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Sustainable Beekeeping (Part 1)
By: Richard Wahl
Attaining Sustainability
Seven or eight years ago I decided to see if I could become a self-sustainable beekeeper. That is, could I raise my own queens and bee stock without the recurring need to buy packages, nucleus (nucs) starter hives or queens? The answer has been a resounding “yes” with only a few minor changes made in my approach to beekeeping. Since 2018 I have accomplished that goal and see no reason why it should not continue well into the future. In the following article I will highlight areas in which I feel the small scale beekeeper should become proficient in order to accomplish this goal; but first a bit of background. I began working with bees fifteen years ago as a result of a swarm catch. I had no mentor and was not aware that clubs or conferences even existed. I was learning mostly by trial and error with what little I could find at the time on the internet and two beginner books written by Kim Flottum: the paperbacks The New Starting Right with Bees by Kim Flottum and Kathy Summers and “The Backyard Beekeeper”. I had no idea where learning more about the art of beekeeping would take me. Through this journey in becoming a more efficient beekeeper I have reached two areas where I measure a bit of success. The first is that in my fifteen years of bee management I have had at least one hive survive through each of our variable Michigan winters. I say at least one since I have also lost a few along the way, particularly in my early years as I was gaining knowledge of some of the fundamentals I cover that follow. The second point of pride is the self-sustainability that I have had for the past six or so years. Here are those areas in which I feel the small scale beekeeper needs to become proficient in order to attain self-sustainability.
Mite Management
It goes without saying that in today’s beekeeping environment if you do not take care in managing the mite loads in your hives it is unlikely your bees will survive. As with many other lessons, I learned this the hard way when I allowed mite loads to become too great and lost more hives than I should have during earlier previous Winters.
Without going into the specifics or details of mite treatment options or the history of mite infestation in the states, (covering those topics alone could fill an entire article) I will summarize the steps that have worked for me. First off I create a brood break by doing splits. Since the mites need a capped cell in order to reproduce, a brood break with few or no capped cells for a period of time cuts into the mite’s ability to reproduce. Brood breaks are often a natural occurrence when hives are split. I decide which strong over wintered hives should be split when the dandelions are in full bloom. When I do the splits I insert a green drone frame to replace one of the empty older drawn comb frames or an extra older pollen loaded frame. Placing the green drone frame next to a capped brood frame usually results in that green drone frame being drawn out and after a close calendar watch it can be withdrawn and replaced with another or with an empty normal frame. I like to go through this process at least once and in some early Summers as many as three rounds before no longer using the green drone frames. They seem to be most effective in late Spring and early Summer when a good nectar flow is occurring and new bees are willing to draw out new comb. Knowing when to remove or replace the green drone frame is critical when using them as you do not want capped drone emerging with a mite bomb in your hives. In a few rare instances I may leave a capped drone frame to mature and emerge. I only do this if there has been a very low mite count in the hive the previous year or found in a previous mite test, the hive has a strong queen and the hive is a good honey producer. Allowing these drones to mature and go out to mate with virgin queens should have a positive impact on increasing the desired traits you wish to have carried forward in your own as well as neighboring bee apiaries.
I should have as a result.
My next treatment, if mite loads require it, is to use the Formic Pro pads. I like to do my first Formic Pro treatment in late June or early July with a second treatment, if it is required, in late August or early September. I like the Formic Pro treatment as it penetrates the capped brood to some extent and it can be used with honey supers on the hive. I prefer the one pad for ten days followed by a second pad for ten days method rather than two pads for fourteen days as it seems to be less stressful for the bees. One precaution is that Formic Pro should not be used with daytime temperatures above 85°F (29.5°C) on the day of application. There is also a caution that temperatures above 92°F (33.3°C) may be detrimental if reached in the first three days after application. I have found that this precaution is only necessary for the first three to four days as after that the strongest potency has worn off. That is, if the temperature gets a bit higher after three or four days there seems to be no negative impact. Label instructions need to be carefully followed for any chosen chemical mite treatment.
