New episode of the podcast is now live! You can listen over on Podbean or wherever you get your podcasts. This week, I finish up my book review of 'The Thinking Beekeeper' by Christy Hemenway. This last half of the book goes into detail on how to manage your colony during their first year, complete with incredibly clear diagrams to help you understand what you are seeing when you open up your new hive. I've found it tremendously helpful, and I hope you do too!
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Homestead Updates
In the last 2 weeks, I lost one of my ginger hens. We made the decision to euthanize her at home after realising that her abdomen was filling up with fluid. When the flock pushed her out, I knew it was time. My husband dispatched her via cervical dislocation, and I immediately opened her up to determine the cause of her illness. Her reproductive tract was absolutely filled with large, fluid filled tumours that were spilling out into her abdomen. There was nothing we could have done for her. I buried her out back in the chicken graveyard.
Within a few days of letting Ginger go, Squeak passed away overnight. I'd had her in the house for a while, trying to get her to eat, and treating her with antibiotics and pain meds. Everyday, I asked myself whether the time had come to let her go but she continued to be bright eyed, interested, and eating on her own. I'm grateful that she died at night, asleep, and what seemed to be peacefully. I performed a necropsy and found an advanced case of egg yolk peritonitis. She was so thin because these egg-material masses were compressing her digestive system. Again, nothing could have been done for her. Squeak was one of my rescue hens and so holds a special place in my heart. I cried over her more than I've cried over a chicken since my beloved Bobette, the little foundling hen who started me on this chicken keeping journey. Ultimately, I'm tremendously grateful for the time I had with her and will always remember her with love.
On the plus side, Meatbutt seems to be rallying! She's adjusted well to life in the special needs coop with old lady Agatha, and this week has really seemed to pick up. She's more active, eating well, drinking, and just seems more with it than I've seen since she started showing symptoms. I hope to have more good days ahead with her!
In the gardens, the corn is coming up and is maybe 2ft now. I'll be planting the beans very soon in that bed, and then squash.
My tomato plants are bigger everyday and I have some fruits appearing! Cannot wait to try the different varieties I picked up. I'll take lots of photos!
Sunflowers coming up with borage at the base. This bed is becoming one of my favourites, and I am looking forward to these blooming.
Weeding and mulching continues, and the beds look so much better. The free wood chips I received earlier this year are a lovely tan to red colour, and it makes the roses and lavender blooms really pop. I'm very pleased!
Woodchuck rescue! Did you know they play dead? We moved a big one out of the road after he realised he was trapped and decided to handle this by pretending he was dead. Not the best plan, buddy! Happily, he waddled off into the safety of a nearby field.
We bought new fish for our little pond plus water plants after a fat raccoon (Fat Fred) ate all but one of our goldfish! We picked up two Black Moor goldish and I just love them. They're beautiful to watch swim around and our lonely goldfish seems happy to have new friends.
Luna, my female whippet, had a dental last week, which always makes me nervous. I hate when any of the animals have to go under anaesthesia. Thankfully, it went really well; no extractions or signs of gum disease. She recovered very well and was back to normal within 24 hrs. I'm very grateful to my vet for their care!
Father’s day/summer solstice/Kaylee’s birthday was on June 20th! It's been over a year since I cut my father out of my life, and I'm pleased to say that I wasn't sad this year. Instead of worrying about what to get a father who never treated me well, I could just focus on what to get my father-in-law, who is a wonderful dad to his kids, and who has always treated me with kindness and respect.
Kaylee turned 9! I'm so grateful to have her in my life. She was the first dog we adopted after we lost our first greyhound, Peyton. He was a tough act to follow (he was perfect!) but Kaylee has been the perfect heart healer. She helped us heal from our loss and we were in love with her from day one. All the pups got whipped cream with dinner to celebrate the occasion!
Hive Updates
My queenless split continues to confuse me! I was shocked to find swarm cells with larvae in them, as well as a smattering of eggs. It looks like they had a mated queen but killed her for some reason as she was gone and a supersedure cell was already quite advanced. I checked that I hadn't been in the hive during the time she would have died (based on the age of the eggs/larvae) and I was not in there during this period so the colony is the one that disposed of her. I'm going to give them another frame of eggs this week but otherwise leave them alone. If, in 10-14 days, there is no sign of a new queen (or queen cells), I'm going to buy a queen for them.
Dramatic queen/dropped queen!! I was trying to mark the queen from a nuc I just received and accidentally pressed down on her from above. In response, she tucked in her legs and just rolled off the frame, into the grass!! Twenty awful minutes of frantic looking for her later, and I spotted her on a blade of grass, totally fine. What a nightmare! So glad that I was able to find her and return her to the colony.
