I (Tina) recently bought two Pol-line queens, hoping to add some great new genetics to my bees. I pulled nucs for them both, since that is so much surer as a way to introduce a new queen…get them accepted by a nuc, then insert the nuc into the full colony. I pulled the first nuc the day before the queens were to arrive, so they had been queenless for one full day before I put her cage into the hive. Unfortunately, the nuc was from a mean colony, but it was the one in my yard most able to give up a few frames of bees and brood. Mean bees are harder to get to accept a new queen.

When I introduced the queen cage, the bees immediately balled it. You can tell the difference between a bunch of bees excited to see a new queen, and a ball of violent killers by two things. One, the size of the ball. A huge bunch of bees are aggressive, a moderate bunch of bees are just excited to see her. Two, aggressive bees bite the cage and often hold their abdomens in curved sting posture.

I almost never do a candy release. The bees can get through that candy way too fast, and this was soft candy. So, I already had a piece of masking tape over the candy to slow them down. I was thanking my lucky stars that I hadn’t cut the tiny slit in the tape that helps the bees get through it. I pressed down the edges of the tape well, and put her cage right on a brood  frame.

With the second queen, I also pulled a nuc, a bigger one this time, and from a colony of nice bees. These bees were just excited to see their new queen, but just to be safe, (since I didn’t have any tape with me) I put a plastic cap over the JZBZ queen cage and that soft candy.

After 4 days, I checked both of the nucs, and neither showed any more aggression to their queens, so I gave the bees access to the candy, which should mean another day or two before she’s out.

Since queen substance is passed by touch, not scent, and the bees can’t really touch the new queen very well, they almost always start their own queen cells, even though there is a caged queen in the colony. I have learned the hard way that it is difficult to see those little queen cells covered with lots of happy nurse bees, so I’m very thorough about seeking them out. I blow the bees off of every frame, including honey frames, and really look for queen cells, and cut them out very well, not just taking the wax off from over the larval queens, but scooping them out so they can’t be repaired.

After 5 more days I checked both nucs again, expecting to see fresh eggs and hatched larvae in both. Not so! Both had re-started queen cells with too-old larvae. In the first one I checked, the big nuc with nice bees, I looked very carefully for eggs or larvae and could find none. I cut out the intercaste queen cell and combined with the colony next door, which also had a new queen, but needed more bees.

When I checked the small nuc with mean bees, and saw two new queen cells, I was so disgusted that I just closed it up and walked away to give myself time to decide what to do with them. I called a friend who also had two new Pol-line queens. She had tossed hers in nucs as well, but gave the bees access to the candy and went on vacation after cutting out the queen cells. When she came back, she also found more new queen cells, but also found her new queens laying well and apparently happy.

After hearing her story, I went back out and checked my mean nuc with the two new queen cells. Sure enough, there was my nice new, red queen, having laid just a few eggs and with just a few just-hatched larvae. The larvae were so full of jelly, I had to look really closely to be sure that it wasn’t just jelly with no baby. So glad I called my friend! The two queen cells were just fine, getting ready to emerge, since the nurses had removed the wax covering the tips of their cells. Why hadn’t the new queen killed them? What was she thinking?

I pulled the queen cells out to a mating nuc (even though they’re mean, and probably intercaste, but they were normal-sized) and marked my new girl. So exciting!

Moral of the story…talk to your bee friends about what is going on, and pay attention. And, never give up… never surrender. Those darn bees don’t read the book!

A bee club member called the other day, asking for help figuring out why his colony was weak. He hadn’t been in it recently, but when last checked, it seemed strong, and now it was down to about 3 frames of bees. Diagnosis always starts with history, so I asked how old the queen was.. she is two, so this is her second spring build up. We removed the frame next to the sidewall, and it had crystallized honey on it. Then we went right to the one in the center of the circle of bees on the tops of frames, where the queen should be, and there she was, a nice, big, fairly fat queen. There was mixed ages of open larvae on the frame…eggs next to large larvae, next to newly emerged larvae; not in the customary half circles of similarly aged larvae.

The larvae appeared dry. On the next frame, there was a lot of open larvae, with one capped, one brown, all looking dry and ill-fed. On the final frame, also open larvae, some brown, a couple of double eggs in cells, all dry and ill-fed, and not aadult bees at all on  the frame. To this point, we had seen no fresh bee bread nor any fresh nectar in cells. I started thinking that they were starving, and maybe feeding would solve the problem, of maybe with a new queen (the larvae aren’t supposed to be of mixed ages like that), and they certainly needed more bees.

In the top box, there was one frame with bees on it, and it was all fresh bee bread and nectar. In fact, there were 5 frames up top with fresh nectar and bee bread, and none down in the brood chamber. The first obvious thing to do was to cut them down to a single brood box so that the few bees could control the temperature and humidity properly, while fresh food would be right next to the brood and cluster.

