Bees eat their way through...

I tried two methods of merging hives a few days ago.  The first one, I tried the sugarwater-vanilla method.  My first attempt, I only transfer one frame from the queen-less hive to a queen-right hive (I hope I used the term correctly...).  All went smoothly.  No one seems to mind the presence of strange bees with them.  So, the next day, I tried the same method again, but these time I transferred 3 frames from the queen-less hive.  Everything was ok at first, but later that day, I saw bees clustering around the queen as if ganging up on her, trying to hurt her.  I tried to break them up.  The queen managed to walk away, but other worker bees began to cluster around her as soon as she got near them.  They seem to be pulling and biting her.  That day I thought I would lost a queen.  I really felt there was nothing I can do to save the queen.  I can not guard her all day, so I decided to let them be. I really do no know what was happening in the hive.  If I interfere, I might do more damage than good.  So I just hope and pray that the queen will still be there the next day.  And guess what?  The queen was still alive and well, as if nothing happened to her.  The workers clustering around her, biting her legs, pulling her, was probably meant to protect her... I do not know... but I have not read these things in books on beekeeping.  I probably never will... but I saw it and learned something new... it was fascinating!

My second merging attempt I tried the newspaper method.  Two to three days after, the bees managed to chew their way through the newspaper.  But they chewed at the rear part of the hive and no way near the holes I punctured.  I lowered the frames to the main hive and nothing interesting happened later on.  The newspaper method seems less stressful than the vanilla method, but then again, I merged two queen-less hives together.  Anyways, both methods work fine. I guess worker bees will not normally hurt the queen, especially if she is the only one in the hive and no candidates to replace her.

Trust in your bees... they know what they are doing...

So, as it turned out, I really had nothing to worry about my bees not finding their way out.  When I arrived at my humble apiary, I saw the bees clustering at the box hive entrance below.  Bees, after all can find their way back home miles away!

But some bees still insist on using the old entrance...

I checked the hives and still found some wax moth larvae.  I had no choice but to crush them.  The bees did not seem to get as irritated as before and allowed me to do my chores.  The remaining three hives look better (I lost one to wax moth).  I am an amateur, but I think I am correct to say that the colonies are growing.  Though, I still have not seen their queen.  I really need to finish my third hive converter.  One colony is still using the original hive they came in with and it really has no more room for the bees to expand.  If I don't add new suppers soon, the bees might end up swarming again!

There could be a new threat to my colonies.  I heard of news that small hive beetles have already reached our country.  I saw this in one of the hive.  It is several times bigger than what we have in CVSU.  Unfortunately, my photo is so poor I can not use it as reference and I was not able to take a sample with me.  But I do pray this is not a SHB!  I just hope that the increase in bee population will help keep all pests in check.

"Hope My Bees Will Find Their Way Out..."

There has been lots of things going since my last post about getting my bee hives.  A few days later, My application to the CVSU Bee Program got accepted so I am now a "professional" beekeeper.    I now have some money to spend for my graduate school expenses.  Graduate school started last November, also the same time the CVSU bees arrived.   So I have my hands full!  Plus, the 6 hours commute back and forth is really tiring me out.  Ok, enough of my excuses for not blogging.

I am suppose to go to Amadeo today to see how the bees are doing.  I was there last night to close the entrance of 2 of the old hives.  I am currently experimenting on a hive conversion technique which I found on the internet.  If you will look at the photos of my hives, these are just single layer supers with closed bottom. The bees really have no room to expand.  This is not a problem to the previous owner because he harvest honey combs monthly.  The bees were always busy rebuilding combs.  But not with me.  I will only be harvesting honey during the honey flow season.  The previous owner warned me about this.  He said I should check for wax moths because they love old combs.  In fact, one of my hive had already succumbed to wax moth!  So, I decided to push through with my initial plan to house the bees in a traditional Japanese beehives. Hopefully, the bees will like the simple log type hive  and the extra room below for them to expand and grow strong.  Once a frame is empty of all the brood cells, I remove it from the hive.  The bees will run out of frames above and will be forced to expand and build combs below the Japanese hive. Well, at least that is the theory.

I setup the conversion hive during the day and retain the original hive entrance so the bees can return without a hitch.  Come night fall, I closed off the original entrance of the original hive and open the entrance below.  I hope the bees will work their way to the new chambers below and find their way out so they can forage.  If not, the bees will be in deep trouble and so will I for not visiting them today as I am suppose to.

Please excuse the low res photos.  I don't have a good camera right now.