My top bar colony is doing so well and is such a pleasure to work! I just love working with them.
Mite tests good so far; moving forward, very important to stay on top of things so I have a calendar note to get it done every month.
Honey harvest soon (I hope!)
Part 2 of the book review!
Chapter 6: Inspections
This is my favourite chapter! It contains detailed instruction with diagrams to help you learn how to inspect your hive, and what to expect during the colony’s first year. It focus on the why of it all, to help you build a strong understanding of why you do what and when.
Why Do Inspections?
Allow you to monitor the health and progress of the colony
You can catch signs of disease early to prevent spread
Detect issues such as queenlessness before you end up with a laying worker, etc.
Wax and Inspections
“When starting a new colony in a top bar hive, you are the shepherd of your bees’ wax production.” Pg. 86. A wax shepherd! I love that.
Need to be able to move the combs to inspect and manage the colony
Finding issues with comb building early on makes it easier to fix the problem
Look for cross-comb; when bees draw comb across the bars, connecting them together, and making it impossible to lift individual bars without breaking the comb.
“A wax problem never gets better - it only gets worse!” Pg. 86
Be(e) vigilant!
Correcting Cross-Comb
Bees maintain bee space (⅜ inch) between combs so any deviations (curves, for example) will be repeated and then the whole can quickly become a mess to fix.
Inserting an empty bar between two bars of straight comb, or between one straight comb and one follower board, acts a guide for the new comb build.
Sometimes, if caught early enough, you can simply cut away the offending cross-comb.
Look down the comb from above and cut off any comb that is not in alignment.
If the comb is straight but not attached to the bar, you can remove it and then fashion a sling (from a piece of material, ribbon, or elastic) to hold the comb securely. Pin the ends of the sling to the top bar. Over time, the bees will attach the comb with fresh wax, allowing you to remove the sling.
Always handle comb with care; it is especially fragile when it is fresh.
Hive Tools
Any standard hive tool is fine but Hemenway likes to use a strong-handled, straight-blade knife (like a roast beef carving knife).
A knife like this works just as well at separating the top bars and helps when removing cross-comb.
Smoke?
It’s always good to have your smoker on hand but you might find you don’t need to use it.
When you open a Langstroth hive, you immediately expose the colony and the bees are aware of the intrusion, which can make them defensive.
With a top bar, removing the lid does not expose the colony as the top bars form the roof of their nest cavity. If you keep the bars together when you inspect (removing just one at a time), you limit the light exposure and the bees will remain more calm.
Opening a Langstroth hive also immediately changes the microclimate within the hive due to the amount of sun and air exposure. This is less of an issue with top bar hives, which might assist in keeping the bees calm.
Personal anecdote: I have found that top bar hive colony is amazingly docile and barely even looks at me when I’m in there. This could be because they’re Italian bees, famous for their docility, or because of the style of hive, or both! Either way, I have noticed less interest in me than I see with my Langstroth hive colonies.
Keep a Bee Log
A blank master copy is included at the end of this book
Lots of apps and online options now available for people who like to store files online or on their phone (I prefer a paper journal because I find it easier to flip through to previous entries).
Make a record of the: date, time, weather (temp, clouds, sun, breeze/wind, etc), number of combs drawn, number of bars with no comb, what you see in the comb (eggs, brood, pollen, honey), signs of swarming (queen cups, swarm cells, large drone population, etc), potential queen issues (lack of brood, no eggs, supersedure cells), signs of pests or disease.
It helps to track how old the hive is in day, weeks, months, years.
Also beneficial to make a note of what is in bloom.
How to Inspect
Observe the hive entrance; what kind of activity do you notice?
Do you see foragers returning with pollen?
Listen; is the colony loud (potentially irritated/defensive), or quiet (calm)?
Remove the shutter and peer through the observation window. What do you see?
Check the debris on the bottom board. Any sign of varroa mites?
Once you open the hive, inspect each bar one by one.
Diagram time!
Now we get to what I think is the best part of the book. Hemenway goes through your first year with a new colony, grouped by days that have passed since installation, with wonderful diagrams so you have a visual understanding of what you are reading. This has been extremely helpful for me!
Day 1:
You just installed your bees! Weather is hopefully mild with highs somewhere in the 50s-60sF range.
Queen cage should be hanging from a top bar with a candy entrance.
Place a feeder with syrup
Days 3-10:
Queen should be released by now. Remove the cage.
If she was released by her workers, check any comb for eggs.
If she has not been released, you can either do so yourself, or remove most of the candy cork to make it easier for the bees to get her out,
Should see the beginning of comb building.
