Bees invade Katy woman's home

here is a potentially painful problem at a home in Katy. Hundreds of thousands of bees were living inside the walls of a woman's house and no one could get rid of them until today. [more]

HONEY!!!

What a few weeks difference makes. Early June I started seeing the honey supper being drawn out. Over the next few weeks they started filling it with honey. Long story short, we harvested 30lbs or about 3 gallons of honey!! I'll post the pictures soon. After harvesting the honey, I threw the honey super back on but pulled one frame out. The thinking is that the bees will pull the comb out past the frame and give me a little easier time uncapping it if they extrude it again

Busy Bees

Wow, what a difference a few weeks make. About 2 weeks ago, I checked the hives, noted that they were growing at different rates. Mine seemed to be a little ahead of Reese's with lots of brood and the frames being drawn out. I made a mental note to order the new honey supers since you will need them earlier than you might think.



I get back from a trip, and go to check out the girls only to find them spilling out of the hive, large numbers of them in the entrance and all the frames in both boxes totally filled. Not just with comb but with brood, honey, pollen...jam packed. Then it got hot. Now I realized I should have ordered the honey supers and been ready. I hadn't and wasn't ready. What to do?

Panic was the #1 reaction. By all accounts, I was (and still maybe am) setting myself up for the hive to swarm. Too many bees, too little space, hot, and right at the time in mid Spring when the bees have a tendency to swarm....great. So, I started emailing and calling around. First call was to Tony L. from the club who said: "get a honey super on yesterday!" He also noted that hives will beard by congregating outside the hive to cool off. Great...new beekeeper and no clue. How could I have been so damned lazy to not order the honey supers?

Here is a picture of Ed K.'s hive bearding. Nowhere near what I have!


Next email was to Ed K. at the club too. Ed was SUPER helpful and went out of his way to help me out. He reiterated I needed to put the honey supers on even if it was raining and to not wait. He gave me an older hive box with new frames/foundation that I could use. Not only that, he drove up in the rain and delivered it to my door! THANK YOU!

So, the same day (3 days after seeing my bees do their thing), I popped the top and put an old box with new frames in. I didnt have a queen excluder at the time but more on that in a minute. Howard said that he would use the box with no hesitation since he knew where it came from and he was sure of no contamination. What Howard says, goes.

Drove up to Tyngsboro to get some supplies from Rick. Great guy. Bought 3 boxes, and 20 Pierco frames. All I need to do tonight is paint the boxes. here's the next step. I now have a honey super that is being worked on and hopefully the comb is being drawn out. On Saturday, i need to put the queen excluder and then frame by frame knock the honey super bees into the new supers to make sure the queen is NOT in the honey frames, otherwise, she'll go ahead and lay eggs. Then, I need to go in and really inspect the hive to make sure I dont have swarm cells or burr comb in the hive bodies. Then, i need to treat the bees with the sugar to start the IPM process and really keep the mites in check. Rick also suggested that I put a drone frame in to have drone brood and pull the frame 2 days prior to them hatching. That might be a little too ambitious....the rest, will happen on Saturday.

In Hive or Castle, Duty Without Power

By NATALIE ANGIER, NYT
Published: May 15, 2007
I never much cared for royalty, although I admit that, for reasons my family and I are still struggling to understand, I named my first cat “Princess Bubbles.”

[more]

Organic Beekeepers Seeing Fewer Cases of Colony Collapse

May 14, 2007
By Holly Case
Natural Food Network Newsletter Editor

The huge numbers of bees lost to the mysterious "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) continue to baffle scientists. However, some organic beekeepers say that they have not been experiencing the problem to the same degree that conventional beekeepers have.

According to anecdotal reports of members of a large email list for organic beekeepers, all beekeepers have been fighting a difficult battle against Varroa mites. Mites have been previously named as a possible cause of CCD; however, this problem is not entirely new. However, many conventional beekeepers are allegedly engaging in practices which may put their colonies at greater risk of collapse.

Many beekeepers have been using large quantities of pesticides to fumigate for the Varroa mites. When mites become established in a colony, they are often very difficult to eliminate before significant damage is done. Organic beekeepers are reportedly not experiencing as many problems with colony collapse, and they believe that the lack of pesticide use is the probable reason for the difference.

In addition, conventional beekeepers are more likely to transport their colonies across great distances to provide pollination services. As CCD becomes an even more widespread problem, beekeepers who offer pollination services for hire find themselves with more such work, which stresses their own colonies even further.

It is not conclusive that organic beekeepers' colonies are completely protected from CCD. Mites appear to be a substantial problem for all beekeepers, and it is unknown how significant the role of pesticide use is in colony collapse. Scientists are hoping to find the answer before it's too late.

