Suggestions from David Schultz, HCBA President: An anti-robbing screen should be placed on this hive to keep other bees from becoming infected with the virus and mites. Continue the OA treatment minimum of 3 treatments at the 4-day intervals. Put in an IPM board under the screened bottom board and do 24-hour mite counts after each OA treatment. You are looking for the mite counts to be significant at the early treatment with diminishing mites by the last. Consolidate the bees onto 10 frames either with a follower board in each box or by placing them in two nuc boxes. Mark your calendar 3 weeks from the time of the capped cells and go into see if you have a mated queen. If so, and your mites are under control you may have a chance to get the colony through the winter. If no queen and the mites are under control you can combine the colony with another.

Hi - We had a discussion about various apps during one of our general meetings. We usually take all the questions that come in over the website and discuss them in greater detail. Bottom line with the apps is that their utility depends on what you need them to do. Some are better for just logging your inspections, some focus on weather/environmental conditions, some are science specific. I've tried a few and none of them seem ... practical ... for use. Hivekeepers is popular and has a lot of detail oriented information. Beekeepers Lite is a speak to record app - which is handy. It has a nice inspection checklist which is great for beginners. Beehealth is also good for beginners. Apiary Book is an information dense beekeeper developed app, which is good for folks who want to log every single detail. For me, none of the apps I've tried made my beekeeping or record-keeping easier.

Answer from David Schultz, HCBA President: They are hive beetles. Adult hive beetles will cluster with the bees during the winter. This time of year they will begin laying eggs and their larvae will go out of the hive and pupate in the ground. The adult beetles fly back into the hive and start the process over. Your weak colony will be less able to manage the beetles and take out the eggs that she is laying. The cause of the weak colony should be determined. Clean off your IPM board and insert it for 24-hours. If you see more than a dozen Varroa on the board upon the 24-hour inspection then the colony probably needs to be treated for Varroa. If not, then make sure that the weak colony does not have to much comb to manage. More than one or two more frames of comb then are covered with bees is to many combs. If the bees are only covering 3 frames of comb then reduce the colony to 5 frames for the next week and then add a frame or two each week to keep ahead of the growth of the colony. Any frames removed from the colony should be frozen for at least 48-hours to kill any hive beetle or wax moth eggs. Purchase some hive beetle management such as “Beetle Blasters” or use scent free pieces of “Swiffer” pads placed in the corners of the boxes on top of the frames. Good Luck! David

If the hives have a smell the state bee inspector should visit your apiary and inspect the hives and offer an opinion about the reuse of the comb and equipment. Hive beetles are best controlled by keeping strong healthy colonies. The next best plan is to have beetle trays filled with oil below the screened bottom board check out www.eheartwood.com. David S. Schultz

HCBA Member and Master Gardener Kent Phillips says, "Spring is easy: maple early, locust, poplar and lindens. That's our nectar source from April til the end of June. Probably not much after that or our nectar flow would be longer." He uses this reference for bloom times: https://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/pdf/NativePlantsforWildlifeHabitatandConservationLandscaping.pdf

I polled our products of the hive guru's and none of them had a successful experience making wraps. I have seen detailed information about making the wraps on Facebook & YouTube. If you are able to make them successfully, keep us posted!

This is drone brood. Bees often tuck drones between, on top of, and to the sides of the frames. Most stamped foundation is sized for workers, so the ladies squeeze the drones where they can fit them. That you have drone brood this late in the season usually means that your bees are feeling good about their food stores. I also don't see any mites on the exposed drone brood (varroa's favorite nesting ground) or riding on the backs of the bees in the picture. Looks like a healthy colony.

HCBA had a speaker in the last two years who overwintered bees on the Maine/Canada border. I was struck by the fact that he used no insulation/wraps or extraordinary measures with regards to hive structure. With our up & down temp extremes, my (newish) opinion is that helping the bees maintain a consistent temperature is the best thing I can do to help. To that end, all I do is put on a candyboard, then top the box with a burlap pillow loosely stuffed with straw to slow heat escaping. On warm days I pop the cover for a few seconds and throw on another chunk of candy if it's needed. That's it.

How old are the kids on your campus? It's probably more a question of liability than fear.