Cleansing Flights

After not seeing the bees for a week and a half, we were excited to see them buzzing around the hive entrance today, stretching their wings and relieving themselves. According to Tim, they try to 'hold it' as long as they can rather than dirtying up the hive when it's cold outside.

It was really nice to see them again. I expected to miss them this winter, I am surprised at how much I do.

Tim has started feeding them again. I think we've given them about 1.5 quarts of 2:1 sugar water over the last couple of weeks. That's all we've given them since I stopped feeding them regularly earlier in the fall.

I read a story in my work newspaper about a fellow beekeeper in NM. We've started corresponding.

Snow!

Today it snowed in Livermore. I, in a winter-weather induced funk, might not have noticed at all if it hadn't covered my windsheild and if Tim hadn't started making snow balls. It was lovely and exciting. It stuck to the ground and crunched under foot as I walked to work. The bees must be very cold!

Leave the Bees bee

I asked Alan about adding another box at this late date. He said not to; that I should just check the weight of the box through the winter and feed the bees when the box gets light. So that's the plan. I'll stop looking in on them now and just let the bees bee.

Quitter

Note: The bees have drawn out the frame that I added last week! I made a new bee veil--it is made with a courser net and bias binding to give the seams strength.

Today I was a quitter. I started my hive inspection around 1:00pm. It was cool outside, but over 60, and I thought it would be okay--lots of bees were flying and bringing in pollen. I got through two frames, and the bees began clumping up on top of the frames, and it became impossible to get my fingers in the right places to get any more out. As carefully as possible, I replaced the two frames and closed the lid. I don't know if it's too cold or if there are too many bees these days.

They are doing beautiful work though. The frame that I added last week was almost completely drawn out and full of nectar. They were in the middle of capping some of it, so it was partially opened and partially sealed--very pretty.

I am debating now about adding the second box. It seems so late in the year, and the weather is so cold. I worry about them being able to keep that big space warm enough.

I have been thinking a lot lately about doing inspections without gloves. It's so hard to maneuver in the hive with my bulky goat-skin gloves, and I might kill fewer bees with the threat of a sting when I squish one, and I would be able to better feel when a bee is in the way and in danger of being squished. But it's scary. I found a bee creeping up the inside of my pant leg today, and I almost jumped out of my skin trying to get the poor thing off of me. But at other times I manage to stay in control--the bees often land on me when I observe them, and I've learned to just breathe slowly and wait for the bee to leave, which they always do.

I think I will wait until the spring to inspect without gloves--it's probably just about time to stop inspections for the winter anyway.

New Sheriff in Town

Notes: Bees have drunk 1/8 quart sugar water.

The frames haven't changed much since last week. Here's what they looked like today:

1. Uncapped honey on one side; 2/3 full of capped honey on the other side.
2. 3/4 full of capped honey, 1/4 open brood; 1/2 full of honey, 1/2 brood
3. Brood
4. Brood
5. Brood
6. pollen, which looked like it was soaked with honey, honey.

The wax in frames 5 and 6, which are mostly brood, is very dark in color and seems to be always capped. Sometimes I see a couple of uncapped brood or small sections with larva, but I'm starting to wonder if something is wrong with the brood, and how long it has actually been capped. I will start keeping a closer eye on this.

The bees were a little feisty today; I used smoke generously for both our peace of mind, but a couple of the bees attacked my hive tool and flew kamikaze-style into my veil. One even got caught INside of my veil. I think it's time to trade in my home-made veil for a real one. Not sure why the feistiness; perhaps they are getting a little defensive with the change in weather. It was about 65F when I did the inspection today, much cooler than normal.

I've stopped worrying about the yeasty smell. It has lessened, and I'm starting to think that that is just the way my bees smell. They seem fine otherwise.

Not sure if there is a new sheriff in town or if the bees were under attack today. There were a couple of guard bees at the hive entrance who were closely inspecting and even shoving away some of the incoming bees.

Note: Added 1 qt. 2:1 sugar water

Cheeky Squirrel

In the time that I spend watching the bees, I observe many things in my backyard that I probably wouldn't otherwise. One of those things is the cheeky resident squirrel. She is loud, flamboyant, and a bit of a bully. I've seen her run right up to a morning dove and dare it to hold it's post on the fence. Today, she calmly walked across the fence on the north west side of the yard, stopped for a moment (a long moment that made me wonder what she was thinking about), and then suddenly shot across two yards of fence so quickly that I thought she flew. Then she ran along the south fence, jumped into the pine tree and launched into a long series of barks followed by chatter with each syllable punctuated by a sharp jerk of her tail. She must have gone on like that for five minutes. Then she started edging toward me, all the while barking and swishing her tail. She stopped for a moment and looked at me. Then she looked over into the neighbor's yard and told them some long drawn out tale--probably about the human who had the audacity to sit on a hammock in her yard. Finally, she tried staring me down--I very seriously thought that she was going to jump on my face.

