Latest / Honey Bee Obscura Podcast / Plain Talk: A Flooded Smoker & Failed Queen (305)

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Plain Talk: A Flooded Smoker & Failed Queen (305) · Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

0:01
Well beekeepers, it is an absolutely spectacular day.
0:07
The colors are just starting to turn
0:11
And I just said in a beekeeping article that I'm writing, I'm in a reflective stage of beekeeping.
0:18
What does that mean?
0:19
That means I just like being back here
0:22
I don't have to really do anything other than just be here and enjoy
0:27
the beauty of everything.
0:30
But, alas
0:32
,
0:33
I've got a mistake that's happened that's not very pretty at all.
0:37
I'll tell you about it just as soon as we get started in
0:40
this segment.
0:42
This
0:42
is I'm Jim Tew
0:43
and I come to you here
0:45
about once a week
0:46
where I try to talk about something to do with
0:49
plain
0:49
talk
0:50
tea.
0:51
Welcome!
0:51
To Honey Bee Obscura, brought to you by Growing Planet Media, the producers of the Beekeeping Today
0:59
podcast.
1:00
Join Jim
1:01
2, your guide through the complexities, the beauty, the fun, and
1:06
And the challenges of managing honey bees.
1:09
Jim hosts fun and interesting guests who take a deep dive into the intricate world of honey bees.
1:16
Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper
1:18
or just getting started, get ready for some plain
1:21
talk.
1:21
that'll delve into all things honey bees.
1:24
I don't know when it happened.
1:26
I haven't been back here in five or six days.
1:28
I took a trip.
1:30
I was gone for about the better part of a week.
1:34
I don't know when it happened, but I've got a foolproof system that I really like.
1:39
Years ago, at a surplus equipment sale
1:44
,
1:45
I got
1:46
I bought three or four
1:47
really heavy duty
1:49
heavy duty
1:49
old fashioned
1:50
can't find them anymore
1:53
Galvanized cans.
1:55
They're about ten
1:56
gallons, and they have lids that go with them.
2:00
So I used one of those
2:03
to
2:04
hold my smoker fuel and my lighter
2:08
and
2:09
some
2:09
paper for
2:10
starting the smoker
2:12
And then the other one I would put my lit smoker in that I had stuffed the entrance to.
2:19
And I would let it die out
2:21
in that other can so I didn't have a fire hazard back in my yard.
2:26
And then when I would come back in this beautiful plan, I would use one of the heavy lids and I would dump out the previous smoker fuel
2:37
that had partially burned down.
2:40
And using that charcoal
2:43
and that fresh piece of paper, I would restart the smoker and it would start right up, and then I would add fresh shavings to it.
2:52
I use wood shavings.
2:54
And pack it and pack it and add more, puff it, puff it, pack it, and then I could get a smoker
2:59
going
3:00
fairly quickly.
3:03
And
3:04
it's worked beautifully for 10 or 12 years.
3:08
But somewhere along the way a strong wind came through and blew the lid
3:13
off.
3:14
And we've had, of course, like everybody else, really good rain showers every now and then.
3:20
So
3:20
my smoker was halfway submerged, my two hive tools are wet.
3:24
I don't know if
3:25
the striker or the lighter will ever work again.
3:29
So I just got a mess
3:30
because somehow
3:32
that tight
3:33
fitting lid
3:36
blew off
3:37
That's a screw
3:38
up.
3:39
So I've got my smoker drying.
3:40
I've got the hive tools drying.
3:43
I got the can upturned
3:44
draining.
3:46
And I hope that in the next couple of warm days
3:50
That
3:51
everything will dry out and I can restart my system.
3:55
I don't know if my smoker's ruined or not.
3:57
The bellows was about half underwater.
4:00
It's not good
4:02
unless this is a way to wash your smoker.
4:05
Alright, I wasn't expecting that.
4:08
It's just another exciting event in the bee yard.
4:13
What I came back here for was to do
4:16
a quick review, an autopsy
4:20
of a swarm that died
4:22
looked
4:23
like about, I don't know, two or three weeks ago.
4:25
Like I said, I was traveling.
4:27
Went down to Tennessee and Alabama
4:30
and I was gone for a while and I didn't come back here every day.
4:33
And I was surprised to see that this swarm that I picked up, I don't remember the exact swarm
4:38
story behind it.
4:39
Every time I picked up a swarm I told you about it, but I've got two back here.
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I don't know which are which.
4:46
This
4:47
dead.
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So
4:48
let's have a look at it.
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It's
4:50
got a
4:52
a plastic cover.
4:55
It's glued down.
4:58
Got that
4:59
off.
5:00
It's got an inner cover
5:03
that's glued down to.
5:05
Must sound like I've got one long
5:10
So I'm breaking the inner cover loose.
5:13
It was tied down with some
5:15
burr comb
5:17
Oh, they've really propolized this up
5:22
nicely
5:23
with all this burr
5:25
cone.
5:26
It's just a swarm.
5:27
It was a small swarm and I had it in a single
5:31
deep, but they did a really good job of propalizing everything.
