1. Should I feed my bees if there is still honey in the hive?
   
2. I need to move my hives about 50 feet. I have been told the bees will go back to the old spot. How do I do this?
   
3. How bad will these cold nights we are experiencing hurt my bees?
   
4. Should I wait until all the frames in the top box are fully drawn and capped before adding another box?
   
5. Is there anything wrong when my bees are all hanging out on the front and lower sides of the hive and "wash boarding"?
   
6. What should I be doing at this time of the year?
   
7. I overheard you telling another beekeeper about the success over the last couple years regarding the feeding of syrup and pollen as it relates to survivability of the overwintering bees. an you explain?
   
8. When do I feed my bees in preparation for the winter?
   
9. Do you always follow a regular medication regimen?
   
10. I thought the hole in the inside lid was an air "thingee." Is that correct?
    
11. The weather has been so cold and I worry about my Bees.  I have seen hives wrapped in the magazines so I wonder should I try to wrap my hives?
    
12. When should I begin feeding my Bees?
    
13. I feel I did everything possible and still lost my Bees. Any suggestions?
    
14. When I went to reverse my boxes for the spring build up I found many of the comb distorted to the point there seemed to be two layers of cells on the same frame. What causes bees to do this?
    
15. I used Mineral Oil on my Bees all summer and lost all them this winter. I feel this could have allowed my Bees to become weak and unable to survive, could this be possible?
    
16. Most of the Bees in my yard that died had more than enough Honey to have made the winter, some as close to the dead cluster as two inches. Why?
    
17. When I checked my bees this week I found not larvae or eggs, but some capped brood. I think I have lost my queen. Should I requeen?
    
18. My bees are filling up everything and capping nothing. Is there anything I can do?
    
19. I noticed on some of your hives you have only a small entry. Why is not the entry fully open?
    
20. My Bees began from packages drawing wax and seemed to be doing fine, but they seem to have stopped drawing wax. I started them on foundation the first week of April and the slow down seemed to begin around the last week of April and was very pronounced in May. Is there an explanation for this behavior?
    
21. I just inspected one of my hives and discovered some problems that are confusing. There is some chalk brood scattered in part of the brood area. Not a lot but enough that it disturbs me. There were several dead larvas in the same area of all stages before capping had been done and some were contorted or twisted. There were larva that looked glassy and there were some dead that were scales. As if that was not enough some pupa that appeared to be alive and normal, yet were not capped. I checked the scale and they easily fell out so I checked the dead Larva for roping with a straw and finding they did not rope at all, I believe they are symptomatic of European Foul Brood. The glassy larva was definitely Sack Brood. What is the explanation for the UN capped pupa? Are there any other things going on that are not obvious. 8.03

Yes. They may not take the 1:1 mix right away, but if the queen is healthy and if the up-and-down weather does not interfere too much when she does kick in full force with 1200-1600 eggs per day, they will take it quickly. I say this since in our area there has been possibly heavy damage to the early bloom from freezing temperature following warm spells. If one has some pollen substitute, that is also recommended under the circumstances. Don't take a chance, since we are still losing hives from this mystery "winter kill". I do not believe the jury is in on this one. A lot of assumptions are being bantered around, with more opinions than Carter has pills. I really feel that it is going to take a somewhat different approach before any definitive answer can be substantiated.

Staple the whole thing together and strap it, then move it one width left or right and one length forward or back about every third day until the desired position is reached.

Hard to say. If the hive is strong and the cluster is large, probably none at this point; however, any larvae, eggs and pupae left outside the cluster will not survive. If the hive is weak it probably will not ultimately survive. If the population begins to dwindle, rapidly remove the queen and combine with another hive.

No. Seventy percent is the rule of thumb.

"Wash boarding" is a term like "Wash-a-woman," "Diddling," and other terms depending on the area usage. There is no scientific consensus as to the meaning of the action, however, in its absence I revert back to Grandpa Jessie—"they's just diddling around." By observation, it occurs during a humid, high ozone and hot time of the day, generally toward evening. A blanket of bees on the face of the hive somewhat equally spaced, facing the entrance, begin a dipping, rocking lateral motion. They are generally somewhat more defensive than in inspection or work hours for the beekeeper. This behavior is, as far as my experience goes, not anything more than people doing idle activity such as crossing their legs and swinging the crossed leg or jogging one's foot rapidly up and down while sitting at the table. It is just another thing to ponder while observing these fascinating creatures. Grandpa Jessie said, "It's a nuther one of them wonderments."

