One of Livingston’s newest bee keepers came by the office early this spring with concerns about one of his two hives. He had not gotten into either hive yet because of the fluctuating weather, but he had noticed that one hive had very little traffic coming and going even on warm days. With his lack of experience he did not know whether to go on and inspect the hive or wait.

               After hearing his concerns about his hives Livingston ANR suggested that we inspect his hives as long as the temperature was above 50 degrees to just see what if anything was wrong with them. On arrival it was as he described one hive had very little to no traffic, while the other was very busy. We then decided to start the inspection with the strong hive first. The reason for this is, if we worked the weakest hive first and it did have a disease we might run the risk of exposing the second, strong hive to a disease.  On inspection the busy hive was strong and well and already out of room. Livingston ANR suggested adding another hive body as soon as possible before they swarm. The second hive was unfortunately dead. We went through the hive and saw several problems that the hive had going into the winter, which was too much for it to overcome. Apparently his second hive was a late swarm that a friend had caught and given to him. He had not treated for mites or any other insect or diseases. Livingston ANR informed him that most late swarms are leaving a diseased hive making treatment and antibiotics a must for late season swarms. He thanked me for the help and we ended the farm visit.

               The next day around 7:00 pm in the evening this same gentleman called Livingston ANR needing help with a swarm. He had went out that evening to put another hive body on his hive like was suggested and noticed a swarm in one of his apple trees. He had never caught a swarm and was very excited, but wanted help. After talking to him on the phone trying to explain how to catch the swarm we decided that a farm visit to catch the swarm would be the best. On arrival we caught the swarm and put them in a hive body. He was very happy to catch the swarm that had come off of his strong hive.  The swarm was probably two packages worth of bees making the caught swarm worth about $220.