Bee swarm!

Yesterday the most amazing thing happened. We were sitting in the living room and K said, "Mama, what's going on with the bees?"

I looked outside and right around the hives was chaos! Armed with my camera, we went out to investigate:



The bees swarmed! This is good news, because it means the hive is healthy enough to split in two. YES! So I called a local beekeeper who is also a swarm catcher, and he came and helped me get the swarm. He is taking it elsewhere and will return with another swarm for me when I have the second hive ready. The reason for this is because when the bees have made up their minds they're leaving, they might tend to swarm if put into a hive too close to where they were originally. So we trade, and the bees are more likely to stay put. So so cool - this means I will have a second hive this year! AND a new beekeeping mentor!

You have no idea how great it is to have other beekeepers to talk bees with - nothing like just geeking out on bees with others who actually WANT to talk about nothing but bees for hours on end. I am so excited - this is the beginning of my little apiary. Swoon.

the bees were robbed!

So among bees, there is a phenomenon known as robbing - when the nectar flow begins to ebb, sometimes bees from one colony will descend upon another colony and try to rob them of their honey. This usually happens right around now in the Pacific Northwest - the days are getting shorter, the nectar flow is getting sparse...it will soon be time to get ready for overwintering, where the bees will hibernate, depending on their stores for getting through the winter.

Today, because my bees are right outside my front window and my husband happened to be near the hive, we got to witness the battle of the bees firsthand. My huband came running to the backyard and said, "Something unusual is happening with the bees. You need to see this. It looks like they're fighting, there are dead bees all over the place."

What the what?!?

Yeah, it's been a year since I've had bees, and last time, they were on a property that was a 25 minute drive from my home. So I didn't get to witness much of the day to day. And now, my memory of what could have been witnessed is a bit hazy...

So I run to look out the front door window, which has a great view of the hive without the exposure that might allow for stinging. Sure enough, there was a flurry of activity in front of the hive, and some pretty heavy bearding on he front, but also on the sides, which was weird. We saw some that were actually fighting in midair, one on one, to defend their hive - my girls! There were dead bee bodies everywhere.

I freaked! I'm not in the bee club yet! What should I do? Who can I call???

The beekeeper who gave me the swarm! Now where did I put that number? .... apparently into the ether. Damn.

So I look at the Oregon Beekeepers Association website, and there is a swarm catching list! Yes! I look for someone near me, just in case they want to come out....no answer. I go to the next person on this list, and score - they're home! I explain my predicament, and they are happy to answer my questions. Thank you, Universe, that beekeepers tend to love helping out new beekeepers!

After listening to my predicament, he and his daughter say sounds like robbing, although it could also be them putting out the drones. I told him they pout out the drones three weeks ago, but maybe again? So kindly they let me know I could put in the entrance reducer to help them protect the hive, and also to put a block in front of the entrance a few inches out, so they'd have to slow down to go in - to protect from wasps divebombing the hive, which apparently they wil begin to do in a week or two here.

Then later in the day, the first beekeeper I'd called calls me back, and has a lovely english accent to boot  - did I have a bee problem? I explained the sitch and that it was well in hand from the previous advice, and he still wanted to know all about it, so I told him the story, and he asked, "Do you have Langstroth (traditionally used by modern beekeepers) hives, or Warre, or...?" Warre. He said they have several Warres, then proceeds to give me all kinds of other advice about managing Warres, then gives me his email address so he can send me more information about the bee club locally and more links...and hen he invites me to come out to his farm and see HIS bees!

He also said I can call him any time with questions and he is happy to help. Yes! I have a Warre mentor! Squee! I am so damn excited.

So back to my girls - the fighting continued, but not for long, and pretty soon everything had settled back down. It looks like our hive is strong, though, and they triumphed. There are still bee bodies scattered everywhere, and they are on guard outside the hive tonight, making sure no one else comes a robbing. So now I'm not sure how to get the entrance reducer in, because the bees are filling the entrance and making their own entrance reducer, only made of bees instead of wood.

I wish I could communicate with them to let them know this device will make their job so much easier...hey won't have to expend all that energy protecting the hive at night and keeping themselves warm, because there will be less space for others to get in.

I will figure out a way.

Meanwhile, I took a little video of the hive while the fight was happening. You can't really see any fighting per se, but you can see the bearding out front and the agitation of the girls and all of the dead bee bodies strewn everywhere. I recommend expanding your screen view for maximum detail.

bees! we have bees again!

Yeah, this ought to have been written two months ago when we got them, but well...it wasn't.

We got bees! I'd unpacked the hives at our new house, and put them on the shelves in readiness for when we were ready to get bees. Then for fun I put together a hive and set it out, just to see what components I really had available.

I just happened to be looking on Craigslist for some local honey, and there it was: a newly caught swarm, for cheap. So I just called, and the beekeeper delivered the bees to me and he even hived them for me! And he was so nice, as beekeepers tend to be, and he said call any time, and he answered all sorts of questions, including helping me to choose a spot to keep them on our property (not next to the shed where the skunks live!).

 

They settled in really nicely, and then it got HOT! They started bearding around the front. So we added another box onto their hive (not pictured), and now they've settled down all happy again.

Well, sort of. We went out to plant a bee garden in front where they live (it is the farthest away from the skunks), and they got MAD! They had a pretty long time limit and gave us about 20 minutes at a time before they'd start buzzing us and getting really angry.

