I Hate the Bees

I can't go out in the yard without them attacking me. I feel like a hostage in the house.

Eggs at Last!!!

Today was the big day – the one where we took the frames out, one at a time, looking for the queens and eggs or brood. The sun was out, the day was warm, and the bees were flying. Dave and I headed over to the hives. I brought the frames for the top brood box in case the bottom boxes were filled. Both hives had bees in the empty top brood box drinking sugar syrup from the jars. We decided to take out the feeders from inside the hive – we just couldn’t fill them with the weather being so bad. The jars will be easier to deal with. It doesn’t disturb the hive so much to open the top and replace the jar. I’ll just have to check them every couple of days.
It’s strangely peaceful handling the frames. I have to move slowly to allow them time to get out of the way and avoid squishing them. And so far they’ve been wonderfully co-operative. Even the one that somehow got in my hood was removed with no stinging.

We found maybe five of the frames have been partially built on. The left hive had more eggs and brood, but both had them in even patterns. There are sealed honey/sugar syrup cells as well as pollen. I’m reading Wisdom of the Hive right now by Tom D. Seeley. He says that pollen gathering is more sporadic than nectar gathering since they only use pollen to rear brood. I watched the hives earlier this morning and found that about 20 bees per minute were entering the hives with pollen. I thought that boded well for having brood and it did.

The left hive is still stubbornly trying to build feral comb off the cover. I’m hoping that with the removal of the inner feeders this will stop. The piece I scraped off today had eggs in it (see pic). All in all, a very good day with the bees.

One Week Post Installation Inspection

One week post bee installation and a gorgeous day well into the 60s mean a hive check! Our first one since last week’s debacle. I was a bit nervous after how agitated the bees were during the installation process, but it turned out to be fine. Dave and I suited up, lit the smoker and headed over with our sugar syrup, pollen patties, and hive tools. We decided to open the right hive (the bigger one) first. At the first puff of smoke there was an angry buzz from inside the brood box. When we took the cover off, we found that the bees in this hive had eaten most of the previous pollen patty. I took out the second to last frame far from where they bees were working on foundation and gently slid the other frames over until I got to the feeder. It was bone dry, so we took it out to refill it. The queen cage was empty but I couldn’t find the queen. The bees are drawing out comb though, on five or so of the frames. We filled the feeder and placed a new pollen patty with the remains of the old one and covered the hive back up.

The left hive (I really have to think about naming them) was pretty much the same except the pollen patty was almost intact and there was a smaller area being worked with comb, but more progress was being made. I was able to take pictures and this is what’s at the top of the blog. We even saw a bee come back with her legs orange with pollen. Much more exciting for me than Dave, I think. The queen cage had to be pried out of the comb –the bees couldn’t move it so it became part of the nest. I’m sure they’ve fixed the damage by now. This feeder was also dry. I hesitate to go into the hive too often because it’s been pretty cold out – low 50s for much of the week. I’m thinking of supplementing with a jar feeder. If I put that on top of the inner cover, I can replace it without opening the hive all the way.

The only thing that worries me is that we didn’t do a full frame- by- frame inspection so I’m not sure if the queens are alive and laying. Next time we open them, which I’m thinking will be next weekend because we have chilly, wet weather for the week ahead, I’ll do a more extensive check. This one was more of a get your feet wet kind of thing.

I found that working with the bees is oddly calming. Every movement is slow and precise. I became aware of the different sounds of the hive – especially the loud, annoyed, panicked buzz of a bee trapped in between frames as I moved them. I enjoyed my time out there with them. It was so different from that first day. Hardly any bees landed on me. Dave’s gloves were stung a few times but he was using the smoker so they didn’t like him very much. He was still fine with just gloves and a veil.

I realize now how traumatic the travelling must have been for them, then the banging of the package on the ground, and the pouring into the hive. They are wonderfully adjusted now and I’ve taken to going out in the morning to check on them. Both hives were buzzing happily after yesterday’s intrusion.

