Hello from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Happy New Years! 2012 was a wonderful year, and we’d like to especially say a big thank you to all of our customers and supporters!
Sheri and I have spent so  much time gearing up for a fantastic 2013 beekeeping year. Right now, we have snow on the ground, the trees look dead, the hives are clustered and quiet. Even though it is winter, spring is coming. I cannot believe the number of packages for pickup we have sold already. It is staggering! So, do not put it off another day. Maybe you cannot really decided if you want to keep bees this year or wait. Why wait?   So many people wait and decide in April or May when all the bees are sold out and equipment is scarce.
Before today’s lesson, I’d like to ask a favor. There are two important ways that you can help us promote beekeeping and our beekeeping business. First, like us on Facebook, and encourage others to like us. Our Facebook page has good, up to date beekeeping information, recipes, tips, gift certificates and much more. We are up to 1,119 likes. Help us watch those numbers soar. Click on the Facebook image or go to: http://www.facebook.com/longlanehoney Every 100th like receives a gift certificate. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!
The second way you can help us is to place a link on your website or your association or club’s website back to our main website: http://www.honeybeesonline.com
We have recently made some great additions to our website such as: Recipes, Frequently Asked Beekeeping Questions,  Beekeeping Trivia, How Bees Make Honey and some of my own personal opinions raw and unfiltered. So have your web master link back to our website for great beekeeping information. We appreciate it!
It’s not too late to add our Winter-Bee-Kind candy board to help your bees this winter. It has sugar, pollen, honey-b-healthy, insulation to reduce upper condensation in the hive and an upper vent. You can add it to your hive in less that 15 seconds even in cold weather. Why not give your bees the added edge for winter survival!
Click here or go to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=145
We are David and Sheri Burns and if this is your first time to meet us, let us just say…well, we are passionate about beekeeping. We are so excited about the surge of new people becoming beekeepers. We have been giving out the clarion call for years that in order to save the honey bees, we need more beekeepers.
Not only do we long to see more people become beekeepers, but we do everything we can to make it easy to become a beekeeper. We are a special beekeeping one stop shop. At many places you can only buy bees, or you can only buy equipment and you may not always receive the most up to date beekeeping advice. Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, we provide the bees, queens, beekeeping equipment and have a certified master beekeeper to guide our customers to a successful experience keeping bees. Also, when comparing prices remember all of our hives are assembled and painted with 3 coats of paint with wooden frames. Bees wax coated foundation is included as well. We also offer beekeeping classes, beekeeping videos, beekeeping podcast and more.
An additional way we help beekeepers is by writing timely and up to date beekeeping lessons. Today’s lesson addresses the question, “Why did my bees die?”  A few months back I was invited to speak to Missouri beekeepers and my assignment was to help take them to the next level. I love this approach because there are so many basic classes, but hardly no additional Advance classes to take the beekeeper further.  Over these last few months I have been refining that presentation and adding to it and now I want to present to you this lesson. You’ll want to pass this one on to your fellow beekeepers who have trouble keeping hives alive.
Before I begin, let me invite you to our beekeeping courses coming up in February. We still have openings for you. Our Feb. 9th basic beekeeping class has sold out. However, we still have registrations available at our next class: 
Saturday February 23, 2013 Basic Beekeeping We have many more classes coming up throughout the year, but check out these two beginner courses at our location here in Illinois at our new Beekeeping Educational Center. Also, we have several new hive kits with and without bees. These are great ways to add more hives to your apiary (a place where bees are kept) or you may be starting out as a new beekeeping in 2013. Let me quickly show you our 2013 products before our lesson today. Click on the images below for more information or to place an order.
Click on any image above for complete ordering information. We take all the headache out of becoming a beekeeper. One click and you have bees and a hive ordered. Don’t waste time trying to figure out if it comes with frames and matching up the right pieces. We make it simple and enjoyable like it should be.

LESSON 128: Why Did My Bees Die?