Second Hive Body

Nice warm day. Tons of activity in and out of both hives. Smoked Reese's hive, cracked the top, and peered in. They had eaten 3/4 of the syrup. I checked the frames and they are just working on the 7th frame. I figured that why not put the hive body on top. So I did and replaced the syrup and took out the entrance reducer. I spoke to Harry P. who had gone to the club meeting where Howard had suggested that the entrance reducer be taken out. So I did.

Then, smoked and checked in to see the girls. WOW. Huge progress. Almost all the frames filled or at least bing worked on. I did the same thing to my hive: additional hive body, 1/4 syrup left and entrance reducer out! Check out the pictures.

Sunny Saturday

No pictures this time. Took some but haven't downloaded them yet.

Went with Reese on Saturday to check out the girls. Nice sunny day. There was lots of activity around both hives. Bright orange pollen, dark green and some electric yellow. We saw some large ants walking in and out of the hive. The bees tended to repel them but the ants were persistent enough to walk in. We'll watch that next weekend to see if it continues. Maybe put some cinnamon down around the hive.

Reese's hive had about 5 frames nicely drawn. 3 of the were nice and heavy. He did have some buckling of the foundation on one frame which resulted in huge piece of burr comb with capped brood, etc on it. We moved that out so that it faced the exterior edge of the hive. Not sure that was the right move since burr comb is only going to get worse. We just felt bad to destroy that huge piece.

My hive seemed a little further along. The bees were very gentle and a few puffs of smoke had them tamed down below. 6 or 7 frames nicely drawn with 4-5 full frames. Capped brood, and some honey cells. Lots of big fat brood hanging out in their cells. Still no sign of the queen but at this point, we know she is around and we'll let her be. No pun intended...

Both hives had eaten a good amount of syrup but only 1/2 to 2/3 of the pail. We switched the pails out and wondered if that was the last time we fed them. Dandelions are out as well as a ton of other flowering plants.

Other Notes
Matt Smith dropped by with his friend. He reported that his hive was doing ok and he hadn't really opened it a lot recently.
Harry Peper said that he applied the powdered sugar last weekend and it was a colossal mess. He said it got everywhere and was a bit of a logistical nightmare. The powdered sugar is part of an attempt to stem the onset of the Varoa Mite. Apparently they can't cling on as well to the bees with the sugar on top. Otherwise, his hive was ok.

And Now Taiwan Loosing Bees?

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's bee farmers are feeling the sting of lost business and possible crop danger after millions of the honey-making, plant-pollinating insects vanished during volatile weather, media and experts said on Thursday.[more]

Flickr Slide Show of Bee Activity

NYT: Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 24, 2007
More than a quarter of the country’s bee colonies have been lost, and no one can say what is to blame.

All is good

Sunny day Saturday but i was apprehensive as I approached the hives. As I pulled up, I saw tons of activity as they were streaming in and out of the hives. On closer observation, I saw them coming in laden with pollen. With the entrance reducers on, the bees were pushing and shoving their way into the hive.
Reese's Hive: Smoke and popped the top. There was still some sugar syrup left in the feeder (1/4 full). I scrapped 2 gorgeous pieces of burr comb off. No eggs that i could see. As I tilted the frame, the foundation popped off the hinges causing a great commotion. After carefully threading the foundation back in, I was able to pull it taut and place it back in the frame. Try as I might but could not find the queen and more importantly, no evidence of the queen. No eggs, larva or other....bad news, or so I though.
Karsten's Hive: No more syrup and almost a full frame with pollen, capped brood, some larvae and tons of activity. Little to no burr comb. Tried to find the queen but had no such luck. Replaced the syrup on both hives and closed them up.
As I headed home I wondered what was going on with Reese's hive. No eggs but everything seemed fine. I got home and examined with the burr comb with Axel. As I was pointing out to him the cells, I held the comb up to the light and BINGO, tiny little larvae. And as I looked, i could see tiny tiny little eggs, delicately placed in each cell. I felt elated but sad at the same time. Good news was that the queen was evident but had I just taken out a significant portion of the eggs she had laid?
The queen lays about 1500-2000 eggs a day once she really gets going. So, I did not feel too bad.
Just thrilled that we are well on our way!! More this weekend.

Post Flood

We got about 5 inches of rain Sunday through Tuesday. So yesterday, on my way back from Portsmouth, I swung by the hives to see if they were still standing. They were. But there was 5-8 inches of standing water all around the hive. We had raised the hives on a little platform. I wanted to open them up to see how they were doing but resisted. I placed my ear to the hive bodies and gave them a good KNOCK. Reese's hive responded loudly, but mine was less enthusiastic. Just a lone bee sound. I hope all is well.... We're going out on Saturday to feed them and check up on them. With the better weather, I am confident that they will have newfound energy.

