Counting Bee Hives

A person managing a number of bee hives often finds the total number of hives holding live bees varies throughout the year. Typically, beekeepers combine colonies into fewer hives in the fall in preparation for winter. Then, in the spring, they make colony divisions from strong surviving colonies to occupy a greater number of hives. Throughout the year, hive numbers may increase or decrease as the beekeeper purchases colonies, captures swarms, or colonies die. There are occasions during the year when it is very useful for the beekeeper to record the number of active hives in the various bee yards. Counting the number of hives in the fall that are prepared for winter and later, in the spring, counting the number of hives surviving the winter gives the beekeeper a measure of over-winter losses. An important measure of honey yield involves counting the number of full-size hives in place during the major nectar flows. To calculate the honey yield per hive, the beekeeper simply divides the number of pounds of harvested honey by the number of full-size hives at nectar-flow time. In the Arkansas Delta, Independence Day, July 4, is a good time to count hives, as this date falls within a major nectar flow of the region’s two major nectar sources, soybeans and cotton.

By measuring the honey yield per hive of different bee yards, the beekeeper can determine which areas are the better producing ones. Yields will often vary widely from year to year as crop plantings are rotated. Bee yards in proximity to soybeans and cotton may produce an abundance of honey in one year; however, if the near-by fields are planted the next year with corn, wheat, rice, or sorghum—crops that produce no nectar—honey yields may be greatly reduced. Bee yards with a history of poor honey production may need to be abandoned for more productive sites. In today’s photo, Arkansas Delta farmers prepare a grain combine equipped with a Honey Bee model header.

--Richard

Cotton and Bees

Crops grown in today’s modern industrial agriculture employ improved seed, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, irrigation, and heavy machinery. Farmers are keenly aware of industrial agriculture’s impact on the natural world, and most producers are diligent stewards of the environment. They take great care in protecting their land and the wildlife that lives on it. Cathy Foust, Shelby County, Tennessee’s Extension Director, invited me to attend a presentation on protecting pollinators by Dr. Don Parker, Integrated Pest Management Manager with the National Cotton Council. Also attending were several other beekeeping friends, Richard Coy, president of Arkansas Beekeepers Association, Charles Force, president of Memphis Area Beekeepers Association, and Jon Zawislak, apiary instructor with University of Arkansas Extension Service. The audience of interested agricultural producers listened intently as Dr. Parker discussed the impact pesticides make on honey bees and native pollinators. Many of the producers were not aware that honey bees forage cotton fields. Some had not considered the effect of cotton insecticides on beneficial insects; they had only concentrated on killing pests. Cotton growers asked numerous questions of the beekeepers and seemed to be equally interested in protecting pollinators.

Dr. Parker spoke of some of the difficulties involved in protecting beneficial insects while trying to control pest insects with insecticides. One suggestion was to only apply insecticides at night while bees are not flying. Dr. Parker mentioned how dangerous it would be to fly a crop duster at night with cotton fields surrounded by trees and power lines. Such practices are completely unacceptable. Cotton growers and beekeepers were interested in discussions of the effect on beneficial insects when spraying insecticides on crop plants with “indeterminate growth” in which pollinators are continuously attracted by nectar. Here, bees can be poisoned even when the crop is not blooming. Other insecticide spraying challenges exist with plants, like cotton, which have “extrafloral” nectaries secreting nectar outside the flower. Today’s photo: a honey bee and a bumblebee, a native pollinator, share fall goldenrod near cotton fields.

--Richard

Treating for Mites

It is harvest time for beekeepers and other farmers in the Arkansas Delta. One of our important nectar sources for honey is cotton. Bolls of cotton fibers are open and ready for harvesting. During the heat of summer, cotton supplied large quantities of nectar for honey bees. Cotton honey is light in color and mild in flavor. A new beekeeper successfully completed his first honey harvest. With his honey sealed in containers, he asked me what he should do next for his bee hives. I congratulated him on his harvest and told him that his harvest of a surplus of honey indicates that he managed his hives properly. For a beekeeper to collect any surplus honey at all, the colonies must be healthy and have strong populations. The colonies’ population build-up must be timed so that there is a large population of bees at the start of the major nectar flows. If the colonies are expanding during major nectar flows, like that of cotton, there will be little surplus honey for the beekeeper to harvest.

Hive treatments to reduce parasitic mites can only be applied when there are no honey supers in place. I told the novice beekeeper that if he detected a number of Varroa mites, now is the time to reduce their numbers. The decision of whether to treat depends upon the bees’ mite loads. If the mite load is low, treatments are not needed. I suggest using a "soft" treatment like ones produced from essential oils or organic acids. The "hard" chemicals are miticides that tend to build up in the beeswax comb, lead to chemical-resistant mites, and cause sterility in drones and queens. The soft treatments are often applied inside the bee hive in a gel form that evaporates. Vapors, which are contained in the hive by covering screened bottom boards, kill exposed Varroa and tracheal mites. Treatments need to be made fairly early in the fall because cold temperatures may prevent the gel from evaporating.