Most of us enter beekeeping believing that we will show the rest of the world how to keep bees and never lose a colony. Our intention is to be the perfect beekeeper, keeping great records, making more frequent hive inspections, generally speaking being an above average beekeeper. Then, when we lose our first colony we are almost offended that bees would die under our watch. Or we start keeping bees loving our new bees like a new pet. A love affair begins and our bees seem to love us and appreciate the privilege to live on our property. Likewise we are fascinated by this awesome creature and we are enamored by their sheer majesty.
Occasionally, there is never a problem. The hive flourishes, produces honey, survives winter, requires little management and we brag of our beekeeping skill and style. All is well. I wish that I could promise such great success with every hive, but bees are considered livestock. Anyone who has ever kept animals know the unpredictable finally happens. Our new dog runs out into the street. Our talking parrot flies out an opened door, a cow gets sick or our horse gets some sort of equine encephalitis from a mosquito and dies. Bees face the same sort of challenges.
Why did my bees die? When a colony dies, it’s almost impossible to identify the cause of death. I’ve had people ship me bees in a shoe box and ask me to tell them what killed their bees. A bee is not a single organism, the hive is. Therefore, we have to evaluate the entire colony to determine the cause of death. Even then there are so many variables that the cause of death is often inconclusive. Was it starvation? Queenlessness? Did they swarm in late summer and took too long to finally raise a good queen, so the population of bees was not large enough to overwinter? These types of problems can be prevented. But what about something that can’t be seen, like tracheal mites, or viruses spread by varroa mites. These are the invisible, silent killer of colonies. My experience in working with thousands of beekeepers a year is that most colonies die due to inadequate beekeeping practices. In other words, pilot error or avoidable mistakes. Don’t misunderstand, today our bees do face more challenges than 40 years ago.
Since the late 1980s, the beekeeping scene has changed significantly. In the late 80s and early 90s the varroa mite made its way into America and hit the bees hard. There was a great falling away from beekeeping. Very little was known about the mite and how to keep bees alive that had mites. Hobbyist dropped out. Prior to the mites, we would put bees in a hive, keep an eye out for American Foul Brood and wait until fall and take off a crop of honey. Beekeeping was simpler. Now beekeeping is still almost that simple, only now we must be a much smarter, educated and trained beekeeper because there is more to keep an eye on.
Then, around 2006, CCD changed the beekeeping scene again. Large operations were hit with what is now called Colony Collapse Disorder. In large operations, bees just disappeared. Crazy speculations were tossed around like green Martians were stealing the bees or cell phones were confusing the bees ability to get back home. Now we suspect it is a combination of stresses, poor nutrition, environmental factors, and pests and diseases. However, with CCD there was a silver lining, a redeeming quality…interest in saving the bees surged!  Everyone started rolling up their sleeves to save the bees. More people became new beekeepers as a way to offset the declining bee population. And it’s working! About this same time an interest in local food and a more self-sustainable life gained full traction. Some call it the green movement, agrarian living or eating more local food known as locavore. Prior to this time, beekeeping was the weird cousin of Agriculture.  But now, beekeeping has become the rich uncle and everyone wants written into the will. What I mean is, beekeeping is now seen as an essential part of life that we cannot deny. Bees pollinate our crops. In fact, bees pollinate the foods that we now want to eat more of such as fruits and vegetables. With processed sugar getting a bad rap, more and more people are moving over to nature’s natural sweetener, honey. Also, more people are looking for ways to add additional income by working from home or on the farm. Now selling honey seems more attractive than ever before as honey now brings an easy $6 a pound. If a hive produces 70 pounds of honey, that’s $420 a hive.  It seems that no matter what challenges are thrown at honey bees, they survive and so do the courageous beekeepers who are fascinated by this awesome creature, the honey bee. Prior to theses increased challenges, beekeeping was waning. Now there is an increase interest in beekeeping, more new beekeepers and more funding for research. Prior to today’s beekeeping interest there was less media attention and certainly less educational opportunities for beekeepers. Now, with a renewed interest in bees, beekeeping classes abound and the honey bee has earned rock star status. Beekeeping is now an important part of our view of nature, even our own survival. Sounds so picturesque, right? We still need more beekeepers to help restore the honey bee population. It is getting slightly better, but the bees are not out of intensive care just yet.  So today’s beekeeper can no longer throw bees in a box and everything will turn out perfectly. The modern beekeeper is a totally different keeper of bees. I call today’s beekeeper a triage beekeeper.  The word triage is a French word that means to separate, sift or select. It’s a word used in hospitals because ER doctors and nurses select which patient needs the most immediate attention. Triage is the order and priority of emergency treatment. This is our focus in our Advance Beekeeping Classes.