Did you know there is a very distinct (and loud) buzz bees will make, by one's head, when they are threatened/irritated? We have learned it well now, the Hubby and I....once they make that buzz, it is time to RUN like hell and get FAR away from their hive, because it's stinging time! And we also learned that the amount of venom injected into a body when accidentally stung is VERY different (and so much less painful) to the amount they inject when they are telling you to GTFO.

We did finish the bee garden out front, wearing our full bee suits and keeping all body parts covered at all times. Lesson learned!

This still happens to me all the time: random bees finding me. I pick them up, nurse them to health (read: feed them honey), and wait. After several minutes, they regain their strength and off they fly. That is MY hand holding this sweet girl. Isn't she beautiful?

I held a bumblebee!

Speaking of bees, I had the great honour of holding an actual real live bumblebee the other day! This isn't something that happens often, so I was so incredibly excited - it seemed our bee couldn't fly. They CAN sting, although they rarely ever do - in fact, until I looked it up, I didn't know whether they had stingers or not. The one I held was certainly docile. S/he looked like a big beetle dressed as a bee.

Bumblebees nest in the ground generally - most natural bumblebee nests are down a small tunnel in part or all of an old mouse or vole nest, or they will be in the dry base of a grass tussock or untidy hedge bottom. Gardeners ruin these desirable residences by being tidy. (Damn us! Wait, I am anything but a tidy gardener. Yeah, it's for the bees!)

And I just learned that in addition to creating spaces for mason bees, you can also create spaces to attract bumblebees!  (New project! Woot!) Oh, my delight, I love me some big furry bumblebees! 

If you don't want to go so far as to make nest boxes, there are other ways you can help bumblebees, too.  

If, like me, you are now completely fascinated with the bumblebees and want to know more, go to http://www.bumblebee.org. There is a wealth of information there about bumblebees. Save the pollinators =  Save the gardens =  Save the humans! 

bring on the bees!

Of course, no garden would be complete without something to attract the pollinators. My favourite, of course, being the bees.

I found another fantastic guide to what to plant, by zipcode - only this one is exclusively to attract pollinators!

Of course we need the pollinators - they help the plants to propagate and continue the life cycle. The encourage biodiversity in plants - without which we would very quickly lose much of our plant life.

And of course, hey are wonderful to watch - hummingbirds, butterflies, bees....all such exquisite creatures, and most amazing to behold.

A list of plants that attract pollinators:

Calliopsis
Clover
Marigolds
Poppies
Sunflowers
Zinnias

 Perennials
Buttercups
Clematis
Cosmos
Crocuses
Dahlias
Echinacea
English Ivy
Foxglove
Geraniums
Germander
Globe Thistle
Hollyhocks
Hyacinth
Rock Cress
Roses
Sedum
Snowdrops
Squills
Tansy
Yellow Hyssop

 Fruits & Veggies
Blackberries
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Gourds
Fruit Trees
Peppers
Pumpkins
Raspberries
Squash
Strawberries
Watermelons
Wild Garlic  

Herbs
Bee Balm
Borage
Catnip
Coriander/Cilantro
Fennel
Lavender
Mints
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme

 Shrubs
Blueberry
Butterfly Bush
Button Bush
Honeysuckle
Indigo
Privet  

Trees
Alder
American Holly
Basswood
Black Gum
Black Locust
Buckeyes
Catalpa
Eastern Redbud
Golden Rain
Hawthorns
Hazels
Linden
Magnolia
Maples
Mountain Ash
Poplar
Sycamore
Tulip
Willows
Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/bee-friendly-plants#ixzz1pbHlHJ75

a little reunion

Remember from my previous post how I'd gotten the accidental honey harvest? Remember how there were lots of bees that died in that, but there were some bees that lived? Well, the bees that lived, I'd taken outside and put on my back porch, all together in this little jelly jar. I'd opened the jar and laid it in my giant wildflower pot, and just expected the bees to die out there, as they had no hive.

A few days ago I went outside on my back porch to water my tomatoes. I happened to glance down at the large pot and noticed a little cluster of bees - and they were all still alive. I remembered that when there is smoke in the hive, the bees take up as much honey as they can to sustain themselves, and that in fact, they can live for several days this way, without any other food sources. Oh yeah. I just hadn't expected them to live because of having no hive - but there they all were, about a dozen of them, all clustered together, keeping each other alive. I fed them some honey - they looked pretty thin and weren't exerting themselves at all - they were fairly still.  I needed to go out and check to see if the bees needed another box on the hive yet, so I decided to see if I could reunite them with their hive.

Later that day I went back outside, when I was ready to take them to the hive. They'd perked right up from that infusion of honey - they were flying and energetic and being bees. When I caught them in the little jar again, I discovered something else  - they'd been flying out and getting food for the group. Because I'd gotten them into the jar (with air holes punched in the lid) again, and one lone bee returned from her flight as I was about to take them inside. She had food in her mouth, and she landed on the lid of the jar - and then tried to get the food to her sisters through the hole in the top of the jar. I was just amazed - here this little cluster had no hive, and no colony - it was just these 12 little girls - and they were doing all they could to sustain and maybe even create a little colony of their own.

