Bees are really interesting creatures. Things don’t always go the way the book says they should.
11/4/23
I found a queen in a hive which is normal. What I didn’t expect is that she had no wings. Most times this is caused by something called deformed wing virus. It rarely impacts the queen unless they are making a new one due to some stress in the hive. If they make a queen while the virus is impacting the bees then the new queen will develop with deformed or no wings. With deformed wings she can not fly to mate. This means that she will only lay unfertilized eggs which will turn out to be drones.
Another odd thing is that I saw a decent amount of regular brood in worker cells. My best guess is that this hive has 2 queens. While this is an odd situation some articles that I have read indicate that it may be as many as 20 to 30% of hives have 2 queens.
If you want to see a video of this situation and others you can follow me on instagram at kritscherapiaries.
Feel free to reach ouit if you have questions.
Winter Preparation
It is not uncommon for a beekeeper to see this kind of spotty pattern in their brood this time of year. It shows that there is a problem and if not taken care of quickly this hive is more likely to die in the next few months as winter sets in.
As of this writing I have put Apivar in some of my hives (no honey supers on) and I have Formic Pro in others. I am trying to see if the Formic Pro will be harsh enough to cause any queen loss. I know that Apivar is a much more subtle treatment. It works well for overwintering.
Right now I am feeding with 2:1 syrup and I am putting pollen patties on if I don’t see any pollen in my weaker hives. My stronger hives have enough pollen stores so I let them feed naturally.
Around the bay area I am seeing a dramatic variation in honey storage. Some hives are robbing others. Hives next to each other can have very different amounts of honey. I am closing down entrances to make sure that robbing is minimized and I am feeding hard to get at least 30 lbs or 6 frames of capped honey in the hive before the weather gets below 50 deg F.
Contact me if you would like more information on how I am managing my hives this time of year.
It is not uncommon for a beekeeper to see this kind of spotty pattern in their brood this time of year. It shows that there is a problem and if not taken care of quickly this hive is more likely to die in the next few months as winter sets in.
As of this writing I have put Apivar in some of my hives (no honey supers on) and I have Formic Pro in others. I am trying to see if the Formic Pro will be harsh enough to cause any queen loss. I know that Apivar is a much more subtle treatment. It works well for overwintering.
Right now I am feeding with 2:1 syrup and I am putting pollen patties on if I don’t see any pollen in my weaker hives. My stronger hives have enough pollen stores so I let them feed naturally.
Around the bay area I am seeing a dramatic variation in honey storage. Some hives are robbing others. Hives next to each other can have very different amounts of honey. I am closing down entrances to make sure that robbing is minimized and I am feeding hard to get at least 30 lbs or 6 frames of capped honey in the hive before the weather gets below 50 deg F.
Contact me if you would like more information on how I am managing my hives this time of year.