For those of you who are thinking about becoming a beekeeper, stay with me. We need you to help keep more bees. The bees need your expertise. Bees need you to assess colonies, and to help them overcome their new adversaries, new pests and diseases. Our obsession to live in a weed-free and bug-free world is probably what is hurting our bees the most. Without weeds, our bees cannot obtain the variety of nectar and pollen they need. We take pride in our weed free yards. We keep our ditches mowed and fence rows cleared. We monocrop two or three crops that will bring in the most money.  My clarion call is for more beekeepers to become better trained beekeepers that are more able to provide triage on some hives when needed.
Today’s successful beekeeper must learn to be a triage beekeeper. Some beginning beekeeping classes only focus on how to keep bees as if it was still 1962, giving the basics on how to start but not how to do daily triage. If every commercial pilot was allowed to fly with the same knowledge most beekeepers start keeping bees, the number of plane crashes would be staggering. Therefore, the answer is for every beekeeper to increase their knowledge base and skill sets when it comes to the honey bee. Every time we do our hive inspections we must assesses our hives and determine which ones need immediate attention.  As soon as we open a lid, we must be focused on smashing small hive beetles. We should have proven practices in place to assess our mite population in each hive and what actions if any are needed. Every new beekeeper must be equipped with four non-chemical, IPM methods to deal with varroa mites. We must be able to identify deformed wing virus, American and European foul brood and to evaluate the queen. How well is she laying and how healthy are her daughters. New beekeepers must learn how to conduct a brood viability test. Beekeeping is on the rise. The ranks of beekeeping is expanding. Research is working. Most of us who produce queens are working hard to raise local queens from hives that survive year after year without antibiotics, and other chemicals. Isn’t that really what we want? Not a hive that depends on antibiotics and miticides, but a colony that has their own ability to overcome the challenges of today. As bees make this transition, we must do our part. On our website, I’ve listed what most bees die from and the most common beekeeping errors and mistakes that kills bees. Visit this page often: Just go to: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/healthybees.html or click here. Thanks for joining us today! Long Lane Honey Bee Farms (honeybeesonline.com)
14556 N 1020 E Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
We are located in East Central Illinois Visit us online at: www.honeybeesonline.com or call us at 217-427-2678














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LESSON 120: A New Method To Better Control Varroa Mites
Beekeepers are concerned about toxic seed coatings and other crop chemicals harming our honey bees. But the fact is, even if we could halt all chemical use honey bees would still be in trouble because of the varroa mite.
Today I want to educate you on the varroa mite and provide you with detailed information on how you can use a new technique to reduce your mite numbers. If you do nothing, you will greatly increase your risk of losing your hive. To have a strong colony, one that overwinters well and makes honey, you MUST control varroa mites. But do not become discouraged or defeated by this honey bee parasite. We can keep bees even with varroa mites. Mites are everywhere in our world.  There are many approaches to dealing with mites. But, for you to be a successful beekeeper, you need to be well informed about Varroa destructor.
