The Warre management method is not suited for comb honey, because the combs are darkened from been used for brood prior to honey stores. To get marketable comb honey, a honey super must be used.
The hive will spend the winter in 4 medium hive bodies, one honey store, one mix honey store and brood, one brood, and an empty body as the sump.
When the honey flow starts, a shallow super will be added at the top.
Inspections will consist of examining the bottom of the sup, from below, to detect the presence on combs. If combs are present, then the hive will be opened to inspect the top hive bodies. The supers filled with honey will be removed, and an empty hive body will be added at the bottom of the hive. If the colony is strong and the honey flow is good, a second shallow super may be added at the top for more comb honey production.
The season will be ended with 4 hive bodies, one for stores, one mix store/brood, one brood and one empty. This is the standard configuration for winter.
I haven't determined yet if the use of hollow frames at the edge (#1 and 10) is useful, since the addition of a shallow super will deal with swarming due to strong honey flow.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
2009 inspection schedule
Here are the inspections and important actions done during 2009.
04-20-2009 Colony hived on 2 mediums
05-07-2009 First inspection, 2 mediums added, total 4
05-17-2009 Second inspection
05-22-2009 End of sugar feeding
05-29-2009 Third inspection
06-13-2009 Fourth inspection
06-28-2009 Fifth inspection, 1 medium added, total 5
07-30-2009 Sixth inspection
08-04-2009 Seventh inspection
08-13-2009 Entrance reduction to 40%
09-18-2004 Eight inspection, Harvest of 2 frames
09-25-2009 Entrance reduction to 25%
There is too much intrusion in the hive, due to my inexperience. I hope to have less than five inspections during next year, unless the hive has some serious problem. I will also try a modified management plan, with the addition of one shallow super, in order to collect honey in clean wax for market. The shallow super will have thin foundations, and the honey will be packaged as comb honey. More details on this later.
04-20-2009 Colony hived on 2 mediums
05-07-2009 First inspection, 2 mediums added, total 4
05-17-2009 Second inspection
05-22-2009 End of sugar feeding
05-29-2009 Third inspection
06-13-2009 Fourth inspection
06-28-2009 Fifth inspection, 1 medium added, total 5
07-30-2009 Sixth inspection
08-04-2009 Seventh inspection
08-13-2009 Entrance reduction to 40%
09-18-2004 Eight inspection, Harvest of 2 frames
09-25-2009 Entrance reduction to 25%
There is too much intrusion in the hive, due to my inexperience. I hope to have less than five inspections during next year, unless the hive has some serious problem. I will also try a modified management plan, with the addition of one shallow super, in order to collect honey in clean wax for market. The shallow super will have thin foundations, and the honey will be packaged as comb honey. More details on this later.
Falls inspection
Falls inspection happen a week ago, Friday 18th. 2 frames were removed from the top box, first and last frames, which were replaced by hollow frames. The top body is very heavy, the second body is lighter but does contain honey, the third body is light, likely filled with brood mostly. The picture below shows the top body, with the cloth partially removed.
The two frames removed were partially operculated, as we can see in the pic below.
The colony is still filling 3 boxes only, the two frames added in the fourth box were unchanged since last inspection.
After the inspection, we tasted the honey. I was surprised to see the different colors of honey within the same frame. The color was from clear translucent to opaque black.
The honey is delicious. I also collected some propolis from the top of the frames.
The two frames removed were partially operculated, as we can see in the pic below.
The colony is still filling 3 boxes only, the two frames added in the fourth box were unchanged since last inspection.
After the inspection, we tasted the honey. I was surprised to see the different colors of honey within the same frame. The color was from clear translucent to opaque black.
The honey is delicious. I also collected some propolis from the top of the frames.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
During these past 3 weeks, I have been very busy on another project (a hen house, maybe a Wallace Chicks blog coming soon), so I only checked the entrance, no hive inspection. I noticed a few drones, always just one at a time. They have not all been killed, there are a few survivors, ... for a while.
I killed a bald face hornet near the hive entrance. Yellow jackets are marauding around the hive, some are eating dead drone bodies.
A lot of pollen coming in during these 3 weeks, thanks to the few rainfalls we got. The smell around the hive is delicious. No more foul odor, I guess the goldenrod bloom is over.
The hen house will be right next to the hive, and will block the early morning sun (bad) and shelter the hive from dominant winds (good).