The next treatment option that I use is the oxalic acid dribble. I like to do this as late in the year as possible since it is most effective when there is the least amount of capped brood in the cells. Oxalic in any form does not penetrate under the brood caps. If an October mite test shows a need for treatment I will do one oxalic dribble in late October or early November followed by a second after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but before the Christmas holidays, temperatures permitting. I like to use this treatment when the following nighttime temps will not fall below 45°F (7.2°C) since the dribble is placed directly on the bees and they need to clean each other off. I have also found that a good practice is doing a morning dribble with a simple two to one sugar syrup mix followed by an early afternoon oxalic dribble. The a.m. sugar syrup dribble cleaning results in many bees engorged with sugar syrup and they are less likely to consume as much of the oxalic treatment in the afternoon. For a first time dribbler it is also a good way to practice and get the five milliliters amount down correctly before doing the actual oxalic dribble. While the oxalic is not detrimental to the bees if consumed in small quantities, it is lethal to the mites when they come in contact with it. I have found that with the brood break and green drone frame I need no further treatments other than the occasional last oxalic dribble. I have become a proponent of only treating when mite testing shows that it is required as opposed to the philosophy that if you need to treat one hive, you should treat them all. This is only another of the many options you will need to decide for your own beekeeping management. In any case my mite loads have decreased significantly using the above regimen. Then again, my self-sustainment while choosing only the best hives with the best queens to split may be a factor in a natural selection of more mite resistant bees.
Feeding Your Bees
The next area that I feel the sustainable beekeeper needs to become capable of is when, what and how to best feed your bees. In the April 2024 issue of Bee Culture Magazine I wrote an entire detailed article on “Feeding Your Bees”. Since that article covered feeding in detail I will only summarize my techniques here. As with all things in beekeeping, the type of feed and type of feeder to use provides the beekeeper with many choices. Starting at the beginning of the year around the Christmas/New Year’s holidays or in early Winter I place a mountain camp feeder on my hives. This is simply a modified method where newspaper or baking parchment paper is covered in a layer of granulated sugar placed over the uppermost frames in the hive which may require a spacer for room.
Winter granulated sugar feeding is insurance in the event a hive has not had the chance to store up enough honey to get them through to the first Spring nectar flow. This may be the case if the hive was a late swarm catch or the beekeeper took a bit more honey from the hive than they should have. In the spring, after I do my splits and remove any remaining mountain camp sugar, I like to use a Boardman quart jar feeder with any of my nuc splits and a frame feeder with any double deeps that have been split into two separate ten frame deep hives. A one part water to one part sugar dissolved in the water is the accepted mix for Spring feeding as it most closely mimics Spring nectar flows and allows the early brood to draw out comb much faster when that is required. I do very little feeding during the Summer unless I have a swarm catch or later split that can use some supplemental feeding to augment their need to build new comb. In the Fall I use a two parts sugar dissolved in one part water mix. This mixture requires bees less effort to extract the water content and assists bees in their fattening up for the Winter. Any type feeder could be used at this point although I like to use an inverted bucket with a small screened hole placed over the inner cover and surrounded by another empty super and the outer cover. In this fashion only the bees in the hive can get to the supplemental feed and wasps or other attempts at robbing are negligible. Naturally, I never have sugar feeders on when I have my honey supers on for the obvious reason; no sugar syrup is made into honey for my uses. Feeding is a “better safe than sorry” choice as it is there if needed. If there is a strong nectar flow or adequate supplies in the hive I find the bees will normally ignore my supplemental feed and use their own resources when available. I also like to add a partial pollen patty about two months prior to the usual dandelion bloom time. Michigan is full of pollen sources and often some older pollen saturated frames need to be removed from hives to allow more room for the queen to lay eggs. However, when Spring comes early, as it did this year, the queen begins laying more eggs and those bees becoming larva need to be fed. If close outside pollen sources are available the bees will ignore my pollen patties. But in case there is a need they will use it if required.