HISTORY OF VARROA DESTRUCTOR
The varroa mite was first introduced into our country in 1987, although the literature identifies the spotting of one varroa mite in Maryland in 1979. Since 1987 mites have spread rapidly throughout the US. The mite was first identified as Varroa Jacobsoni but later correctly identified as Varroa destructor (Anderson and Trueman 2000). It is the number one killer of honey bees in the US. As an ectoparasite (lives outside of the honey bee) it is one of the largest parasite on the planet compare to its host.
It is not a natural parasite to our honey bee, Apis mellifera. It’s original host was Apis cerana. But, like many pests, it jumped species and Apis mellifera was not able to cope well and most feral colonies, wild hives, were destroyed by the mites in the early 1990s.
LIFE CYCLE
Varroa mites are tiny but visible with the naked eye. In this photo, I pulled out a drone pupa and you can see the tiny mite on the lower abdomen of the drone. The mites that we see on our bees are the adult, female mites also called the foundress mite. These adult females are dark, reddish brown in color. Male mites are rarely seen outside the cell and they never turn dark but remain white or a light color. Mites only reproduce in the sealed cells of a bee hive, never outside the hive.
The varroa mite enters a hive through the front entrance, riding on other bees. Drones are allowed to enter any hive and drones are common carriers of mites, transferring them from hive to hive. Once in the hive, the adult foundress mite will look for a young nurse bee and climb on her back and will latch on to the thorax where the wings attach or just behind the head. Mites feed on bee blood, known as hemolymph.
Because the bee is exoskeleton, the mite cannot penetrate the outer plates of the bee so it moves to the overlapping segments of the abdomen to the soft tissues and pierces through with its mouth parts. These areas on the honey bee are known as the innersegmental membranes.
When the bee larva is around 8 days old it gives off a distinct pheromone signal to adult bees to seal the cell. However, that same pheromone signal is picked up by the varroa mite as an indication that it is time to enter the cell.
The mite makes her way into the bottom of the cell and buries herself beneath the royal jelly in the base of a cell. Mites have a snorkel like apparatus that they use to breathe while hiding under the royal jelly. These specialized tubes are called peritremes and are thin, pale-colored tubes located just between the last two pairs of legs.
Once the cell is capped and the bee larva has spun its cocoon the mite will feed on the larva and will begin laying eggs about 3 days after the cell is capped. Most female mites lay between 4-6 eggs, the first being a male mite, and the remaining 4 being females that mate with their one brother in the cell.
Unlike bees, mites do not go through larva and pupa stages, instead they go through 4 developmental stages: egg, protonymph and deutonymph stages and finally adult. From egg to adult takes 6-7 days for females and 5-6 for males.
Mites will pierce an opening in the prepupa honey bee larva and the whole family of mites will feed from that one wound. As the family grows and the bee emerges, the foundress mite will leave the cell with one or more new female daughters. The males die and never leave the cell and the bees clean them out. The adult females will then attach to adult bees for an average of 7 days before finding a new cell to enter and reproduce again. During her lifetime the foundress mite will go through 3 reproductive cycles.
Sorry to get so technical, but once you understand the brood cycle of the mite, you have the information needed to apply this new technique.
BREAK THE BEE’S BROOD CYCLE & THEREBY BREAK THE MITE’S BROOD CYCLE.
Since we do not use chemicals in our operation, we use many approaches to reduce mites such as screen bottom boards, green drone comb trapping, and sugar dusting. Another effective method is to break the bee’s own brood cycle. Stop the queen from laying and you’ve stopped the foundress mites from reproducing. Without bee brood, mites can no longer multiply.
Let me go into detail how to break the brood cycle.
1. Remove the queen from the hive any time after June 21st. The month of July is a great time to implement this technique because mites become a real problem August through October. Replacing the queen in July accomplishes two objectives: 1) You will have your full foraging force for the year’s crop so you can afford to go without a queen for two or three weeks and 2) Your old, overwintered queen will slow down laying after June 21st allowing the mites to reproducer faster than bees. Therefore it is a good time to introduce a new queen but to wait two or three weeks between queens.
