And Then There Were Four...

Donna Brown
Dec 27, 2021
4 min read

It's been a few months since I have written a blog post. It's not that we haven't checked in on the Girlz, it's that there hasn't been anything of interest to note. But as the temps are on the verge of dropping and we are moving into winter (because in Texas we move directly from Summer to Winter) we needed to assess the state of the apiary.

We've been having unseasonably warm days this December (it was in the high 70s on Christmas) so we seized the opportunity on Sunday, December 26, to do a deep dive into the hives. It might be our last chance; once the temperature drops into the 50s consistently we will rarely open the hives. And if it's below 30° we won't open them at all. The bees will predominately stay within the hive during colder weather, they actually have trouble flying in temps below 55°. We purchased eleven bales of hay from a neighbor to put around the north and west sides of the apiary in the hopes to shield the hives from the constant northerly "winter" wind. We want to do anything we can to help the Girlz survive the winter.

Do bees hibernate?

No! Instead, when the temperature drops to about 64°, the bees form a globe-like cluster or "bee ball" inside on one of the innermost frames. They point their heads inward and use their bodies to keep the cluster warm. When a bee gets too cold it will crawl inward and swap with another bee. As the temperature in the hive drops, the closer the bees get to each other. If temps reach in the 20s, the bees will begin vibrating the wings muscles to generate heat thus rising the internal temperature of the cluster. The outside layer of bees in the cluster will remain still and act as layer of insulation.

Our plan for the day was to look in each hive and see how many bees were present (accounting for the foragers who would be out doing their bee duties) and take stock of their winter stores of honey and pollen. We brought along sugar water to help supplement the Girlz short term because it's been so warm they will have expended energy searching for food and not finding anything—there is nothing blooming this time of year.

Most of the colonies looked strong — we saw bees coming in and out of the entrances, and most had plenty of bees. The more bees in the colony going into winter to insulate the cluster, the more likely they will survive until spring.

We kept an eye out for signs of laying activity in the form of capped brood or larva. We did notice larva in one hive which is a bit odd this time of year. At least we knew the queen was alive and well! It is always a banner day when you can spot a queen. Here she is alive and well in HIVE C:

In the photo above, you can see a smattering of capped brood. We also saw larva, so we are not sure if the queen is overzealous or trying to raise her numbers going into winter. Perhaps she is confused with the warm weather. This hive had A TON of comb jam packed with honey and looked like it was in danger of being honey bound (meaning there are no empty cells) but it wasn't the case. You can see that there is plenty of empty cells to lay eggs in when the time comes. Whew. Sometimes the Girlz can be a bit over ambitious.

And now for the disheartening news... HIVE A is gone. They flew the coop, so to speak. On the bright side, we didn't see any dead bees. So they didn't freeze or starve to death. We really don't know what happened. The queen could have died, but if that happened they would have tried—unsuccessfully—to raise another. Or, without the pheromones of uncapped brood to suppress the ovaries of the female workers, they can become laying workers. Bu there were no signs of either scenario. We have no idea what happened but they absconded. The last time we looked in the hive they had resources, but something must have driven them away.

(apologies for the slightly out of focus photo) Suspicious comb in the upper right hand corner

The bad news is that because the bees left the hive abandoned, it opened up the hive boxes for unwanted pests. I killed my first ever hive beetle—we've been lucky to not have seen any up to now. Or the bees have been strong enough to keep them out of the hive. Inside the top syrup feeder, which was empty, was small yellowish worms. I thought they might be wax moth larva, and when I saw a large one crawl out of some suspicious looking comb from one of the abandoned frames, it was confirmed. So this begs the question as to whether the Girlz left because of the pests or the pests came when the Girlz left.

Either way, we are down to four hives: B, C, D, and E.

CURRENT HIVES:

A: Absconded 😢

B: 2021 NUC Golden Cordovan: 1 Deep, 1 Super, Feeder

C: SPLIT from A; 2021 Golden Cordovan Queen (TBS): : 1 Deep, 1 Super , Feeder

D: 2021 NUC TX5000: : 2 Deeps, Feeder

E: SPLIT from A; 2021 Queen (Gretchen BR): : 1 Deep, Feeder

Hopguard: 08/15/21

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