Days 10-20:
Early inspection time
Queen should be out and laying
May see some larva
More comb is being built
Might find capped brood at this stage
Can open second of the 3 center entrances at this stage (weather permitting; should be warm)
Days 20-40:
Should be seeing lots of brood comb now
Consider adding additional top bars to the ‘bee bowl’
Always add bars in the direction the bees are building (left to right)
Days 30-50:
Keep monitoring comb build; correct cross-comb as needed
Add bars as needed
When adding bars, add 2-3 at a time
This is a good time to check for varroa mites (more on this in Chapter 9)
Days 40-60:
Continued expansion
Likely to see drone brood now
Might see queen cups or even swarm cells
3rd entrance can now be opened
What to do if you see signs of swarming:
You can open up the brood nest by adding blank bars between existing brood comb. Be conservative, though; don’t add more than 4 bars in this manner at a time.
You could split the hive; if you have another top bar hive, or know someone who does, you can take half of the brood and feed stores and make an additional colony.
Let them swarm. Try to catch them using a swarm trap or lure.
Do nothing. This is always an option with bees but it’s not good beekeeping. You are responsible for your colonies.
Days 60-80:
Filling the hive now!
Keep adding bars and inspecting comb building
Should be getting a feel for the colony now; what is normal for them, their mood, etc.
Days 70-100:
Time for the mid-season shift!
If you started at the center of the hive with the ‘bee bowl’ configuration, now is the time to move frames to make more space
Move the solid follower board all the way to the left wall of the hive, and then carefully move the bars with comb to the left.
Place the follower board with the feeder access hole to the right of the colony to act as a guide for comb building.
Continue adding bars as before
Might need to use spacers at this time if the bees begin to make honeycomb
Spacers allow the bees to make their chunkier honeycomb. Adding them might effect the number of top bars used altogether. You can store these spares under the gable roof.
Days 80-120:
Keep adding bars and spacers as needed
Keep an eye out for potential ‘nectar dearth’, and offer syrup if needed
Days 110-160:
Hive should be close to full now!
May be possible to harvest some honey depending on how early it is in the season
Be cautious; the more honey the colony has going into winter, the higher their chances of survival
Days 140 - Late Season:
Bees are preparing for the winter
Brood production starts to slow and so brood nest will shrink
Backfilling of empty brood comb with honey will occur
Winter shutdown:
Place any empty comb on the other side of the follower boards
Place follower boards so they surround the active colony and food stores
Make sure the honey is all on one side of the bees’ cluster
Reduce entrances down to one
Prepare for winter
Chapter 7: Overwintering Your Top Bar Hive
The most important thing you can do to prepare your colony for winter is to make sure that, during the year, they draw comb in one direction only. This will ensure that all the honey stores are on one side of the bee cluster.
Bees won’t cross empty comb when it’s cold so you need the cluster to always be moving in one direction as they work their way through their food stores.
If honey is on both sides of where they cluster, they will eat all the honey on one side and then be stranded from all the honey that is now separated from them by a span of empty comb.
Another important consideration is wind. If your hive is relatively exposed, making a wind barrier can be beneficial. Wind barriers can consist of shrubs, trees, fencing, straw bales, or a tarp skirt (using a tarp to cover the lower part and legs of the hive).
You can also add insulation using foam panels, tar paper, or a custom wrap. Hives with gable style roofs can also add insulation under the roof.
Feeding: How much is enough? Hemenway suggests that if your colony has not completely filled their hive with their cluster space and honey stores, you should consider feeding them.
Many people have found that their top bar colonies seem to need less honey to get through winter than their Langstroth colonies. But what does this look like? How do you know what is ‘enough’ honey?
As a general rule, Hemenway considers 6-8 full frames of honey to be a good amount for winter.
If they do not have this by late Summer/Fall, start feeding them. If you have reserved honey from this hive, give it back to them now. You can also feed them a 2:1 sugar syrup if the weather allows.
Fondant/bee candy can be offered inside the hive. You can attach it to a follow board with wire or rubber bands, or you can buy special feeders that slide into the hive like comb.
Hemenway offers a bee candy recipe in this section of the book
Preparing Your Hive
Make sure the follower boards contain the brood/cluster area and honey stores but no empty bars.
Hemenway does not recommend switching frames around at this late stage; the bees know what they’re doing (hopefully)!
Top bars should all be touching to make a solid roof above the nest cavity; no gaps!
If your hive had an adjustable bottom board, move it up into the winter position. If it doesn’t fit closely, you can use weather stripping or even tape to close gaps.