2. After removing your queen wait two or three weeks then introduce a new queen. You will need to tear out queen cells that will develop. If you allow these cells to mature, you run the risk of the queen not properly mating, especially late in the year when there are fewer drones. The new queen should lay like a spring queen. These new bees will go into winter without being  parasitized by mites. When you break the brood cycle for longer than two weeks you increase your chance for laying workers to become a problem.
3. Introduce your new, mated queen with a full candy plug, giving the current colony time to accept the new queen. A marsh mellow can be used to plug used queen cages. Carefully plan and be sure you can secure a new queen before removing your old queen.
4. By breaking the brood cycle you greatly reduce future mites at a critical time of the year, going into winter. However, this will not reduce all mites. The following addition step can also eliminate more mites. On the same day you pull out your queen, introduce a green, drone comb that has already been drawn out and has eggs or young larvae. The adult mites will enter into these cells and can be pulled then  frozen when drone cells are sealed.
TIME TABLE RECAP
Pull your queen, let’s say on July 10th and place in a green drone comb full of uncapped larva. (The green drone comb step is not essential if you cannot utilize it). This can be prepared in a second hive or the current hive if timed right. The hive remains queenless from July 10-July 25.
Remove queen cells on July 20th and Introduce a newly mated queen into the colony on July 25th. Again, do not speed up her coming out of the cage. Do not poke a hole in the candy.
Breaking the brood cycle along with other IPM methods can greatly decrease the number of  mites in your hive.
Check out some of our more popular lessons:
-How to harvest honey
-Wax moths
-Swarming
That’s all for now and thank for joining us for another beekeeping lesson!
Please let others know about these lessons and our business. We appreciate you spreading the word!
Your donations helps us continue our work and research on the honey bee, such as our recent development of our Winter-Bee-Kind. These lessons are free and will provide you with as much if not more information than you would find in a $30 book. So consider making a $30 donation so that we might continue these lessons, CLICK HERE TO DONATE $30 Thank you in advance.
David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
217-427-2678
Website: www.honeybeesonline.com

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We're David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois, where the weather is beautiful, the bees are working hard and we are enjoying life to the fullest!
Whenever I write a lesson/blog, I like to include some personal things to talk about. I know some people just want the nuts and bolts of the lesson. But others like the personal stories and events and not so much of the technical side of beekeeping. So I try to keep all personal information at the top of the lessons, even before the lesson. So, if you just want the lesson, you can always scroll down until you see the lesson title below. But if you find it enjoyable to hear what's going on with us (after all this is a blog) then enjoy the following.
Sheri started out the year with 25 chickens, all layers. She has done great and is only down to 24. Something in the coop fell down and smashed one. They should start laying anytime, so we are looking forward to fresh farm eggs from free ranging chickens. The bees and chickens get along fine, and our two hound dogs leave the chickens alone too.
Little Christian is always wanting to help his dad with the bees. He has stuck his finger into a mating nuc or two and managed to pull his finger out with a stinger but he hasn't lost his bravery. He's a typical farm boy for 2 years old (his birthday is September 13) as he always has a bug, rock, tool or a frog in his hand. As seen in the picture, he already knows what a California Mini Queen Cage is. He inspects our queens before we ship them out.
Sheri really did a great job this year planting a garden and freezing and canning lots of fresh vegetables. We had good sweet corn, tons of green peppers, beans and tomatoes. She made jams and jelly, salsa, pies and she even grinds her own wheat to make bread.
We made friends with an Amish family who lives near Arthur, Illinois and while inspecting his hive he dug up a starter of mint, and I transplanted it to our garden and I've enjoyed mint tea all summer. We're just having fun in the country.
My oldest son, David, is getting married next month, so we're doing the wedding thing for the 3rd time :) That's a typical way of saying it from a man's point of view, isn't it!
