Inspector spring 2004-pg 24

Steve Parise - Apiculturist

Inspector's Report - Spring 2004

As I write this report in the early part of April, the bee season is getting off to a sputtering start. While there have been a few warm days with decent flying weather, most have been cool, windy or wet (or white!). My bees here in southern Addison Co., actually brought in a bit of pollen on March 30. However, there hasn’t been much collected since.

If you haven’t checked your bees yet, now is the time to do so. Pick a mild day, preferably with sun, light winds and temps at least about 50 degrees. Every year I receive calls from beekeepers that have not checked their hives by mid April. That can be way too late in some cases. I know from my own experience with my bees, had I not checked some hives in early March, they would have died by now from starvation. The first inspection can be brief and just to check a few items. Using a smoker as needed, I first separate the two deep boxes and look at the under side of the top box. The bee cluster will most likely be in the top by now, and by looking at the bottom side of the top box, you can get an idea of the cluster size. Once I get an idea of the cluster size and location, I gently lift the upper box to get a feel for the weight, and the weight distribution. If the top box still feels "good" (this is a subjective evaluation that comes with experience), and doesn’t appear to be lopsided in weight, then I put things back together and close up the hive. If the weight seems to be all to one side or the other, I will move some combs of honey from the heavy side to the light side and center the cluster. If the colony feels light and needs additional feed, I will "borrow" some combs of honey from a dead hive (making sure there are no signs of AFB), or a weak hive that has more honey than it needs. I will also check in a few hives for the presence and amount of brood. Usually by early March there will be a least a few frames with a patch of brood. I will usually note on the back of the hive some indication of the strength and food reserves of the colony. I also try to record a few notes in a notebook for future reference. If you can be dedicated and take good notes, you will find this to be a valuable resource in the future, when comparing seasons.

A few reports from around the state indicate a mixed bag on how the bees survived the winter. Several commercial beekeepers report that survival was highly variable from yard to yard. For instance, one yard had only 1 dead hive out of 45 colonies, whereas another yard just a few miles away had 50% loss. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason for the differences. I suspect we may be seeing the effects of viruses being spread by varroa mites that combined with the difficult winter, are leading to higher colony mortality. At the January ABF Meeting, researchers indicated that even low varroa numbers can be problematic if they are passing viruses to the bees. Hobby beekeepers are also finding higher bee losses. Replacement bees are in short supply again this season, so if you haven’t already placed an order, you may be out of luck. Contact me if you are having trouble finding bees. I may be able to provide a few leads.

On the varroa control front, we now have the re-registration of CheckMite+ and ApiLife VAR, under EPA Section 18 Emergency Exemptions, for the 2004 season. As always, be sure to read and follow all Label directions!! Since these two materials are under Section 18 Exemptions, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture has to file an annual report with EPA on the use and any misuse associated with them. If there are any parts of the Labels that seem confusing, don’t hesitate to contact me. Another new product is on the market this year for varroa control. Sucrocide, (Sucrose Octanoate Esters) is a biochemical miticide for use against varroa mites that is available from Dadant. There was a very good article about this product in the December issue of American Bee Journal, authored by W.S. Sheppard, et al. This material is mixed with water and sprayed on the bees. It must contact the mites directly to work. Therefore, it works best when there is little brood in the hive. The manufacturer recommends three treatments, 7 to 10 days apart. All the adult honey bees in the hive must be sprayed. The treatment process involves removing all frames from the hive with bees on them, and spraying them thoroughly with the Sucrocide mixture. I have tried this material on a couple of hives. It was a bit time consuming, and the bees weren’t too happy to be soaked with water. It took about 20 minutes to do one hive. The time can be reduced with more practice and experience. A sticky board and screen was placed under each hive to capture any varroa that might fall. The next day, the hives were checked. They appeared to be O.K. An examination of the sticky board showed only a couple of varroa on each. I didn’t expect many, as the bees were treated last fall with CheckMite+. Sucrocide would be most useful for hobby beekeepers with only a few hives. I hope to do more trials later in the year to see how well it works on a larger varroa population.

As a reminder, if you are new to beekeeping, you must register your hives with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. This is a one time requirement, and only needs to be updated when you add new bee yards, change your address or phone number, or get out of bees. There are a number of documents including a registration form available on the Apiary Page at the Agency web site. Go to www.vermontagriculture.com, select "Subject Listing" on the opening page, go to the "a" page, scroll down to "Apiary Information and Registration", click and go to the apiary page. There are numerous items to download and links to other sites. You can also e-mail me at: steve.parise@state.vt.us.

Best of luck this spring with your bees!