5:37
So
5:37
this is going to be a pistol to get a frame out.
5:41
This is where I do
5:42
should do the Jim Tew
5:43
thing.
5:43
I don't have my little hammer with me
5:45
though
5:46
and
5:46
open it from the bottom up and drive a the first frame out from the bottom but let me see
5:52
if I can pry
5:55
that
5:55
out
5:58
It's
5:59
slowly
6:01
snapping out.
6:05
No, come on
6:06
out.
6:07
And everybody says these are removable frames
6:10
and these cut
6:11
and these modern beehives
6:13
we call it
6:15
But unless you and I go in all the time
6:19
and keep the propolis
6:20
scraped down, this is
6:23
not really a movable
6:24
framed hive
6:26
I got a frame out.
6:27
Nothing's on it.
6:28
I don't have any protective gear on and I'm right next door
6:32
to a fairly powerful colony.
6:35
I'll probably get lit up.
6:40
Yeah, here it is.
6:43
Well I'm officially
6:45
keeping both the greater and lesser wax moths
6:50
So
6:51
the wax
6:51
mobs have made their move on it, taking out pollen.
6:57
And listeners, very clearly, they went queenless.
7:01
And
7:02
Died
7:03
from having either a laying worker.
7:07
It it looks like a laying worker.
7:09
It doesn't
7:09
I don't see queen
7:10
cells.
7:12
I
7:12
got the nice autumn sun
7:14
coming over my shoulder.
7:17
And I'm looking on what would be the lower edge
7:22
of
7:22
the
7:23
cones
7:25
Just to be sure I don't see
7:28
any
7:29
flat scales
7:30
from American foulbrood.
7:33
And happily, I don't see that.
7:38
At one time it was a good colony.
7:39
It's really doing a great job with these wax moths.
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I'm gonna shake them out.
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I've got yellow jackets coming in to explore all
7:48
this.
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You know, I
7:50
told you before this is a real ecosystem back here in the bee yard.
7:55
Here's yet another frame, and now I've got a few bees on it researching it.
8:01
Nothing is here.
8:03
Same drill.
8:05
All it is
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is
8:07
very, very scattered
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uncapped
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drones
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No queen
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cells.
8:16
So I'm guessing it was either a
8:18
drone layer or
8:21
I'm gonna go with the drone layer.
8:23
I'm I'm just guessing
8:25
as I do this
8:28
basic
8:29
inspection
8:31
Because the drones are all the correct size, they're not undersized.
8:35
So
8:36
as is so often the case, I'm going to blame the Queen.
8:42
The queen lost her goodness.
8:45
Couldn't perform the job.
8:48
And for whatever reasons, the bees didn't replace her
8:53
They're dead.
8:56
So
8:56
I was looking to see if I'd had some kind of varroa collapse to see if my treatment plan wasn't working.
9:02
There doesn't seem to be a varroa collapse
9:05
It doesn't appear to be American foulbrood.
9:10
It appears that I just had a defective queen
9:13
that got away from me.
9:16
What would I have done if I had known?
9:19
I've talked about this, I've given talks about it, I've got a talk coming up on the subject.
9:24
Let's take a break and hear from our sponsor.
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10:40
Well I guess I'll date this segment by telling you that it's
10:44
it's about the first week in October now.
10:47
So
10:48
three weeks ago
10:49
would have been mid-September.
10:52
And I have frequently said that sometimes
10:56
it's not worth it.
10:58
So even if I'd caught this queen three weeks ago, the colony was already in decline.
11:04
It's already late summer, early fall.
11:07
Queens, if you can get them,
11:09
have probably been banked.
11:11
Who knows how long.
11:12
I don't know what that means.
11:13
Is it good or bad?
11:14
Does it
11:14
matter
11:15
That the queen was probably produced last spring and then held in
11:20
in reservoir colonies or nursery colonies until there was a demand to sell them.
11:26
It
11:26
would have been kind of pricey.
11:28
The colony would have gotten the queen
11:30
late.
11:31
It would have been expensive.
11:33
I have to drive to go get the queen about 40 miles
11:36
one way.
11:37
I don't know what
11:38
$35-40
11:39
for the queen.
11:40
Come back, go through the introduction process, take about a week, and then all that just in time
11:47
for what bit of golden
11:49
rod they're going to get
11:51
and wild asters.
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Question.
11:56
Would I even have requeened it if I'd found it?
11:59
That sounds heartless, doesn't it?
12:02
But
12:03
you consider the energy
12:05
and the money.
12:07
I can't say it any better than Kim.
12:09
He said it in almost every segment when we had Kim.
12:12
What's your time worth?
12:13
What's your time worth?
12:15
You remember I went over to my friend's house who had that tiny little swarm
12:19
barely bigger than a softball that she wanted to save and I told her it's going to die and it died.
12:25
So I think I need to listen to my own lecture here
12:29
Even if I'd found this colony, I
12:35
probably
12:36
would have just combined it.
12:39
But
12:39
others have said, far more intelligent in beekeeping than I, you're not doing another colony any favors.