My middle son, Seth, is almost 16, into drivers Ed. and has become the fastest woodworker in our shop. He is fast and very accurate at making hives.
My youngest daughter is 18 and living at home helping with our bee business. She finally saved her money and bought her first car, a 1995 MX-6 Mazda sports coupe. Boy that sits low to the ground compared to my 1 ton pickup.
We love our family, home and the little bit of farming that we do with chickens, bees and our garden.
Our goal is to encourage more people to start keeping bees. It is so enjoyable, rewarding and educational. To help both the new beekeeper and the experienced beekeeper, we provide these free lessons through this blog. And, like many people, you can call us or email us too if you have beekeeping questions.
Before we get into today's lesson, let me tell you the three next lessons in the works: THAT BLAZIN' SMOKER. I'll tell you the history of the smoker, and the best ways to use it. FLORAL SOURCES THAT BEES LIKE. We'll look at some flowers that bees really gather the nectar from. CLOAKE BOARD QUEEN REARING. I've adopted the Cloake board into our queen rearing operation, and I want to explain it to you and tell you exactly how to use it, making queen rearing much more easy. So tell you friends, and pass these lessons on to others.
Also, every couple of days we place a beekeeping tip on our main website: http://www.honeybeesonline.com You may have seen our recent tip saying to use grass as a bee brush instead of a real bee brush. Try it, you'll be surprised how calm the bees are toward the grass compared to the brush.
LESSON 61: PREPARE FOR WINTER IN AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
Here in Illinois, August is one of the hottest months of the year, a month when gardens are in full production, crops are solid green and grass needs mowed every few days. Here is one of Sheri's big green peppers. So it is very difficult to think "winter" while working bees. I've taught before that winter preparation begins when you first start working your bees in the spring. Everything we do to manipulate the hive is in hopes that they will build up and make it through the winter.
Now that we are in the middle of August, you really need to be seriously thinking about making winter preparations. Not so much externally but internally. It's too early to wrap a hive or to put in an entrance cleat (reducer), but it is not too early to start looking at the internal condition of your hive.
HOW A HIVE MAKES IT THROUGH THE COLD MONTHS OF WINTER
In the perfect scenario, a hive will store pollen and honey above the brood nest area. If you have two deeps on your colony, the lower should be filled with mostly brood in various stages and the upper deep should contain more honey and pollen, though there may be some brood as well.
As the colony heads into winter, they are able to slowly and gradually move upward, eating their way into the upper deep, using the consumption of honey to generate heat and honey and pollen to feed their winter brood. Finally when spring arrives, without missing a meal, they can begin foraging from the spring nectar flow. Remember, I did say this is the perfect scenario. It seldom works that way. But it can and should and perhaps you, as a beekeeper, can help that happen now that it is only August.
So to fully inform you on what to do about helping your bees survive winter, I need to give you some important pointers. First, let me give them to you as bullet points, then I will elaborate.
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER WINTER PREPARATION PROCEDURE
* Get Rid of Tracheal and Varroa Mites
* Get Rid of Nosema
* Evaluate Pollen & Honey Stores &
Strategically Configure Frames
* Feed as Necessary both Pollen & Syrup
* Configure frames Strategically
* Protect Hive from Harsh Wind
* Provide Adequate Ventilation
* Protect from Mice
* Requeen between June 21 - September 21
Obviously, most beekeepers do not do all of the above. I would say that most beekeepers only do one or two of the above. It's a gamble to do nothing. It might work. Many of us do have hives that we do absolutely nothing to and they do fine. I have two survival yards that get no attention and they do fine. But they are survival stock bees. Some people even believe hives that cannot survive on their own need to perish to be removed from the gene pool. There is some degree of truth to that too, unless that hive is your only hive.
Listen, I'm healthy, but I'm not going to do well stuck outside in a brutal winter. You can have all the right genetics you want, but if there is no honey available to keep the bees alive, they will perish. So let me talk more about the bullet points above.

