Hotham Family Apiary

We are currently experiencing an unusually warm December. So warm, in fact, that it isn't even possible for the ski resorts to make snow for the skiers. While I am all for tourism and the positive affects that the tourist industry has, I see a far more formidable problem. The warm temperatures prove to be problematic for the natural course of nature. Plants are beginning to bud and insects that normally die in winter are not dying. Wildlife populations will not naturally decline and the number of predators and diseases they carry will increase. Honey bees are also effected by this warm weather. Normally, during the cold months of winter, a bee colony concentrates on keeping the hive and its queen warm. Consumption of food goes up, but is well managed, and the beekeeper can provide the proper amount of food before-hand. In the case that the weather does not drop below 5°C, the colony doesn't quite go into this energy saving mode, but rather allows the queen to lay more eggs! M...

I've been feeding the bees 3.6 kg of homemade sirup (3:2 mix) the past three weeks. Looks like they are handling the amount that I have given them pretty well. I have noticed that they have finished killing off the drones and are fully concentrated on storing the food. I am still a little bit nervous about the whole process as this is my first time doing winter prep. I have noticed that in one of the colonies (Leia) that there are still two frames of wax foundation that have not been drawn out. Now, I am not sure what that means, and what kind of problems that will make for my bees. I will have to ask my mentor or other beek colleagues to see how I should proceed. The other two colonies have drawn out comb on all the frames, so I think I will be good to go with them. I have also noticed that the queens are STILL laying eggs. It is amazing, that although the temps are dropping, the queens are still trying to increase the population of the colonies. Somewhere, I did read that you...

I got back from a three week vacation not too long ago and I was happy to see that the lil ladies were still doing well. Before I left, I gave each colony 800 grams of food (ApiFonda). They were able to store the food and many of the field bees were still out and about bringing in pollen and water. I wasn't able to identify any mites on the mite shelves, but there were several ants running around so even if mites did fall down to the shelves, the ants may have carried them off. One of the first things I did when I got back was begin to feed them for winter. Each colony got 3600 grams of sirup. A day later I peeked in under the inner cover and I was amazed to see that they managed to suck down all that food! I was smart this time, and I tightened up the entry of the hive to one-bee width so that robbers could be easily defended against. That all seemed to work out well. Currently there are also lots of wasps flying around, trying to gain access to the food inside. On one of he col...

It is so hot. More than a week has passed since the first formic acid treatment and it has been too hot to perform another one. Fortunately, there are still no dead mites in the colonies, so I may be able to get away with postponing the next treatment until the weather has improved.

Yesterday, I treated the girls with formic acid. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Actually, for the bees, it is a critical step in fending off the mites, but it isn't a very pleasing experience. Formic acid is an organic substance that is naturally found in ant venom, hence the name (the Latin word for ant is formica), and can also be found in stinging nettles. The acid, in certain concentrations is corrosive and should always be handled with caution. When the acid is allowed to vaporize, it becomes very pungent and causes quite a deal of stress for the bees. The vaporized acid in essence suffocates the varroa mites, causing them to die. Today, I will remove the sponge towel that I used for holding the acid, from the hives, and attempt to count the dead mites that have hopefully fallen off the bees, down through the wire meshing of the floor, and onto the mite board. Ideally, the number of dead mites will be small. This would first of all mean that my bees are generally in good s...

Varroa destructor is the scientific name for an arachnid parasite that can only reproduce in the presence of honey bees. These parasites infiltrate a bee colony by means of external introduction and once they are present, become a burden on a colony. Normally, parasitic relationships are not devastating, as the parasite needs the host to survive. However, in the case of varroa mites, they destroy their hosts. The mites can transmit several types of diseases, that ultimately destroy a bee colony, either directly or indirectly by weakening the bees to the point that they are no longer able to carry about the normal working functions. Varroa mites are relentless but not invincible, that is where the beekeeper comes in. To give you a bit more perspective about the nature of the mites let me first describe the size of the mite. The mites are normally between 1 and 2 mm long and about the 2 mm wide. Honey bees, in comparison, are on average 14 mm long. That means a varroa mite is approxim...

Remember the film, "Good Morning Vietnam" with the late, and great, comedian Robin Williams? One of my favorite lines from the film was when Williams replied to the liason who greeted him at the airfield, "Warm? No. This is a setting for London Broil!" Well, I got thousands of little six-legged Robin Williams' running around the hives saying just about the same thing. The past few days have been in the low 90's and today was especially humid. When the dog days of summer turn up, bees go on vacation. Not a "real" vacation, there is still work to be done, but rather an extended siesta if you will. Most of the bees are just trying to cool down the hive, so they stop building and beging fanning (or collecting small buckets of crushed ice). Some just hang out on the porch and others hang out on the walls of the hive (inside and ouside). This is the problem I currently have. Another round of Mojitos please! © 2015 Jason Hotham It is infact so...