I may do one final inspection depending on weather, and remove a few honey frames if the hive has more than 3 bodies.
I will soon plan on my next apiary, a 4 hive equipped with Warres, probably with Carniolan bees. They will be on a friend's property, on 5 acres, near a mountain creek. The apiary will need a bear fence.
I killed a bald face hornet near the hive entrance. Yellow jackets are marauding around the hive, some are eating dead drone bodies.
A lot of pollen coming in during these 3 weeks, thanks to the few rainfalls we got. The smell around the hive is delicious. No more foul odor, I guess the goldenrod bloom is over.
The hen house will be right next to the hive, and will block the early morning sun (bad) and shelter the hive from dominant winds (good).
I may do one final inspection depending on weather, and remove a few honey frames if the hive has more than 3 bodies.
I will soon plan on my next apiary, a 4 hive equipped with Warres, probably with Carniolan bees. They will be on a friend's property, on 5 acres, near a mountain creek. The apiary will need a bear fence.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Entrance Reduction
Inspecting the hive entrance this morning, I noticed a wasp managed to enter the hive. After work, I checked the hive entrance again. There were more activity that in the morning. Several yellow jackets tried to enter, but this time, the guard bees were well awake.
This problem has been reported by other beekeepers during Tuesday's meeting.
Because the activity is much lower now, I decided to reduce the entrance by half, to help the guard bees do their job against wasps & yellow jackets.
There is still pollen coming in, I saw some yellow, orange and grey.
All the drones are gone. The colony appears to be preparing for the winter. With 3 full medium bodies, the colony succeeded in building enough stores.
This problem has been reported by other beekeepers during Tuesday's meeting.
Because the activity is much lower now, I decided to reduce the entrance by half, to help the guard bees do their job against wasps & yellow jackets.
There is still pollen coming in, I saw some yellow, orange and grey.
All the drones are gone. The colony appears to be preparing for the winter. With 3 full medium bodies, the colony succeeded in building enough stores.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday August 4th 2009 inspection
I inspected the hive again today, coming back from weekend, just before leaving again for a full week. I wanted to verify if the colony swarmed. As expected, no swarm cell visible.
While removing the upper body (REALLY heavy), I removed a few brace combs filled with honey, and we got to taste the honey for the first time: delicious! The whole family liked it.
I removed frame 1 and 10 of the 3rd body, and placed them in position 4 and 6 of 4th body, to incitate the bees to start building into the 4th body. These two frames were partially build (~75%), with honey and pollen, no brood.
The bees were noticeably more aggressive that previous inspection, probably because some honey was spilled while cutting combs.
Not a single drone visible. They all have been evicted, the colony is preparing for the Winter. With 3 bodies, there won't be a big harvest this year, maybe a few frames only.
While removing the upper body (REALLY heavy), I removed a few brace combs filled with honey, and we got to taste the honey for the first time: delicious! The whole family liked it.
I removed frame 1 and 10 of the 3rd body, and placed them in position 4 and 6 of 4th body, to incitate the bees to start building into the 4th body. These two frames were partially build (~75%), with honey and pollen, no brood.
The bees were noticeably more aggressive that previous inspection, probably because some honey was spilled while cutting combs.
Not a single drone visible. They all have been evicted, the colony is preparing for the Winter. With 3 bodies, there won't be a big harvest this year, maybe a few frames only.
Thursday July 30th 2009 inspection
I inspected the hive just before leaving for a 4-day weekend. The hive has low activity, and I don't see any drones anymore. The top body is very heavy, I could barely lift it. The second body is somewhat heavy, while the third is lighter. All three bodies are almost filled with combs, the third has still some room in the first and last frames. All the bodies are heavily cross-combed. I expected to see some comb building in the fourth body, but they are not there yet.
I am worried about the very low activity in the front of the hive. A few dozen bees are flying, a few others are staying in the landing board. I used to see hundred of bees at the entrance.
I did not check the bottom of the frames before closing the hives, so I can't tell if they swarmed, but the weight of the hive bodies tell me they didn't.
I am worried about the very low activity in the front of the hive. A few dozen bees are flying, a few others are staying in the landing board. I used to see hundred of bees at the entrance.
I did not check the bottom of the frames before closing the hives, so I can't tell if they swarmed, but the weight of the hive bodies tell me they didn't.
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