Gable or peaked roofs can be filled with insulation.
Strap down the roof and secure it to the ground. A nylon strap and spring clip is recommended for this
Close all but one entrance and make sure not to seal it with any wrap used.
Mouseguard; use a piece of ¼ inch hardware cloth and nail over the entrance hole.
Preserving Propolis Seal
When to stop inspecting? Look to the propolis!
In Spring and Summer, the propolis is still soft and gooey. Later in the season, it becomes more brittle. When you separate the bars, you can hear it snap or pop.
In Maine, where the author lives, the brittle-popping stage starts around the middle of October. Best not to disturb the colony at this stage.
“Best to stop when the propolis pops!” Pg. 127
Spring!
Temperature above 48F, you might see some bees out and about
Check that the entrance isn’t blocked by dead bees
You can take a quick peek in the observation window but keep in mind that the cluster might be so small and tight that it’s hard to see
On a still, sunny day above 50F, you can take a quick look at the food store end of the hive to check their food supply.
Add food if you suspect it’s needed. Fondant or dry sugar.
When the daily temperature are above 50F with forage available and lots of forager activity, you can remove the wrap, insulation, and mouseguard.
When night temperatures are regularly above 50F, open additional entrances as needed and lower the adjustable bottom board.
April
The ”cruelest month” in beekeeping.
The colony might have survived the winter, only to fail at this time of year.
If it’s warm enough to offer syrup, go ahead; they’ll use it if they need it and ignore it if not.
Conversely, a strong colony might be ready to swarm by May! So this is the time to watch closely for the signs that the colony is preparing to swarm.
By May, if your bees survived the winter and are now building up again, you did it! Success!!
“I collect overwintering success stories - if you’d like to share yours with me, you can write me.” Pg. 129.
You can reach Christy Hemenway at info@goldstarhoneybees.com
Chapter 8: Treasures of the Hive
What are the treasures of the hive? Honey and beeswax!
When and How Much to Harvest?
“It’s not about the honey, Honey - it’s about the Bees!” Pg. 132
It’s often recommended not to harvest honey from first year hives but, occasionally, they might go full force into the nectar flow and you can take a small harvest.
Learning to identify the likelihood of whether they can replenish their stores in time for winter takes experience, time, and a good sense of your local climate and forage.
As there is no foundation used in top bar hives, you end up with cut comb honey (storing it basically as-is) or you can crush and strain the honeycomb to separate out all that delicious honey.
Now you have a double harvest of honey and wax!
Hemenway sells a simple, two bucket system on her website for easily crushing and straining honey. She also gives instructions for how you can make your own.
“I recommend against using plastic bottles for honey - partly because glass is a cleaner, more benign material, but also because of the risk of introducing Bisphenol A into your very clean, natural honey!” Pg. 136
You always have the option to store honey or full comb as food to give back to the hive in times of nectar dearth or to help shore up their winter stores.
Remedies from Honey and Venom
Pollen allergies (local, raw honey)
Wounds and burns (antiseptic, antifungal, antibiotic)
Apitherapy - Bee Venom Therapy (BVT).
My Note: Anecdotal support only. No scientific studies have found that apitherapy works as anything more than a placebo.
Beeswax
Hemenway offers methods to render it safely (it’s highly flammable!)
Recommends using it to make candles
Also offers a recipe for a salve/cream
“These treasures of the hive are some of the most valuable things that bees offer to humanity!” Pg. 143
Chapter 9: Bee Pests and Diseases
Prevention
Start with healthy bees
Hemenway recommends sourcing packages from chemical free apiaries
Swarms: total unknowns
Cleanliness: clean hive tool between hives, don’t take your used equipment or clothing to another beekeeper’s apiary (biosecurity)
Tidiness: keep apiary neat; don’t leave cross comb or propolis laying around the hives
Inspect regularly
Learn the signs and symptoms of disease and pests
Diseases/Viruses
This section includes clear photos to help you learn what to look for, and gives an overview of the following issues:
American Foulbrood (AFB)
European Foulbrood (EFB)
Sacbrood Virus (SBV)
Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)
Chalkbrood
Wax moth
Small hive beetle
Nosema
Tracheal mites
Varroa mites
Note on the varroa section: Hemenway recommends a drop count method for determining the level of varroa mite infestation in a hive. However, this method has been found to be largely inaccurate when compared to methods such as a sugar shake and alcohol wash. As far as I can tell through reading the most recent studies on the subject, the alcohol wash method is the most accurate. Hemenway also recommends treating varroa with a powdered sugar dusting, claiming that it will cause the bees to groom the mites off them. But what about the mites in the brood cells? I went to her website for more information on her recommended varroa treatments and they’re all chemical-free and nothing I’ve heard of before. She recommends using thyme oil, which I assume is due to the presence of thymol, which is the active ingredient in Apiguard. She also recommends feeding the bees a garlic and sugar water solution. I found one study that indicated garlic has an up to 51% reduction in varroa mites, although the researchers used garlic essential oil, not fresh cloves (unsure if that makes a difference?).