..."what the heck is going on here?" For the first time in my illustrious and well documented career as a beekeeper, I was faced with a situation I had no answer for. There I was, staring at a frame full of capped brood, when suddenly my eyes were drawn to a small concentrated patch of opened cells with exposed pupa in them. Immediately I said to myself, "that's something I haven't seen yet. Are they sick!?" "I wonder what that is," I said to my mother-in-law. "What?" she asked. "Those weird looking open cells with chewed off capping and exposed brood. Huh, guess I'll have to make a note of it and ask my beek mentor about tomorrow." Great. Now I have to wait until tomorrow to find out if my colony is doomed or if it is just normal behavior with a few bees cleaning up sick brood. The internet has thusfar been a treasure trove of beekeeping information, but I just didn't know how to formulate the phrase for the Google ...

Poor drones. You have to feel bad for them. They are bred by the worker bees for one purpose: mating. Some of you male readers may be thinking, sah-weet!, but I promise you, a drone's life isn't as glorious as you'd expect. First off, drones are incapable of taking care of themselves. They need worker bees to tend to them. Which of course, kind of sets them up for what must be a 24/7 hailstorm of nagging and complaining : "Why can't you sweep the floor? Or do the dishes? Or take care of the youngin's? All you want to do is lounge around, watch football, and generally be useless." Yikes! Second, when drones venture out on a mission to give their DNA to a vibrant, young, sassy virgin queen, it is almost definitely a suicide mission. Granted, the drones probably aren't aware of this macabre fact, seeing as they come from an unfertilized egg, but still, seems a high price to pay. Once a male has made his deposit, the queen tears out the probe...ouchy! Ev...

Leia's colony is not as strong as the other two, so I acted on a tip from my beek mentor. He suggested I place a frame of capped brood from one of the stronger nucs into the weaker nuc. The reasoning behind it is that the weaker bees will get a slew of new bees within a few days that will help in strengthening the colony. It is important however, that all the bees that are sitting on the frame be brushed off before the move. Otherwise, we would end up with a lot of dead bees. I was a bit nervous to do this for two reasons. 1.) When you brush bees off a frame, they fly around in a cloud for a few minutes before they settle down and try to re-enter the hive. Since I generally do not work with a veil, I was worried some might get caught in my hair and sting me. 2.) I was afraid I might hurt the queen. Well, no bees got caught in my hair, in fact most of the bees that I knocked off / brushed off fell immediately into the hive, while the others flew directly to the bee house window....

Getting three nucs in July means having to help them expand their hives. When I say expansion, I mean drawing out comb on wax foundations. The young Queens want to lay eggs and to do this they need empty cells. The problem is, the honey flow has slowed significantly here in Upper Franconia. We'll have to stimulate the building by faking a honey flow. To do this, we give each nuc about 300ml of sugarwater at a concentration of 3:2. The solution is a bit thicker but it facilitates comb construction. Some old beeks will say the best way to go is with a 1:1 solution since it better simulates field nectar. 3:2 solution is mainly used for winter stores, but my mentor told me to go with 3:2, so that is what I'll do.  The results justify the 3:2 usage. In all of my nucs, the bees are drawing out new comb. I spotted eggs on some new comb a few days ago as well as nectar and pollen. The key, I think, is finding the right combination of amount and frequency. Right now, the nucs...

Today, during inspection, I was able to lay my eyes on each queen. Although it is never my goal to see the queen during an inspection, but rather evidence of her existence, I was pleased with each sighting. Luckily, I had my phone readily available, and I was able to make snapshots of each queen. Leia Copyright 2015 Jason Hotham Notice the capped brood in picture above? That's the brownish colored capped cells. Also, there is open brood which can be easily seen (eggs and larvae). Below, is a photo of Chewbacca. She is moving around on a frame with capped brood (upper left corner of photo) and with food (pollen and nectar). She is a bit nestled in among the workers but we can easily recognize her by the large black plate on her upper thorax. What a beauty! Chewbacca Copyright 2015 Jason Hotham Adriana is quite large compared to the other queens. I wonder if she will be able to reign for four or five years. An very impressive specimen, indeed!   Adriana Copyright...

After about 10 days of scorching hot weather a cold front finally moved in. A nice summer thunderstorm at night, followed by two days of cloudy, cool, and windy weather is just what we needed.  My bees however, have different feelings about that. Honey bees will not venture out of the hive unless the temperature is above 13°C. The optimal flying temperature is 20 C. Yesterday the temp hovered around 19°C, which would theoretically be warm enough for flight. Temperature alone, is not the only factor to determine if the lil ladies will fly out. Sun intensity, wind, and rain strength also play a part. We had overcast skies and a steady breeze the last two days.  Conditions for flight: unfavorable.  My mother-in-law called me yesterday evening saying she noticed that there was little to no flight activity at the hives. I went over there just to check, but it was just as I learned - bad flying weather.