Here's what happened when I took them back to the hive:



I recommend clicking on the photo to see the larger sizes.

adventures in beekeeping

Okay. I caught a swarm and hived them in my hive that had died - I took out most of the old comb, leaving bits that were clean and hadn't been filled with old brood, etc. Remember that?

When I went to see them a few days ago, the swarm I caught had very few bees in the hive. Like maybe 100 or so? No dead bodies that I could see (although I only looked in the top, so scratch that, I really have no idea). But there are bees flying in and out now and again - just not lots. Robbers, or colony? Only time will tell.



Either way, Hubby is building a third hive and more boxes for adding to the two that already are - definitely needed for the big hive (Honeybee Zen), possibly needed for the swarm hive (Butterfly Zen). I really am not sure what is going on in that hive yet - it seems like number of bees increases as I visit, but I'm just not sure, because not by LOTS.

Now Honeybee Zen - I had three boxes on, and I needed to add a fourth. After all, the nectar flow is ON, it has just gotten HOT in the last few days, and those bees can fill a box in just a few days in a good nectar flow.

I had forgotten that I'd put a feeder box (just about 4-5" high) on top of the hive, and the cloth over it. It was so very much TIME for me to give the bees another box to grow into, because you see, they FILLED the feeder box with comb and honey. FILLED. And because it is a feeder box, I was sort of at a loss as to what to do.


Word from my beekeeping yahoo group was take off the feeder box of honey and comb, because they would continue to build comb on top of that in those lovely patterns.

What I DID do while I was there was add another box on the top of the feeder box, so the bees had somewhere else to build, since they so obviously needed it. (And I was intending to anyway). This is what happens when I let a whole week go by between visits to the bees, two days of which have been deemed a heatwave (not where I come from, but apparently by lower mainland BC standards it has been).

It really was a beautiful sight to behold. I am so utterly in love and fascinated with these little
ladies. And holy heck, I cannot blame any swarm for wanting to join that happening hive (if in fact they did) - it is so crazy busy!

And so I went today to harvest the feeder box honey before it got too much bigger. I took a flat cookie sheet and a plastic bin large enough to hold the whole feeder box, and my hive tools. Oh, and the smoker - Kiernen was SO excited, because the smoker has been deemed (by him) his job, and he finally got to do his job!

I used a bundle of sage, so it smelled lovely, although the honey now has a sagey/smokey taste to it. One thing I hadn't remembered, again: I had an empty gallon ziploc bag in that feeder. So underneath all of that lovely comb was a flattened ziploc bag that it (the comb) was adhered to. This made it easy to slide the cookie sheet under to lift it up, but essentially impossible for the bees to go down when we smoked the hive. And so I ended up having to take off the entire feeder with comb and bees inside.

I used my bee brush and my wits to get as many of them out of the box as possible and back into the hive. I lifted, turned, got myself covered with honey, and I did my best. When I took the box home, there were still lots of bees on the comb - I kept finding ones who'd stuck their heads into the cells to survive the smoking. I put all the live ones in a little jar and freed them outside, knowing full well they'll die without their hive - but better outside than in a little jar in my kitchen.


And after getting out all the bees, and pouring all of the honey and comb into a couple of containers, I've got my very first honey harvest! I'm amazed - I did it! I was so proud, I took it around to my neighbours for them to try - and everyone was quite impressed. It was an amazing day. Honey from my own bees! Well, from the bees in my hives, I mean. And! the blueberries will be ready in about two weeks, too! Blueberries pollinated by my girls!

As always, click on the photos to see all of them.

 
 

swarm season is upon us! part 2

So I took the bees home in this cardboard box, because of course we weren't prepared for actually hiving them the same night, no way. (Perhaps had we known in advance this was going to be a possibility so quickly we could have been, but this all happened SO fast!)

I was thinking okay, they're sealed in there with duct tape, and it's just a cardboard box. It will likely get cold tonight because its going to rain...maybe I ought to keep them inside for the night. But where? I mean, it's a box full of bees. Where is safe for them and for people AND is inside? Parkade? NO way, too many exhaust fumes from the cars, they could suffocate down there. Basement? My basement? Hmmm. Not the part where the washer and dryer - it's unfinished, and what if they DID somehow get out of the box? I'd have bees everywhere, and in my rafters.

Hubby's room, however, is small, enclosed, and has a door. Perfect! So I placed the box in there on the floor and turned off the light. I told Hubby when he got home and he freaked - just a little bit. He immediately went into my sewing room and got a big piece of mesh fabric - the kind one uses for veils. He wrapped it around the box "just in case". I thought he was being paranoid and laughed a bit, but accepted it.

Turns out having a paranoid spouse isn't such a bad thing sometimes. Those girls were raring to find food for their new home, and as soon as morning hit, they were making every effort to get out of the box - and succeeding. Duct tape on cardboard isn't as strong as you might think, apparently. But because there was mesh fabric all over, they were just crawling around on the outside of the box, trapped inside the mesh net. Whew!

I called Tricia again and asked her to help me hive them - I would need an extra pair of hands, especially since it was raining and I had Kiernen with me. She had her granddaughter, too - they could maybe keep each other entertained in the car while we did the work.