12:46
Putting on a weak run-down colony with a lot of drones, you're just giving it more comb.
12:51
and more drones and more comb to take care of.
12:55
So
12:55
it's really
12:56
not really sure what
12:58
to do.
13:00
with
13:00
weak colonies, small colonies
13:03
in the fall.
13:04
And it sounds like you're you you know you're just letting them die heartlessly.
13:08
No, it's it's not heartlessly at all.
13:10
I'm just not sure what else to do
13:13
All you beekeepers in warm climates, you'd have a better shot at it.
13:17
You could feed maybe
13:18
throughout the winter more than I could do.
13:21
Anytime I open the colony to feed it during the winter, I
13:24
disturb it, it
13:25
lets out the heat
13:27
I'm just complaining
13:28
now.
13:29
I guess I'm trying to justify why this colony is dead
13:33
and I didn't know about it.
13:35
And I think it was because I was absent from duty.
13:39
I was
13:41
I was not on the wall, so that colony is gone.
13:45
It probably would have been gone anyway.
13:48
This colony had a sister swarm
13:51
that I just put into a six-frame nuc.
13:55
And you know it's
13:56
over here in the in the weeds
13:58
now and I'd actually forgotten it was over here and it's showing good flight.
14:03
And
14:04
they're throwing out drones.
14:06
I'm
14:07
gonna check other colonies
14:08
to see if if
14:10
they're throwing out drones too.
14:13
It's just
14:14
a couple.
14:16
But there's good flight out of that box.
14:20
Maybe I'll get Anne Frey
14:22
on and I'll talk to her and get her opinion on what to do
14:25
with a small colony this time of the year.
14:27
Can I insulate it?
14:30
Can
14:30
I
14:32
put on
14:33
sugar patties
14:34
to feed it?
14:37
So I will tinker with this one.
14:39
This one has potential.
14:40
The other one
14:42
Absolutely.
14:44
Did
14:44
not.
14:45
The other colonies are showing reasonable flight.
14:49
You know, this time of the year they're downsizing.
14:53
They're not really adding a lot of population.
14:57
And
14:59
I don't see any
15:01
other
15:03
drones
15:04
being tossed out.
15:06
Let me walk over here
15:07
around the other colonies.
15:12
I'm not
15:12
going to open these.
15:16
And I guess I'm at a
15:18
like I said a reflective stage in life
15:20
where I only open a colony if there's a good clear reason for it.
15:24
And just looking at the fall flow here
15:28
That's just waning
15:29
with these asters.
15:31
They last considerably longer than goldenrod.
15:35
Have I noticed that before and just haven't thought about it?
15:37
But goldenrod
15:38
is 98
15:40
%
15:40
gone
15:41
And those asters are still here, and the bees are on them
15:45
along with the other insects.
15:49
And
15:50
it
15:51
looks like that's about the last thing they'd got
15:54
other than some sedum
15:56
that's blooming around the community, some of it in my garden back at the house
16:02
Everything else is over.
16:05
All these colonies have decent flight.
16:08
I'm not going to try to winterize them yet.
16:11
I think I'm going to
16:12
dread that just a while longer.
16:15
There's these
16:16
all over
16:17
the
16:17
aster.
16:17
There's a gentle breeze blowing.
16:19
Why do I keep talking about the weather?
16:21
Because
16:22
I guess the weather in the nice bee yard on a nice day is just part of the atmosphere.
16:28
It's part of the reason for bees.
16:33
Well, that seems to be going okay
16:37
Walking by a drowned
16:39
smoker.
16:40
All in all, the
16:43
other day, late season in the bee yard, the 2026
16:46
season.
16:47
is breathing its last
16:49
gasp, nectarin
16:50
pollen season, before the big dearth starts up
16:56
Everything else seems all right.
16:58
Quick walk to two other colonies.
17:02
No drones there either
17:05
Pollen
17:06
coming in from who knows where, bright orange.
17:10
No signs of damage or harassment
17:13
in the front of them.
17:15
There it is.
17:17
So
17:17
I had a flood in a can in the bee yard.
17:20
I had a colony that apparently died of a defective queen.
17:24
Rest of the colony
17:25
seemed to be okay.
17:26
The six-frame nuc
17:28
off to one side.
17:31
is
17:32
interesting
17:33
and might deserve
17:35
a little bit more TLC than I was going to give the other colonies
17:38
that are pretty much on their own
17:41
I feel like I'm a little bit early, but that's all there is, and I'd be wasting your time to keep going.
17:45
So I'm gonna tell you bye at this point, but know this.
17:48
I always enjoy talking to you.
17:50
And
17:51
Kevin S.
17:52
from
17:52
Alabama
17:53
will
17:54
reach out to you in a rare way.
17:56
opportunity of me using part
17:57
of your name.
17:59
He told me over and over again how much he enjoyed the podcast and he made me feel good about it.
18:05
Thank you for that, Kevin.
18:07
And with that,
18:08
beekeepers, I'll talk to you next week.