Bee Chronicles September 2017

We have moved into the bee monitoring season. By no means does that mean we have nothing to do.

We need to be feeding the bees sugar syrup. There are so few flowers out there the bees need help if they are going to have their 90 lbs. per colony stored up by Thanksgiving. Right now there is Joe Pie weed, Iron weed, and goldenrod blooming. I see a large white flower in some places along the road. I have to look that one up and add it to the fall list. Without rain the flowers will be low in nectar. The fall asters are just starting to bud.

If you want the bees to put up honey feed the syrup at a 2:1 sugar:water ratio. If you want them to draw some comb feed them 1:1 syrup.

Now is the time to attack mites. The mites are at their highest population of the year. Treat them aggressively. Follow directions, but usually it says treat once a week for 3 consecutive weeks. Get the hives cleaned out early so you will have a significant number of new bees that are mite free before winter sets in. This will give you real healthy young bees next spring. One treatment of oxolic acid will knock your hive beetles out. It will also put a big dent in wax moths killing all the adults.

As you disassemble and clean your supers and hive bodies scrape out and save your propolis. I try to keep the cleaner propolis separate from the stuff with wood chips, paint chips, and bee parts. I sell the clean stuff for chewing or putting in gelcaps. The “dirty” propolis I make into an alcohol tincture. The garbage will be left behind in the sludge. You can tincture the sludge again getting 2 batches of proper percentages from one batch of propolis. I have a customer who will buy all the propolis we can sell him. Propolis can go for up to $15 retail for 3 oz. of tincture. I am selling it at $8 wholesale. I will let anyone in on this.

You can also put propolis traps on your hives and collect good clean propolis. The traps work as long as there are green leaves on the trees. Remove the inner cover in the hive. Replace it with a propolis trap. Put some big sticks under the telescoping cover so light is getting into the hive. The bees will work real fast to close the light out, filling the trap.

When storing your boxes with comb in them remember the wax moths are waiting for it. The book says they don’t attack honey comb, usually. They for sure will get you brood comb. Stack loose, airy, and lighted or tight, enclosed with paramoth crystals to keep the moths out. DO NOT USE MOTH BALLS! They have naphthalene crystal which are residual and will kill the bees next spring.

If you have the time cleaning and painting wood work this fall will save you work next spring.