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.

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"