Deadout

Oh well, I've done it again.  As of Jan 28th I'm officially bee-less.   Only 2 living bees and one isn't a queen.  Taking them to the basement only prolonged the inevitable I guess.  I'm thinking that they died of thirst, but who knows.  They had been dwindling since the fall but I could not pinpoint the reason, but now I think the queen was a failure from the beginning as the buildup of the hive never really happened.  Afternoons would only see 50-60 new bees out for their test flights.  Oh well,  ordered new stock from upstate, will be here in May.  Going to try a very hygenic cross this time.  I'm also going to set out a bee trap this spring, if that works I'll have a couple of hives going.  They say that with two hives you might save one good one, lets hope.  I have 2 extra empty hives just waiting, one being a traditional top bar.

From the hive I gathered about 25 Lbs of honey, very rich and dark.  Plan on making some strawberry mead with it.  have made wine in the past, but mead will be the first.  I tasted some from a friend in Minnesota last fall and it was supperb.

Heading up to Olive for a bee seminar on the 11th of Feb, should be fun to see how everyone else is making out.

Last blog now till the spring.  Later

New year starts

Yesterday it rose to ever 60 degrees so I decided to let the bee's do an evacuation flight (poop).       I moved them from the basement to the back patio and opened the entrance.  Out they came. (Watch video) Problem is they all flew back to the shed.  When I went back there the window was full of bee's as was the landing board.  What to do?  I had made a bee vac so it was time to put it to the test.  I vacuumed up the bees from the shed window and landing board, then the ones I could catch on the outside of the hive, then closed up the hive and moved it back to the shed and opened it back up.  I then dumped out the bees from the vac onto the landing board so they could reenter the hive.  That wasn't so bad as I thought.  I lost a few bees in the process, but it seems they are stronger than I thought.  Cold spell coming this week so today I moved them back to the basement for the duration of the winter, if we get one. The lessons we learn!!!!

Later,

Happy New Year

Checked on the bees this morning and found lots of dead ones on the bottom board.  Not sure how many are left, tho I can see them moving around inside, not many.  Because there are so few, I've decided to move them to the basement.  This should help with staying warm enough.  Lots of honey left so food will not be a problem.  With the warmer temps, maybe the queen will lay some eggs and build up the hive.  This will happen anyway in late Feb, early Mar.  Only buying a 4 frame nuc so late probably sealed their fate as most of the nectar flo was over.  Started looking for new stock today on the Internet just in case.  Even if they do survive,  I can mix the new in to build up the hive. 

Started building another hive this week in case I luck out and catch a swarm, that would be nice.

Hope you had a great holiday season, we did.  Later

December Weather

Got back from my annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota just befor Thanksgiving.  A great success even if there weren't that many birds.  No Chicks in the spring due to fowl weather.  When I got back I checked on the bees and to my surprise, there weren't any in sight.  Dismayed and alarmed I removed the cover and blanket (insulation) and found them tucked away in the corner out of my view through the window, what a relief.  They have shrunken the colony down to an alarming size for the winter, hope they will be okay.  Each day, weather permitting, they come out to play and gather water and nectar from my Broccoli which I let go to seed.  We've had several frosts but it is still blooming.  Noticed some other bees working it also, looks like a Italian cross, maybe the feral hive that lives close to here.  Took out one comb from the second box and placed it into my trap as a lure next spring.  Today I finished the box to add on in the spring.

Had our second bee meetup this past Weds., everyone seems to have healthy bees but are still dealing with the small hive beetles.  Had a new member who is going to start hive in Nova Scotia on his family farm.

Nothing else going on, keep you posted, later.

Oct 24, Fall feeding

Gave the hive a quart of honey and water (50/50 mix) to help fill some of the empty comb in the bottom box.  Its amazing how fast they can consume it, it was all gone within 5 hours.  Will top it off again tomorrow and that should do it for the winter.  It was warm (60) today and they were out in force, tho not sure what they were gathering.  A few were in my Broccoli flowers but most were leaving for parts unknown.  I also placed some insulation along the empty side to lessen the available space for the winter.

On another note, I went to the city on Saturday to w. 23rd street and saw some huge bees working some mint along the harbor park.  They must have been twice the size of my bees.  So much for down sizing.

Leaving on a trip to South Dakota for my annual pheasant hunt on Thurs. , talk later.

Throwing out the trash

Well, fall is officially here as I saw the bees cleansing the hive of unwanted debris, Drones!!  What a sight, chasing them everywhere until they leave the hive,  Lots of noise too.  With the buildup of fall rations, they need less mouths to feed for the winter and what better than to get rid of the drones (males), as all they do is eat (often being fed) and go on the hunt for chicks.  What a life, but at a great cost, as if they do score they die, and if they don't, they die.  Sounds like being female is the way to go.  Wait a minute, all they do is work to death.  I guess it works for them.

In the hive I still have an occasional thief visit, but the bees seem to be holding their own.  They have slowed down on comb building, trying to save the honey for winter use as it takes 20lbs of honey to make one  pound of wax.  About a third of the second box is empty, but I think they will be fine. If they don't fill the box by  Oct. I'm going to fill the void with insulation to cut down the space they will need to keep warm.  Had I made the switch to my hive a couple weeks earlier when I first got them the hive would have been complete for the winter.  Not killing the Queen probably would have been better.  Still bringing in lots of pollen, from the goldenrod I suspect, lots of it around the perimeter of the nearby cemetery.  The top box is full of honey and pollen and they have begun to store in the new combs in the second box.  Looks like the hive is downsizing also, not as many new bees coming out.  Turned the hive 90 deg. for winter.

I have a multitude of sizes and coloring of bees in the hive and they are making two distinct sizes of cells, (along with the few drone cells).  Some of the bees are almost black while some are almost Italian looking.  Size doesn't vary with coloration either, as I have blacks in both large and small.  Most of the lighter colored ones are very small.  I thought they would be making smaller cells on new comb but except for one comb, the size has remained the same.  Maybe after a few generations they will small up.  No signs of any pests to date, although there was a few undeveloped pupae on the landing.  I opened up the upper vent and that ceased.  Not sure if I,m going to leave the screen bottom in for the winter or not.  I think that I,ll leave the upper vent open and let the bees deal with it themselves.  I think they will know what to do.

Got to pick up the boss. Later.

More new comb

After hurricane Irene, which left this area unscathed, the bees have been in a frenzy building new comb.  Six so far in the second box.  They need to complete the box by autumn to survive the winter.  Here's hoping.

On another note, I wrote to 2 experts on autism and asked if anyone was studying the correlation of neurotoxic pesticides and the sudden increase in autism since the introduction of this pesticide.  One has replied as a no, and I haven't heard from the second at UND.  Maybe now that's school has begun, I might get a response, who knows, can't hurt and I can wait.

Fall is upon us soon and the dogs are getting anxious to hit the fields for birds,  bee keeping will go on hold at that time I guess.  Have a Meetup with local bee keepers at the end of the month at my house, good to meet new people, but at my age, everyone is a new person .  Later.