(Interesting aside - when I cleaned up the frames from the dead hive that already had comb, I noticed that in addition to the dead bees in the comb, there was also brood - so even though the queen was trapped, those girls had started laying brood to rear a new hive, and were very likely going to make themselves a new queen, as well. Go, little bees! That was so cool to see. However, they had ZERO honey anywhere, and thus, died.)

swarm season is upon us!

Oh my goodness, has a lot ever happened since the last time I posted!

Remember how one of my hives had died because the queen was never released, and then the weather turned horrid and rainy for weeks so the bees couldn't bring in nectar and the hive starved before they could reproduce?

I'd shared this story of woe with my friend and fellow beekeeper, Tricia. And she told her husband about it, because she felt terrible, since she had helped hive them for me and all. She'd asked me what I planned to do next - get more bees? I told her I was going to get my name on the swarm list (a list of beekeepers who are willing to go out and catch swarms when they happen).

I didn't think we had enough boxes for a second hive since we'd added a box from the first hive to the second, so I asked Hubby to make more. He told me we still had another box in storage, and along with the other hive box that still had comb in it, that made two. So in fact, we did have enough for a second hive, so to put my name on the list.

Yesterday Tricia calls me and says there is a swarm at her husband's job site (he is a carpenter), and did I want to go and get it. I asked Hubby if he wanted to go do it. We'd already arranged Kiernen's first babysitting ever because we were meant to go to a financial seminar. Because Hubby had hurt his back helping build a tire fence over the weekend for our community, he wasn't up for it. He didn't know if he'd have to stand a long time or what.

"Hm," I thought, "I wonder if Tricia would like to go? After all, we took the beekeeping class together - she is a beekeeper who is still waiting for her bees - maybe she'd be into it? And Hubby could still go to the financial seminar - he can tell me about it later. We have babysitting - this could work!"

I called her back and she was a go. We both grabbed out equipment, got into the car, drove the 45 minutes out into some of the most beautiful scenery you have ever seen - rural, mountains on every side, and views as far as the eye can see. Beautiful sunny day, the likes of which we haven't seen in weeks.

And we did this:

2010-06-08

We caught a swarm!!!! I cannot explain to you the sheer happiness and BLISS I experienced after doing this - and during! It was AMAZING! Just...I have caught swarm fever. I told Hubby I need him to build me more hives ASAP because I NEED to do this again. And it IS swarm season, if the rain would stop again. Because this time of year, when the rain stops, it is immediately crazy hot, and the hives get full, and the bees bolt. Swarm! Beautiful, lovely, amazing swarms!

I told Tricia that if her bees don't come through somehow, we can just go out and catch her a couple of swarms, because I would LOVE to do that again. LOVE it!

So we got the bees in the cardboard box....

my amazonian bees

My hands smell like beehives. Aside from a baby head, this is the greatest smell in the world to me.

We just got back from visiting our bees, who badly needed feeding, as it hasn't stopped raining here in WEEKS now, and bees won't fly in the rain. I was going to put feeder bags full of honey on the hives so they'd have some supplement to their nectar flow.

Rain makes for some tall grass, because when I got there, it looked like this:

Where are the hives? All I see is this tall grass! I got in closer and discovered that the hives were still there. I was immediately drawn to what we've been calling the weaker hive: there were bees flying in and out so much, it was like grand central at the entrance - some of them FULL of glowing yellow pollen. And understandably, there hasn't been a ray of sunshine in weeks, those girls must be starving in there! Fly, girls, fly!

I cleared away some of the tall grass nearest the hive and about four feet out. That took awhile, and then I finally had time to turn my attention to the "strong" hive, and I noticed that nothing was happening there. Nothing. No bees going in and out, no noise, just silence. Silence is not a good sign in a beehive, unless it's dusk. and even then, you'll hear humming inside. Not good. I opened up the hive and saw this:

Click for a larger view.

Bees with their heads pushed into the cells of the comb: starvation. My first thought was that I ought to have fed them so much sooner in this rain. But upon closer inspection and taking apart of the hive, I discovered this:

That's the queen cage. You can't see it, but there's a dead queen inside. Trapped, with no way to get out. The queen was never let out of the cage. That hive had no chance. New hive, new bees, no queen, no brood, and comb to build. No chance. I cannot even express my disappointment. They'd built some beautiful comb, but they were dead awhile ago. I remembered my husband asking me why the "big" hive was so quiet last time we'd been. It was dreary and cold and rainy - we just figured they were huddling inside for warmth. I had no idea - they were supposed to be the "strong" hive!

Upon inspection, I realized that the other hive was FULL - because when I went to place the feeder on the top bars of the hive, bees were literally pouring out of the top - the top! Last time we'd checked, the bees had barely built a box of comb on the bottom, and we were meant to come back and switch the boxes so they'd be building down. And here they were, two boxes brimming over with bees. I honestly didn't get a chance to properly check the box for comb, but based on the sheer number of bees pouring out, I'd say they're good.

So we took the clean empty bottom box from the dead hive and placed it at the bottom of the live hive to give them more room to build and store honey. And it was then that I noticed just how LARGE some of the bees were - I mean almost bumblebee-sized, these giants. Where did these HUGE bees come from? They were ginormous, on the bee scale. Can you see the size difference in this photo?

How about this one?

