Frenzied hive activity

Yesterday was a glorious day of sun, warmth. I walked past the hive and there was a frenzy of activity. DIfferent than usual in that both hives had lots of bees flying around the entrance and hanging out on the front porch. Here are some photos.

Today, they are acting normally.

Fall update

I can not believe it has been 2 months since I posted. Sorry. I have visited the hives twice since the last post.

Beginning of August: looking to make sure there was enough work and room for all the hives. All were very active and full. I added another deep super with 10 frames that when filled will be their winter's food supply.

The bees with "tude are the queens of propolis, they use it to seal up the inside of the hive. They were more than happy to have more space. The cosmic hive is becoming my standard for they are tooling along in a nice steady way but not extreme in anyway.

Top bar hive was full- needed more bars to add or to take honey. All of the combs had honey on top, then brood at bottom. According to the book, they should be putting in full combs of honey by now. I also noted they had drones cells mid comb in almost all the the combs I checked. This is unusual. The drones are often found at the bottom of a frame or comb and at this time of the season, drone population should be decreasing. What could it mean? One comb broke off when I moved it so I gather some honey for landlords. Put it in a really cute honey pot I purchased at Betterbee in Greenwich. They have a small store in front where you can buy honey and gifts if interested.

Beginning of September: looking to see if there will be enough honey and the health of the hives, looking for deformed wings which indicates mites, anything unusual

Bees with 'tude hive is overloaded. Photo shows them hanging outside the hive in the morning. I am so glad I have goatskin gloves now when working with them. They still have attitude, still love propolis and are such workers. I am amazed they have not swarmed but am grateful. Noted drone cells in the middle of the honey frames here too.

Cosmic hive is plugging along - not quite enough honey so should feed them especially with nectar flow slowing with the fall. Will make bee candy to place in the hive so other hives do not rob this hive or fight over the food since both hives are next to each other.

Top Bar hive must have swarmed. They were not teeming and the combs are no longer have drone cells but not many are full of honey. Put a feeder in the field near them but it didn't seal so the bee tea just drained out into the grass. Bee candy for them too until the winter comes. I put all the bars into the hive so they have lots of work to do. One more reason to feed them. If they do not fill all the bars, I will need to pull the empty ones before winter. I feel they are okay but need a boost. I do not know how to tell with them as well as the Langstroth hives.

All hives will need to be revisited before winter again. I will remove the shallow supers from the Langstroth hives and any empty deep frames from next deep super so they don't travel up in winter to an empty frame and starve.

Thanks, Jane for helping.

Busy as a bee

Boy is it hot out there, especially in full garb. But my new goatskin gardening gloves worked really well. I could feel things (no squished bees) and yet protected me well. What a difference in hives - they continue to amaze me. The "Zen " girls are into sealing everything WELL. It took a bit of effort to pop the top cover off even, usually that is a breeze. I gave them a new deep super with 10 frames to fill with honey they will keep for the winter. Surprisingly, their shallow honey super was quite heavy which means filled with honey. I returned it above the deep super and will go and take it after they decide to focus on the super below. They say this not kosher but the girls are very adaptable.

Switch the deep super and the shallow honey super on the "Attitude" hive also. Their hive was hardly sealed at all so it was easy in and out. Their shallow super is loaded down with honey too, ready for a harvest. It was too hot and I did not have time. Since I do not have a "honey house" I need to close off the kitchen from the dog and cats, clean the surfaces and floor, set up the trays to cut off the wax caps off the comb and set up the frames to drain. It is a mess.

Also, you need to brush off all the bees the frames before taking it inside (obvious) and if you the wagon with the honey frames, the bees recover them trying to take the honey back. That was a hard lesson to learn my first year. So you need to be ready to harvest.

The honey is fine on the hive until you are ready. I am limited in equipment so I need the super to reuse. This means about 80 lbs of honey- 40 lbs from each shallow super. I cut all the comb off since I use shallows who do not spin well in the extractor. It means the fall harvest will happen only if the girls are ambitious making new comb. I don't use a deep super because they are around 80 lbs to lift when full of honey.

Teeming hives

Hot, hazy and humid- the girls are loving it. I visited all the hives over the 4th before the heatwave. The hive with 'Tude makes me put the full gear on- veil, gloves, jacket- and it is too hot for long. That hive has almost a full super of honey ready to go so I add a deep super. This gives them more room, more to do so they won't swarm and will be their super of honey for the winter. One deep super full of honey is about 70-80 lbs of honey so they should be fine. In the spring I will pull the lower super out and this super will become part of their hive body.

