The Hive

I recently travelled to the Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica on a family vacation. After reading about the stingless honeybees of Costa Rica, I was determined to find a local beekeeper to interview for our newsletter. Stingless! Tell me more! I wanted to study up on the bees prior to going to an apiary so I researched on the plane ride. After all I had six hours to kill.

There are 700 species of bees in Costa Rica, 60 of those are stingless. They live primarily in Central and South America. The “Mariola” and the “Melipona” are native Costa Rican stingless bees used for honey production in Guanacaste. They are tiny, no more than 5 mm. They store the honey in small “honeypots” made of resin on the outside edges of the nest. The honey from these bees is said to have excellent anti-inflammatory properties and a deliciously sweet taste followed by a fruity after taste, depending on the blooms. These bees never need supplemental feeding, thanks to the ample year-round variety of dense foliage in this tropical region. Although stingless, they aren’t defenseless. The hive has a small population of guard bees called soldiers, and when the hive is invaded the soldiers will latch onto the invader’s body and beat their wings. As their metabolic rates go up, the soldiers generate enough heat to immobilize the invader. You can see these soldier bees hovering near the entrance to a hive. Fascinating!

After a number of Google searches, most of the apiaries I found were 2-3 hours from where we were staying. So as a last resort I decided to start asking various staff members of the hotel if anyone had a connection to a local beekeeper, or “Apicultoro” in Spanish. Spanish is the official language of Costa Rica, but there are five indigenous languages belonging to the Chibcha language family that continue to be spoken there. (I was thankful for my High School Spanish classes, and Google Translate, to get me by with the language barrier!) After speaking to the concierges, restaurant waitstaff, and even the grounds keepers I had just about given up. The next afternoon we went to the tour desk to book an excursion off-site and I decided one more time to ask. After all, this guy’s a tour agent, right? A Local. At this point, my kids are rolling their eyes, “Give it up, Mom, you’re not going to find a beekeeper here!” BUT To my pleasant surprise, our tour agent Emilio says, “My Stepfather is a beekeeper”. Great! Is he close by? “No, he lives very far from the hotel.” Ugh. Is there anywhere I could buy local honey nearby? “No, only the supermarket in the city, not nearby”. Struck out again. Feeling defeated and faced with a slew of I told-you-so’s from the kids, I decided not to think about it anymore and just enjoy my vacation in this beautiful place.

We spent the next day enjoying the beach and snorkeling. When we returned to the hotel room, we found a small package on the table with a note from the concierge that read, “From Emilio at Amstar” (the tour company). Inside the package was a little 2 oz. hex jar of Costa Rican Honey from his Family’s apiary. What a surprise! It really made my day. So, although I didn’t find a beekeeper to interview, I learned a lot about the stingless bees, got a delicious little jar of honey, all served up with a spoonful of kindness from a stranger in Central America. It was a fantastic day.

Today I packaged up a jar of “Lee’s Bees” honey and a thank you note to send down to Emilio and his family for his kind gesture. I hope he is as surprised as I was.

I remember when I first started beekeeping how concerned I was about getting my colony set up for overwintering. I didn’t know anything and there was tons of information and misinformation making it hard to understand what to do. So, my hive (my only hive) died in January. I was devastated. No one wants that outcome. I was asked to write for our newsletter about what I personally do to support my colonies to give them a chance.

I would like to start with what I think are the 4 key factors that support success. They are:

• Mite Management
• Queens
• Nutrition
• Winter Bees

Mite Management

Try to think about an Integrated Pest Management plan and write it down. It’s important to

develop an IPM plan before the season and order treatments in advance so you are ready. Use the appropriate treatment at the right time – use the honeybeehealthcoalition.org/varroatool/ to help you make the right choices for treatment. Test and treat as appropriate. Knowing the status of your colony and keeping notes will help you manage mites and diseases more effectively because unfortunately a colony going into winter with a heavy mite load usually dies. Include “cultural” elements in your IPM plan such as splitting hives, re-queening, using hygienic queens, using screened bottom boards, etc. All these things add up in helping your colony have healthy bees.

