Wrapping Up The Year In August
This was the best of years, and the worst of years (the old cartoon of Dickens with his publisher, asking him, well, which was it? The best of years, or the worst?).
For my hives.
Honey production of blackberry, though my supers are still stacked and unextracted, looks to be pretty miserable. I would guess 30 gallons, when I was expecting over 100 easily. Its the worst year ever. I did average for Maple earlier- I think 40 gallons?- but for some reason not blackberry. I can only point to vagaries and subtleties of the weather. I had more bees, more hives, all ready to go and supered than I have ever had ever (I would guess 25 all potentially productive?). But very little happened- maybe a super per hive, sometimes two, but on average, I'd say less than 1. That's terrible.
Again- I have yet to extract and maybe its better than that, but I don't think so.
The blackberry plant, on its own, seems to have done quite well in producing berries, without the help of honeybees- it looks to me like there is an amazing amount of fruit out there. Which of course, calls into question the actual necessity of honeybees- but maybe they did more than I think they did.
That's the bad news- which isn't the good news- but does have its silver lining- in that had I got as much honey as I expected I would, I'd be exhausted extracting and trying to find enough containers and getting the supers back on for knotweed- etc, etc. And I am super busy with my regular job, so it would not have been a good time.
The good news is really good- if I am correct- and in the same way I can't account for sure about why there is so little blackberry honey, I can't entirely account for why my hives, with a few explainable exceptions, are so healthy. Its amazing. I have (I think) 36 hives currently, some starters of 2 supers, and others older with 3 or 4 (by supers I mean brood boxes- few now have actual supers), and of the random mite testing I have done so far (and it has not been comprehensive, time has not permitted, but it has been random and thorough), I have seen almost 0 mites. A few hives have had one. None have had two. Since early Spring. And now- the height of mite season, I am still seeing that trend (knock on wood that I haven't missed a bad hive).
When I go to an apiary and open hives, they are almost all the same. Not like the past few years with queens mysteriously gone, or collapses, but all relatively strong, all with strong centered brood patterns, all with stores. No mites.
I can't really put my finger on it. I have not treated even once this year- whereas all the past 5 or 6 years, I'd be on my second or third shipment of MAQS or whatever by now. Sometimes intense treatments in Spring. With thousands of dead mites when I applied it. Last year I was ready to give up.
This year, nothing, Not even any mite bombs (do they really exist?). I know my luck can't last, but it is extraordinairy.
For posterity, I can report pretty accurately what my treatments were leading up to this time.
At the end of summer last year I treated with MAQS. In September, I did another mite count, and found high numbers, as if the MAQS had not been effective. On the advise of a local bee club forum, I applied Apivar. I checked in October- and found I still had a high count, as if the Apivar was ineffective, and frustrated, I pulled it all out (maybe a little early?).
I then was given a roll of homemade OA blue towels, per RO's recipe. Desparate and late in the season, and feeling like I had produced some sort of super mite, I put 3 towels into all the hives I had (I think 20 or so). And I left them there til Spring.
The first week of January I did OA vapor treatments on all hives. Some had few, some had drops of 20 or so (if I recall right). Not convinced that OA vapor was effective, I waited 2 weeks to do it again- and still found a mite drop, but much less.
And that was it. Come Spring I did 5-10 counts and found none. I saw none on the boards. I saw none in drone larva later in Spring. I did lose some hives though- but this happened in November. And some were small- and in those, the towels that remained were dripping wet from the PNW moisture- enough that I thought I'd never do it again.
Now I don't know.
Since the beginning of August, although still with no mites of signifcance, I started adding towels again. RO says that August might be too late- but I don't see when else I would try. I am expecting to see at least some drop on some boards, but I don't know. RO also says that for some hives its not effective. Oh well. I will do a more thorough count when work winds down.
I have however, had two other hive diseases take down a few hives this year- both CPBV and EFB, at different times, have been a problem. Neither has killed any hives, but both are really awful- and the hives that were struck seem to still be at risk. So- not a perfect world- but way better than mites.