--Richard

Cotton in Bloom

Cotton is in bloom across the Arkansas Delta. Cotton, grown for fiber, is also an important source of nectar for the production of honey. Honey bees forage cotton on both its internal and external nectaries. Honey bees collect nectar secreted inside the pale yellow flowers on the first day of their bloom. After one day, the flowers change colors, becoming dark pink. The honey bees learn that the change of flower colors means they must move to the external nectaries. The honey bees then collect nectar from the green-colored bracts, leaf-like flower parts on the base of the flower. They also find nectar secreted from the under-side of the leaves. Cotton is a member of the mallow family which includes cultivated hibiscus plants, hollyhock, and okra. Swamp mallow, particularly attractive to bumble bees, is found along the banks of irrigation ditches and bodies of water.

Cotton produces large amounts of honey, which is light in color, flavor, and aroma. Cotton honey is a favorite of many who enjoy sampling honeys from various nectar sources. Some people detect cotton honey as subtly changing in flavor as it is held in one’s mouth. When the bees complete the process of curing honey, it contains about 82 percent sugar solids and 18 percent water. At this point, the bees seal the honey in the honeycomb cells with a capping of beeswax. With such a concentration of sugars, all honey forms crystals of sugar over time. Cotton honey, like most flower honeys, tends to crystallize fairly rapidly. Honeys derived from the flowers of trees tend to crystallize more slowly. We often select cotton honey to make creamed honey due to its pleasant flavor and tendency to readily crystallize and form a spreadable product. Creamed honey, often eaten on toast, biscuits, or pancakes, remains in a solid, spreadable form when refrigerated. Liquid honey is held at room temperature, not refrigerated. The formation of crystals does not damage the flavor or quality of honey.

--Richard

Cotton in Bloom

Cotton is in bloom in Arkansas’ Mississippi River Delta. Cotton and soybeans are the two most important nectar producing plants in the region. Both crops are planted in broad expanses throughout the Delta. Cotton is a member of the mallow family, which includes the hibiscus and swamp mallows. Cotton is a good example of a plant which contains both floral and extra-floral nectaries. The nectaries are the part of the plant which secrete nectar. Cotton produces nectar inside the pale yellow flowers on the first day of the bloom. By the second day, the flowers change color, becoming dark pink. At this time, the nectar stops flowing inside the bloom; and honey bees stop visiting the flowers. Cotton also contains nectaries on the green bracts at the base of the flower. A third nectary exists along the underside of the leaves. All three nectaries produce large amounts of nectar to attract the honey bee.

Cotton honey is light in color and flavor. Like all flower honeys, cotton honey has a tendency to crystallize fairly rapidly. Tree honeys generally granulate more slowly. Some of the sugars that comprise honey are stable as a crystal, not as a liquid. Of course, the granulation of honey does not affect its quality or taste; and the honey may be easily re-liquefied by gently warming. Hot, buttered biscuits call out for cotton honey.
--Richard

Planting Time in the Delta

It’s planting time in the Arkansas Delta. Cotton, soybeans, rice, grain sorghum (milo), and corn are planted in large tracts. For the honey bee, the rice, grain sorghum, and corn don’t provide food. They are grasses, which are wind pollinated. The cotton and soybeans, however, are flowering plants; and they provide ample forage for the honey bees. They are the greatest nectar sources in the Delta. From these major Delta row crops the honey bees produce mild-flavored, light amber colored honey. For success in producing a crop of honey from cotton and soybeans, the beekeeper must encourage the bees to produce large populations of foraging workers prior to bloom time. If the bee population is not large enough at the start of the flower blooms, the bee colonies will grow through the relatively short bloom time without producing any surplus of honey that can be harvested. Our most productive hives will be full of bees at this time of the year. We try to maintain hives with approximately 60 thousand bees. Only healthy colonies with productive queens reach this effective population.

In the photo, you can see a farmer planting his grain crop near one of our bee yards. It will not be long before the seeds have emerged and the plants have grown to the point that they are blooming and attracting honey bees. This is a good example of the practice of no-till agriculture. Seed is planted directly into the stubble of winter wheat that was harvested the previous day. The ground is not plowed. Weeds are controlled by the use of the wheat straw mulch. Not disturbing the soil helps prevent weed growth. Weeds that do emerge are controlled by chemical herbicides. Click on the photo above for a close-up view of no-till planting. You can see that this field has a pollinator-friendly margin of foliage. Native bees can thrive in this margin.
--Richard