I cannot give you a definitive answer to such a broad question; however, there are some general areas and things good management necessitates. If you are a new beekeeper who started with foundation and followed the recommended spring procedures, you should have two deeps or three medium boxes full of active, healthy bees. If you added another box to give the bees more room or some such human reasoning, one should remove it, allowing for any brood in this additional box to emerge if possible. If you were on drawn foundation, established or otherwise and have honey, it should have been removed over the last two weeks. Be sure there is water readily available and ventilation is at maximum. There is a book full of don't do that and volumes of do this and that. A lot of the information is personal opinion or human opinion as opposed to proven or observed insect behavior. Learn as much as you can handle, observe, consult with those having more experience, make your plan, then follow your plan, allowing the bees to control the time frame. NOTE: We in northern Virginia are still in a drought in spite of the last rain. Those days of near 100 degrees brought the bloom to a halt and the pollen that was available was blistered beyond usefulness to the bees. When a bad air quality warning is issued for you and your pets, should your livestock not be afforded due consideration? Many have begun to feed sugar syrup and/or water. Judge this by the conditions in your bee yard, not what is in some list or book, as those efforts are rules of thumb, certainly not intended to be written in stone. When in doubt, ask for help. Generally this is early to begin syrup feeding, or pollen patties, but conditions and need dictate flexibility.

I had a devastating year two years past, and there were others that lost none. So I began to ask what they did, especially in summer and fall. Nearly all fed heavy in late summer; however, digging further, I found the strongest bees in the early spring appeared to be the result of feeding pollen substitute. I followed the syrup feeding regimen and only a few pollen substitute. My losses were greatly reduced. Again the inquiry on the pollen substitute which again was 100% survival. Yes, bees will survive without either if we have a good late summer and early fall; however, we in this area have not; thus in my opinion the prime reason for the severe losses. We are in for another bad summer and fall; therefore, yes, feed both is the current recommendation. So, when to feed is the question. Again, conditions in your yard dictate exactly; however, there are other timing considerations. Winter bees often live on into May of the coming year; therefore, the question is when are they born? When supplies are short, nearly all queens shut down and it is generally accepted it takes about 10 days to restart a good queen. Assuming cluster commences in this area in late October, we need at least fully matured house bees by mid-October. If a 15-day house bee was an egg 45 days past, plus the startup time of 10 days, our window of opportunity closes around the end of August; however, for mature field bees at winter cluster, the window opens about mid-August. Therefore the last 15 days of August could well determine the survivability of your girls.

When they need it. Jokes aside, we are still in a short supply of natural bee raw materials in most areas east of the Mississippi, so as soon as one can rig up. It's a little early to go 2 to 1 syrup. I generally recommend switching to the heavy mix in late August, therefore 1 to 1 is best (2.5 quarts water to 5 pounds of cane sugar). More important is pollen substitute in mid-August, especially in our area of Northern Virginia.

No, no, no! Never medicate unless there is a problem. Therefore, tighten your management practices and heighten your awareness level. Know your pests and diseases. Learn to recognize them and don't be afraid to ask a second opinion of a more experienced beekeeper.

Well golly gee-whiz Ethel that is rather bamfuseling but I'll try. The inside lid is correctly referred to as an inner cover. The oblong slot is designed to fit a bee escape. The bee escape is an item of the last century that is still in use today by many beekeepers. When removing supers, place a spare inner cover between the body of the hive and the super to be removed. The bee escape is placed in the slot (hole) from the bottom allowing bees to leave, but cannot return. One can remove the box from the hive and set it on a separate stand with spare inner covers top and bottom with the escape on the outside, top and bottom, allowing the bees to return home. Bee robbers (second story girls) may come in the propped-open outer cover as little thieves, and can be stopped by placing the bee escape in the slot on the inner cover. There are several other uses, such as removing bees from a structure, but this can go on forever. The air "thingee" we will take as ventilation. Yes, some air can move up through the hole, if the top cover or outer cover is propped up so that air can escape; however, the original intent was not ventilation, as explained above. Bees do a great job of ventilation under most conditions, even when left alone. Ventilation is an area that can be improved and Bill Bundy and I have had several chats on the matter. Remind me and I will go into ventilation in more detail.

