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