I didn't have anything for scale, but trust me, they were LARGE.Note the smaller bee on the bottom in the center there? That's the regular size of the bees - first generation, I guess.  I'm wondering if this is the new generation of bees, and if I ought to be worried. I've read that smaller bees = no mites, so I'm a bit concerned about these amazon bees I've got. But I will say they are BEAUTIFUL. I was so smitten with them! I heart my girls. I talk to them when I'm there, tell them what I'm doing, call them my girls. I love them. Today Kiernen and I went in just our bee veils and they didn't so much as land on me the first time we went. When we came back in our beesuits, thinking the bigger work might require them because we were adding boxes and opening the hive, we were mistaken. They did land on me, but more to just check me out - I'd swear it.

Little girl bee saying, "Oh, hi, what are you doing here?"

I love that they do that. Then they sent out one of the larger ones when I really did get too close to their flight path - but she just buzzed me to let me know to move - which I did, and apologized, too. (In my defense, we were pulling some of the tall grass from in front of the hive - directly in front - so they'd have a clearer area). I love my little girls - they are so very beautiful and perfect and gorgeous, especially when they're all fuzzy and full of pollen. And I love how they guard their entrance - maybe those larger girls were the bouncers.

So now their hive is a little taller and looks like this:

And it is the lone hive standing. However, Hubby and I talked, and he is keen to build more boxes, and for me to put our names on the swarm list. What does that mean, you ask? It means that when a swarm comes along, (and it will if it ever gets to be summer around here again) we get to go and catch it - and take it home with us! So basically, free bees, plus we get the experience of catching them, too. We just need to make a bait box, make some more hive boxes, and get on that list.

the garden, the bees, cinnamon bun muffins and chemtrails

Summer  = blog neglect, no? I give you some random updates:

~ The garden is growing. I'm learning more abut plant nutrition and the great importance of feeding the soil so it will feed you. Nutrients are crucial! Kiernen has been graciously donating his pee to feed our tomato plants, and they have NEVER been so happy!

~ The bees...we haven't seen them in a couple of weeks. The landowner went out of town for two weeks, during which the gate was locked and we were unable to visit. Then it's just been intermittently rainy and cloudy, and I don't want to do anything to the hives to make them upset - like opening them in cooler weather, letting out nest scent or heat. I keep waiting for the sun to be out when we need it to be. My plan is to treat with formic acid (or nothing), and I'm not sure. Smaller bees, as we will have having a Warre hive, tend to resist mites. Perhaps I ought to do a mite check before doing a formic acid treatment?

~ I've made these cupcakes twice in the past week. (I use butter instead of grapeseed oil and honey instead of agave, and usually less of it).

The first time I had leftover icing, so what's a girl to do but bake another batch, right? These are so good I cannot even bring myself to share these with friends - I want to eat them all myself. It is all I can do to share them with my awesome husband. Kiernen and I would both easily sit down and each eat half of this batch in a sitting. Possibly all, although realistically, that's way too much sweet for either of our bodies.

The flour to make these is crazy expensive, but you won't even care - they're that good. If you're grain-free, MAKE these. Or don't, depending on your level of self control. And trust me on this one: do them WITH the frosting. Almost painfully delicious. I thought chocolate was my downfall. Apparently I was wrong: it's cinnamon. Goddess bless Elana for her freaking amazing recipes.

~ I wish summer would just decide to be here already. Its sunny, then it rains, then it's sunny, then it rains, sometimes both at the same time. We just want the sun! Dear "military": Stop flying planes over us and dumping chemicals (Titanium,Aluminum, Barium, Magnesium, Calcium)! Just leave the clear skies alone already! WTF! (Want to know what I'm talking about? Here is an introduction to chemtrails. Want to make yourself crazy? Google 'chemtrails' and watch some of the videos. But not too many. I believe it's good to be informed, and not to dwell. Keep finding ways to feel good, most importantly.)

we got to see the bees!

It's been three weeks since the bees were hived, and we were advised to just leave them alone completely for two to three weeks. My husband had gone and put tar paper on the hives to insulate them during an unseasonably cold snap we had. It was difficult, but I put them out of my mind as much as possible, and we left them alone to see if they'd survive.

Yesterday we finally got to go out and pay them a visit. My intention was to take off the feeders and feeder boxes and tar paper, and just let them go on their own. The blueberry bushes have been in bloom, so there is plenty of nectar flow and pollen available to them right now.

As I went up to the hives, this is what I saw:

Plenty of bees flying in and out of the hives, with their legs just FULL of pollen. The healthy hive (Butterfly Zen) AND the one that we thought might be dead (Bee Zen). Just see all the activity there was? Bees were coming and going like crazy - it was a thing of beauty.

I decided to take the feeder - which was completely drained - and the feeder box off of the healthiest hive - and it was quite easy. The tar paper was stapled to it, so it slid off with the feeder box, and I was done. I ushered the bees back inside so I wouldn't crush any - I sprayed them down with my mix of honey, water, and Honey B Healthy, and they got busy cleaning themselves off and ran down into the hive. And I was able to see comb - lots of good comb on several of the top bars in their hive. Yes!

Next I went over to the lesser hive to see what was there. The feeder bag was still almost full, and when I peeked in, I didn't see any comb on any of the top bars. Yet when I looked outside the hive, I could see bees going in and out like crazy. Hm. So I stuck my face all the way down into the hive - as much as I could, in order to see the bottom box. And there, on the bottom box, was comb! The bees in that hive had begun building their comb in the bottom box rather than in the top box! Imagine my surprise - I hadn't considered that possibility. But there they were, comb all built in the bottom box, carrying in and out pollen like mad.