Normally, I see her jump from the pine tree onto the ornamental tree in the middle of the yard and then onto the eucalyptus on the north east side of the yard. I wondered if she wanted to go across the hammock, so I moved and gave her the right of way, fearing that I would lose an eye if I didn't. Next thing I knew, she was jumping from tree to tree as normal.

I found a big nut under the hammock yesterday--I think it is from one of the palm trees in the neighborhood. I also saw a squirrel (might have been her) run across the yard with a similar nut. Maybe the nut under the hammock was hers and she was upset that I was camped out over her treasure. Who knows?

I also saw a hummingbird. It landed on the tree above the bee hive, flew down to where the chicken waterer is, had a look in the hive and then flew off. I wasn't sure if he was considering having a drink or just thought that my bees looked like tasty little bits of protein.

The Face that Launched a Thousand Bees

Notes: I changed the hive entrance reducer to the medium entrance size this morning. I've started to see a few wingless wonders again. I will do a mite count starting tomorrow AM.

Yep, that's the queen's name--Helen! It came to me this morning as I watched the bees launching themselves in and out of the hive entrance. At the same time I was trying to think of the perfect queenly name for my queen. It had to connote both beauty and power. Elizabeth? No, too virginal. Hippolyta? No, too exotic. Victoria? No, too petite. Hmmm. Then, while I watched the sun reflecting off of the bees, they glowed golden and I thought of glistening Roman soldiers and the Mediterranean, and I had my name! Kari will be so relieved that Helen is no longer nameless.

Attitude A-plenty

Notes: Sugar water from 10/28 was gone. Added 1 quart 2:1 sugar water. The bees had completely drawn out the empty frame I added on 10/24! It's getting a little crowded during high traffic times of the day--time to remove the entrance reducer.

Unfortunately, I began today's inspection without first taking off my day. Sometimes it takes an external observation to realize how busy I have made my life. Louise is staying with me right now, and I have had very little time to spend with her. I've been getting up at 5:00 am to get to work early to work on an important presentation and get caught up on all of the things that idled while I was on travel. I work until 5:00 pm and then breeze in, get some dinner and begin studying. Yesterday, I had class from 6:00 to 9:00, and Louise went out for drinks with the girls, so I saw her for about an hour the whole day! Today, with my fourth cold in six weeks going strong, my presentation finally complete and presented and my bee duties neglected, I threw in the towel and left work at lunch time.

So that is where my mind was when I opened the hive. Not surprising, the first thing I did was squash a bee, which upset the other bees and made the whole inspection challenging and stressful. The bees crowded around the frame where their buddy had been squashed, and it became difficult to get my fingers and tools where they needed to go to lift out the frame. And then the bees poured into the spaces between the frames so that I couldn't get them re-snugged. The density of the net on my home-made veil and the position of the sun conspired to make seeing rather hard. The inspection took almost 45 minutes, which I know is too long to have the hive open when the sun is getting ready to set. I had several moments where I wanted to just throw the lid on and leave them be. But I knew that that would only lead to a bigger mess on my next inspection. I also wondered if part of the problem was simply too many bees. They have now almost filled the first deep, so maybe it's time to add the second deep. Should I do that so late in the season? Something to research.

I couldn't get my smoker lit either--the decent matches were no where to be found, and I quickly made my way through five tiny matches without getting the thing going. I ended up just blowing air from the smoker to disband the bees when they clumped up. They didn't seem to like it and tried attacking the smoker spout! Not sure who had the most attitude today--me or the bees.

With my complaining and justifying out of the way, let me tell you what a really wonderful inspection it was. I saw the queen! As I lifted out the very last frame, my stick-to-it-ness was rewarded by seeing my gorgeous queen bee strolling across the cells of multi-colored pollen that make up the back side of the very last frame in the hive. And the bees have been incredibly busy. They completely drew out and filled the seventh frame that I added on 10/24. Go bees, go!

Here is the status of each frame starting from the one furthest from the follower board:

1. One side is completely empty. The other is about 1/2 full of capped honey
2. This is the new frame. It was completely drawn out. One side had honey, pollen, larva and eggs. The other side was honey and pollen
3. This one was almost entirely capped brood.
   