Top Bar hive is fascinating. They are building honeyed comb onto the feeder board at one end which means the queen is laying enough that they can start storing honey. I add 7 bars for them to build comb and fill. That took me to the end on one side so just 7 more bars and they will be at capacity. Once that happens, I have to take honey, bar at a time, to keep them busy. We should be headed into the lull in nectar and pollen. If you garden you know not many flowers bloom in July. It all starts back up in August.

So mid summer my job is to keep them busy with empty supers or bars, check the hive for strength and mites. I will dust them with powdered sugar so they groom each other and knock the mites off, dropping them onto the ground. Kind of funky going out with a sifter and sugar. They had being disturbed until the sugar hits and then it becomes treats.

Stay cool.

Cost of 1 lb of honey

A bee makes a total of 1/12 tsp of honey in her lifetime. That means it takes 556 bees to make one lb of honey. For the bees, one pound of honey would provide enough fuel for 16 bees to fly around the world.

Think about it. Amazing!

Deer at Hives

I went out walking the dog and there was a doe eating by the hives. She watched us cautiously but not enough to stop eating.

The hives are booming - getting a deep super ready for the 'Tude hive since they are at least a week ahead of the Zen hive. I will go covered this time to avoid stings. It seems that in the world of beekeeping, the competition is whether you go uncovered to your bees. This is a silly competition. Other than the outfit is hot, I use my hands and do not need swollen hands.

I need to make more Top Bars. How many new tools do you think it will take?

Check out this alternative hive- dodecahedron hive using sacred geometry- www.microecofarming.com - More for the bees than collecting honey. I think I will wait for it to be improved- saw a visitor center in Alaska that was very similar.

There is a beekeeper here who is interested in the Top Bar hive. Maybe this will start a trend- they are good for backyard bees. I hope to harvest some honey this 4th weekend from it.

Amazing different personalities of hives

I finally got out to the Langstroth hives and am so amazed at the differences in the two hives. They say the gentleness of the hive is determined by the queen. I don't know but I have two identical hive in the same area, they came from the same supplier, both were nucs.

The hive on left I have named "Zen Bees". I took off the cover and popped the inner cover exposing the honey super. The bees said "hi" and went back to work. I took the top honey super off to see how they were doing on drawing comb out on the frames and they barely blinked.

The hive on the right from the beginning are "Bees with 'Tude" As I reached for the top cover, a guard bee came out to see what I thought I was doing. They are much further along than the Zen bees in getting ready to store honey for the winter. But they are much more insulted by my appearance, "what do you want" energy. Two decided to back me off by stinging my hand ( I had a really small reaction to them - Yippee- Apis homeopathy is working).

So it makes me lie in bed thinking of how I could force the Zen hive to make queen cells and put that queen into the 'Tude hive to see if it mellows them out. This is advanced bee care taking for me but I think I will start looking for classes on this.

I do know that next spring when hives are focused on swarming (the older bees and queen decide to leave the hive and find a new place to live, knowing that the young bees will make a new queen) which is bees' reproduction, I will force a swarm by splitting the Zen hive making a new hive and let the 'Tude hive swarm.

Other than adding new supers while they are busy creating honey to be stolen by me, there is not much to do with the Langstroth hives until July.

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Check it out!

Sun

The girls have been on their own lately. Sunny today and soon heat so they should be happy.

Betterbee, one of the beekeeping suppliers in my area and they offer a free field day every year. This year it is Sat July 17 9-5 PM. Located in Greenwich NY, they feed us lunch and a honey ice cream made specially for this by a local maker. The speakers are from all different aspects of beekeeping and more speakers are aware of organic caretaking. You have to register to attend, www.betterbee.com or call 1-800-632-3379.

Honey recipe:
Dried Fruit & Nut Health Bars (www.marthastewart.com)
Coat 8 " square baking pan with cooking spray

1 cup pitted dates, bring to simmer in small saucepan while covered om water. Drain and puree in processor

Combine
1 1/2 cupps old-fashioned oats
4 1/2 oz (1 cup) pecans, 1/2 c finely ground, 1/2 c coarsely chopped
2 oz macadamia nuts 1/2 finely, 1/2 coarsely ground
1/3 cup dried papaya, 1/2 inches
1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/3 cup dried blueberries
2 T oat bran
3 T ground flaxseed
2 T wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cinnamon

mix date puree and honey together and add to dry ingredients. Press mixture into pan and bake 25 mins (about) Cool and cut into bars.