I decided to leave the feeder box and the tar paper on that one - I figure they need all the help they can get, because it does still get cold at night, and I want to give them as much of a chance to build themselves up as possible.

I was taking photos and of course my camera battery died and I'd forgotten for the first time in ever to bring the extras along. Sigh. But I did get some great shots of the hive entrance. My beautiful girls - all flying in, legs fat with pollen from the blueberry bushes. Happiness. My bees are alive!!!

I suppose if I was going to have a half-dead hive, the blueberry farm was a good choice to put them in - nectar flow came just a few days after we'd hived them there. And PLENTY of it!

If you want to see all of the photos I managed to take, they're here:

Blueberry Bees 25-04-2010

 

so what about the bees? part 2

The next night after work, Hubby met Mike (the expert beekeeper) out at the hives. Their visit lasted a total of ten minutes tops. Mike peeked in the "dead" hive and said to leave it be for two weeks. He said it might come back, but to give it space and see what happens. He barely peeked into the second hive, and said, "This one's fine."

He recommended tar paper for the outside of the hives for insulation, as the weather here has been unseasonably cold.* He said they had enough food in both hives, he said leave them alone for two weeks. They need to build comb, the queen needs to lay - just leave them alone.

* - In fact, today and a couple of days ago we've had severe winds, which is also not normal for this area - today it was downright frigid outside. WTF, global warming? We NEED spring! My bees need it! Bring it back! Gaia, we need spring!

Tonight Hubby went back and put on the tar paper. He said when he put his ear to the hives, he heard the happy humming sound of BEES. He didn't look in, he just put on the tar paper and left.

And now we wait. The good thing about this is in two weeks, I ought to be walking with my walking cast and out of the wheelchair! So I have that to look forward to. And if I can walk, then dag nabit, there WILL be photos.

"I deserve to rejoice in life. I accept all the pleasure life has to offer."

so what about the bees?

I have a little update on my wonderful son and the thing he says at his blog over here.

I've been reluctant to update what's been happening with the bees, because I needed some time to process it and to just have some down time from all things bees. The whole process has been keeping me awake nights, and every time I wake up all that runs though my head is "bees, bees, bees" and all of the things we ought to be doing/should have done.

Without further ado, though, these are my hives. My wonderful and amazingly detail-oriented husband built them, and I painted them. Click the photos to embiggen. These are completely surrpunded by blueberry bushes (outside of this area, obviously). I'm going to ask the landowner if we can cut down these weeds and plant wildflowers in their place. I doubt he'll mind since their plan is to burn the weeds eventually (owie!).

Let us pan out for a broader view - note the pond in the background. That pond id FULL of lilypads and frogs - it is like a symphony at night. When my ankle is healed enough for me to be walking around, I'll get photos of the lilypads and more of the pond. And of course, of the blueberry bushes. Oh, wait, I've got lots of photos of the blueberry bushes from years past when we've gone picking...but they're on my other computer. Later for those, then. Again, click the photo to embiggen.

On to the saga of the bees, no?

Sigh. I've had to readjust my entire expectation - and my entire paradigm - on the bees as of late. Why? Broken ankle. More accurately, the bees are in a good spot for the bees to be in, which isn't necessarily a good spot for someone with a broken ankle to get to - especially someone who isn't all that fit and is fairly heavy. Not easy to get around on crutches and just using the one leg.

* - This photo is my husband and my friend. Those long tubes they're holding are actually the packages of bees. Nothing like we'd ever seen before - no online videos of installing these. I was hoping to take one myself, but we were losing daylight and I couldn't get to the hives, so it didn't happen. This is the only photo I have, too.

I didn't get to hive my bees. My friend who took the beekeeping class with me (who is as new to this as I am only hasn't studied my type of hives at all) and my husband (who expertly built the hives but knows next to nothing about actually taking care of the bees themselves) hived the bees for me. We had no idea this was going to happen until it was actually happening. The day was cold as heck, we were losing daylight, and the bees needed to get in their home. Kiernen was crying in the car, I was in my wheelchair and it seemed I couldn't get to the hives - decisions were made on the spur of the moment and without consultation. Mistakes were made that could have been avoided had someone stopped to talk to me about what to do.  Because you know, I was mentally prepared. I'd been studying, watching videos of intstalls, asking questions of my Warre hive yahoogroup. I was the one who was ready to do this. Instead, I was here. (Note in photo you can see them walking away toward the hives through the car window.)

We returned the next day , and I was determined to see the inside of those hives. I managed to crutch over to one of them - the one closest to the pond. We opened the first hive to find that because two of the top bars had been left off of the boxes on top, the bag feeders we'd used had fallen through the hole left (duh) and crushed a large number of bees. We were pretty sure the queen was dead as well, and it really didn't look like there were many bees left in there.

I couldn't get to the second hive, though - the ground was too uneven for m crutches, and too wet. Kiernen was whining about the cold so I crutched back to the car with him to wait while my husband checked the second hive.

