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"
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
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.
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.
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