Queens

A strong queen is essential for overwintering success. An inspection in early to mid-September helps determine the strength of your queen and colony. There should be a strong laying pattern providing the colony with winter bees in the fall to survive the winter. What to look for:

• Check for spotty laying
• Light on stores
• Too much bee bread means not enough brood.

Your colony should be packed with bees covering the frames. If not, consider re-queening in

the fall is necessary. New queens lay later in the season and have more rounds of laying –

resulting in more winter bees reared later in the season. These winter bees are the ones that

can survive for 4-5 months. You can read about winter bees in the July 2023 issue of the

American Bee Journal “What are Winter Bees, and Why Do They Matter?”, by Gard W. Otis. If

you don’t get the journal, you can probably read it online. If you have the resources combine a

weak colony with a strong colony. Weak colonies rarely survive a winter so it’s best to combine and then split in the spring.

Nutrition

Most of the time a colony can manage its nutrition and storage very well but there are times

where it’s important to help a colony. For instance:

• Feed during a dearth – usually starting in July/August. Why? Because the queen will

not lay as much or at all if there is nothing to feed the hive and the colony can starve very quickly. (a dearth is a lack of natural forage usually caused by extended dry

weather).

• Feed in October with 2:1 syrup (or more) to help the colony feed and build up resources;

inspect to make sure the hive is heavy with stored resources.

• Add a candy board in November/December -- it’s important that the colony has nutrition

available all winter to survive. (Note some beekeepers keep checking stores throughout

the winter but I just put mine on the end of November and find that they’ll start using

when they need to).

• Feed in early spring with 1:1 syrup and use pollen substitute to support colony build up.

Winter Bees

The colony raises special winter bees in September/October which are genetically the same but physiologically different from summer bees and have more fat body stores. Some of the

environmental cues that support this transformation are temperature, decrease of foraging

behavior and pollen collection, brood reduction –curtailed queen laying thus decreasing the

colony’s overall pheromone levels and decreasing sunlight. Due to these environmental cues,

changes in the levels of key chemicals produce physiological alterations in worker bees that

enhance winter survival – these chemicals – vitellogenin in particular – act as hormones

decreasing metabolism and counteracting stress; and provide critical food reservoirs. The bee’s fat body is a tissue, somewhat analogous to the human liver. It is found beneath abdominal tergites and in the bee’s head. Vitellogenin in the fat body tissue provides energy for survival and enough protein in the late winter and early spring to feed and support brood growth. The mites feed on fat bodies so mite management is essential for these emerging winter bees to be healthy going into winter and not compromised by disease or viruses. Cohorts of these bees emerging in the fall are the winter bees essential to the survival of the colony. Of course, I can’t describe everything that goes on in a season of beekeeping in this article, but I hope the above comments give you some inkling of how important it is to help your colonies stay healthy if they are to survive during the winter. Below I’ve outlined how I set up my hives for the winter. Hopefully, this provides a simple but effective way to help you as you prepare your hives for winter.

Setting Up for Winter

A lot of beekeepers set up their hives for winter in many ways – some finding success and some not! It can be confusing. This is my approach.

By the end of September all hives have been treated and supers have been removed. I feed

2:1 syrup in October – usually about 2 gallons per hive. If it gets too cold, they won’t take it up

and then I remove the feeders.

In late October (when feeders are off) or early November I do an Oxalic Acid Vaporization to

knock down phoretic mites.

As part of my overwintering set up, I go to the trouble of making candy boards for all my hives.

This is essentially a shim with a hardware cloth bottom on which I put sugar paste (10Lbs of

sugar made with water) that hardens. I put this on top of the 2nd deep frames replacing the inner cover in November. In addition to providing nutrition this board also helps with moisture control.

The shim has an upper entrance and replaces the inner cover for the winter. This provides

nutrition to the colony when it needs it. Many beekeepers wait until February, but a lot of

colonies die in February from starvation. So, I just do this, and it’s worked for me.

