Inspector Gadget

Despite being told that I have a freakishly good memory, I still have trouble remembering things. You know, like failing to get that 5th item I was supposed to pick up at the grocery store, or forgetting to get up early enough to gas up my car on the way to work. Tinkering with a bee hive is no different for me. I can make make mental notes about all sorts of observations and to-do items only to realize the next time I pop the lid that I forgot something. It's especially frustrating when the forgotten tidbit would have required me to bring something extra to the bee yard since my bees have to be kept away from my home on account of I live in suburbia hell and meddling little crumb snatchers and whiny pantie waist HOA clowns don't mix well with the honey bees and me. Rant over. One might say I should take notes. Great idea, but a notebook is usually the one thing I can count on forgetting when going out to check on the bees. Plus, my chicken scratch isn't very legible at a comfortable desk, let alone standing in the hot sun with bees buzzing around.

One day while browsing some message boards, I stumbled across a free web based tool called Hive Tracks that beekeepers could use to keep records on what's going on amongst their bees. It was developed by a couple of computer gurus in Western North Carolina who also happen to keep bees.

The software allows you to set up multiple bee yards and even uses the address of the yard to fill in the GPS coordinates and the weather conditions. I don't use the weather feature because I use Hive Tracks' handy paper form to record my inspections to input on the website later. So, I usually just hit The Weather Channel's website on my Blackberry when I get to the bee yard to lock in the time and weather information so I don't have to estimate when I do my updates.

One of the neatest features I've found is the hive builder tool, which allows the user to construct a graphical representation of all of the components that make up a particular hive. It also allows you to change the construction of individual hives as you add or take away components during the year.

You can also keep records about the queen that is inside each hive including her race, the marking color (if any), date she was installed and any comments about her.

It's a pretty cool gadget, no doubt. I'm still struggling to remember to carry along my clipboard full of blank inspection forms, but I'm trying. If I can stay disciplined in using it, I'm hoping that it will provide me with data on what factors made things within particular hives go right or go wrong so that I can duplicate successes and hopefully avoid failures. If you keep bees, I'd encourage you to visit the Hive Tracks site and see what you think.


If you'd like to be notified of updates to this blog, please email me at beeswax@teezbees.com. I promise your email address will not be shared with anyone.

If you're interested in learning more about beekeeping, join a local beekeepers association as well as your state's beekeepers association. Explore your state's master beekeeper program if they have one. The following links can get you started:

U.S. State Beekeeping Clubs


South Carolina
South Carolina Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in South Carolina
South Carolina Master Beekeeper Program

Georgia
Georgia Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in Georgia
Georgia Master Beekeeper Program

North Carolina
North Carolina State Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in North Carolina
North Carolina Master Beekeeper Program

Bee-moaning Beetles

I hate beetles. Whether it was being forced to scatter a nylon stocking full of Sevin Dust as a child to kill Japanese Beetles, or, as a teen, feverishly pumping the brakes to stop my '72 VW Beetle...they've plagued me my entire life. These days, the only beetle that's got me up nights is the dreaded small hive beetle (SHB). This nemesis to the honey bee is so tormenting that I'm convinced that if Pharoh hadn't thrown in the towel, the SHB would have been the 8th plague. These little miscreants decided to pick a fight with me last year when they destroyed a nucleus hive that I started. Then, they doubled down when they took over a hive that I bought from an apparent hoarder (see The Worst $260 I Ever Spent). I'd say they've thrown down the gauntlet.



Small Hive Beetle Larvae Infestation



What Are These Things?

Small hive beetles are native to Africa, and first made it to the shores of the US in 1996. Like many hive predators, they fly directly into the hive entrance, but due to their small size & hard shell, guard bees are unable to kill or expel them from the hive. Don't get me wrong, a strong hive can keep them on the run and pretty much deal with them, but a weak hive or a hive without enough bees to cover all of the comb can be destroyed quickly. The beetles themselves aren't the issue. It's their larvae that is so destructive. A female beetle will gain entry to the hive and if given the opportunity, will lay her eggs in cells of uncapped honey. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the honey and then...well, they dootie in it (I just said dootie). This unsavory act causes the honey to ferment faster than Popcorn Sutton's (R.I.P.) mash and begin oozing out of the hive. Then the larvae exit the hive and burrow in the ground to begin their metamorphosis into an adult beetle to begin the cycle again. Understandably, the bees will reject the hive and abscond in search of another home if this happens.

How do you get the upper hand?

As was common beekeeping practice, the use of approved chemical pesticides inside and outside the hive was the initial method prescribed for controlling the beetles (there are other more aggressive treatments that I won't go into because I think they are grossly irresponsible). However, more and more, the beekeeping community is abandoning chemical treatment as the initial form of pest control in favor of integrated pest management (IPM). IPM has a goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides while at the same time managing pest populations to an acceptable level. In beekeeping, choosing strains of bees with genetic resistance to certain pests and disease and the use of nontoxic substances to keep pests below treatment threshold levels are methods of implementing IPM. Only after a treatment threshold is reached, are chemical treatments used in order to save the colony from collapse. I like this line of thinking because if at all possible, I don't want any substance inside my bees' bodies that I wouldn't want in mine. So for me, chemical treatments have no place inside my hives unless the colony's survival depends on it.