Working With Splits
The next area that the sustainable beekeeper needs to become familiar with is when and how to do splits. The benefits of a split include the increase of your hive count and when done correctly can preclude swarming, although there will be exceptions to this premise much as everything in beekeeping. Once again I wrote an entire article on splits which was published in the May 2022 issue of Bee Culture titled “Increasing Your Hive Count”. Without going into a great amount of detail the key components of doing a split are to keep any brood frames together in the center of the receiving super or nuc and to have a frame with an ample pollen and nectar supply nearby. Any nectar or food frames of capped honey can be placed against the outer walls of the super or nuc. Frames of drawn comb are an asset for the bees as the queen can start to lay eggs almost immediately. Undrawn frames can be placed between brood and food frames to give newly emerging brood a place to draw out new comb. This is especially beneficial if there is a strong nectar flow occurring at the time of the split. It is up to the beekeeper to decide whether to split hive assets equally or to provide a smaller number of brood, pollen, nectar and empty or partially drawn comb frames in the receiving receptacles. Splits can be as small as one brood frame and one pollen/nectar frame as a food source. This is particularly useful if a frame is found with a capped queen cell that needs to reach emergence. Or a double ten frame deep can be split with ten frames going to each half of the two newly split off hives. A good understanding of when and how to accomplish splits will often mitigate the urge of hives to swarm which brings us to the next topic.
Managing Swarming
Understanding the urges that result in bee’s desire to swarm and how to manage this instinct can go a long way toward a larger honey crop and also lessen the loss of your bee population to the outside world. The causes for swarming can include overcrowding, pesticide buildup on old comb, heavy mite infestation, poor ventilation, an aging queen or simply the urge to procreate. Swarms can be used to increase your hive count, strengthen an existing hive or simply provide a way to keep your hive populations enlarged. I can only recall one year in my entire beekeeping experience when I did not have a swarm. By my fourth year of beekeeping, I was catching four or five swarms each year with nearly all found within fifty or so yards of my own hives. In those early years I would have sworn they were not coming from my hives, but I have changed my opinion on this as I have had the opportunity to watch swarms leaving my hives in more recent years despite doing splits. After four or five years of beekeeping, I began setting out swarm traps and found that nearly every year I would have a swarm move into at least one of my traps. Therefore on this point I would recommend any beekeeper have a swarm trap or two within a few hundred yards of every beeyard. Swarming bees seem to have a tendency to pick a spot within a few dozen yards of their originating hive to make their first coagulated rest stop. Even if space, old comb replacement, mite management, ventilation needs and queen replacements are optimally managed, there may still be an urge to swarm due to the natural instinct to procreate the genetic line of the existing hive. One key element that I find seems to mitigate the swarming instinct is that when doing splits move the existing queen off of any frame where she is found. That frame is the most likely area where she is looking for a cell to lay another egg. Place her in a new portion of the split, be it another super or a nuc or even with a different brood frame from the existing hive. For some reason removing the reigning queen to a new location seems to lessen the demeanor of the existing bees to want to swarm.
Part 1 Summary
This concludes part 1 of “Sustainable Beekeeping”. I have found that becoming proficient in these areas has greatly lessened my need to buy new packages, nucs or queens. In next month’s issue I will complete a discussion on the importance of how to use nucleus hives, key aspects of winterizing your bee colonies and a last section on queen rearing steps. I hope that by learning more about and practicing these management techniques, it assists any beekeeper in becoming self-sustainable. Doing so not only provides a better husbandry of our honey producing helpers but also cuts down on successive costs as the beekeeper extends their knowledge and sells or uses the most beneficial products of the hive.
Richard Wahl began learning beekeeping the hard way starting in 2010 with no mentor or club association and a swarm catch. He is now a self-sustainable hobby beekeeper since 2018, writing articles, giving lectures and teaching beginning honey bee husbandry and hive management.