Adding up the rest of the clues, we decided that it was possible that although there were no queen cells nor even a remnant of an emerged queen cell, the fact that there was only open brood with a dramatically reduced population might mean that this was a supersedure queen. The beekeeper felt doubtful, since she was larger than he might expect for a new queen, but she wasn’t super-fat, and after 10 days of laying, I thought she could be that size.

It takes 5 weeks from egg to laying, and then 21 days more to emerged brood, which would account for the reduced population. It is not uncommon for the bees to preserve the lower brood chamber for the brood, while placing stores up above, which could account for the configuration and lack of feeding of larvae. The beekeeper had recently done a split in his other colony, and both sides of it looked perfect, so we didn’t want to bother either one of them too much, but decided that the best way he could boost population was to move a sheet of emerging brood from the just -split colony to the weakling, without any adult bees. In 5 days, the emerged bees will be old enough to feed larvae, and this won’t be too disruptive nor costly to the donor colony.

If a split had not just been done in this yard, a very easy solution would be to switch the positions of the weak colony with the swarm-ready colony, as it would serve the needs of both. When separated from the foragers (they’d be in the weak colony now) the old queen is not thinking of swarming. Those foragers who would move right into the weak colony that was in the place of their strong colony would boost the population and the stores so much that the larvae would be fed, and the population could recover. Adding up clues, it is a fun and important part of beekeeping.  T

You’ve seen the list of benefits of being a member of CSBA, but what does all of that mean to you as an individual beekeeper? Why do you want to belong to CSBA? Here are the reasons my club is affiliated, and through them, I am a member… Very high on my list of reasons is politics. I really don’t like politics, don’t trust politicians, and don’t want to be forced to try to monitor what is happening in the world of politics and bees. However, politics is important to our bees. This is where regulations are made that affect how poisons (otherwise known as pesticides) are used in our world and on our food.  Governing bodies also make rules regarding whether we can even keep bees, where we can do so, how many we can keep, how we move them, how we sell honey and products from the hive, and so on. We need someone watching out for us, our bees, our food, and our livelihoods, and that is one thing CSBA does for us. Even when we have a board of directors who aren’t particularly politically involved, our legislators know where to find information and help on these questions because CSBA exists. Also, when we as individuals each put a little bit of money in the pot, then CSBA can financially support other organizations that are affecting politics in our region, like Pollinators and People Action Network, The Pollinator Stewardship Council, the American Beekeeping Federation, and the American Honey Producers Association.

Just as an example, the last time I tuned in to honey politics, both the ABF and the AHPA were working with the government to reduce the amount of fake honey coming in that reduces the price of our real honey. This is important! There was also a labeling question: the government was trying to make honey labels say, “added sugars” when there is not added sugar in honey. Just this reason is enough for me to always make sure that I support CSBA financially through my local bee club. Our legislators know these are important questions, because our membership numbers say that there are a lot of us beekeepers. Both regional clubs and the state beekeepers association need those numbers of registered members, they give us beekeepers a real voice in important decisions that affect us and our bees. Every person counts!

Likewise, because of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, there is a great web page where really good information can be found by beekeepers, and by the general public. When someone is having an issue with “bees” (whether they are actual bees or wasps) they look online for a solution, and they find the answers they need, and contacts for the people who can take care of the bees quickly and easily. This is where the state supported swarm hotline comes in (and it isn’t cheap). CSBA doesn’t tell my club how to run their swarm hotline, but directs callers to our dispatcher. I know this works, because I get calls that should go to a club that isn’t on the hotline because they aren’t affiliated. I also get more calls from people in my area who found my contact information on the CSBA web site, although my regional bee club has a great web page and two Facebook pages.

When a beekeeper needs to find a source of nucs in their area, or a beekeeper to speak at a school or public event, they look online and CSBA comes right up. And, because you belong to CSBA, you help support this source of information, and you get to take advantage of the fact that there are people who volunteer for the state bee association to answer the phone, so you don’t have to. We also have volunteers who organize those speakers for schools and events. We have lists of speakers to help groups find the education they need, whether they are beekeepers or non-beekeepers. Without me or you, the CSBA would still be there, the website would still be there, but we would be taking advantage of it without contributing, and I hate to be called a free-loader! The promotion of bee and pollinator health is an important function of both the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, and your regional bee club.

Education is another thing that a bee club provides for its members. I enjoy and learn a lot from my local bee club, but there is even more that can be had from CSBA. At our summer meeting, we have great speakers on subjects your local club might not think about, and with speakers that the local club might never have heard of or might not be able to afford. We also do cool, fun, and important hands-on workshops available to everyone at the summer meeting. Where else can you see a bee hospital yard and learn about how to recognize bee diseases and what to do about them? Remember learning to mark queens a couple of years ago, practicing on someone else’s drones? These events are at very low cost to members, so there is a financial advantage as well.

Another way the state bee association supports your local bee club in education is with the Traveling Road Show. My local club does hands-on workshops in bee hives, but it is great that CSBA will send someone to further our education, or teach us to raise queens, which is the option my bee club has chosen for this summer. It is really good to hear a different point of view, from someone with different experiences than bee club leadership might have. There is so much to learn! Why would we limit ourselves to just our bee club president? (And why should that person have to do all the work?)

