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!

Somethings's Afoot

I went out to check on the bees today and give Crosby a new jar of sugar syrup. Both hives were busy; it was a sunny day with just a few clouds so the bees were out taking advantage of the good weather. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow and it poured last night. I watched Crosby for a little bit and then turned to find out what Ovechkin was up to.

I noticed there were many drones flying in and out. I’m assuming that this means one of the queens has hatched and went on her mating flight. There were still a lot of workers up in the top super and the comb is being built right up against the inner cover. Dave says there were a bunch of bees flying around last week on one of the nicer days. I’m hoping it was just because it was nice out after so much rainy weather. This has definitely been quite an experience. I’ve reached the end of my semester at school – congrats to everyone in my group. We worked really hard and now we have a short break before the August semester starts. Also -- many thanks to my advisor, Tatiana. She has put up with my many projects for the last year and given me excellent gardening advice!

As for the garden, I had my biggest strawberry harvest today (see pic above) and my potatoes are growing like crazy. Still no sign of the corn or the pumpkins, but I think they’ll be sprouting up in the next week or so. They certainly have had a lot of rain.

Hive Check

I opened the hives today to get an idea of where they stand post swarming. Crosby has many bees, but they are still in the first five frames. They had built a fair amount of comb on the inner cover. Unfortunately, it ripped open when I took off the cover and this upset the bees tremendously. I got a couple of good pictures of them gathered around the open cells in ever widening circles. I decided to put the next brood box with empty frames on to satisfy their vertical urges. I think if I was braver, I would have taken out the bottom frames and alternated empty with full ones. But I’m very nervous about squishing the queen seeing as this hive re-queened itself less than three weeks ago. They are eating the pollen patties I’m putting in, which is better than they were doing in April.

Ovechkin is humming and busy. They are still off the sugar syrup so should be making honey. The multiflora rose bloom is in full swing in the neighborhood so they shouldn’t have any problem finding nectar sources. After half the hive swarmed, we had rainy weather for four or five days. They probably succumbed to hypothermia if they didn’t find a home within the first twenty four hours after leaving. The remaining bees are busy in the first honey super making comb. I noticed that these bees are starting their comb in the middle of the box. I wonder if that makes a difference to how many frames they fill.

Garden update: I’ve been picking strawberries and I have four cucumber seedling started. I’m almost ready for another tire on my potatoes. It’s coming along nicely, I hope.

Holy Honey Bees, Batman!

I took the jars out of the Ovechkin hive last night and this is what I found this morning. All able bodied foragers out looking for nectar. Pretty awesome sight! I hope Dave doesn't want to mow the lawn today. I'm hoping they didn't swarm. I have to go check them today. Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Yep, they swarmed. Half of Ovechkin - gone, with a dozen queen cells in the second brood box. Damn.

Oh well. Let's see where this goes now.