Bees - Fall Checkup

Aagh! I am just devastated. My poor bees - here I thought they were doing great, even overcrowded. I assumed wrong. When I went out to add some space for them to expand, I found that they are practically starving! Too dry, the pond nearby is covered with algae, maybe they are unable to get enough water? Anyway, will be feeding them and setting up a water source right next to the hive. I feel terrible.

Bee Checkup

So, yesterday I went out to check on the bees. They've been happily buzzing around, enjoying the wild roses and other flowers. Looks like they're doing okay, but what do I know?

I'm going to have to ask some real beekeepers (at the beemaster.com forums) about what may be supercedure or swarm cells on the bottom of a couple of the frames. Could be nothing, could be they aren't happy. Could be I'm anxiety-prone. I didn't see the queen during this inspection; I only pulled out two or three frames. But I did see some larvae, so she has to have been around recently, at least.


They are putting up some beautiful honey. I stole a bit from the burr comb that was opened when I removed the inner cover. Light, clear, and sweet. Nothing like the stuff in the bear-shaped bottle from Save-a-Lot. Easily addictive, and my mind instantly went to recipes, buttered biscuits at breakfast-time, and beautiful jars lined up in the pantry. The bees may be telepathic, because at that point they began head-butting my hat and rear end. Time for me to move along!



Still no stings, but go figure, as I was sitting here looking at photos of the hive, something stung me beside my shoulder blade! I ran out to grab some plantain, but had to have hubby put it on the sting, since I could barely reach it.

I'll try to get out and work with them again soon. Today I placed an empty frame between two that were partially filled with honey; they are mainly working in the center of the hive. I need to get some new frames ready and add a super, to give them more space. Hopefully they'll stick around!

Bees and Cell Phones

See? I'm not completely insane! Cell phones ARE making the animals wacky!

Apparently, scientists are looking at cell phone radiation as a possible culprit in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). They went looking through previous work, and according to a study that had been done in Germany in 2003, when cell phones were placed near hives, as much as 70% of the colony failed to find their way home after foraging. Now I'm not sure how much radiation they were exposed to in order to have this effect, but that's what's happening with CCD, as well. The bees aren't dying in the hive, they just aren't there anymore. So it's possible something like this is at least involved.

Of course, I am also reading that certain pesticides used against aphids can cause bees to behave erratically.

I have to wonder, if we ever actually figure out what's causing this, and it turns out to be something we aren't willing or able to change...what happens?

Combine the fact that bees pollinate most everything except our grains, with the grain issues due to weather (not mentioning corn for ethanol, I'm not!), and I'd say we're in for a long, bumpy ride this year on food prices/supply.

Bees Update

A friend said:

I suppose that’s alright if you will get to work on it later, right?

I suppose! LOL

Turns out I did work on it, but of course I waited until the last minute. I ended up ordering a complete new hive - get this, you can order them pre-assembled! for around the same price as unassembled - so that I wouldn’t panic, thinking I’d forgotten something. Besides, this way I will have extra "supers" (basically additional stories for their house, like the second box I added).




I also waited until the last minute to paint the hive. Something about that didn’t seem right, and sure enough, according to one of the books I have, the bees were likely to be "outraged" at the smell. Great. They were due in one day, and I had probably just royally offended them. The package arrived Monday, much to the joy of our local post office, I’m sure. The bees came in a box, with wire mesh sides:





They had a can of sugar syrup to keep them happy for a while, which was good. It was so cold here, I was worried about putting them in the hive, so they lived in my kitchen for a couple of days. Now THAT was interesting. Did you know they sleep sort of like bats? At least that’s what it looked like to me. They are quiet and still, and because they’re in a swarm, they hang like leaves, or almost like shingles on a roof. Once in a while, one will get fidgety, and a bee next to her will buzz irritatedly at her to settle down. Anyway, it was fascinating.


So on Wednesday afternoon, it was time to "install" the bees in their hive. I’d spent two days listening to them, talking to them, feeding them sugar water, reading the beekeeping forums at beemaster.com (the guy I linked to in an earlier post about smaller cell size posts there!), and watching installation videos on Youtube. That last one was a big help. Watched one more to get my nerve up, fired up the smoker, put on a long-sleeved button-up shirt, hat and veil, and got started.




I opened the package, was overcome by the swarm of Africanized killer bees that came boiling out, and was stung to death.

























Okay, okay, it went just fine. I didn’t get stung at all, unless you count the bee I accidentally squished when I was picking up my supplies to go back inside. I felt a slight prick through my glove and found her. :(

All in all, it was a rush! I was ready to do two more when I finished. I could have climbed a mountain, right then! lol


My two youngest kids shouted instructions to me from a distance (they’d watched the videos, too), and my oldest took pictures, probably hoping for something she could send to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Anyway, if I can get that posted on Youtube at some point, I will.