Arrival of the Bees

Well, it finally happened. The bees arrived. I’ve learned many things in the last twenty four hours; most important is that my son is not the best person to bring along when picking up bees. That is, unless you want someone with you who is constantly nervous. Let me explain. We went to Southbury to pick up our fabulous packages of bees at Hannan Honey. The trailer full of packages was there as well as five other cars in the narrow driveway. I was last in line and, true to my worrying nature, worried about how everyone in front of me wanted to leave. They were all pretty cool, though. Except for that one guy who was complaining about his packages, but we didn’t let that get to us. We were given our packages right away and even had them loaded into the car. Unfortunately, there were some loose bees crawling around the outside of the boxes. Kirk spent the whole ride home giving me a play-by-play as to where the loose ones were.

But we finally made it home in one piece. We got all our supplies together, suited up in our spiffy bee suits, and headed to the hives. Dave had done a tremendous job making the stands and sinking them into the ground so the bees would be on stable ground. I must say here that looking at a box of bees doesn’t give you the same thrill as opening said box and dumping three thousand of the little bugs onto the hive. And they all fly around you. And poop on you. I can’t say enough about the pooping. There was a lot of it. We got both hives safely installed, made sure they both had pollen patties and syrup, and headed in. That’s when I noticed a bee had crawled up my pants. FYI – no matter how gingerly you try to take off straight leg jeans, you are bound to get stung if there is a bee above your knee. I did and it hurt, but it ended up not being nearly as bad as the stings described in Robbing the Bees.

We lost some overnight – it was rainy and cold, but not many. This morning the hive you see us working on in the picture had bees at the entrance and was emitting a loud hum. The other hive wasn’t as loud and had no bees at the entrance. I don’t know what this means. Dave thought it may mean the quiet hive doesn’t like rain – it is wet and cold this morning. As of yesterday both queens were alive. I’m going to give them a week or so to settle down before opening the hive to check on them again. Next time, I’m taping my pants legs so they can’t crawl in.

In garden news: I’ve removed all the grass and planted a green manure crop of vetch, oats, and peas. I mixed them with inoculants and hope they have enough time to grow a bit before Memorial Day planting. I only found one earthworm. Even after my mustard water experiment (2 TBSP mustard powder mixed with 2 liters water poured into a 12” x 12” hole to get the worms to come up). Still waiting to hear from the state re: the soil test. Dave has embraced the compost heap and has been throwing stuff on it.

The Digging Bees

It was gorgeous out today and I *almost* got over the fact that we couldn’t get our bees this weekend. It was nasty windy yesterday, so it was probably for the best. As it was I got all depressed this morning reading about genetically modified plants and then watched the episode of The Tudors where Anne Boleyn gets her head chopped off. Don’t get me wrong - I am not a big Boleyn fan. My sentiments have always run towards the Seymours but I was feeling particularly weepy this weekend and this hit me.
Fast forward to needing a walk out in the sun. I had been out in the yard earlier and noticed these big dirt piles that looked like ant hills. We had a nest of ferocious black and red ants under a rock and I hoped they weren’t spreading. They bite and it hurts…
When I got outside, I noticed all these bees flying close to the ground. And then one of them poked its head out of a hole I had presumed to be an ant hill. I found out that these are digging, or ground, bees. They’re found in dry clay or sandy soils. They aren’t aggressive and they help aerate the soil. Apparently they’ll be around for six weeks or so then go off to wherever it is that’s next on their itinerary.

In the picture there is a bee in the hole and another crawling around the outside. They are solitary - no big hives for these guys.

They are cute little buggers. Seems I have bees after all.

The Beauty of Interpretive Tests and Bee Update

After the results of the testing I did a few days ago, I decided to try again. This time, I decided to be more patient. I made sure I let my soil sample sit for a few hours after shaking with the testing solution. I measure the clear liquid into the small test tube and added the nitrogen test tablet. After the five minute wait, there was still no real color, so I left it to sit overnight. This morning I found a deeper pink than I had previously. So the question is: Does the color naturally deepen the longer it sits and is the five minute time imperative? If so, my nitrogen is lower than low. If time is not a factor then I have low to medium nitrogen in the soil.
I did send my soil sample off to the Connecticut Agriculture lab yesterday, so I guess I’ll know in one to two weeks how accurate home sampling is.

Bee Update: I got a call Monday night from my bee supplier. The bees are delayed so I'm picking them up on April 11th now. Almost there!