10-18-2021 Planning Commission Packet

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FALL MANAGEMENT Fall management is important in preparing the colonies for successful overwintering. Remove any supers • by the end of August; the bees will use any subsequent honey they produce to bulk up for winter. Removing supers in August allows for mite treatments to be applied in late August or early September, as needed. Whether or not you will need to feed your colony 2:1 syrup in the fall depends on multiple factors including how large their foraging population was during summer nectar flows, and what food resources were available to them. Assess colony weight in mid September: each colony will need at minimum 75 lb of honey stored to get through winter. ''_"" Beware of Robbers � Robbing is the behavior of bees when they steal honey from other colonies. /j'% L�� Generally, forager bees from strong colonies force their way into weaker colonies and steal their honey. Robbing behavior occurs most frequently when there are no flowers producing nectar in the environment, called a dearth Biology period. Fall is the time that colonies are at the biggest risk of being robbed. Once robbing starts, it is difficult to stop the bees. It is awful and stressful for Box the bees and the beekeeper. It's a good idea to learn to identify different activities that take place in front of the hive, so that you can recognize robbing when it happens. There are three main activities: foraging, orientation flights, and robbing. Foraging bees can be identified by their purposeful zipping in and out of the hive. When they leave the hive, they fly upwards like sparks before they move out into the landscape. Because they know • exactly where their hive entrance is, they always fly directly to the entrance. Often, you will see colorful pollen loads secured on the back legs of the foragers as they return. Orientation flights are when young bees are orienting themselves to the colony before going out foraging for the first time. If you look closely, you will notice that the new foragers are facing the colony and flying back and forth in small arcs, learning the landmarks of their particular home. You will also notice older bees standing on the landing board producing the Nasonov pheromone, which tells the orienting bees that this is "home." This behavior is noticeable directly after hiving a colony, moving a colony, or during midsummer when the colony population is at its height. You can recognize robbers by their shiny, hairless bodies (from fighting) and their aggressive way of darting toward a colony. Robber bees are looking for cracks or openings by scent; they are not oriented to the hive entrance like the worker bees that actually live there. Because it takes time to recognize these different behaviors, watch for bees fighting (two bees locked together, twirling, in front of the colony). Fighting indicates that your bees are in fact being threatened by robbers. There are a few ways you can help protect the colony from robbing. The main way is to reduce the number and size of the colony entrance(s). Robbing bees fight with the resident bees at the entrances of the colony; decreasing the space the robbers can enter increases the ability of the robbed colony to defend itself. Cork all holes in the boxes and place the entrance reducer on the large hole to limit the size of the bottom entrance. Robbing bees attempt to fly directly into the colony; using a wire mesh across the front of the entrance called a "robbing screen" (Figure 40) reduces the ability of robbers to fly in while still allowing for airflow. If robbing is actively occurring and the other methods don't appear to be helping, place a damp sheet completely over the colony and all of the entrances. Leave the sheet until dark and consider moving the colony to a new location. 411 Robbing is a larger issue in locations with a high colony density. You may never see bees robbing, but be aware of the signs to be able to act. Beekeeping in Northern Climates 48