Apparently that one looked much better. Although it had suffered losses and the feed bag fell through just like the first one, it didn't fall on the bees. We left and Hubby dropped me off at my bee club meeting. While there, I talked with some of the experts, including the man I bought my bees from. As he was only ten minutes from the location of my hives, he volunteered to come out the next night when Hubby went after work.

blueberry bees!

We have a home!!! The blueberry farm is our new home!!! I am SO happy!!! And? When I was looking for a great photo to put in this post, I found this wonderful designer, too - click on the photo to see more of their stuff - I am in LOVE with this as a shirt and I want to get one! Because my bees? They will be BLUEBERRY BEES!!!

preparing for the arrival of the bees

* - Picture linked is not of my actual hive. Photos of my actual hive to follow soon. This is, however, the type of hive I intend to use.

My hubby continues to build my beehives, because the bees! They are arriving Easter Monday - woohoo! And also? I'm freaking out! Still to do on the hives between now and then is:

~ get the hives completely put together
~ get raw linseed oil, cedar shavings and thin strips for the top bars of the hive box
~ coat the outside of the hives with raw linseed oil (and paint pretty designs to denote the different hives)
~ allow linseed oil/paint to dry
~ coat the top bars with a beeswax starter strip (to encourage the bees to build the combs in frames)
~ install the hives
~ pick up honey and formic acid evaporator from Fred
~ order non-irradiated bee pollen from Sasketchewan

The honey and pollen are both for human consumption and for mixing together to feed the bees when I get them. I've watched several videos on YouTube about how to install the package of bees, so I feel pretty good about doing that when I get the bees. It is advised to do it in the last hour of the day, so I'll do it when my hubby gets home from work - that way he can help me with any lifting that might be needed, too.

All the wood is cut for the hives but one piece (there was a knot in the original board for this piece, oops). Once it's cut, it is ready to be assembled.  So: close! Tomorrow we order our pollen, and Thursday we go get honey and formic acid evaporators. In the meanwhile, my job is to call around for cedar shavings and top bar strips. And! Once the hives are together, I can get those linseed oil protected. Progress is being made, progress is being made...

Bees!

and so it begins

Eep! I just ordered my beekeeping equipment - exciting!

all the news is good

It looks very good for me keeping bees at lour local organic farm!!! Woot! I loved reconnecting with the guys there and meeting some of the other folks involved with the farm. It is such a great place, and the energy there is - it's EARTH. I mesh well with it, I believe.

Today I got some seeds sorted out - I borrowed some from a neighbour and inventoried them - I still need to put them in little packets with instructions for myself. I made some pie, my green juice, Kiernen's breakfast, did the dishes. And just now I got the chequebook balanced. And can I say? I love the feeling of paying the balance on our credit card every month. It's a good thing.

We got the bar to hang my Vertical Herb and Veggie Garden - the hubby just needs to cut it to size tonight, and then tomorrow I can FINALLY get my seeds in there - woohoo! I'm ready to get my seedlings going inside, too - it's time to get celery and peas and parsley and tomatoes going indoors. I'm so keen! Garden!

This weekend instead of hubby building my hives, he is going to be reassembling the garden - we're taking apart the entire back garden and redoing it into long rows - to maximize the efficiency of the space and allow for much much more food production - woohoo! Then on Sunday I'm attending the first in a series of nonviolent communication courses done between our community and our organic farm - giving me even more opportunity to get to know my farm community. So exciting!

all of my insides

I feel so accomplished! This morning, I:

~ made mayonnaise
~ made my veggie juice
~ made a green smoothie
~ made ketchup
~ made stock
~ got everything together in the crock pot for tonight's dinner
~ made ceviche
~ steamed butternut squash and then put it together for pie
~ steamed cauliflower and then made cauliflower salad (think 'potato salad')
~ heated up some stock for Kiernen and me to drink
~ did all of the dishes
~ started some more sprouts
~ cleaned the kitchen
~ printed out my proposal for keeping bees at my local organic farm to take to the meeting there today

Whew! Later I'll make the stock into beet soup as per Kiernen's request. We'll also have the ceviche later (it's made with oysters and crab meat).

My friend who owns the local organic food delivery brought me over a CASE of buttercup and acorn squash that needs to be used - wahoo! I also got two cases of mangoes from him yesterday, so it's a good time for lots of smoothies...

Which, by the way, because of my messed up digestion lately (lack of sleep plus stress plus too much watching of "Big Love" (I recently started watching it and am almost caught up to where it is now) has really messed me up and made me unable to digest anything)...okay. So because of my messed up digestion, I'm taking it easy on myself and having mostly liquids today and for however long. I'm also going to start taking digestive enzymes, in addition to my CLO and vitamin C. And I think adding more fermented foods isn't a bad idea, either.

I'm about to go to a meeting at my local organic farm to "create relationship" - so they can get to know me a little better, and so they might be convinced to allow me to keep my hives there alongside Tricia's.  I leave in just 15 minutes! Gotta go get myself ready.

The first Tuesday of every month is our local bee club meeting. Did I mention I'm in our local bee club? Right, because I'm about to be a real live beekeeper. Did I mention I'm about to be a beekeeper? Yes? Good.