I fully realize the weather here in northern Virginia this winter is colder than we have experienced in several years and some say it is payback for the mild winters we have had for several years.  Truly someone moved the "Grits" line somewhere south of us, however don't you dare wrap those hives.  Bees in our area do not freeze.  I know what you fear and have felt the hurt of having "winter kill," however any freezing is the consequences of other problems.  The worse offender is a colony going into the winter without sufficient stores due to drought or lack of proper forage due to location of the yard.  Either of these cases the Beekeeper could have saved them.  Late loss of the queen bumps between second and third in the cause lineup.  Granted Varroa Destructor is still a major problem and Tracheal Mites are much more a problem than many admit or know about.  These pest can and do collaterally lead to Queen loss in many cases.  Back to the point, moisture is very often the prerequisite leading to colony demise due to illness.  Lack of ventilation is the culprit more often than not.  Remember the colony warms the center of the cluster not only keeping the queen warm, but warming the workers in the center who work themselves to the outer area then to the stores to retrieve the food and allowing the cluster to relocate to a more advantageous location as windows of opportunity present themselves.  Bottom line, no disrespect and trust your girls will come through in good shape, but all we Beekeepers need to care as intensively in the fall as most of us routinely do in the spring. If you have followed your fall regimen this year just check them every chance and be ready to act on needs observed.  [Fall Management]

When they need it.  There is no simpler way to put it, however remember not to feed a stimulation formula in pollen or light syrup this early.  Not only does it introduce moisture into the hive when it is not needed, but may cause the queen to crank up too soon leading to late freeze chill brood and very early swarms.  A properly prepared candy would be advised.  (Hive and the Honey Bee formula works and causes minimal stimulation) If you must feed syrup, feed heavy and work up to light when the time is right.  Once started, don't stop all the way through spring.  Pay careful attention to the type feeder used for Winter-feed.  It must be designed to minimize travel time and effort, never exposing the worker to draft or the ventilation zones within the hive.

There is very little information to go on so I called the person and had a discussion, then did an inspection later. Several problems were evident post exam. All six of these hives were two deeps and all were very dead. Two of the hives had very few Bees or should I say evidence of having had Bees, in other words there were bits and pieces of Bees. There was no Honey. I saw no evidence of disease. Short of sending frames to Beltsville for testing the obvious situation was loss of the queen. This occurred prior to the Bee fall activity and they appeared to have been robbed out. Now the other hives. One from examination of the frames, I felt was a Varroa Mite problem; therefore they could not make it through the winter as the cluster was too small. In other words the colony for whatever reason did not raise enough viable workers for the winter population. The Queen laid her winter brood between August 15 and September 15 and something interfered with the viability of the Queen and/or the young workers. There was Honey in abundance. The other colonies had dead clusters of fully formed Bees. The clusters were about the size of a very wet softball. This is what most people refer to as a "Winter Kill".

This can occur in most any hive; however there are two known reasons. First, beginning a package or adding a box with a 9-frame configuration allows too much room and they get creative. For this reason it is recommended to provide a 10 frame configuration to the hive for the "draw out" operation then changing this out to a 9 frame set up after the "draw out". Secondly, this is often noticed in plastic frames even when using 10 frames. Remember Bees "draw out" best in a good flow or when the colony is a swarm. In the case of plastic this is a necessity.

Loudoun Beekeepers are about to enter into a scientific test to hopefully put this question to rest positively or negatively. Rest assured all will be informed on an ongoing basis. Questioning this individual revealed the following: Menthol was added to the hives in mid-September, which was too late. I was told the Mineral Oil was added to the top bars as recommended until frost. No grease patties were used for the winter. No fall feeding was done with either syrup, candy or pollen substitute. Need I say more?

