Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the pile of waste (called frass ) along with the remains of her cocoon stay behind. As
soon as she leaves, house bees clean out as much of this as they can, but they cannot
remove it all. What remains is sealed with a thin layer of propolis and wax. As a result,
after only two or three generations these cells begin to darken. After a few seasons, they
will be nearly black. Added to this is all of the pollen, dirt, plant resins, and other ma-
terial foragers bring back with them and spread over the dance floor area. Plus, spores
from nosema, American foulbrood, and chalkbrood diseases are present in the brood-
nest, even if you are treating for these maladies. And any pesticides that may have made
their way back to the hive are present on or in the wax.
All of this debris combines to produce a very dark comb, laden with things your
brand-new bees don't need to be exposed to and that surely add a level of stress to your
colony. Replace old, dark combs routinely to avoid this stress. Every three years, in the
spring when most combs are empty, is a good recommendation, but it certainly should
occur whenever the comb becomes so dark that when held up to the sun, no light passes
through.
Mingling frames from the broodnest with frames from honey supers also causes
problems. The material in the cells and the bees walking on this darkened wax will
darken the honey stored in the combs and add bits and flavors of what was there before,
reducing the pristine quality of the honey you want to harvest. The bottom line: don't
mix frames used for honey with frames used for brood.
If your colony is progressing, the queen is working in all three boxes, and the work-
ers are storing pollen and honey around the edges, it's time to add additional room—but
not before at least six frames in the bottom two boxes have comb on both sides, and the
same on at least four frames in the top. Don't rush the colony just because it seems to
be doing well.
Shown is a cross section through an old comb. Note the layers of cocoon, propolis, and
gunk. This comb should be replaced.
If spring has been late, or if good weather has come in spits and spurts, your colony
won't build as fast as an established colony in the same place during the same time.
Keep feeding your colony as long as they are taking any of the sugar syrup. They may
take it for a few days when it's cool, and then stop when the weather warms, plants are
blooming, and the bees can fly.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search