As part of the series (See Part 1, 2, 3) on the Myerstown Method of Beekeeping, here is a quick overview of how I/we take care of Population Management in relation to beekeeping.

Population Management:

When I first began to keep bees I was offered three different requirements to the needed size of the brood chamber. I first read in a book that said 3 hive body boxes (deep boxes for brood chambers) were the required number. Then, at the outset of my new adventure I began to work for a commercial beekeeper that had close to 1000 hives. He said in his opinion only one hive body was needed to survive the winter. So being the type to go with experience over book learning, I left one deep box on the hive for the winter in my first year and as a result, as any experience beekeeper could tell you ahead of time, I lost both my hives that first year. What happened? Well, for so many of us, we hear the wonderful words of wisdom but fail to understand the process that led to those words being formed in the first place. Truth is this should be a lesson to everyone to play it safe until you have a full understanding of what is going on. There was one hive body alright but in addition, a medium honey super was placed on top as well. The seasoned beekeeper, used to how he operated, knew that it needed to be there but failed to tell me most likely because he probably didn’t think of how green I was.

That first year was painful and I never want to repeat that but it taught me a vital lesson; error on the side of caution. If I had the three hive bodies the first year, sure there would have been a lot of wasted space as they barely filled up two in the first season, but I still would have two hives more to my apiary. As a result I have now come to the opinion that the number of boxes you use should be dependent on the general location you live. In Alabama for example, the winters are not as harsh and if you’re tight on equipment go do one hive body with a super of honey. Here in my area of southern Missouri, one needs to provide two hive bodies for overwintering (no super). For my friends up north I’d suggest being sure to have three hive bodies available. These are just my suggestions but I feel confident in their accuracy.

As part of the Fall routine, and you should have a general checklist that you use to prepare your hive for winter. My list now only resides in my mind but in the beginning I wrote them down to follow.

Mites, when they first began to come to beekeeping, had a destructive effect on the hive strength and overwintering ability. For those wondering why I have not covered Tracheal mites, I feel that through my research, natural selection is the best means of treatment. Bees are fairly resistant to the tracheal mites and using aids will only select hives that will become weaker to the tracheal mites.

Over the years, the bees have grown resistant to much of Varroa Destructor’s affects. Though it can still cause shrunken wings and affect the bees’ health, the honeybees’ ability to adapt has grown stronger. Most often a hive will keep the Varroa mite under control but it still is not something you want to ignore. As I stated in a previous post, I use the powdered sugar method to control Varroa Mites. Though there are traps and other methods available, I find this method to be working for me. This requires a screened bottom board and a flour sifter. The best sifters are the wind-able type. The hand squeeze type are very labor-some and will wear your hand out. As part of the fall routine place a screened bottom board under the hive (if it’s not already there) and open each layer of the hive and sift the powdered sugar on top of the frames and through the frames.

How this method works is that the little white ghosts (bees with sugar on them) flying around begin to groom other bees to get the sweet sugar off and in doing so remove the Varroa mites which are attached most times to the back of the abdomen. When the mite is removed the screened bottom board provides a place for the mite to fall through and out of the hive. Many beekeepers keep a pan of canola oil or sunflower oil under the hive for the mites to fall into and drown (avoid vegetable oil as it goes rancid quick). And admittedly, the success rate is higher because it prevents the mite from crawling back inside however this does require special grooved bottom boards with a pan that is the same size. Unless it is purchased, it is a bit hard to find a pan the size of a beehive bottom board. This adds extra expense. One other way is to use a flat plywood type material and purchase a sticky paper (applied after applying the sugar) that is sold in most beekeeper catalogs. Be sure the bees do not have any access to this paper or you will kill bees. There is a great site online to get plans for building your own bottom board. It’s at beesource.com and you can also find many other hive items you can build yourself.

Most beekeepers I know have a valid concern about the hive making it through the winter. If a hive is strong going into the winter, then there are only two things that one needs to think about when preparing for winter, food and warmth. With the issue of warmth, the bees have mastered how to conserve energy. They create a “Cluster” that vibrates and oscillates as a whole. As a bee becomes cold on the outside of the cluster, she will move to the inside where she and others’ vigorously vibrate their wings that will create a friction heat. As soon as she is warm she is pushed out by other bees going inside the cluster and so the cluster continues. At times the temperature becomes so cold that the bees will be unable to move much at all, during these times it is food that becomes the concern. Assuming you left plenty of honey in the fall, your bees should be fine going into winter but if for some reason the honey is not placed correctly in relation to the cluster they can starve only an inch away from honey. This happened to me my first year. I left plenty of honey (in fact I didn’t rob the hive at all) and the bees all died inside the hive. They used up the honey that was by the cluster (the cluster was well defined with bees still inside cells) and just an inch away, honey could be found. The lesson I took from that was I needed to adjust the frames inside the hive to make honey placed in the center of the hive. As part of my late fall list, I move the good honey frames (full frames) to the center creating a place for the cluster to have honey all around it. This has helped remove my hive losses due to starvation.

Now some might say that I am enabling the bees to make the mistake of bad placement of honey. Meaning, if you help the bees by moving frames closer to the cluster, you will in effect be selecting bee’s traits that are not sustainable. And, overtime the traits you will be selecting for is poor placement of honey in the hive. I see that as a valid concern and that is why I maintain two hive bodies throughout the year and in effect gives the bees the opportunity at correctly place honey before the year is up. What this means is that you the beekeeper only rob once (for mid and northern locations) and that one time should be early enough in the year for the bees to rebuild their honey supply. I never take the honey in the brood boxes and only remove honey from the supers (which have a queen excluder under them). There almost always is sufficient honey in the top brood box to support the hive through the winter.

Once the honey supers have been removed for the year and the brood boxes coated with powdered sugar, your hive needs to be left alone so they can rebuild their stores with what little nectar remains (a few late season blossoms remain here in southern Missouri) and re-establish the propolis seal around the hive joints to help insulate the hive from wind.

The final post in this series will be our Method of Honey Extraction. This year I have a new 30 frame extractor and will need to make a few repairs (that’s how I could afford it) and I am also going to have to finish my building to house the extractor (due to the fact I can’t get the extractor into the house through the standard doors) and so the last post my come later than the usual “Post a Month” that I have been maintaining.