the next level to continue laying eggs. After the brood has hatched, I will take the cross-combed box off the bottom and take it home to clean and render the wax.

The rest of the apiaries in the north part of the county were clean of grass and weeds around the hives, so we just continued numbering the hives in sequence until we got to the last hive. All the other colonies were strong and most are needing supers. That will take place this next week.

I only have three more apiaries to number and clean. Then I will be cleaning equipment until I either collect the extra honey to extract or spread around to the needy colonies getting them ready for the winter months. Remember, I leave one super of honey in medium or Illinois boxes. I feel that the bees know what kind of food they need for winter, so I will let them keep one super that they have earned and take the rest of the surplus honey for myself. This way I shouldn’t have to feed them unless the winter lasts longer that usual. From now on to the last of November, Goldenrod, Spanish Pepper, and cotton are the bulk of nectar producing plants.

Now I have to get my equipment ready to go to the rest of the apiaries and take notes,

Remember, your state bee inspector, or your local extention agent are there to help answer your questions. Use them!