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.

Bees upsizing

Been awhile,  Saw the queen a couple times moving from comb to comb.  Still a little thievery going on but the hive is defending itself more as I saw them carrying out a dissected bee, kicking and screaming.  The afternoon playtime has had a drastic increase in bee population buzzing around the entrance,  getting ready for the fall harvest I guess.  Four full combs built in the second box, they seem to be working harder with the colony increase, more nectar also to make wax.  The pollen is coming in, in heavy loads, maybe from the Rose-of-Sharon. 

Took the dogs to the beach and saw some bees working the flowering vines, not sure what they are tho.  My little bee garden I planted doesn't seem to be working, for my bees anyway.  See all kinds of bumble bees and wasps.  Saw a hummingbird there also, rare for Staten Island.  The garden seems to be to close to the hive as they fly right on by.  Left some broccoli go to seed, and they were working that tho.  They love my squash bloosums, tho they said they prefer them fried.

Nothing to heavy from this site, just mindless chatter.

Later,

Summer dearth is here

Things have slowed considerably since last weeks hot spell.  Not much in the way of nectar producing flowers out there, and the bees have slowed in their gathering skills.  Last week they were coming back to the hive ten at a time, never ending, this week they are just dribbling back.  Still excited tho as when they hit the landing platform they race inside and up the walls to store what they have.  I expect that they will go into reverse within the next week and start to consume what they have stored to date.  The upper box is full, so I think they will be fine.  The work on the comb has slowed also, three half done.  No nectar, no wax.  The hive will go into slow down brood wise until the fall goldenrod and Astor bloom.  Hope they get the second box done by fall.  Hate to have to feed them.  Rain is on the way they say so maybe that will perc things up some.  Later

Moved to second box

Yea!!! Their building down.  I just saw comb in the second box, looks like their here to stay.  Lots of brood cells closed over in the top box so that looks good too.  Will be fun to see how fast they progress.  Need to start building a third box soon as I want to keep one empty above the screened bottom.  The upper exit seems to be working as no bee's were fanning in this heat today, and all was quiet within the hive (noise wise).  No sign of chalkboard since I switched over and they cleaned up the mess, nor have the hive beetles come back.  I have a trap made if they do.  I am using diatomaceous earth which I also use for vine boring beetles in my garden.  If the bee's fill the second box and move to a third, I will try and gather some honey, otherwise I"ll wait till spring when I switch around the boxes to split the hive.  This is an exciting day.

First hive box full

Greetings,

Since I installed the new queen, the bee's have been furiously building comb, the box is almost full.  A lot of chatter at the top, with the heat I think they are fanning to keep the temp down.  So I built a top escape for them to let out some of the escess heat and humidity.  Putting it in place meant removing the blanket, sliding in the 3/4 in spacer and putting the blanket back down.  Thought I would try without smoking since it was a quick change.  The bees should have been young and not prone to attack but the minute I lifted the top, one came out and nailed me between the eyes.  That hurt! But I finished the job and left with a few more in pursuit.  5 minutes later there was a conciderable lessening in the bussing, and after a half hour, all was quiet.
I hope they begin building down to the next box this week, I'll feel better knowing they are expanding.  The new hatch from the new queen should start in a week, can't wait.