Beehive Examination & Colony Evaluation PDF

Review Tips for examining a beehive Every time you examine a hive: - have safety equipment and tools within easy reach - wear your veil (jacket or bee suit) before entering site - add fuel and ignite smoker To open hive: - approach slowly and away from entrance...

Review Tips for examining a beehive Every time you examine a hive: - have safety equipment and tools within easy reach - wear your veil (jacket or bee suit) before entering site - add fuel and ignite smoker To open hive: - approach slowly and away from entrance - stand beside or behind hive while you work - puff smoke at entrance of hive and again at top when you remove the outer cover (lid) - place outer cover upside down beside/behind hive - use hive tool to pry inner cover loose, lift gently and after checking to make sure queen is not there, set it aside Review Tips for examining a beehive When removing frames reduce risk of harming the queen: - slowly (gently) lift outer-most frame or feeder (if present), confirm queen is absent, lean frame/feeder on outside of hive - hold frames over hive so that if queen is present and falls off, she will fall into the hive (queen won’t survive outside hive) - gently pry next frame loose into the empty space you have created and gently lift for inspection - when reassembling, place frames in original positions if possible (don’t crush bees or drop frames) Review Tips for examining a beehive When removing boxes reduce risk of harming the queen or crushing bees: - pry boxes apart with hive tool and puff smoke between them - place removed box diagonally on the outer cover (lid) Note: the queen will avoid light and remain within frames of a box During any inspection, move smoothly and remain calm so bees don’t get stressed Review Spring colony evaluation Don’t open hives if weather is still cold - ideally, temperature should be at least 15oC if you plan to keep hive open for more than just a few minutes - noon on a warm, windless, dry day is good for inspection A quick inspection may be done without removing frames if weather is not ideal – look down between frames or lift them slightly for a better view without removing them Review Spring colony evaluation Early Spring Inspection (Feb-March) No need to remove frames, just a quick check looking for: - population, did they survive winter and are they clustered? - enough food (pollen, honey) and space add supplemental feed pollen and 1:1 or 2:1 sugar water if necessary - signs of disease or pests (mice? dead bees?) Mid Spring Inspection (April-May) By examining just a few frames, look for: - enough food (pollen, honey) and space (add supplemental feed) if upper box crowded, swap with lower box (2 brood boxes used) - eggs or brood, indicate presence of laying queen - signs of disease or pests Review Spring colony evaluation Late Spring Inspections (May-June) Thorough inspection at beginning of May and every 10-14 days thereafter until June (warm weather). All frames should be removed from box, one by one, and replaced after examination. Clean bottom boards Things to look for: - enough food (pollen, honey) and space (add supplemental feed) - if crowding observed consider adding a super with new frames - eggs and brood (all stages), indicates presence of laying queen? brood pattern should be solid with few gaps - swarm cells on upper or lower edges of frames during each inspection and remove if you find any (before they are capped) - signs of disease, pests, dead bees Review Spring colony evaluation Example of what you might see during spring inspection: - good brood pattern (sign of a healthy queen) - signs of swarming! Healthy queen lays solid brood pattern. Note swarm cells on bottom of frame in crowded hive Review Spring colony evaluation Good queen performance Queen produces solid pattern and large quantities of worker and drone brood Poor queen performance Poorly performing queen can lead to gradual decline or death of entire honey bee colony - “Drone layer” queen produces drones as sperm reserves decline - A failing queen is perceived by colony, and replacement queens are made in cells usually located mid comb - Disease causing death of brood or poor queen performance can lead to irregular “patchy” brood pattern Review Nectar, pollen and importance What do bees do with nectar and pollen? - nectar processed into honey, the major energy rich carbohydrate source for bees - honey also used in production of beeswax (5:1) w/w - pollen is critical source of protein for brood production and adult bee nutrition When should you add sugar water and/or pollen supplement (substitute) to a colony? - during spring build up pollen supplement aids brood production - before main nectar flow sugar water helps bees draw (make) wax comb on new (bare) foundation - during shortage (dearth) of pollen and nectar such as a drought - when over-wintering bees after honey is harvested  Bee behaviour The birds and the bees… I told Sarah today about the birds and the bees. But she still doesn’t understand sex by Sex Ed. Teacher October 07, 2003 So you are telling me that queens can mate with 10 or more drones and during a single mating flight?