Albeit satisfying, a thumb pressed firmly against the body of a small hive beetle until it is squashed as flat as a pancake while screaming, "Die you damn dirty beetle!!!" isn't the most efficient form of IPM. Rather, the use of traps containing vegetable oil have shown the most promise in dealing with them. The most effective traps have been those which utilize a screened bottom board with either #8 or #6 galvanized hardware cloth with a tray of vegetable oil underneath. As beetles are chased by guard bees, they fall through the screen and into the oil where they die. Some research suggests that used vegetable oil also serves as an attractant to the beetles, but it also attracts scavengers like skunks who love the nummy left over fish fry or tater tot oil. I don't currently use oil pan traps, but I plan to do so this year.



Freeman Beetle Trap from Ashley Bee Supply

 There are also a few traps used inside the hive. The Hood Trap, developed by Dr. Mike Hood of Clemson University, uses a 3 chambered container attached to an empty frame. The two outer chambers are filled with vegetable or mineral oil and the center chamber is filled with cider vinegar as a means to attract the beetles to the trap. Then there are the traps that fit between the frames. These include the Cutt's Beetle Blaster (warning: site contains music), AJ's Beetle Eater, and the Beetle Jail Jr. I personally prefer the Beetle Jail Jr. because it incorporates the three chamber design that the Hood Trap does without using up a frame space.



Beetle Jail Jr.

 But above all, a strong colony is the best first line of defense against the small hive beetle. However, I think strong colonies benefit from using the traps. I mean, I'd rather have bees making honey rather than chasing and cleaning up after beetles. But if you live in an area where small hive beetles are prevalent and have a weak hive or possibly a newly established nuc, do yourself a favor and invest in some type of beetle trap to give the bees all the help you can in defending against these aggravating little twerps.

If you'd like to be notified of updates to this blog, please email me at beeswax@teezbees.com. I promise your email address will not be shared with anyone.

 If you're interested in learning more about beekeeping, join a local beekeepers association as well as your state's beekeepers association. Explore your state's master beekeeper program if they have one. The following links can get you started:

U.S. State Beekeeping Clubs


South Carolina
South Carolina Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in South Carolina
South Carolina Master Beekeeper Program

Georgia
Georgia Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in Georgia
Georgia Master Beekeeper Program

North Carolina
North Carolina State Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in North Carolina
North Carolina Master Beekeeper Program

It's Only Money

The other day, I stumbled across a couple of A.I. Root catalogs from the 1950's that a friend gave to me a few years ago. Since I just dropped a small fortune in beekeeping stuff from a couple of different suppliers, I thought I'd flip through the old catalogs and do some comparisons to see how prices stack up vs. today.



"This is way more neato than a hula hoop! Thanks mom and dad!!



"Hey Beave. How about taking those gloves off and fetching dear old dad a scotch..."

I decided to make a short list of items from the 1957 catalog that are still used today, adjust those prices for inflation, then compare to today to see if the cost of beekeeping had outpaced or lagged inflation. For my inflation figures, I used the CPI Inflation Calculator comparing 1957 to 2011 (2010 data). For the current suppliers, I used Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, Walter T Kelley Company, and Rossman Apiaries as well as current rates for Bee Culture magazine which is still published by A.I. Root. The results were interesting.

Click to enlarge

The data shows that prices for package bees and queens have outpaced inflation while the basic equipment for beekeeping has lagged inflation. Sad, but not surprising, shipping for package bees has not only outpaced inflation , but has realized the highest percentage increase of all items tested...yeah, go figure. 

So bees cost more and equipment costs less, but why? Price elasticity aside, my first instinct is to say that modern manufacturing technology has resulted in a lower cost for producing wooden ware such as frames and hive bodies. As a result, I'd give technology a pat on the back for going easy on my pocketbook. On the other hand, it's more expensive to buy the little critters than it should be. I suppose it could diseases and pests that weren't around in 1957, supply/demand, higher cost for land, insurance, or maybe raising bees to sell is just more profitable than it used to be. And why is shipping so high? US Postal Service rate hikes, or shippers like UPS beginning to handle bees maybe?

Inflationary trends aside, getting into beekeeping is probably no more cost prohibitive today than it was in the 1950's. And if you have some common tools and skills, you can construct a lot of your own equipment, offsetting some of your cost. Can't do that with scuba diving, bungee jumping, or reloading ammo...trust me. Further, once you get up and running, you can sell a portion of your harvest; particularly to those with allergies and health conscious folks who are seemingly always searching for a source of raw local honey.

But the sweet stuff aside, the calming effect that observing these fascinating little creatures has is worth a few bucks if you ask me. Whether you're crouched to the side watching workers returning with sacks full of pollen, or standing in the hot summer sun carefully scanning a frame full of scurrying bees, it's a state of relaxation that's right up there with a Pawleys Island Hammock on the beach. For a brief moment, it takes me back to a time when my life was simple, and I didn't have a care in the world; like the cover photos of these old catalogs. A time when the lack of responsibilities caused me to take for granted the sheer joy of being out in nature. If you're a beekeeper, you probably know what I'm talking about. If you're not, I encourage you to find out for yourself. It's well worth it.



If you'd like to be notified of updates to this blog, please email me at beeswax@teezbees.com. I promise your email address will not be shared with anyone.

 If you're interested in learning more about beekeeping, join a local beekeepers association as well as your state's beekeepers association. Explore your state's master beekeeper program if they have one. The following links can get you started:

U.S. State Beekeeping Clubs


South Carolina
South Carolina Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in South Carolina
South Carolina Master Beekeeper Program

Georgia
Georgia Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in Georgia
Georgia Master Beekeeper Program

North Carolina
North Carolina State Beekeepers Association
Local Beekeepers Associations in North Carolina
North Carolina Master Beekeeper Program