The following is how I set up my colony for the winter:

• Screened bottom board with IPM board (helps to check on activity).
• Slatted rack above screened bottom board (helps create a cushion of warm air andnraises the bottom of brood chamber away from cold entrance).
• Brood chambers (make sure they have sufficient resources). I have a 2 deep setup but still valid for any set up.
• Install a candy board for nutritional support during the winter (will also act as an inner cover and moisture absorber).
• Put in a piece of rigid insulation right on top of the candy board cut to cover the edges of the candy board (a significant amount of heat can be lost through an uninsulated cover)
• Put a bee cozy on over the hive (optional – you can also wrap with Tyvek) (a recent study found that hive covers reduce food consumption and colony mortality during overwintering by 22.5%) Ashley L. St. Clair et al., “Honeybee hive covers reduce food consumption and colony mortality during overwintering” by 22.5% April 4, 2022.PLoS ONE 17(4). Note: many beekeepers don’t use wrapping but wind is a killer of colonies.
• Put on your telescoping cover and secure – I use bungee cords, but others use bricks or stones.
• Install a mouse guard.

Candy Board

If you want to make a candy board here is what you need:

• Sugar --10 lbs. per candy board
• Water and white vinegar: 2 cups of water mixed with 1 tbsp of vinegar.
• 5-gallon bucket (food grade): mark 3 1/4 inches from bottom and that’s 10 lbs!
• A drill with a paint mixer attachment: or use a big mixing spoon – mix until a wet paste.
• A candy board shim: A shim that has been fashioned with hardware cloth and has an entrance notch.
• Parchment paper (alternatively use newspaper). Put over the hardware cloth, score the paper with a box cutter, and cut out a square of paper behind the notch.
• A square block of wood (3”x3”): Put in the square block of wood behind the notch over the opening you created so that when you pour and mold the candy paste it leaves an entrance for the bees.
• Sugar paste: Pour in the “candy” and press to form an evenly distributed amount of paste.
• A wooden paint mixer – Use to smooth the sugar evenly in the shim.
• Let harden for 24 hours.

The lavender in bloom is filled with honeybees.

Nepeta catmint in the garden attracts the honeybees and the native bees all season.

Some of our sunflowers were over 12 ‘ tall this July and the honeybees were flocking to them.

This little bee is covered in pollen from the allium flowers

The bright orange butterfly weed is a favorite for our bees this season!

Please see this informational publication from Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, from Black Bear & Furbearer Biologist Dave Wattles, who has presented to our club in the past.

Believe it or not, the PCBA has over 1,000 Members! This Club belongs to YOU! Membership comes with lots of great benefits: mentoring, monthly informational meetings, workshops, continuing education opportunities, community events, bee suits for kids and bee school to name a few. (There are also the discounts on glassware and bee packages, but that’s not the only reason to maintain membership!) All members have every opportunity to be a part of our Club’s community.

The PCBA Mission:

“We are a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the support of local apiculture & agriculture. Our primary goals are to further the art & science of beekeeping, the mutual support & education of our members, to inform & educate the public about beekeeping through our participation in local fairs & festivals, our “Beekeeping School for Beginners” and presentations given by our members to local & regional schools, community groups & organizations.”

To achieve this mission, a lot of work is involved and member engagement is needed to make it all happen. Everything the Club accomplishes requires the time and energy of our members. Please consider giving back to the club with just a few hours of time each year. There are so many volunteer opportunities throughout the year to support outreach, connect with others and the satisfaction of helping the club fulfill its purpose.

Executive Board/Board of Directors

Bee School Committee

Marshfield Fair Committee

Community Events

Educational Outreach

Event Planning

Refreshments

Technology

Clean ups

Program planning

…and more

Experience the benefits of volunteering and make a difference.Bring your ideas to the table.

We can’t do it without you.

We are SO GRATEFUL for those who volunteer throughout the year. We appreciate your support, but we need more.