Break in the rain

It looks like we may have a break in the rain, the girls in my hives were venturing out this morning. I have to go in this afternoon if it is not raining to pull the drone frame. If I do not, there will be too many drones and a substantial increase in the mite count. Drone frames work well when you can get to them. I will need to feed the Top Bar hive if it keeps raining too. They have too much work to do setting up the hive and probably do not have enough honey made to keep going.

Funny how life works - I am now on Apis homeopathy- derived from honeybee- so it looks like my body knew it needed the bees to heal. Wonder if this will make me seem more like a bee to them?

I have been strawberry picking and I thank the bees for pollination the berry plants. Without the pollinators, our diets would be bleak. There would be no peas or beans, apples or peaches, grapes (no wine?), carrots, squashes, COFFEE (oh, no!), citrus fruits, broccoli, cabbage, mustard, etc. Bless the bees!

I would imagine commercial beekeepers have had good honey harvests already. There are 2 honey flows - spring and fall. I get confused still about if I should establish my bees from the winter, then honey super for their winter use or put on a super to take and then give them a super for winter stores? What if there is not a good fall bloom and they struggle making enough? I know I can feed them late winter but it is not the same as them having enough honey. Some commercial beekeepers take all the honey and don't try to keep them alive over the winter. I imagine this will not happen as much with the cost of bees increasing with CCD.

Anyway, it is one of the dilemmas I have that everyone has a different opinion about it so I will have to find my way with experience.

Good day to clean up frames from last year

On and off showers for the last two days. Haven't bothered any of the hives, it is wise to let them bee (ha,ha) on these days. Most are home, few are out foraging and usually a bit agitated - probably like we are during holidays with the family. Hard to be in close quarters and not doing your usual routine. I will scrap the frames from the hive that died. I save the wax and propolis scrapings, melt it down (be careful) and try to separate the two. I will use this wax to coat the outside of new supers. It is what I did to the Top Bar hive.

Nice time to read Bee Culture and American Bee Journal magazines. They are online too if you are interested. A good book for the Top Bar hive is "The Barefoot Beekeeper" by P.J. Chandler.

Sometimes this can make me crazy- every beekeeper has a different way to care for them. Also, a lot of the information is for commercial beekeepers who have lots of hives and they do a lot of things that I would never need to, such as putting in new queens every two years so honey production is not interrupted by the hive making a new queen or slower brood.

Cool, Cloudy - Not much for me to do

Good morning, it is a cool and cloudy morning. There is not much to do for the bees at this point, all hives have extra frames and bars to fill with comb, the queens are laying brood and there are plenty of blooms so downtime for me. I will clean up more honey frames and get two more supers set up in the next 2 weeks. We are headed into a slow bloom time so honey produced now will be collected and I will put a deep (9") super of 10 frames for the bees to store honey for the winter. In the late summer when those plants bloom, there may be another honey surge. What they put up then will be what they have to get thru the winter. They need about 80 lbs (1 full deep super) of honey for the winter.

The bees continue to fascinate me. Did you know...
-bees have been around for 30 million years?
-they beat their wings 11,400 times per minute( who counted that)?
-average honey production per bee in their lifetime is 1/12 teaspoon?
-they can fly 6 miles away from the hive and go 15 miles per hour?
-worker bees are all female?
-it takes 556 workers to gather 1 lb honey from 2 million flowers?

We are blessed to share in their labors.

Holy Moley, it's cool

Well, all the fields have been cut. Some clover is reappearing in the first cut fields so at least the girls have that to visit. It will be a while this morning before they head out. Cool, cloudy and feels like rain. The cows and new calves have been released into the pasture and they are so cute. It is heaven living here.

Now all I really have to do with the hives is visit them next week to remove the drone frames, a plastic frame that encourages comb built a bit larger to lay drones (boys) in. A lot of male bees are not needed, they do not make honey, clean, feed the young and the varroa mite ( thought to be one of the problems with Colony Collapse Disorder) loves to crawl in with the drone larva and lay their own offspring. By prevent the hatching of the drones, I can reduce the levels of mites in the hive. I do this by removing the capped drone cells and freezing the frame for 2 days. I replace it in the hive with another and repeat every 21 days.

