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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter March 2006 |
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EVALUATING BEEKEEPING PRACTICES As I write this on the 27th day of January, the temperature here in Central Iowa is 60 degrees with a very warm sun. It is logical to believe that during a mild winter such as we have had so far, colonies consume more honey stored as opposed to a very severe winter. That could well be the case as during a mild winter colonies often start early brood rearing. I do not recommend opening hives and disturbing colonies anytime during the winter months. However, I did just that today and found the amount of brood within the colony would equal a full comb of brood. That is a beautiful sight as it means a good strong colony to come in April. There is still plenty of honey left in the hives so there is no need to bother them again until colony management begins in April. The picture shows the colonies progress.
This is not the first time I have found brood within colonies in mid to late January. Some 45 years ago, as I was doing some research on wintering colonies that was the case. Having half dozen thermometers within the upper brood chamber was of extreme interest. With any sunlight at all, it was generally 30 degrees warmer between the paper and the outer walls of the hive than the outside temperature. As one of the thermometers extended through the inner cover reached 92 degrees, it was an indication that there was brood in that area of the brood chamber. Having a closer look, I found that was the case. Even though we are not yet half way through the winter, I am hearing of significant to tremendous losses already which seems to be mostly due to starvation. Beekeepers who let this happen only create more hardship on themselves and it amounts to a major loss. In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s when we operated 1300 colonies nearly every year we would lose about 25% of our colonies simply because we were doing a poor job of preparing our colonies for winter. After I returned from the service in 1946, my brother, Lloyd, and I were determined to do a better job of beekeeping and our first endeavor was to do a better job of wintering colonies. After a few years we accomplished that as well as improving our beekeeping in many other ways. The late 30’s and early 40’s were excellent years for beekeeping in Iowa. In spite of our poor beekeeping our colonies would average about 300 pounds. Everything was favorable for beekeeping and producing honey in those years. As we revised our practices, we realized it was of extreme importance to know exactly how much honey was within each hive as the colonies were readied for winter. We found here in Central Iowa, that the weight of colonies with a double brood chamber should be 115 to a120 pounds, and must be weighed to make sure. It is easy to get that amount of honey within the hive, even though there may still be some brood present. If, in Minnesota the weight may need to be in creased by 10 lbs. In warmer climates, maybe less honey. Colonies should be brought up to the desired weight sometime before the weather becomes too cool. If bringing colonies up to weight on sugar or Isomerose make sure the bees have it stored before snow falls. Getting colonies up to desired weight with a supplemental food is more difficult than with honey. Colonies that weighed 90 pounds or less were not acceptable for wintering. The honey they did have was used to bring other colonies up to the desired weight. If the queen excluders are used to prevent the queen from laying eggs in the surplus honey supers, you will find the bees keep a better brood chamber and by the same token if the queen gets into the surplus honey supers, the colony is completely disorganized. By taking hints from other beekeepers and using our own discoveries we managed to cut our winter losses to less than two percent. (continued on Page 9)
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