4. Brood and capped brood.
   
5. Capped brood w/ some open brood.
6. Capped brood w/ some open brood.
7. Honey and pollen on one side. Almost all pollen on the other side and the queen.
   

I should have added the final frame to the inside of the first frame, but just wanted to get out of there. Perhaps the bees will begin it on there own.

On the Road Again

Notes: Added 1 quart 2:1 sugar water.

Leaving for D.C. for a long week end tomorrow. Just enough time to add some sugar water. Inspection will have to wait until I get home next week.

Yeasty Bees

Notes: Bees have finished one quart of 2:1 sugar water, which was added on Monday. Debating whether to continue feeding.

Today I opened the hive briefly to show Tina the inside. It still smells like yeast. Tina thought it smelled like wood at first, and I wondered if my sense of smell was a off due to a recent cold. But she eventually agreed that it did smell like yeast. Everything I've read points to chalkbrood, which is a fungal infection that is generally not lethal for the colony. That's a relief! I also read that chalkbrood is usually spread by putting infected parts into a hive and that the spores can live for up to three years. It's more often present in wet springs. None of this really fits my hive. Although I suppose that the couple of used frames I got with the colony could have brought it. I'm inclined to wait and see what happens. Suggested 'cures' include re-queening and better ventilation. They should be good on ventilation with the screened bottom board, and I would prefer not to re-queen at this point.

I do have a theory, which is basically that they have a yeast infection. Too much sugar syrup is feeding yeast that is already present in the hive, and it is growing out of control. Funnily enough, one of the suggestions for controlling chalkbrood is to feed sugar water in the fall. Who knows!

On another subject, I bought flower seeds today. I have Rainbow Nasturtiums, Sun Flowers, French Lavender, Cornflowers, Alpine Strawberries, Persian Violets, Heirloom pepper box poppies, and Thyme. I tried to find things that would flower in early spring when the bees are starting to venture out of the hive again. Julie said she would help me, and she is giving me a terracotta strawberry pot. Fun!

Home Sweet Home

Notes: I put a new frame inside of the one farthest from the follower board. The sugar water that Julie added on Monday is almost gone.

It's good to be back! A big thanks to Julie for keeping the bees fed while I was away and making sure that the hive stayed in one piece during the big storm last week.

The bees were lively today, bringing in pollen with colors ranging from white to orangy-red. At 3:30 when I went out to do the hive inspection, they were busily pouring in and out of the tiny entrance and forming a small cloud in front of the hive as they waited to go in. The last time Nana was here she kept saying, 'Now you can understand what people mean when they say 'busy as a bee!'' Dad thinks I should put the larger entrance reducer on, but I think they are fine.

I finally got smart today and put a small table near the hive with a pen and paper so that I could record my observations from the inspection. Here's what I noticed:

• Things were stickier than normal. I think that's due to the syrup. It was also easier to move the frames around--they didn't stick to each other has much as they normally do.
• There was a yeasty smell. From what I've read, this could mean chalk-brood, but I haven't seen any little mummies about, so I'm a little mystified. My other thought was that the honey might be fermenting--I don't know why that would happen though. I'm going to wait and see if the smell is still around on my next inspection.
  
• Here is the status of each frame starting from the one furthest from the follower board:

1. One side is completely empty. The other is about 1/3 full of capped honey
2. One side has capped brood and eggs. The other has capped honey, capped and uncapped brood and eggs.
   
3. This one has mostly capped brood on both sides with some uncapped honey at the top of each side of the frame.
   
4. Honey and capped and uncapped brood
5. Pollen, honey, capped brood
6. All pollen and honey. It is quite pretty to see all the different colors of pollen. One of the bees on this frame had a shiny looking pollen load, as though it had been moistened.

My gloves and hive tools were really sticky today. I need to clean them but have been avoiding it because I'm not exactly sure how to. I'm going to try rubbing alcohol for the metal tools and look around for suggestions for cleaning the gloves, which are goat skin.

I think deciding to feed the bees was the right thing to do. They seem so much stronger now and like they may be able to build up some decent stores. Fingers crossed.

Good Smoke

Notes: Added 1 qt 2:1 sugar-water syrup; Inspected Hive; Lots of uncapped and capped brood; Some capped and uncapped honey

Today Julie joined me for my hive inspection. She is going to feed the girls while I am away. Thanks, Julie! The inspection went well. I didn't see the queen or eggs, but I did see loads of larva.