Studies have shown this is very effective for mite control. I put the frozen frame back into the hive (warmed up) and the girls will clean it out and reuse it.

Women in Beekeeping

Part of me started beekeeping because I love honey and like bees, but another part is always thinking of ways to gain extra income. At my age (looking at 60) and my occupation (bodyworker) I would not quickly be hired if my self employment did not pay the bills. And now with the unemployment stats, women find themselves working too many hours still for only $.75/dollar paid to men in equal jobs or face a prejudice again of taking a job away from a man. Who knew that beekeeping was a feminist occupation, historically.

In an interesting article in June 2010 issue of Bee Culture magazine, Tammy Horn explains that The Langstroth hive design improved many women's life subtly. Beekeeping was one occupation women could have that did not lower their social status. In fact, there were many women beekeepers serving leadership roles in beekeeping associations. Many women were widowed or delegated primary income status with wounded spouses after the Civil War. Women were not allowed to vote, could not own land, their children were their husband's, divorce would ruin them (hard to imagine now, be careful of wishing for the "good old days") but they could sell honey. Beekeeping fed many families and balancing family and working was often discussed in bee journals. Women in positions of leadership showed there was respect and deference to their knowledge and ability to organize, as well as trusting them to lead.

So I am following in feminist footsteps by beekeeping. That pleases me, one of these days, this will not be a consideration or thought. May it happen soon.

Langstroth hives

Went strawberry picking yesterday am. Reaping the benefits of bee pollination. They were very sweet and early because of our early hot weather. Then I put shallow supers on both these hives yesterday for honey. The hive on the left had comb built on most the the 10 frames in the top box so they are really ready to store honey. The right side hive is closer to what I would expect after 2 weeks. I am sure they will catch up by fall. There is usually a down time in honey production in July until the fall flowers come into bloom. A honey-loaded shallow super weighs 40 lbs.

First sting of the year on my wrist- she got caught up in the cuff of my glove. Poor girl! Tried taking 2 Benydryl right away and it didn't itch as bad but it still is swollen. I really need to figure out this hyper reaction.

Photos of the Top Bar hive

A lovely spot for the Top Bar hive- the horses wander over to watch

Top Bar when bees first went in



The comb built out by the bees after one week



Top Bar Hive

Ready for Honey super

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday. I visited all three of the hives and took photos but can't find the cable to link the camera to my computer. Isn't always that way? Minor details & photos will come soon. "St Anthony, help me find the lost cable." Here is a cartoon I found and a Langstroth hive photo from last year.

Langstoth hives are ready for a honey super. That means the girls have drawn comb on 15 frames almost in the 2 hive bodies (brood chamber) so the queen can lay lots of brood and now they will start focusing on making honey. It has been perfect weather too. Sunny with enough rain at night to keep blossoms coming and not windy. Bees do not fly if the wind is too strong or it is raining. Their wings don't function well if wet. These 2 hives are out where the former hive was, at the edge of the hayfields. They make glorious clover/alfalfa honey that is light in color.

I worked on contruction the frames and attaching foundation to 2 shallow supers yesterday. Almost ready to go out. Because they are honey supers, I only put a 2 inch strip across the top. I don't spin the frames to extract the honey, I cut the comb off like you would with comb honey, crush it and strain it thru cheese cloth and a strainer. That means the comb must be built fresh each time which slows the bees down on honey production (that is why comb honey costs more) but I feel it give the honey a fuller taste, keeps the pollen & propylis particles suspended in the honey which is the stuff that helps with allergies and healing.

Top Bar hive is thriving- comb is drawn on all the bars between the feeder boards so time to add more. As it expands to the end of the hive, they will start filling these with honey too. They were all hanging like monkeys again. Took a photo, hope it comes out.
Stay sweet.

Thunderstorms last night

Boy! were they great. Jane, my dog, crawled into bed with me and the cats (I have 8) so I was wide awake to enjoy them. The beehives are still standing and since the bees come from Georgia, it shouldn't phase them. They don't fly in the rain so it will be a day of cleaning, making comb, sealing the hive with propolis. Some of the hayfield was cut and baled so yesterday they must have gone out the entrance and thought "whoa, who took the clover?" I am sure they quickly found more. The rain means the clover in front of them will grow faster. It might be time to add a honey super to the Langstroth hives. I prefer to use shallow supers because the weight of a filled deep super is 80 lbs. A filled shallow super is half that and easier for me.

