John couldn’t be more correct when he talks about the lack of late summer nectar and pollen sources. Some of you may live in urban areas where there are still adequate ornamental landscaping plantings. Those exotics can help your bees get the pollen they need to produce strong winter bees, but there could still be a need to feed your bees. I use a luggage scale to weigh my hives to estimate their honey stores. I just weigh from the back so it’s not exact but over the years I know what a double deep should weigh to make it through until spring. I weighed them 10 days ago and then again today. They were able to put on an average of 3.3 pounds in that time, which if I inaccurately double it for not weighing the front, then that’s about a half-gallon of honey. My bees and I are on Puget Island and we have Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, dandelions, bird’s foot trefoil, and some impatiens blooming now. The first two make a dark flavorful honey but are considered invasive noxious weeds. Dandelions are avoided by my bees most of the year, but they are all over them now bringing in nectar and a lovely orange pollen. September is good time to feed 2:1 syrup to those light colonies since there is time for them to take it into their honey stomachs, pass it around, store it in cells, and dry it to the proper moisture level before winter.

Strong winter bees are just not possible with high varroa loads. Half my hives varroa count was too high and got apivar strips. All 8 got a single dose of oxalic acid vapor. I’ll continue to watch the numbers but multiple doses of OA are usually required. You don’t have to use a chemical, or acid treatment, there are ways to be treatment free. But they require work, commitment, and diligence. I read of a beekeeper in Vermont who has been treatment free for 20 years. He lives fairly isolated and bought genuine Russian hybrid bees through the bee lab in Baton Rouge, LA. He keeps about 300 hives but also overwinters 500 nucs. He is satisfied with 30% winter loss since he can make that up with his nucs come spring. He then sells the remaining nucs and starts over. So, he has a plan and it works for him.

I have an update to last years article on wax moth proof storage. I purchased Sterlite 54- and 80-quart gasket storage boxes that fit either deeps in a single stack or westerns double stacked. First, I set the supers outside 300 yards from the hives for 2 full days to get cleaned by bees and wasps which works very well. Then I put them in the freezer for 48 hours and finally into the bins. Last year I kept 4 boxes on the hives to gather some dark summer honey and then put them on the hives above the inner cover for cleaning. That cleaning was not nearly as good as the swarming hordes method. I put them away a little wet and they molded quite badly. So, this year they all went outside, then after removing from the freezer I let the frames warm to room temperature before locking them up. I also lost 3 hives this summer to queen issues so I have lots of deep frames with capped honey and nectar. Those bins will get 2 small screens installed to provide a little air flow. It’s always something.

Another update to my bees chasing the swallows. They also chase the dog’s frisbee. Bill