This winter was very bad on the Bees from the standpoint of accessibility not availability. Bees in very cold weather do not break cluster (43 degrees inside box temp.), however they will move ever so slowly upward. The shell Bees often cannot migrate inward to warn and refresh therefore die sooner than normal decreasing the cluster size more rapidly thus a point will be reached where the cluster cannot maintain the required temperature to function. Result the softball size dead cluster. Many had enough stores vertically and the cluster was larger to begin with thus they made it. Beekeepers that picked up on the problem early were able to put on another box of stores, feed candy or slurry right over the cluster and most of their Bees made it as a rule. I even saw a yard in a neighboring county that 5 nucs of 4 boxes made it. And I saw eight frame boxes that appeared to be in very good shape. I began Beekeeping in "Gums" or is now called "Plank" hives and winter loss just did not occur on the boxes that we did not rob. These were our swarm hives from which we rebuilt the Yard population. Bees will follow the thermal column, minor though it may be, vertically in cold weather and never horizontally unless they break cluster.

While it is possible you have lost the queen, I hesitate to recommend immediate requeening. First, you did not mention if there had been a swarm from this hive. I suspect so. In a few days, weather permitting, go in and check for queen cells. Be careful, as they are more delicate than they look. I have noticed this year that many of the swarm queens are leaving early, some leaving eggs in the queen cells, therefore the hive may remain queenless for up to three weeks from egg to producing queen. So don't panic yet. Secondly, at this time of the year (end of May) our main flow was rained out and if you are truly without a queen, I would use the bees to equalize the other hives for combine with a weak one and hope for a late flow from wildflower and with clover. This is the easiest time of the year to do these deeds. However be careful that you have no disease or pest problems in the hive before you pull the “Mixmaster” routine.

Yes, ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. With 21 out of the 28 days in May thus far with rain or solid overcast, conditions just don't give good nectar dehydration. They, in most cases, are restricting the queen therefore additional drawn comb would be in order. Wax production drops in extremely wet weather since they have limited cured honey to feed the wax producers and fewer bees are in the optimum wax producing age to build foundation so it is a “double whammy”. If we do have dryer conditions ahead, get ready to manipulate your frames in the honey supers removing the capped frames as need to reduce the honey storage area to a minimum as we are in an AHB county. We hope by keeping heavy bee traffic throughout the hive and eliminating hiding spaces, we can help our bees live with this critter.

What you saw were apparently screen bottom hives. Bees don't need an interstate ramp to enter and exit the hive. A knothole is sufficient. We are running 3/4 inch x 2 inch entry on the southeast corner with the hive facing the rising sun, especially on the horizontal hives (where the hives are rotated so the opening is on the long side on homemade stands). On the solid bottom hives the wide-open entry was more for ventilation. If one notices the bees only use about 2 inches of the entry on a standard hive. We have some experimental hives that have less than this; 5/16 inch x 2 inches and the open bottom hives seem to be doing quite well, especially with increased ventilation holes in the inner cover. I might mention these restricted entry hive are mid entry, not bottom. I with keep you posted.

Two things do effect the production of wax in our area and we have had both. High humidity, i.e. rain will definitely slow things; especially rain. Northern Virginia has had one of the worse spring weather patterns in memory of even those older than I. The worse is cold and we have had nights in late May below 50 degrees. Put both together and I fully expect my girls to be practicing their backstroke around the entrance. Since I have not experienced this pattern in the weather in my life I am keeping notes in hopes a pattern may emerge to aid in predicting a similar condition. As a sideline, I seem to see the solid bottom hives slightly ahead of the screen bottom hives in drawn comb. I am writing this in early June so I will definitely have more sidebar on this considering I will be inspecting in detail 34 hives on 50/50 solid vs. screen between now and the publishing date.

I do not think this totally and fully symptomatic of Parasitic Mite Syndrome, however a three-day mite drop with a sticky board is in order after the Queen is given the hive tool test. Order a new Queen ASAP. The three days it takes for the Queen to arrive should give you any indication of mites. Also I would medicate these Bees with a Terramycin powder mix as well as Fumidil- in light syrup. Further, since in our conversation you stated these were screen bottom hives with added ventilation in the inner cover I would make sure there is no tall grass or weeds blocking the area immediately around the hive. Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate as this crazy weather with it's cool nights and moisture everywhere is causing all sorts of non-typical problems which could account for some of this mess. Any supers that are on the hive must be removed for extraction or remain on this hive and not fed to any other Bees. The open cells with well-advanced pupae are referred to as "Bald Face". This is rarely seen and is believed to be a genetic problem with the replacement of the Queen ASAP. These Bees will generally continue to develop to maturity so long as there is ample population to protect them from exposure. Keep me posted, as this is a real interesting problem.