GET RID OF TRACHEAL & VARROA MITES
TRACHEAL MITES (Acarapis woodi)
It is easy for us to assume tracheal mites are no longer a problem because you can't see them with the naked eye. They reproduce in the tracheae (breathing tubes) of the thorax in the bee. The mites feed on bee blood and damage the tracheae making it difficult for bees to breathe. Prior to 1980 there were no tracheal mites in the USA. Between 1980-1984 the tracheal mites moved in from Mexico and devastated hives throughout America.
A common sign that tracheal mites might be a problem is when a colony dies during the winter. Bees might be found crawling around instead of flying during early spring. Winter clusters may perish even with large supplies of honey. Another symptom is "K-wing" which is when the two wings can no longer be hooked, due to damage to the flight muscle. Keep in mind that these symptoms can also be unrelated to tracheal mites, and may be caused from another problem. So it is impossible to find one single symptom or sign short of putting the bee's trachea under a scope and seeing what's in there. Most beekeepers can't do that and don't want to do that.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT TRACHEAL MITES
1. Use Resistant Stock. Beekeepers do have a better line of defense against tracheal mites, such as using queens that have proven to be resistant toward tracheal mites. These lines include Buckfast, Russian and Carniolans.
2. If you are not oppose to medicating your colony, you can use many of the products on the market today such as Apiguard and Miteaway. Grease patties mixed with thymol proves effective as well.
VARROA MITES (Varroa destructor)
This mite was originally named Varroa jacobsoni but now more specifically it has been identified as Varroa destructor. It became a threat in the USA in the late 1980s. As an external parasite they feed on the blood of all stages and caste of bees. They reproduce in the sealed brood cell.
Because this mites reproduces in sealed brood, the emerging bee can be weakened or sick and have a shortened life. Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a result of high varroa destructor infestation. In the developing stage the mites feed upon the wing buds of the bees and the result is a deformed wing, appearing like it has been burned or shriveled up. Hives will not over winter well with high v. mite counts and may even perish during the winter. Get mites out of your hives before winter.
What To Do About Varroa Mites
1. Use a queen that shows mite resistance, such as VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygienic). Buckfast, Russian and Carniolans show greater mite resistance.
2. Continue a IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach by using:
a) Drone Comb. Freeze it after it is sealed, killing all the
mites that prefer the longer cycle of a sealed drone
cell. You can purchase "Green Drone Comb."
b) Powdered Sugar Treatment. Put 1-2 cups of
powdered sugar between the frames of each brood
box, once a week for 3-6 weeks after supers are off.
c) Use Screen Bottom Boards. Mites fall through and
cannot return easily.
3. If you use medication, Miteaway and formic acid pads
work well. When using any medication, follow the
directions especially getting honey off during treatment
and sealing up hive as stated and following temperature
requirements as well.
NOSEMA DISEASE
Nosema is a big concern for beekeepers. It is a disease that spreads in the midgut of the adult honey bee. It has been identified as a protozoan but now is being reclassified as a fungus. Beekeepers quickly became familiar with Nosema apis, usually watching for excessive bee feces on the outside of the hive, though bees can have Nosema apis without outward signs. Nosema spores are transmitted through bee feces when young bees clean contaminated comb. More noticeable symptoms are crawling bees with distended abdomens and dislocated wings. The disease weakens a colony and is all but certain death as the hive goes through winter. Fumagillin is an effective treatment especially as a fall treatment in sugar syrup. It is best to send samples into the Beltsville lab to determine if your bees are infested with Nosema. If not, no need to treat. CLICK HERE ON INFO ABOUT SENDING IN A SAMPLE OF BEES TO THE BELTSVILLE LAB. IT'S FREE
Nosema ceranae has recently been identified in the USA. The two Nosema diseases are similar except with N. ceranae a colony can perish within a week. Unlike with N. apis, there may be no diarrhea on the outside of the hive and few to no symptoms other than foraging bees seem to die outside the hive and the population dwindles. N. ceranae has, by some, been associated with CCD. Again, fumagillin seems to be the suggested treatment. Colonies with N. ceranae can function entirely normal without any signs of concern, until additional stressors are placed on the hive. Again, it is best to send samples into the Beltsville lab to determine if your bees are infested and if not, no need to treat.