The first frame (closest to the follower board) is still not entirely drawn out, and they are using it for honey storage. When they first drew it out, they were using it for brood. The rest of the frames were a mix of brood, both capped and uncapped, and honey and pollen. The frame farthest from the follower board, which used to be 1/2 full of honey, is now completely cleaned out on one side and partially filled with brood and a little bit of capped honey on the other side. The frame just inside that is steadily being drawn out and has a mixture of capped and uncapped brood and pollen. The frames don't have model brood formation, but the combs are straight and there don't seem to be any signs of wax moth or varroa.

I'm getting much better at using the smoker. It used to be that I would get it lit and then not need it for 10 minutes, by which time the fire would have gone out or the smoke would be harsh. Today I had cool, white smoke curling out of the smoker for 1/2 an hour. It's beautiful to watch. Julie said it smelled like incense.

To get good smoke, I fill the smoker 2/3 with burlap and light it, close the lid and pump the bellows until smoke comes out indicating that there is a flame inside. Once I get a little flame, I smother it with pine needles, close the lid and pump the bellows until the smoke starts swirling out. Pretty simple, really.

The Fight

The bees have now drunk 3/4 of the syrup I added on 10/6. The ants have been fewer since I taped down the bottle. I also noticed today that I haven't seen any 'wingless wonders' in a while, and far fewer bees seem to be languishing on the flight deck or being hauled off by their sisters. Hopefully that means we have triumphed over the Varroa Destructor, at least for the present.

It's about 5:00pm now and pretty warm--maybe 70--and there's a bit of a breeze. The bees are quite busy bringing in a bit of pollen and enjoying a lovely afternoon.

I saw a little skirmish about 1/2 an hour ago--perhaps a would-be-robber? One of 'the girls' attached herself to the back of the other and started attacking her. As I watched, I noticed that she was attacking her foe's wing. That makes sense--stop her flying back to the other colony to tell the others. Eventually, the attacker wrestled the other to the ground and flew off.The attacked walked around on the ground a bit, trying out her wings and eventually started gyrating her abdomen. I've noticed lots of bees doing this abdomen-wiggling thing. At first I thought it was some sort of communication method; now I think they do this when they are struggling to fly due to wing damage. It's sort of like trying to wiggle your ears by raising your eye brows--they can't seem to find the right muscles to move their wings--but it's really because their wings just don't work.

I suspected that the assailant had damaged the other bee's wing, but I couldn't see any signs of trauma when I caught her in a jar to take a closer look. She hasn't flown since, so I believe that the wing is damaged in some way and that I just can't see it. The attacked bee kept sticking out her proboscis and rubbing her wing between her hind leg and abdomen--maybe she thought her wing just needed to be cleaned.

I recently started reading a book called 'Pollen Loads of the Honey Bee' by Dorothy Hodges. It was published in the UK in the 5o's and is now out of print. I heard about it initially through someone else's blog and then was finally able to get my hands on it through an inter-library loan from Cal Poly, Pomona. (Aren't libraries great?) I am literally in love with this book. It is so old that it is falling apart--the binding is peeling off and the pages are all yellow. But it is full of illustrations and insightful observations, and there are four little pages at the back of the book with colored tiles, demonstrating the colors of pollens from various flowers. It's such a wonderful book. I don't know why it's gone out of print. So far I've learned the mechanics of the pollen packing process and found out that poppies only have pollen; no nectar.

I'm starting to turn my mind toward gardening and thinking about what spring flowers to pot around the hive. I think it would be lovely for the bees to exit the hive in the spring to find loads of food right outside their door.

My next hive inspection is tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing what progress the girls have made since my last check. Hopefully I'll see the queen too.

Some Like it Hot

Notes: Fed bees 2:1 sugar mixture.

I just ate an ant! They are hot--it tasted like black pepper and stung my lip and tongue on contact. I was in the act of feeding the bees a 2:1 sugar/water syrup, and when I licked some of the spilled syrup off of my finger, I got an ant in the mix. I wonder why they are hot. I always assumed it was because they carry around all of these chemicals in their abdomen that they release when threatened. But I'm not actually sure...

I was adding a new bottle of sugar water because the girls had finished off what I gave them on 10/1. They had been eating their stores, which means that there probably isn't enough flowering stuff around for them to make enough honey to get through the winter. I also haven't seen my queen or any eggs in a couple of weeks now. Alan suggested that the queen might be slowing down laying for the winter and recommended that I give them a 1:1 sugar mixture to stimulate her laying followed by a 2:1 sugar mixture for stores.

I gave them the 2:1 mixture today. They didn't crowd into the space under the bottle when I removed it like they did the first time I fed them. I don't know what that means, but it was certainly easier to get the job done this time--not one casualty.