Through CSBA, we have the Colorado Master Beekeepers Program. This is a great educational opportunity available only to members of CSBA, and lots of fun besides. Through it, our state gains better beekeepers and healthier bees, and well-educated regional bee club members, a real benefit for all of the beekeepers in all of the clubs that have members participating. One valuable benefit of membership in CSBA is the scholarship program, whereby each affiliated club can nominate members from their club for a scholarship. Each club gets one-time scholarships for each of the four levels in the Master Beekeeper Program (not 4 scholarships each year for each club, just 4 scholarships one time per club). Many clubs have not taken advantage of this benefit, so there are a lot of scholarships left. If you are interested, apply for nomination with your bee club Board of Directors.

I could go on and on about how we help your regional bee club and why it is important for each beekeeper in the state of Colorado to belong to CSBA, but you can see that big, long list for yourself, and just the points I’ve made here are plenty of reasons to make sure your regional club is affiliated with CSBA, or to join as an individual if necessary. Regional bee clubs need to have their new 2022 member rosters sent in to our secretary by April 1st so we can take registrations for the upcoming summer meeting in Rifle. We are also being forced to cull our mailing list, so if you don’t want to miss the twice monthly newsletters and beekeeping tips, better get on the list!

The easy way to collect clean propolis is to use a propolis trap late in the summer, when bees are already wanting to propolize everything in sight. It looks a lot like a a queen excluder (but different), and fits on top of the uppermost hive body. Once the bees get it filled with propolis, the trap goes in the freezer to stiffen. Frozen propolis is brittle, and a couple of twists to the trap yield a nice little pile of small propolis “sticks”. I just tried one for the first time this year.  Works great!

I also end up at the end of the year with a fist-sized or larger glob of propolis scrapings. These aren’t so clean.  They contain wood chips, bee legs, beeswax, etc. This glob goes in the freezer, too, along with either a dedicated coffee grinder, or a mortar and pestle. Once well frozen, the propolis and tools come out of the freezer. Break off a small chunk of propolis, and put the rest back in the freezer. Just a couple of minutes in the mortar and pestle will yield a nice pile of propolis dust, up to pin head size. The finer you can get it, the cleaner you will be able to get it, and the more good stuff the alcohol will be able to pull out for the tincture. If you are using a coffee grinder, be aware that grinding for too long will heat the propolis, and make it very sticky.

Place the ground propolis into a square of cloth or paint filter. This gives you something to lift it out of the water with. Submerge in cool water, deep enough to allow the junk to float up. It will take a couple of minutes of stirring to get everything wet enough to work properly.  Skim the junk off the surface of the water, and lift your now-clean propolis out using the square of cloth. Allow to drip, and air dry.

Propolis powder mixed with honey, at a ratio of 3 parts propolis to 7 parts of honey, is a great wound dressing. Supposedly, it will even heal a wound that already has gangrene. I used a 1:2 ratio of propolis/honey for the honey facial demonstation.

To make a tincture, add 1 part of propolis to 5 parts of oil, alcohol (like vodka), or water, depending on the intended use. Never use rubbing alcohol, which is poisonous. Shake the liquid and propolis jar twice daily for a minimum of two weeks, and strain. Alcohol does the best job of pulling the good stuff out of the propolis, and into the liquid for use. Alcohol, water, and oil all pull different constituents from the propolis. For a great mouthwash, you’d use a water tincture. For a body cream, an oil tincture would be used. Alcohol propolis tincture works well for use as a medicinal.  Propolis is antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and even anti-tumoral in some instances.

Happy Beeks!
I am sure you have all seen that your bees will fly if it is over 45 degrees. That is pretty amazing, since they can’t even move out of the cluster unless it is at least 40 degrees. These bee biology facts help us understand what we can do for our bees, and when. Since we know they can’t move at all unless it is at least 40′, we know that they need it to warm up a bit before they can move to full honey combs. For this reason, I usually wrap my hives with tar paper during (actual) winters. It looks like this might be one. These days that have warm temps are the perfect time to do that. I just staple the tar paper right to the hive body; langstroth, top bar, and long hive alike, making sure to leave the ventilation holes open. We want to do this on a nice day, so that if our disturbance makes the bees leave the cluster, they’ll be able to get back up before being paralyzed by the cold. Same thing with adding sugar patties. The one in the photo has pollen patty, too. Pollen is better kept off until later. Bee candy or sugar on newspaper is perfect for right now. You can see that there is no hardware cloth or support under my bee candy. I mixed it fairly dry, and let it set in my sunny window for a few days until it was self-supporting. I used 10 lbs of sugar to 3/4 cup of water, and used the bread hooks of my stand mixer to help. There is a nice article at https://honeybeesuite.com/no-cook-candy-board-recipe-for-feeding-winter-bees/ for those of you who want to read more. Make good use of these nice days! T