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 :)