I am also suppose to set up the third hive today, but decided no to as the old hive I used for the conversion hive has too many cracks and it will just give me a lot of trouble later on.  The glue gun I used previously did not do a good job sealing off the cracks.  I really should use some good wood putty to patch up the cracks.

Finally Got My Colonies!

I finally got my 4 colonies of Apis cerana.  We bought them at Balete, Batangas and hauled it all the way to Amadeo, Cavite, about 3 hours travel via the long flat route.  I was really worried that the bees would get stressed out. They probably would have if we traveled by day.  But we all got home safe. We immediately set up the hives, picking, at that time, what I thought was the safest location that will afford some shade at noon.   We turned the hives so the hive entrances face east.  Then I removed the cover.  The bees did not fly out... so I was a bit relieved that the bees did not abscond.  

I really did not get any sleep last night contantly thinking about the bees.  I was awake when my phone alarmed at 4... I did not get up until 5... When I went to see the bees, the hives were still quiet... no activity whatsoever, though I can hear the feint buzzing inside if I put my ear against the hive.  When 6 am struck, the bees got out one by one like clockwork.  I think some of the bees were disoriented.  I saw two bees wrestled each other to death on the ground.  I was afraid that I may have put the hives too close to each other, but I later dismissed the idea as I have seen some videos where hives are placed side by side, and mine was distanced around a meter.  

At this time, I decided to put the sugar-water feeder back to the hive.  I have earlier resolved not to feed the bees with sugar, but after my talk with the beekeeper last night, I have decided that I will do with sugar-water regimen for now, until I have the bees, probably the next generations, have acclimatized with their new environment and have learn not to rely on sugar-water.  The beekeeper confirmed that this is possible especially if I am not aiming for commercial production, I must carefully observe the colony.  Soon, I saw the bees took their orientation flights around the hive and zoomed to nowhere.  A few minutes later, some of the bees were flying back inside the hive carrying baskets full of white polen.  I wonder where they found it.  It must be quite near for it was only about 20-30 minutes since I saw the first be flew out of the hive.  A few more minutes later, bees are dumping white polen in their hive... maybe, just maybe, I can really do away with the sugar feeding, especially if I have planted the whole garden with wild flowers and herbs.  

Before I left the bees, I hung 2 swarm traps on nearby trees.  I was told by the beekeeper  that 2 or 3 of the hives already have queen cells and are ready to divide any moment.

with an extra feeder outside...

The One-Straw Revolution...

The moment I got my library card at CVSU a few months ago, the first book I searched was Masanobu Fukuoka's "The One-Straw Revolution".  I was very glad that the library's data base showed 6 copies of the said book.  But none of the six copies can be found.   I practically searched all the shelves, checking each book one by one but I did not find the book.  Even the librarians from the Circulation, the Filipiniana, and the Reference section all helped me rummage the shelves but we found no copies.  Finally, one of the head librarians told me that the books may have been donated to other schools, after all, the book was printed 1978 and it was old... very old.  But she did promise that she will look into the matter and notify me as soon as they find the book.  Then, a week or two ago while searching for a book in soil fertility, something caught my eye.  I have searched that shelf several times and it was not there before.  They finally found it!  I love this book.  I ordered a copy at Amazon years ago.  I am very happy that an agricultural school like the Cavite State University has one.  If I can have my way, I will have all agricultural curriculum centered around this book and have the all the Principles of Natural Farming sown into the heart of every student!

Update on the New Super

These bees are amazing!  They have completely covered up the holes in the plastic sheet divider including the large circular hole at the center.  But they actually left some passages open to access the empty chamber above them..  What could they be planning?!?  I have no idea!  They have completed the sealing a week ago.  So far no other activities, but there are some bees loitering around the empty chamber.

This was a few weeks ago when the new super was added...

This is now...

The passage way... the only access to the main chambers
below...

A small portion of the brood chamber below the plastic sheet
can be seen through a small hole (center of picture).

Filling the Honey Pot

Less than a week after I added a an extra super with a plastic separator sheet... the bees immediately went to work and covered the small rectangular holes at same time building up large amount of propolis around the circular hole.  I am not sure if they will cover it up entirely.  Pardon the poor photos.  I put a plastic sheet cover so I can lift up the cover and observe without the bees flying out.

Watching the bees filling up the honey pots is so amazing.  I can probably watch the bees going about their chores the whole day if they would allow me.  Here is a short video of stingless bees filling-in, and or, feeding in the honey pots.  Can you imagine the bees working in complete darkness the whole day?