For my hives.
Honey production of blackberry, though my supers are still stacked and unextracted, looks to be pretty miserable. I would guess 30 gallons, when I was expecting over 100 easily. Its the worst year ever. I did average for Maple earlier- I think 40 gallons?- but for some reason not blackberry. I can only point to vagaries and subtleties of the weather. I had more bees, more hives, all ready to go and supered than I have ever had ever (I would guess 25 all potentially productive?). But very little happened- maybe a super per hive, sometimes two, but on average, I'd say less than 1. That's terrible.
Again- I have yet to extract and maybe its better than that, but I don't think so.
The blackberry plant, on its own, seems to have done quite well in producing berries, without the help of honeybees- it looks to me like there is an amazing amount of fruit out there. Which of course, calls into question the actual necessity of honeybees- but maybe they did more than I think they did.
That's the bad news- which isn't the good news- but does have its silver lining- in that had I got as much honey as I expected I would, I'd be exhausted extracting and trying to find enough containers and getting the supers back on for knotweed- etc, etc. And I am super busy with my regular job, so it would not have been a good time.
The good news is really good- if I am correct- and in the same way I can't account for sure about why there is so little blackberry honey, I can't entirely account for why my hives, with a few explainable exceptions, are so healthy. Its amazing. I have (I think) 36 hives currently, some starters of 2 supers, and others older with 3 or 4 (by supers I mean brood boxes- few now have actual supers), and of the random mite testing I have done so far (and it has not been comprehensive, time has not permitted, but it has been random and thorough), I have seen almost 0 mites. A few hives have had one. None have had two. Since early Spring. And now- the height of mite season, I am still seeing that trend (knock on wood that I haven't missed a bad hive).
When I go to an apiary and open hives, they are almost all the same. Not like the past few years with queens mysteriously gone, or collapses, but all relatively strong, all with strong centered brood patterns, all with stores. No mites.
I can't really put my finger on it. I have not treated even once this year- whereas all the past 5 or 6 years, I'd be on my second or third shipment of MAQS or whatever by now. Sometimes intense treatments in Spring. With thousands of dead mites when I applied it. Last year I was ready to give up.
This year, nothing, Not even any mite bombs (do they really exist?). I know my luck can't last, but it is extraordinairy.
For posterity, I can report pretty accurately what my treatments were leading up to this time.
At the end of summer last year I treated with MAQS. In September, I did another mite count, and found high numbers, as if the MAQS had not been effective. On the advise of a local bee club forum, I applied Apivar. I checked in October- and found I still had a high count, as if the Apivar was ineffective, and frustrated, I pulled it all out (maybe a little early?).
I then was given a roll of homemade OA blue towels, per RO's recipe. Desparate and late in the season, and feeling like I had produced some sort of super mite, I put 3 towels into all the hives I had (I think 20 or so). And I left them there til Spring.
The first week of January I did OA vapor treatments on all hives. Some had few, some had drops of 20 or so (if I recall right). Not convinced that OA vapor was effective, I waited 2 weeks to do it again- and still found a mite drop, but much less.
And that was it. Come Spring I did 5-10 counts and found none. I saw none on the boards. I saw none in drone larva later in Spring. I did lose some hives though- but this happened in November. And some were small- and in those, the towels that remained were dripping wet from the PNW moisture- enough that I thought I'd never do it again.
Now I don't know.
Since the beginning of August, although still with no mites of signifcance, I started adding towels again. RO says that August might be too late- but I don't see when else I would try. I am expecting to see at least some drop on some boards, but I don't know. RO also says that for some hives its not effective. Oh well. I will do a more thorough count when work winds down.
I have however, had two other hive diseases take down a few hives this year- both CPBV and EFB, at different times, have been a problem. Neither has killed any hives, but both are really awful- and the hives that were struck seem to still be at risk. So- not a perfect world- but way better than mites.
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