Yesterday, we performed inspections on our hives. I am happy to report that all three are thriving! Leia's hive is picking up momentum and they were able to store the food that I had given them. I was relieved to see that they were able to make such a swift turnaround. The robbery that I reported has stopped. I plan to keep the entry at a reduced size for a little while longer until the number of bees increases. Catastrophe averted! Chewbacca's hive is exploding as is Adriana's hive. Both colonies are drawing out comb at an astonishing rate. I noticed that both queens had even begun to lay eggs in the freshly drawn out comb. That is very good news. I will ask my mentor when he thinks I should add a second brood chamber. The last week or so has been extremely hot. So hot, in fact, that many of the bees have decided to lounge out on the front of the hives. Copyright 2015 Jason Hotham This is common behavior for the bees. They are trying to regulate the temperature w...

On Sunday, June 28th, I installed three nucleus colonies into our newly built bee shed. What a feeling it was seeing the little girls flying out for the first time! On that day, I officially became a beekeeper. Uh oh. Well, no, it's not bad, but I suddenly realized that I was now responsible for the well being and health of thousands of little creatures. Yikes! OK, seriously though, I'm good, really, I'm good. Buzzzzzzzz. The next day I went back to the shack to observe. I sat there for about half an hour and was mesmerized by what I saw. Bees were bringing back pollen, guard bees were directing traffic, drones were buzzing loudly around the hive entrance, lots of fun. My joy, however, quickly turned to dread, as I noticed that some robbery was taking place with one of the nucs. Bees were wrestling around on the landing board, which I had read, was a sure fire sign that robbers were in the area. I quickly reacted and decreased the size of the entry to 1cm. The robbery did...

For the past two weeks, I have been working on a small shack for keeping my beehives in. It has been an interesting and tiring project. When all is said and done, it will be well worth it. Having a shack, or bee house, has several advantages: hives are protected from the weather, theft, and vandalism; the beekeeper can store all his equipment next to the hives; inspections during bad/unfavorable weather is possible. One major disadvantage however is the lack of lighting. The only source of light are the large windows placed at the front of the house. Since my hives are not in my own backyard, but in my in-laws' mini-fruit orchard, having a bee house is convenient. We built it large enough to house 6 hives, which is sufficient for me. I want to enjoy this hobby and not have it turn into another "job". On Sunday, I will pick up 3 nucs, and the Wednesday thereafter I will move the bees from the nuc boxes into the hives. I can't wait! I will also try to post more photos...

Yesterday evening I prepared eighty-eight frames with wax foundation. Of those eighty-eight, two inadvertently became drone frames as the wires became too hot and melted completely through the foundation. In total, I made six drone frames. I also had to break out my box making skills, as I needed something to store the frames in. A note about wax foundation: there are significant differences between American foundations and German foundations. The American foundations can often be ordered "pre-wired", meaning the wire has already been placed in the wax. The German foundations are not wired and need to be "soldered" into the wired frame. The process of wiring the foundation in Germany is pretty easy. You just lay a piece of wax foundation over the wires of the frame, and using electrical terminals, the wires are warmed causing the wax to melt around the wires. In a matter of seconds, the foundation is on the frame! Not too difficult, but if you warm the wires too l...

I've been stung twice now. The first time was two weeks ago. My beekeeping mentor was working with a colony that has a tendency to be a bit agressive. Well, one of the girls decided to sting me right above the left eyebrow. Thankfully, it didn't swell up, but it hurt nonetheless. The second time, was today. My mentor told me to go ahead and open up one of the hives so that we could check for swarm cells. I smoked the colony down a bit, removed the queen excluder and first frame, everything was going fine. The bees weren't even flying around me much, they were just doing their thing in the hive. I took out the second frame, found and removed a couple of play cups, and placed the frame gently back into the hive. Everything going well, slow, but well. Then, on the third frame, I accidently squeezed a bee with my index finger as I was grasping the frame. She didn't approve, and promptly stung me right on the tip of my right index finger. Yowser! I flicked her off, finished ...

What would possess anybody, 39 years of age, with no prior connection to beekeeping whatsoever to just decide one day, "Hey, I want to try out beekeeping!"? Well, that is a justifiable question; but the answer is not as straightforward as some may want to have it. For me, I guess the main trigger was after I viewed a very insightful documentary film entitled " More Than Honey ". It is a film that received rave reviews and for good reason. The film opened my eyes to the dire situation that honey bees (Apis mellifera) are facing and that their demise would be certain doom for humankind. Well, I suppose I just asked myself, "Why can't I take a closer look into this whole backyard beekeeping business?"So that is what I did. I began by looking up videos online. YouTube has a lot of videos showing how to start out with your own bees. Unfortunately, not all of these videos are particularly helpful when it comes down to learning the basics about bees. I th...