Tuesday night's club meeting was both eye-opening and slightly migraine-inducing. You see, we have speakers at our monthly bee club meetings, and this week's topic was pests, fungucides and pesticides used in blueberries. A man who works with the provincial government came in and gave us a talk - he works with blueberry farmers, but his information was helpful for our bees, as well - because most of what the government recommends to blueberry farmers to deal with the pests they encounter will kill our bees. Like 80% of it.

Synchronistically, earlier the same day I'd read a post about Bayer killing bees on one of my new bee blog haunts. Interestingly, I cannot find the exact article, but I did find this and this and this and this and if you Google "Bayer Kills Bees" yourself, you'll find enough reading to fill the rest of your day and night. So you get the picture. And here was our own provincial government using the fear tactics they always use and telling us why the blueberry farmers NEED to use Bayer products to...um, kill our bees. And shoot themselves in the foot in the process. Because no bees = no pollinators = no crops = no money = no farm = no home for farmers. Mind you, the pesticides are meant for aphids and caterpillars and leafworms and such, but there's that "unpleasant" and "unavoidable" side effect of killing the bees, as well.

What I learned from that talk solidified what I already knew, which I will share with you, my reader. Ha! see what I did there? Me reader. Because there can be only one.

Ahem. Anyway, my knowledge:

~ Mother Nature loves diversity. Look around you - do you EVER see anything growing by itself in the wild? EVER? NO. She is designed to have several plants growing together, complimenting each other, helping each other to thrive but not get all too out of control.

~ When too much of one crop (monocropping) is grown in one place, Mother Nature takes note and sends in what humans call "pests" to take care of things and restore natural order. You see, "pests" are naturally attracted to these crops, and since there are no natural repellents like other protective plants growing around, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet out there. These pests can create viruses or just eat the crops or rot the roots - they're very industrious and creative.

~ Many of these "pests" are not native pests, just like many of our monocrops aren't. They're shipped in on fruit from other countries like the US and Japan. California, I'm looking at you.*

* California has found natural solutions to these pests, however, which I will go into in a minute. We cannot be bothered to take such drastic and ridiculous action, however. It might take effort.

~ One of the newest "pests" that has everyone all freaked out is the Spotted Wing Drosophila. Here's some more of that action if you're interested. Lovely, no? This guy is basically a mutated fruit fly, so behaves as such, only the difference here is that the female of the species (cure freaky music) has a serrated ovis. What this means is that she can saw the flesh of soft fruits (including all berries, tomatoes and even grapes) and then lay her eggs inside. And did you catch the 'fly' part of fruit fly? That means that those eggs turn into - you guessed it - maggots. And in this country, there aren't many folks who would find a maggot-infested piece of fruit appetizing. Some of my friends might shrug and call it B12 or protein, but most folks - most folks aren't so keen on the maggots. And since we LOVE to export food, particularly blueberries, around these parts, that's not such good news for the farmers.

The solution around here is to BLAST those little bastards with fungucides and pesticides and lots of them, because we all know that tolerances can develop and if we use too much of the same kind of chemicals, the fly will just become immune. Oh, and guess what else? They need to be blasted every two days while the fruit is ripe. That means layers and layers of different pesticides and fungucides on permeable fruit like blueberries.....GAH! my head is going to explode just thinking about it.

Where was I besides consumed by my own disgust and rage? Oh, right - "solutions".

Interestingly, Japan has employed the solution of keeping the bush completely shrouded in a sheet/covering while the fruit ripens, in order to keep out the SWD. In addition, any ripened fruit having fallen on the ground is cleaned up - nothing is left to rot .Because anyone who has had regular fruit flies knows what they love - ripe or rotting and fermenting fruit.

California has also had success with using just hygiene - keeping the ground clear of fruit when it falls.

But here, we use machines to harvest. and here, taking the time to do things like clean up the fruit would just be too much trouble - who can be bothered? Instead, we prefer to use toxic, expensive chemicals to blast the pests away.

I just don't understand this. I just don't. Years of research and development are put into creating these products. Millions of dollars. Wouldn't a more sustainable, a kinder, gentler solution be to just train more farmers in permaculture and end monocropping? Wouldn't another solution be to just stop importing fruit from other countries, so we also stop importing these "pests"? We don't need imported fruit - we don't need oranges or avocadoes in Ferbruary for Goddesses sake. These things are luxuries, not necessities. We could learn to live without them just like Cuba learned to live without the US. And we could be healthier for it - we'd be self-reliant.

And I know - I get it. I know it's about politics and money and big business and more succinctly, agri-business. I know. But even so, I cannot get my head around it. When I am sitting in a room full of these commercial beekeepers, these are good people. These people are just trying to make a living. In the bee club, we share information - everyone is there to offer a helping hand to people like me, the novice beekeeper. The blueberry farmers, they are just doing what they're told to do. It's just...what if they were being told to be sustainable? What if beekeepers refused to work with any farmer who used sprays and wasn't using permaculture? What if our provincial government refused to endorse agri-business products and focused its research on sustainable farming practices and what it would be to live in harmony with nature rather than fighting her?

I feel saddened that people are so disconnected from their true nature that they would do such things to themselves, to the planet. There is a reason that it is called a food chain. Each link is a part of it. Each link is necessary to its strength and tenacity. If you kill the bees, you kill the pollinators. Without the pollinators, the plants cannot reproduce. Without plants, there is no food. Without food, there is no life - it is so simple!

And yet in ways, it is so complicated.