I shook out the bees, but apparently I don't shake very hard; there were still tons of them in the box, so I propped it against the base of the hive. Here's a pic of the rest of the them marching into their new home, and checking out the paint job:


I went back out yesterday to make sure they had released the queen - ooh, I didn’t tell you about the queen. She comes in her own little cage, with a couple of attendants to care for her. In one end of the cage, there is a candy plug. I removed a cork covering it, and placed her cage between two frames in the hive. The bees then ate their way through the candy, and by the time she was released, they had become familiar with her, and accepted her as their queen. At least, that’s what I hope happened. At any rate, when I checked, she had been released.

I refilled their Mason jar of sugar water, moved it to the front entrance and removed the extra box I had used, took out the empty queen cage, and then pulled out a center frame to look for the queen. I didn’t see her (I asked to have her marked when I ordered, she has a yellow dot on her back), but the bees had started to draw a small amount of comb. I hope everything is well, I felt clueless standing there looking at it. Will have to do more reading, and check again in a few days.

Well, that’s it! I hope the pictures aren't too huge. It may not sound like much, but I definitely recommend beekeeping. It’s a strange combination of both an adrenaline rush(I’m going to get stung, I just know I’m about to be stung), and zen-like calm (just staaaaaay calm….you’re not being stung). LOL

I'll Try It Again: Keeping Bees

Okay, this one's getting started, because now it's official - a few minutes ago, I ordered a package of bees, to be shipped on April 29th. Woo hoo! I got an adrenaline rush, just making the call.

*gulp*

Okay, so now on to the details. I have my old hive, which has been damaged a bit by exposure and high winds. It's still usable, but I need a few new pieces, and I think I'll give it a fresh coat of white paint, even though the bees won't mind the grey of weathered wood.

I've also been doing some reading, trying to catch up with the current state of beekeeping. The big concerns last time were varroa and tracheal mites, treating your hives for them,and the concern that feral honeybees were disappearing across the country.

Those are still a concern, but now there's something bigger: CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. Unexplained disappearance or dwindling of hives, on a large scale, and showing up everywhere. Coincidentally, in the UK, they're calling it "Marie Celeste syndrome" (that's the third time that name has come up for me this week, including on this board!).

Tons of theories flying, no one thing pinpointed yet. Is it the mites? Is it a new virus? Is it that they're foraging in pesticide-laden fields? With GMO crops? There does seem to be some sort of immunity compromise. But again, nothing conclusive. Then, other factors:

- It's more prevalent in commercial hives than in smaller hobbyists' yards.

- Beekeepers managing their hives organically are not reporting issues with CCD.

That has added other potential influences. Commercial keepers are more likely to feed their overwintering bees with HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) than sugar syrup or honey (not to mention the fact that the corn used may be GM).

Commercial hives are moved often, being rented out to orchards and other farmers who need the pollination. This stresses the bees.

Non-organic beekeepers use more chemicals, pesticides, medication, etc.

Something that I didn't know, and found interesting: The standard starter combs used in the industry, [url=http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm]have larger openings than that drawn in a natural hive[/url]. This apparently produces larger bees, as well as leaving more time for mites to get into a cell before it is capped off. Organic keepers are now switching to the smaller cell size.

Many keepers are now using plastic starter frames, rather than wood and beeswax. Bees sometimes have a hard time adapting to the plastic. I tried a couple of frames last time, but the bees never really built on them.

And organic management means being far enough from pesticide-treated fields to avoid having it show up in the honey.

There are many other common practices that might be factors. Some may even be reducing the quality or quantity of propolis that the bees are producing - their natural sealant, used to protect the hive from germs or pests.

It already suits my nature to lean toward the idea that the more naturally you manage a hive, as with most things, the better results you are likely to have. Hopefully there is still room in our chemical-laden landscape to do that. Looks like I will have to do some digging into this idea of organic/natural beekeeping.

Spastica said:

Holy C**p! They send you bees in the mail? A box containing 12,000 bees?

That’s insane! And so, so funny! I can’t even imagine the postal workers… "Whatever you do, don’t drop it…" "Wha? Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!"

I can’t stop laughing. That image is so funny.

The cool thing is that a swarm of bees, whether in a box, or hanging from your porch railing or from a tree branch, is actually not as dangerous as messing with a hive of bees. When you see one, you know they are on the move, looking for a new home. They are usually full of honey (or sugar water in the case of the box), stored up for the journey (and for building new honeycomb in their next home), and that keeps them pretty calm. Same reason you use smoke to work in a hive; something about it, possibly the instinct to evacuate the hive in the case of a fire, sets them to gorging themselves on honey, which keeps them busy, then calm.

Ever see one of those crazy people who make a "beard" of bees, or cover their head with them? Those bees are in a swarm. They’re just hanging out in a cluster, waiting for one of a few scout bees to come back and tell them she’s found the spot for a new hive.

If you do see a swarm hanging out around your house, and you’re worried about them building, say, in the walls of your house (or even if it’s just freaking you out), you can call a local beekeeper to come and get them. They are usually glad to come, because they can take the bees back to their own beeyard, to set them up in a new hive.

You’d also be doing the bees a favor; due to various mites and viruses, honeybees are in danger of being wiped out in the wild.