There were quite a few ants around, and when I removed the top box to expose the bottle, it was obvious that it was the syrup that was attracting them. When I put the new bottle in, I actually taped it to the inside cover hoping I could seal out the ants. I suspect that the ants will find a way in regardless.

Snow Bees

Notes: Sugar water is 1/2 gone.

Lots of pollen going into the hive this afternoon--mostly it's yellow and white. Some seems slightly gray or brown and some is bright yellow; almost orange. Two bees entered this afternoon with white pollen on both their legs and on top of their heads. It looked like they had been playing in the snow.

The bees are moving the Thymol out. I am seeing little chunks of it on the flight deck.

Yesterday I saw the bees ward off a yellow jacket, who was trying its hardest to look like a bee. But the girls were not deceived. Go girls!!

A Career Change?

I haven't been great about writing lately. It's not that the novelty has worn off; more that I just get so worried about the bees, and watching them sometimes makes me sad because of the dead bees that I often find on the hive or in the moats. We know that a lot of bees die each day; with a population in the thousands, tens must attrit daily. Okay, I understand. But seeing unhealthy or drowned bees really brings me down. I was at Green Gulch (GG) the other day and paid their bees a visit, and they didn't seem to be suffering and dying in the numbers that mine are.

On the whole, I am trying to be honest and accepting of my bees, and I think I'm doing okay. I just have to remind myself from time to time that this is how my bees are, and all I can do is my best to learn about them and help them.

Today they seem lively and busy, bringing in lots of pollen. There were no dead bees on the hive or languishing nearby, and I relaxed into my initial wonder and admiration of the bees.

I heard a radio show today about young people returning to the land and farming their own food. I was inspired and glad to think that people care so much about their food and the animals and plants that provide it. I was excited to think that I am in some very tiny way part of this movement. It made me want to buy a farm and raise chickens and a garden and bees and write and sew for a living. It made me want to call my dad and beg him to buy some land for us to build on. What a lovely life--all of us on a big plot of land, living close to our livelihood. It also made me grateful to have the partner I have, who might actually be open to a different lifestyle. But it also reminded me how courageous you have to be--and dedicated--to actually make it happen and what a shame it would be if we never do make it happen. How sad to maintain the 9-5 when so much richness exists outside of it...

Notes: Added 1 quart 1:1 sugar water syrup.

Notes: Added second dose of mite treatment

Reading, Writing and Arithmatic (Bee-style)

I came home from work today to do my hive inspection. With the days getting shorter and my work day getting longer, it's hard to find a good time to open the hive. Today it was a nice cool day--maybe in the 70s-- and the bees were really mellow. I'm getting better at snugging up the frames without squishing bees. I try to just keep the frames together as much as possible. I pulled out an empty frame at the very end to create room and then 're-snugged' each frame as soon as I returned it to the hive box.

I had smoke ready to go, but only used it at the very end because a few bees were crowding around the last two frames, and I thought it might convince them to go toward the center of the frames. No luck. They just clustered around the very spot I was trying to clear! I suspect that I squished a bee or two as I snugged the last two frames. Fingers crossed it wasn't my queen.

Speaking of old Queenie (Kari can't believe I haven't named her), I still haven't managed to spot her a second time. Last week that was okay because I was seeing eggs. This week, I couldn't see eggs, and I saw fewer larva than in inspections past.

The last frame, which was previously1/2 full of capped honey seems like it's about 1/4 full at this point. So they are eating their stores, which means they will need to be fed to get through the winter. On the other hand, the new frame is already 3/4 drawn out!

I just wish I had seen the queen or some eggs. According to Michael Bush's Beekeeping Math (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm), seeing uncapped brood today means I had a live queen 7-8 days ago, which coincides with my last inspection. I did see some uncapped brood today. I will be looking for my queen, larva and eggs in my next inspection. By the way, the Beekeeping Math page is a great tool for figuring out what's going on with your hive.

Tim tells me that the bees would be acting strange--'directionless'--if they were queenless. They would be sort of milling around the hive without purpose. I don't think that is the case here. They are still bringing in pollen, and they certainly had enough direction to make great progress on their new frame. So, I just need to relax! RELAX, bee girl.

Some of the frames were so full of bees today that I couldn't actually see the frames. I'm hoping the queen and her newly laid eggs were hiding out under the girls.

I removed the card that I used to administer the Thymol. The bees had chewed holes in it. I will apply the second dose as soon as possible. I'm also debating whether or not to start feeding them again. Probably yes.

I want to go searching for my queen. I just want to see her--I can't tell you how much better it would make me feel. And I wish Tim was here; he's so good at spotting the queen and keeping me sane.

Hive Inspection Video - (Rated PG-13 for language)