Happy Harvest Blog
Beehive reduction
It’s that time, time to reduce the size of the beehive stacks in preparation for winter, and steal their honey. I hate it. I don’t like taking their honey, and I don’t like the degree of disruption it causes, nor the death. In the process of taking the hives all apart, robber bees come from the other hives and there are disputes and battles to the death. Bees are very good at killing each other and the bee bodies pile up. I don’t know how to mitigate this yet.
The bees are working like they've had coffee
After the frost, we’ve had a warm spell, and the bees are going so hard. It’s their last charge to get their stores in. I feel bad now taking their honey, but they have more than enough, at least the big hives Pansy and Violet do. The other pollinators in the giant wasp nest have made their home bigger than ever. I’m terrified of them, although they’ve only stung me once, for banging on the wall, and I am looking forward to a long wasp-free future.
Bees in the goldenrod
I have a field full of goldenrod. Mowing and discing it a couple of years ago benefited the goldenrod more than anything else, and now there is less grass, clover, and diversity than before. I'm ok with that, for now. I have a bee forage field now, and it seems like the bees are coming from miles around for it. I barely saw any bumblebees all spring and summer; I was worried.
Seriously. Not again!?
Pansy swarmed AGAIN. This time I got pictures. I heard the roaring sound again and looked out. Pansy?!! What's it been, five days? Since a giant contingent of the bees just departed from Pansy, I had a hard time even believing what I was seeing, although, a swarm is pretty unmistakable. Not possible. There aren't enough bees left to split again. There were. I was completely expecting Violet to swarm. The Violet hive is huge and strong.
A thorough bee day
I had a big bee day, doing all things bee. Building frames and parts, hive inspection, expansion, and more. They needed all kinds of things, including a yard cleanup. I doubt I would have lost that swarm if I was on this a few days earlier, but what's flown is flown. Now all the hives are set on concrete pads, all the wood scraps are cleaned up, and the bee yard looks more classy bee apartment structures, less bee shantytown.
Well they're gone
I had a hive swarm yesterday (What is that roaring sound? Oh.) They went up in a big pine tree, and while they landed on a nice 3″ branch that could be sawed off, they were 40’+ up, and very much out of my reach this time. I quickly prepared a bait box (inviting new home, move-in ready), with that new hive smell (lemongrass, honey, and old comb). They ignored it. I prepared a second one, too, in another location.
Flyday
T.G.I. Flyday here today. All my hives are alive, and many, many bees were out flying today in the warmth. I got to feed them, and replace some straw in the top of their hives; I was happy to find that the wet mouldy straw was only around the top and outside edge - where it was nearest the roof and corners. Nested around the bottle of syrup and the opening in the center the straw was dry and golden, bees dry. Bees were everywhere, all over the paths, in the chicken bucket, and all over.
Spring break for the bees
It's just SO weird to put on a bee suit in January. However, it was a warm day, so my bees came out to poop, and I was able to feed them. By warm I mean that in 24 hours the temp shot up from -10°C to the opposite, plus 10°C, wiping out all the snow, and exposing all the gross wet wood and dirt (now the mercury is rapidly falling again). It's the February melt look; it can hardly look worse. Everything is hideous.
bees snugged II
The bees are all wrapped now, after getting their insulation. This time I tried to wrap the tar paper so that it was sealed and went up under the flange of the beehive lid, so in theory the water sheds over the tar paper wrap, but I can still get the lid off anytime. We’ll see. I put a piece of tape on the corner before doing the fold so the paper doesn’t tear- that worked well. Like gift wrapping. The paper is all folded down tight and taped to the eke.
Swarm catching, part 2
At "dusk" (ok, dark), I got the hive box ready. One super full of drawn comb and fresh foundation, another empty super, and an eke. The whole empty upper box thing is to imitate a spacious swarm box. So they can all crowd up in the ceiling. Then I went to get the nuc box from the woods. Whoa! Quite a few bees on the outside of the box. More than before. They're so neat. They're like lined up in stacked rows. And quiet, just a low hum. It was bedtime.
Not what you expect when you open a hive
This hive....*head shake*... I knew right away it was going to be trouble. In the nuc box, they were already busy attaching the frames to the box. At first opening, they had burr comb and bridges everywhere - I figured they were going to be sculptors. Overactive wax glands. Plus about a dozen queen cells that time. I carefully scraped off all that unauthorized comb, but not even two weeks later, they've attached a sail to their feeder bottle. Not sustainable! Full of honey too.
Move-in day for the bees
Time for the new bees to go from their nuc boxes (temporary housing) to their forever homes. Sheltered from the rain with a hive lid. These bees were also midnight bees. They came from a great distance, and with the aid of caffeine and chatting on the phone, I did very well on the drive back, until I was 10km from home and the black dogs struck. At midnight there was no one else on the road so I crept, 40kph the last few klicks. My theory was if I fall asleep and go in the ditch, I'll go in slow.
OPENING THE HIVE
I got my first chance to get into the hive. We´ve had a warm, early spring, so I've been feeding them, and anxious for the right warm day to come, so I can give them the third super. They´ve been unwrapped since the end of April, but this is the first time I´m going to the bottom of the hive, and the inner lid is coming off.
Unwrapping the bees
I had been marveling at the towers of styrofoam prefab hives, but when she said that, I realized how now wood is the exception. That´s why they have to drag it out of the back. Everything is plastic. Plastic frames, plastic foundation, plastic hive parts now.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