EVALUATE YOUR HONEY AND POLLEN STORES
Time should be taken to review the content of the hive, not just honey stores, but pollen stores as well. Many beekeepers find their hives pollen bound in the spring, due to the enormous amount of pollen available. Beekeepers finding their hives "pollen bound" are forced to remove and disregard the pollen to make room for brood and honey. However, in the fall and winter, colonies suffer from not having enough pollen.
CONFIGURE FRAMES STRATEGICALLY
Now is a good time to begin reviewing your pollen and honey stores in the hive and positioning them for best winter survival. All food stores must be above the bees, not below them. If pollen is low, feed them pollen patties or dry pollen outside the hive on dry days. If honey stores are low, feed 2 parts sugar and 1 part water to increase the honey stores.
PROTECT HIVE FROM HARSH WINTER WINDS
Beekeepers in the north need to provide some protection around the hive to block harsh winter winds. Keep in mind that the bees do not heat the total inside of their hives like we heat our homes. Instead, they only heat the cluster. Temperatures around the outside of the cluster can be very much the same as on the outside of the hive. Obviously, the bees do have to keep their cluster warm and if harsh winter winds blast the hive, the bees will have to consume more honey to generate heat, which means they could starve out.
Wrapping the hive with roofing paper has been shown to help, or building a berm around the hive or some sort of fence to block the wind can help as well.
PROVIDE ADEQUATE VENTILATION
You need to also provide top ventilation. DO NOT wrap your hive air tight. Moisture will develop on the inside of the hive top and rain down on the bees.
I usually wait until the coldest day of winter to put up my Christmas lights. Then, I wonder why I didn't put them up a week ago when it was warm! Same with wrapping your hive. Don't do it in the summer, but don't wait until it is so cold that you decide not to do it at all. But if you wrap or not, you need to allow for some top ventilation. Otherwise, excess moisture will develop in the hive as condensation on the inside of the top cover and rain down on the bees. I place a 1/2" thick stick under the telescoping top cover to allow for ventilation in the summer.
PROTECT FROM MICE
Mice like to use beehives as their winter home. Mice can destroy a healthy hive during the winter by eating through the comb and eating bees and honey. You must block them out! Usually the wooden entrance reducer is enough when set to the smallest opening. You can also purchase various styles of mouse guards, some are made from metal. If you have a left over queen excluder, you can put it between your bottom board and your deep hive body. But you must keep the mice out. Again, do not wait until the mice are in the hive and then seal them inside the hive. My rule of thumb is to place mouse guards on the hive a couple of weeks before the fields are harvested.
Finally, requeen your hive between June 21 and September 21. The new queen will lay like it is spring, giving you lots of new "winter" bees, those that can live through the winter. A new queen also has strong pheromones which can reduce swarming in the spring. And a new queen will build the hive up faster in the spring as well. Do not think that this year's queen was so good, that she'll pull her hive through the winter and be great again next year. She can only lay so many eggs, then she will cause your hive to perish. Requeen!
I hope today's lesson will help you get your hive through the winter.With the information I have given you, please do not become too overly concerned and worried about the health of your hive. But do be proactive, and make sure your hive is as healthy and as protected as they can be going into winter.
My next lesson will be on the smoker. I've had fun, researching and writing this lesson on the smoker, so watch for it soon.
Remember to contact us as we sell all beekeeping equipment include woodenware, protective clothing, packages, queens and nucs. We sure would appreciate our business. Thank you.
CONTACT US AT:
217-427-2678
www.honeybeesonline.com
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
Until next time remember to BEE-have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
Central Illinois
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