Hotham Family Apiary

Technically, I am an engineer. I know, writing software may not seem to be very engineer-y to you, but it does classify as engineering. We design, implement, test, and improve our product until the software does exactly what it should do. Why else do you think your apps are always updating? Engineering. Having said that, me being an engineer kind of also makes me a nerd/geek. I say I lean a little bit more to the geek side of that classification, because I just love anything that is science and/or technical. Well, anybody who likes technology and science needs to spend time learning about bees. They just know how to build stuff to the specifications of their own instincts. That brings me to todays blog entry: Housel Positioning. Housel Positioning gets its name from a beekeeper by the name of Michael Housel. Michael Housel discovered through observation, that feral bees build the honey comb with a specific order. If you were to take a look at honeycomb, and look closely at the bott...

The weather around here has been pretty mild. Normally, winter in Bavaria is snowy and cold. This year, it has been rainy and warm. Most people aren't put off by it, because it generally means clear roads and less layers. Myself, on the other hand, I am worried. I have a bad feeling that at least one of my colonies will not make it through this winter, and that just saddens me. The colony in question, is the weakest one that I went into the winter with: Leia. I did all I could to help her increase her colony size, but it was just difficult to get the necessary production. It is not really a complaint towards Leia's offspring production, but rather to the efficiency of the bees. Right from the get-go the little ladies had a difficult time drawing out comb. This also is not their fault. It was a nuc that was created toward the later end of the optimal nuc creation period and they just were not in the strengths to go full bore into comb production. They were never able to draw o...

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...