After all…“This is Your Club, ” so get involved today! Thank you!

While you’re updating your info above for the website, it is a great time to check your membership status. To do so, you just need your club-registered email address, and can enter it on the membership page of the website here. If you do not use the correct email address, your membership will not show, and if you are expired, your membership will not show as active.

If your membership has expired, please renew at your earliest convenience! Over the next few months, we will be updating our rosters and reaching out to members whose memberships have lapsed, and then will follow up with Google and Facebook group removal so that our resources and support can be tailored to current members. 1 year=$15, 2 years=$28, 3 years=$40.

All club members in good standing can enjoy the rights and privileges of membership, including monthly meetings, a dedicated google group and Facebook page of peer feedback and discussion, mentoring, package sales, glassware sales, access to the Marshfield Fair, and more. We hope you continue on with us to experience our club updates and growth. For more information, please visit the membership page of the PCBA website.

I originally made this as a dip for pretzels. But I noticed folks dipping the cheese into the honey mustard and realized it’s a great “general dip” for everything as well as a nice sandwich spread.

I used a nice medium color honey. Not too bold and not too delicate to be lost with the mustard.

1/2 Cup mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons prepared yellow mustard

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice (which is approximately the amount of juice in a 1/4 of a whole lemon).

Mix all together, cover and refrigerate overnight so the flavors blend.

• August Executive Board, Saturday, August 12at 8 am, Marshfield Fairgrounds Bee Barn
• Bee Barn Cleanup, Saturday, August 12, 8:30-11:00 am, Marshfield Fairgrounds Bee Barn
• Pre-Fair Potluck, Tuesday, August 15, 6:00-9:00 pm, Marshfield Fairgrounds Bee Barn, all members/families welcome!
• Marshfield Fair volunteer shifts, August 18-August 27. Contact Lee Burton to volunteer! This is our club’s biggest annual outreach.

Please join us for this family-friendly event! There will be food, raffles, and laughs at the Marshfield Fairgrounds Bee Barn (Gate Entrance, Main Street Side).

Potluck signups are here.

Every year, the PCBA participates in the Marshfield Fair. Club members can compete for prizes in a variety of categories, sell honey and other bee-related products, participate in demonstrations, and help educate the general public about the nature of the honey bee.

The Marshfield Fair is a great way for club members to share information and also recruit potential members to the club. To sell products at the fair, all the club asks is a donation of your time to participating in honey sales, screen house, or candle rolling.

Members collectively sell their products at the fair, in return, the club requires that sellers donate a portion of their time at the barn to collect sales, 5% of sales got to the Club, and you must compete in the honey competition.

Part of being a member of the PCBA is that you become a club ambassador. Volunteering time to help out during the fair is very important to maintaining our long-standing relationship with the Marshfield Fair folks. Honeybees are an important aspect to agriculture, a main focus of the Fair.

The most important aspect of working the fair is that you have the opportunity to get people interested in keeping bees. The more we make the public aware of the current state of health of the honeybee, the better the citizens they can be to help them thrive. The USDA has estimated that 80% of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honey bees and approximately one-third of the total human diet is derived directly from insect pollinated plants (fruits, legumes and vegetables).

As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, our main goal is to educate the public in the art and science of beekeeping. Whether one wants to start beekeeping and is in need to support, or someone just wants to be a good neighbor, PCBA is there to guide all interested.

We still need volunteer signups to cover all shifts! Reach out to Lee Burton to sign up.

The Plymouth County Beekeepers Association (the “PCBA”), is a non-profit organization established in 1977. We are dedicated to the support of local agriculture and to educating the public about beekeeping through our school and participation in local fairs and festivals.

PCBA focuses on education, agriculture, and stewardship through many of the public outreach programs the club participates in and provides throughout the year. We have members who speak at schools, community centers, and professional meetings.

Website: plymouthcountybeekeepers.org
Location: 228 High Street, Hanson, MA, USA