Are you still alive?

Reese and I went out to see the 'girls' on Saturday. Nice day but the day before the really bad storm, so we had to check. After a rather miserable time trying to light the smoker, we finally got it cranked up, donned our hats and went to it.
Reese's hive first. Smoked it and checked it out. They were starting to build out comb but not a ton. A little on each interior frames. They had eaten about 1/2 of the syrup so far. We didnt linger since the weather was chilly.
My hive next. The smoker was still going, we smoked them, peeled the inner cover off and checked them out. A little burr comb on the inner frames. I scraped it off and scraped it down into the hive. Great, now what. We removed 4 frames, and Reese reached in to grab the burr comb and knock the bees that were attached to the comb. I looked down and saw all the bees peering up at me from the middle frames. So cute. All lined up and checking me out. Right about that time, the noise level increased dramatically, and there was more flying activity. Reese goes: 'better finish up because we just ran out of smoke....'On with the inner cover and we closed the hive up tightly. Rocks on the top to keep the covers on.
We shared a beer with Chris Yoder as we talked about his farm. We'll bring beers next time.

Pulling the Queen Box

Installing the Bees

European Bees hit by the same phenomenon?

Craig Macintosh over at Celsias is reporting on the fate of European bees:
"e’ve had significant interest in our recent posts on Colony Collapse Disorder in the U.S. (here, and here). The latter of the two stories intimated that European bees are also being affected. Spiegel have just released an article giving more info on this mysterious phenomenon - now hitting Germany’s bees hard - and experts are concerned that GM crops may be the root of the problem."[more]

Hammering and Glueing

Tonight, we were presented with boxes of wooden frames, brood supers and honey supers. All in a gazillion pieces. Time to put them together! After a brief introduction, we set upon the task of building a frame or a hive super. Other than learning how to do it, it was the first chance we really had to chat to our fellow students other than the customary niceties when the class started. You had a chance to ask people why they were taking the class.

For the most part, people just thought it would be cool. Some work for non profits that promote urban gardening and wanted to have another hive nearby. Others did it because their grandfather kept bees in Germany. There's a mother and young son team that seem to be having the best time. So, we sat and glued, hammered and chatted.

"Where are you going to put your hive?", nodding approvingly as people would talk about finding a 'good spot' in the garden. "Does it face the morning sun?", I asked with a level of authority that made me chuckle. What do I know! Seemed like an important thing to me and for some reason I felt compelled to share that.

Hovering between tables, I zipped from one conversation to the other. We heard from Tony who is a club member who recounted his first years bee keeping. It's his 3rd year now. First year was a breeze he thought. The second year, he approached the hive on a nice afternoon late summer with the thought of quickly checking on it. Without any gear on, he lifted the top and instantly realized his mistake. The bees were agitated. Out they came and stung him 20 times. "How many times?" a wide eyed woman asked. "6 times on this arm, and the the rest on this part of my body...." He went on to recount that it was the last time he went without gear and with some modesty said that it wasn't that bad. WASNT THAT BAD!! Geez. That quietened a few of us down, and we redoubled our efforts to put the hive pieces together while we all made pledges to wear our gear, even if we were peeking in.

The loss of bees and the recent media attention regarding the recent hive collapses floated around all the tables. "Did you see the NYT article?", "Oh the Providence Journal also had an article"...Theories abounded. Club members reassured us that the losses were mostly contained to commercial bee hives. "They work them pretty hard you know. Move them from place to place, and it stresses the bees...", one of them offered. Another theorized that it had to do with resistance to old diseases. "They're all coming back you know" he offered. Another cited pesticides and it made me think of the landmark case against BASF concerning the billions of bees killed in France back in 2004. Nobody had a good explanation but it was clear everyone was concerned.

And more than one, felt that their choice to take the course and to try to keep bees, could play a small part in the future of bees. I certainly think so.

Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO Published: February 27, 2007
Bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate in 24 states, threatening the production of numerous crops. [more]

NYT Weighs In

Keeping Bees Among Us
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: February 22, 2007
Few things are more depressing than opening the lid on a hive and finding that the colony inside has died. [more]

Massive Bee Die Off

This is one of the reasons I am trying to raise bees: They are dying..in huge numbers and we aren't really sure why. Can I do a little part in keeping a hive around to help out, yes, I think so. This latest news out of University of Penn. is alarming:

"An alarming die-off of honey bees has beekeepers fighting for commercial survival and crop growers wondering whether bees will be available to pollinate their crops this spring and summer.

Researchers are scrambling to find answers to what's causing an affliction recently named Colony Collapse Disorder, which has decimated commercial beekeeping operations in Pennsylvania and across the country." more...