… Are bees really an appropriate example to explain sex to our kids?  Bee behaviour Queen Development Develops from a fertilized egg or young female larva Queens are reared in special cells that hang vertically and are extended as larva grows - larvae are fed a diet of royal jelly and lots of extra food Cells capped on day 5 and larva spins cocoon inside  Bee behaviour Queen Emergence Completes development and emerges 15 to 16 days after the egg was laid Seeks out rivals (with/without help of workers) and chewing out sides of cells to kill by stinging or may fight to the death with another emerged queen Initiates mating flights 5-6 days after emerging  Bee behaviour Mating – the not so easy part of a drones life Only function - reproduction Reach sexual maturity about 12 days after emergence and initiate mating flights  Bee behaviour Mating – a fatal act for drones Virgin queens leave the hive to mate, attracting many males (drone comet) with pheromones at drone congregation areas - drone congregation areas can remain stable for years - mating with multiple drones occurs in flight - mating is fatal for drone  Bee behaviour Mating – Gory details  Bee behaviour “Fall Drone Massacre” – the final chapter Drones are not reared all year - only spring and summer Drone population dependent on colony strength & condition Drones kicked-out of colony in fall when no longer needed Drones during happier times (spring-summer)  Bee behaviour - swarming Swarming – a natural form of colony reproduction There are two main causes (triggers) for swarming: Overcrowding: The hive becomes too congested and is forced to swarm Swarm cells on bottom of a brood frame Reproductive instinct: The hive has the innate urge to split  Bee behaviour - swarming Overcrowding: – colony adds large quantity of brood in spring or “honey bound” and becomes too congested to function, so it swarms Reproductive instinct: - entire colony, not the queen, decides that sufficient resources (honey, pollen and bees) exist for the host colony to survive if part were to leave and there is still enough time for a new hive to establish itself before winter  Bee behaviour - swarming Queen will slow down laying eggs Forager bees become scouts looking for a new home for the swarm Swarm queen cells are capped (prime swarm doesn’t wait for new queen to emerge, just cells to be capped) Bees that will leave with the old queen fill up with honey The prime swarm will be comprised of young bees and the old queen Bee behaviour - swarming Bee behaviour - swarming  Bee behaviour - swarming Meanwhile back at the old hive… New queens hatch The colony decides whether it is strong enough to cast out a second swarm or not If not, then the new queens will battle to see who will become new ruler and who will die  Bee behaviour – queen replacement Natural replacement of the queen – by the colony (planned) – swarm for purpose of colony reproduction (unplanned) – emergency or supersedure when something goes wrong  Bee behaviour – queen replacement Natural Queen Replacement in Honey Bee Colony Emergency When a queen dies or is killed unexpectedly, workers reconstruct several worker cells into queen cells - normally on comb areas containing brood - larvae selected are usually younger than three days  Bee behaviour – queen replacement Natural Queen Replacement in Honey Bee Colony Supersedure Failure of a queen to distribute pheromones and lay the necessary number of eggs may lead worker bees to supersede (replace) her - workers build 1-3 queen cells, called supersedure, or replacement, cells, at intervals of a few days - queen lays an egg in each queen cell - first queen emerges and remaining queen cells are destroyed - new queen sometimes lives in peace with the old queen until she dies  Foraging Foraging – The act of finding food How do bees find food and communicate with each other regarding its location? Chemical – brood produced pheromones can stimulate foraging behaviour in other members of the colony Vision – compound eyes (2) used for polarized light vision, simple ocelli eyes (3) for light intensity Tactile communication - of source, quality, direction and distance of forage from the hive. Waggle and Round Dances  Foraging – bee vision Honey bees have two convex compound eyes capable of distinguishing high contrast shapes and patterns Honey bees also have three simple