Please Stand By

Should have a new post by Friday. The husband and I will be delving into the hive tomorrow. Who knows what excitment will be waiting for us!

What I've Been Up To

A brief recap in case you missed bits: I keep bees. Just one hive. I used to have two, but one died over the winter. As part of my responsibilities to the bees, I have to open the hive and check out the comb for this, that, and the other disease or what have you. The problem is: I get scared. I break comb and expose larvae. I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to be looking for. It’s complicated. So I don’t go into the hive as much as I should. Enter the Connecticut Beekeepers Association. They have bee school and even a pretty awesome annual picnic where you get to go into their hives and practice.

Knowing my bizarre fear of the unknown, I collared my son into going to the annual picnic with me recently. The main topic was varroa mites and other fabulous pests that could wipe out my poor, unkempt bees. I actually learned a lot. We even had a surprise guest show up: congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. She is quite the personality. She showed up around lunchtime, right when we were getting done with our preliminary hands on experience with the hives. Dressed in a pastel, multicolor suit (looked really comfortable), she was surrounded by beekeepers by the time I arrived at the impromptu meeting. And she was tremendously informative. And not just about agricultural stuff, about the healthcare bill and general info.

I was impressed by how committed she is to making our food safe. She cited a recent shipment of Chinese honey to Philadelphia. Now, this is my own opinion: Chinese honey is bad. Really bad. Their beekeepers use heavy duty antibiotics that crosses into the honey. Yes, I’m aware that US beekeepers use antibiotics. But they are supposed to only use it either before the honey supers go on in the spring, or after they come off in the fall. The state beekeeper inspects hives in Connecticut. I’m sure other states are regulated as well. But I digress. What I really want to say is that it’s amazing all the stuff that goes on in DC and the majority of us are clueless. For instance, someone asked the question about small businesses providing healthcare for their workers. I was interested in this – I had a discussion with a friend in Florida about this very issue. Congresswoman DeLauro pointed out that if the business had less than 50 employees, it was exempt. If insurance was offered, the government would pick up 1/3 of the bill now and in 2014, that would increase to 50% of the cost. Now why was this left out of all the info we get haphazardly?

What does that have to do with my hives? Not a whole lot. But I did learn about drone foundation as a means to control mites and so ordered some as well as a queen cage when I got home. My next step is to grab the husband and open the hives and do a real inspection. Am I still scared? Not as much as I was. I’m kind of shocked that just opening hives with people who know what they’re doing changed my attitude so much. That’s why it’s so important to go to these things. Even if you have to bring someone along for moral support.

And Then There Was One

Was slightly warmer than usual last Monday and, since I had the day off, I decided to check on the bees. I had been thinking Crosby was dead since it was terribly quiet for the last few weeks bit I sent the boy out before the weekend to see if he saw any signs of life. He isn’t a big fan of the bees and so didn’t get very close but he said he thought there were signs off life form both hives. I tried lifting the hive and was alarmed at how light it felt. I scurried back into the house and whipped up a batch of fondant thinking I could slip it in and feed the poor things.

I tried slipping the fondant between Crosby’s supers but then they wouldn’t sit flush and I thought “Oh ,great, now they’re really gonna died!” Before I panicked too much, I lifted the top super and peeked in to see if I needed to worry. I was greeted by a silent cluster of unmoving bees. Dead. The whole hive. I spent the rest of the day taking the hive apart and cleaning it. I think they starved – there were many bees head first in empty cells. But here’s the weird thing – the top super had at least five more pounds of honey/syrup stored in it. The never moved up from the bottom super. I know five pounds wouldn’t have gotten them through the rest of the winter, but it would have kept them alive til Last Monday when I could slip in the emergency rations.

I wasn’t really expecting Crosby to survive the winter. From the beginning the bees made their comb funky – only filling five or six frames in a super and then moving up. I couldn’t even use their honey because it had such a high concentration of sugar syrup it was nasty.

I lifted Ovechkin and that hive as really light as well. I managed to slip some fondant in and sprinkle dry sugar on top and went out again today with two more rounds of fondant. They are still buzzing and ornery. Monday marked my first bee sting of the season. Unfortunately, I’m still a spaz when I get stung. And this one swelled up huge! More venom than I usually get, I think (it fell in my boot).

So I’m down to one hive. But I think I can nurse it through the rest of winter. I’m just wondering – have my bees made a prediction? Will the Caps and Ovi win the Stanley Cup this year? We’ll have to wait and see…

UPDATE 6/29/10 - Obviously bees CANNOT be used for divination. Neither the Caps nor the Pens won the Cup. Live and Learn :)

9/11

:(

So This Is What Hot Bees Look Like

We’ve just had a week run of 90 degree weather. The bees weren’t happy about it. But they haven’t been happy about many things lately. They didn’t like Dave mowing the lawn a few weeks ago, but they seem to have gotten over that (poor Dave – stung 12 times!!). Most evenings the Crosby hive has a pile of bees sitting out on the doorstep. Ovechkin doesn’t do this as much, which is weird because Ovechkin has more bees. I think Crosby is spatially challenged. I don’t have high hopes for their survival over the winter.

Garden isn't so great. Total produce so far: 3 tiny cukes, 1 zucchini, 5 cherry tomatoes. Corn, beans, pumpkins, and heirloom tomaotes all a bust due to deer, raccoons, and/or weather. Finally got some Irish Spring soap and hung that up as the dried blood wasn't detering the deer at all. Well, there's always next year. But there are lots of insects, so I guess that part worked.

A Photo Journal

Just Checking In

Not much happening with the bees. We’ve had rain every day for seems like forever but probably more like two weeks. I opened the hives today and both Ovechkin and Crosby are doing well. Ovechkin’s pace has slowed, but I’m thinking that’s to be expected three weeks post swarm. They are busy building comb in the super though. Crosby still is staying to the same five frames only they’re building up now. I alternated some empty frames with full ones and found large cells between the top and bottom frames. Queen cells? Maybe. I’ve backed off a little on the sugar syrup because I have a suspicion that’s what caused Ovechkin to swarm – overcrowding and ample food. But all the bees seemed happy and not aggressive at all.

On to the garden news: I found a black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar out among the tomatoes. It was happily munching on some Queen Anne’s Lace that is still abundant no matter how much I weed (which isn’t that much, so I shouldn’t complain). We popped it into a jar and have been giving it a steady supply of new leaves and it seems happy: eating and pooping. I’m hoping we can keep it that way until it forms a chrysalis. I also found my hay bale is pretty nasty so I didn’t throw it on the garden. But I did find some camel crickets so that was kind of cool. And the bumblebees are out in full force. Check out the cute girl in the photo who stopped for a rest in the garden. Lots of native pollinators around my garden – my honeybees don’t seem to linger here. They must be attracted to the exotic flowers at the neighbors!