The first time I went out to collect honey, I drove my car out, planning on putting the super into the back. Funny how I forgot to factor in the bees who continue to stay with the honey even if I want it. So that meant a car full of bees- time to find another plan. Now I take out an plastic lidded container and I take frame by frame and brush off the bees while walking away from the hive. Usually the bees give it up at a distance. There are always hanger-ons so I cover the container so they can't get back at it. They will steal it back if left out.

Monkey bees

Just back from checking the Top Bar hive. The queen is out and accepted, pulled the empty cage out of the hive or they will seal it in permanently. Every bar with starter comb has bees on it, means I must ready more bars so expansion is happening fast. The coolest thing is seeing the bees hanging from each other, like a monkey. This is how they measure when making comb, their body serves as a yarstick. At first, you think a spider got in and built a web they are stuck on, it sways when you move the bars around.
The foragers (oldest bees) are making a beeline in and out gathering pollen and nectar. At the entrance are bees who meet them and take the bounty, taking it into the hive to give the nurse bees (youngest) to feed the eggs, each other (no bee feeds itself) or up for honey. The housemaid bees pulled the dead bees, debris out of the active hive and to the ends of the hive. I cleaned it out for them- if left, once the frantic work slowed down, it would be some bee's job to carry the dead bees out of the hive. If a bee can get outside to die, it will so no one has to clean up after them. There are bees who make the comb and others who are guard bees. Organization makes the world go round. All jobs switch and the average lifespan for a bee in the summer is 5 weeks.
No sign of propolis yet- a reddish resin that seals all the edges and it is anti- viral, -bacterial, - fungal. But, boy, does it ruin clothes, alcohol will remove the resin but the stain is impossible to remove. I think that is why beekeepers wear white.

Just a mention that all these bees are females. The boys are hanging around looking a queen to mate with- their entire job- "Hanging on the corner, watching all the girls go by" is the song in my head every time I see a drone.

So, give me "bee" songs. I'll start- "Honeycomb, won't your be my honey"

What was I thinking? Bees are in.

I got the email that the bees are in, come pick them up. So off to New Paltz I go with a friend. I know enough to leave my dog at home so if the bees get out, there is only my friend and me to contend with getting out of the car. How do I keep them from tipping over? I have read a lot about beekeeping but much is not mentioned to one who is really a novice. I know I can not put them into a box to transport, that they must go into the hive as soon as possible (today) and they are more interested in each other than you.

Stuck in traffic jam on the Thruway returning with about 30 stray bees sitting on the back window. Occasionally one or two wander over to the open window and fly off. No alarm in us, the bees seem less interested in anything but being in the sun. My friend watches them perched on the back seat and relearn how to drive slowly and carefully.

There are a lot of bees in there. Out to the hives which have been set up out of the wind, morning sun, up off the ground facing south at the end of a hayfield. Take the lid off the calmer one and frame by frame slowly shift them into the hive body. That was really easy. Same with the 2nd one which sounded more agitated but I think they were more crowded. I like these nucs.

Memorial Day weekend and the 2 hives out back are happy and working. They were started with 2 nucs- one purchases 5 frames of bees and a queen who are already working together, laying and feeding brood, foraging for pollen and nectar. You shift the 5 frames from a nuc box into a hive body with 5 other frames and the bees have room to grow. This was really easy.

Friday I put a package of bees and a queen into a Top Bar hive. I will post pictures. The Top Bar hive is supposed to be more natural, less invasive to the brood and function of the hive but much less honey production so good for personal hives. We'll see. There is not much out there on them and so you really are an adventurer taking it on. You really can't put a nuc into one either.

When you dump a 3 lb package of bees into a hive with a caged queen and they don't know each other or have any organization, you need to feed them until they get comb drawn and the queen starts to lay eggs. This is my biggest dilemma for the Top Bar hive. None of the available feeders would work so I put bee candy in the bottome of the hive. They seemed to like it. I go tomorrow am to check on the queen and the food. Here's hoping they stayed.

2 years ago, I started a hive but I wanted someone who was like me- no experience with this, alone, not in it as a business, organic, for the bees more than the honey- to tell me about their experience. That hive died this spring. So when I decided to try bees again, I decided to record my observations and feelings about it as I went along, hoping it would help someone else who is like me, someone considering caretaking bees or just because it is interesting.