This Month in the Bee Yard

September

If you used Apistan strips in one or more of your colonies for control of the varroa mites, remember these strips should remain in the hive for 42 to 56 days, (six weeks minimum and eight weeks maximum).   Check your records and remove all Apistan strips after they have been in the hive for 56 days.

The asters should start blooming on or about September 21 and they should continue blooming through most of October.  They continue to bloom even after a light frost.  This honey is usually all stored in the brood chamber.  Aster nectar has a strong and sour odor when brought to the hive.  This strong odor will be radiating from each hive, especially in the evenings, as the bees start fanning the nectar brought in during the day.  This odor signifies the start of the fall honey flow and is not a sign of foulbrood.

If you were unable to check your colonies last month, September is not too late to make these checks and verify that each colony has a good laying queen.  It is not necessary to actually see the queen.  Check the brood and the brood pattern.  If you see brood in all stages, including eggs, then you had a queen there within the last three days. The brood should be in a compact area with only a few empty cells.  The amount of brood depends upon the number of bees in that colony.  A good queen in a colony with only a few bees or in a colony with very little honey stores may have little or no brood.  Under these conditions, the queen is not at fault for the colony having very little brood.  The queen is a very important factor in the life of a colony but look and consider these other factors when evaluating the queen of the colony.  kgp