When I attended one of the author’s talks about top bar hive beekeeping, she recommended using oxalic acid, applied via the dribble method, in the Spring, so I suspect this book was published before she decided to use this treatment (which is admittedly considered organic as oxalic acid is naturally occurring in honey).
Additional issues
Mice
Bears
Skunks
Opossums
Raccoons
Ants
Afterword
Hemenway states that she used to be a ‘zealot’, who believed that top bar hives and chemical-free beekeeping were the only way, and all other methods were “evil” and “wrong”. Although she still believes that chemical-free leads to healthier bees in the long term, she also sees the bigger picture, and has met enough beekeepers to no longer see other methods as “evil”.
What is increasingly clear to her is the connection between beekeeping, bees, and our broken food system, including current agricultural methods, government politics, systemic pesticides, GMOs, and the effect all of these combined have on honey bees and other pollinators.
“The analogy of the honeybee as a modern day “canary in a coal mine” was suddenly completely apropos, and drove home the point that CCD was not just another bee pest or disease - but a symptom of much larger, interrelated problems.” Pg. 163
I really like the final paragraph of the book:
“Repairing our agricultural practices, practicing treatment-free beekeeping, eschewing the use of pesticides, spending our food dollars appropriately and restoring respect for all of the natural systems required for the planet to sustain itself and us: These are the ways forward. And after taking those steps, we will soon realize that we didn’t have to find a cure for CCD. . . We just had to quit causing it.” Pg. 165
Citations
Glossary
Appendix A: Sample Hive Inspection Diagram
Appendix B: Bee Resources (including books, movies, websites, magazines, research organizations, beekeeper associations, etc)
My Thoughts:
Overall, this is a cracking little book on how to get started with top bar hives. The photographs, though in black and white, are so clear and really allow the reader to understand what to look for and what to expect. As I stated previously, the chapter on hive inspections is the crowning jewel of the book. Those diagrams make it so much easier to visualize all the how-to information, and offers additional benefits to those who are visual learners.
Hemenway’s passion for the bees (and wax!) is apparent on every page, and it’s this passion that first interested me in her work. Her focus on chemical contamination of wax seems to me to be a critical issue that is often overlooked in beekeeping. Between pesticides on the food bees bring back to the hive and feed to their young, and the miticides we use in an attempt to control varroa, we often don’t consider the level of contamination that can exist within our hives. Varroa treatments are categorized in terms of ‘safe when honey supers are on’ or not; there’s not much discussion among hobbyists about how much remains in the wax after treatment. I have personally marked frames with Fall/early-Winter honey when I have had to apply a treatment before winter shut down, and have concerns that the honey and frames are now contaminated. But how many do the same? How many of us are cleaning our frames by removing all wax every few years? And, even with the wax removed, could the plastic foundation or wood frame be contaminated still?
Hemenway draws apt comparisons between all the factors of our modern farming and agriculture and the horror of Colony Collapse Disorder. Even with her brief summaries of these issues, you can clearly see how ‘saving the bees’ does not end with simply keeping them in our apiaries. We need to look at the whole system of how we eat, how we keep our gardens, and what we put into the hive.
Like many chemical-free books/methods, I’m torn on the treatment methods for varroa that are discussed (briefly) in this book. Personally, I’m not convinced of their efficacy and it troubles me to imagine new beekeepers following these methods and potentially causing a mite infestation in their area. The basis of chemical free keeping is not wrong: Thomas Seeley outlined the importance of bees being allowed to develop resistance over time but even Seeley points out that, unless you are far enough away from other apiaries to avoid potentially infesting them with varroa from your colonies, you have a responsibility to treat effectively for mites and 'chemical' treatments are still the most effective at this time.
I truly believe that this issue isn’t as simple as chemical free vs chemical, or ‘science’ vs ‘natural’. There are so many things we have to consider before we choose a treatment method. With that said, I think you can get a good foundation of knowledge by relying on Seeley’s ‘Darwinian Beekeeping’ methods discussed in his book, ‘The Lives of Bees’, and supplementing that knowledge with books like this.
I hope you enjoyed going through this book as much as I did! Thanks so much for listening/reading, and happy beekeeping!