eyes (ocelli) located in top of their head that detect light intensity and are thought to play a role in navigation  Foraging – bee vision A honey bee compound eye can see movement 5 times faster than humans - allows foragers to recognize landmarks as they approach the hive during high speed flight Bees can distinguish between patterns that have sufficiently different degree of “brokenness” - Bees can distinguish between shapes in bottom and top rows but not shapes within each row  Foraging – bee vision - Honey bees are red blind and see this colour as grey or black - Bees have “true colour” trichromatic vision shifted to shorter wavelengths including the ultraviolet range - Bees are particularly sensitive to blue and yellow (common flower colours!)  Foraging – bee vision Normal light (human vision) U.V. light (bee vision) Some flowers reflect ultraviolet light to guide potential pollinators to the nectar rewards and receptive sexual parts A bees ability to see UV and plane polarized light also allows navigation using the sun and stars even on a cloudy day!  Foraging behaviour - dance The "dance" language of honeybees is largely a tactile communication system for relaying information about location of a food source - performed in total darkness on the vertical surface of the honeycomb A "round dance" signals to nest-mates the presence of a nectar source close to hive (usually less than 25 m) and consists of a series of circular runs with more or less frequent changes in direction. The greater the frequency of direction changes, the better the quality of the nectar source  Foraging behaviour - dance The "waggle dance" is used for longer distances and involves a figure eight pattern with a series of abdominal “waggles” on a straight run after each half-circle turn Distance is indicated by the duration of the straight run and the frequency of the waggles Direction is indicated by angle of the straight run (relative to vertical) and matches the horizontal angle between the sun and the direction of the food source  Foraging behaviour - dance Waggle dance - The straight portion (waggle run) is always performed with the bee orienting her body at the same position relative to gravity on the vertical comb - Orientation of the waggle axis relative to gravity specifies the azimuth direction of the food source relative to the direction of the sun  Foraging behaviour - dance Waggle dance - If the comb is held horizontally with the top facing the sun, the direction of the waggle run would point directly toward the food source  Foraging behaviour - dance Waggle dance - Bees measure distance by the relative amount of energy they use in flight - The duration of the waggle run increases with distance flown to reach food source  Bee behaviour - robbing Robbing Honey bees will sometimes steal (rob) honey from weaker colonies during times of nectar scarcity Large numbers of bees will aggressively enter a hive by overwhelming guard bees and steal honey reserves Robbing can completely deplete food reserves of a colony in as little as a single day Robbing behaviour can be triggered by exposed honey near a hive that is detected by foragers from another hive  Bee behaviour - robbing Robbing – signs - greater than normal (aggressive) activity at entrance and inside hive - piles of wax-cappings near hive entrance - jagged edges on comb where honey was removed Honey comb with sections where Honey comb with jagged edges bees removed honey for use in the indicating that it was robbed colony  Bee behaviour - robbing Robbing - prevention - be sure colonies are well-fed when nectar is scarce - reduce the size of the hive entrance - move colony to new location or re-position colony facing opposite direction - never leave exposed honey out in the open near bee hives Hive with entrance reducer to help prevent robbing  Bee behaviour - hygene Hygenic behavior Maintenance of the nest: Bees are very careful about nest hygiene; they clean cells before reuse, and remove debris or dead bees Removal of parasites: Researchers have found that honey bees that exhibit strong hygenic behaviour groom more often and as a result dislodge parasites such as varroa mites more efficiently  Bee behaviour - hygene Hygenic behaviour is a highly desirable genetic trait, easily measured in a test where a patch of brood is killed with liquid nitrogen and the ability of the colony to remove dead individuals is measured Hygenic bees have Non-hygenic bees removed all the dead have only removed a brood and cleaned the portion dead brood Using liquid nitrogen to kill comb a patch of brood for a hygene test Next class … Quiz #2 (topics covered in lectures 3-4 only) Apiaries, moving hives for pollination, splits and re-queening, balancing healthy colonies, protecting bees