that time I got stung by a bee at the beach and I didn't die

A few days ago we landed in our new spot in Oceanside, California. The RV park we're staying in is a very short walk from the beach - only four minutes! And it's quite a lovely walk at that. There is a little inlet that connects to the ocean, and the ducks, gulls and other assorted birds and squirrels like to gather there. On the other side is a small park with a playground, complete with swings (our favorite). Then you walk past what I think is a cafe, cross the street, and you're on the beach watching the ocean. It's so cool! And this beach is great - fine, powdery sand plus random rocks strewn about, just ready to be thrown back in. My son and husband LOVE throwing rocks into the water.

So of course we had to go there and throw rocks in the water and watch the sunset, because we were there at the perfect time of day. We took off our shoes by the bigger rocks that you could sit on, and then got up to go walk to the water. Only I felt something soft under my foot. I was trying to rub it off and then felt a stabbing pain through my foot, and I wondered if it was a splinter, or....then I felt the unmistakable feeling of venom spreading through my foot - it was a sting. What had I stepped on?

I didn't see what stung me, just the stinger that was pulled from the bottom of my foot. It looked like a bee stinger, and I am convinced that is what it was. I've seen enough bee stingers to know what they look like. I know that, it being the beach, there is a possibility of jellyfish or urchins or any number of things, but this didn't look at all like it came from the sea. And a search on the internet revealed that it's a pretty common place for bees to die, so it's definitely not unheard of.

It HURT. So much so that I had to tell my family to go away from me because I couldn't process anything but the pain for about 30 minutes. They kept coming to check on me and I was just like, "Go throw rocks in the ocean, I just need a minute here." That whole, "I couldn't see straight," thing that people say? Well, I actually couldn't see straight.

It bears mentioning here that I am supposed to be allergic to bee stings - I have the blood tests and an Epi Pen to prove it. I did NOT have the Epi with me, however, and as I sat there just trying to see through the pain, and asking the angels and the Universe to please take the pain, I was also very aware that I would either come out of this or die right there on the beach.

 *spoiler alert* I didn't die. I didn't even react, other than the blinding pain and not being able to walk. the sting was on the ball of my foot, so it took a couple of days, but also, it only took a couple of days for it to completely return to normal. When we got back to the RV, I soaked it in baking soda first, since we were out of Epsom Salts. I don't know how that happened, but whatever, my husband went and got more.

We also made a paste of baking soda and apple cider vinegar and put it on my foot for about a half hour, followed by some lavendar essential oil. The pain was still throbbing, but somehow not only did I fall asleep, but I slept fairly well. The next day, the pain was replaced by itching - it was beginning to heal! It was still insanely tender to the touch, so I just did another epsom salt foot bath and tried not to itch it - until I realized that the towel I used to dry my foot also doubled as a scratching towel that I could run back and forth under my foot. Then it became my best friend for the rest of the day, because the itching was as strong as the pain had been the first day.

Day three still a bit of itching, but the swelling seemed to be going down and I could walk again, even pressing on my foot. Honestly I was shocked - firstly, I'm supposed to be anaphylactic. And I wasn't. Secondly, the way it hurt I thought it could be days - but it wasn't. And I attribute that to the healing foods and supplements I'm eating. My body is healing, so it's getting more and more able to process things that happen - like a bee sting. Like I could before I got so sick.

I decided to blog about it because it meant so much to me to see that happen - I was already eating foods I thought I'd never eat again, and I have been feeling so much healthier and more capable. But I had a blood test for this, and an Epi Pen. I didn't think that my body would process this this quickly or well. The whole thing blew my mind - how quickly it healed, and also, how I didn't die.

An amazing surprise indeed. Oh, and lest you worry - I'm still keeping the Epi Pen - I'm not going to get cocky. It's one of those things that is way better to have than not to have, just in case. But WOW that I didn't need it. By the way, I took all of these photos as this process happened. We just wanted to see the sunset at the beach!

a walk around my yard - spring edition

One thing I LOVE about this property is how everything looks in spring and summer. I love walking around the yard and seeing everything waking up. It's so lovely!

The azaleas are starting to bloom.

The bees are dead, sadly. But the hive looks so pretty. 

I don't remember what these are called, but hey smell lovely. 

The deciduous trees are growing leaves. 

The daffodils and hyacinths have been in bloom awhile, and I even missed photographing some because they've already come and gone. 

Daffodil faces!

Pretty hyacinths! All offering lovely fragrances to cross my yard on the breeze. I love walking outside and smelling the flowers on the breeze in spring.

The cherry blossoms!

And more cherry blossoms on the other tree!

I have no idea what this tree is, or its flowers, but it hangs down from our neighbor's yard and is always one of the first things to bloom in spring, and it's so pretty!

Apple blossoms. 

More apple blossoms. 

Plum blossoms. Italian prune plum, to be exact. 

Muffins eating and helping spread dandelion seeds. 

They must be yummy, because she stops at every one and eats them. 

Dandelion. Being pollinated, feeding pollinators. 

Budding apple blossoms on the gala apple tree. 

Fuji apple blossoms. 

Japanese maple. 

9-year-old boy with static electric hair. 

Dandelion through trampoline. 

Weave of the trampoline. 

Looking through the trampoline. 

And Muffins the Pug, because she is just adorable.

A belated welcome from me to Spring!

Once Upon a Time I Had a Blog

And I remembered to post on it. I have gotten sooooo far away from the habit of journaling my thoughts, and my intention is to return to that habit. Let's see how I do.

Got this photo here!

I've gotten a bee in my bonnet about RV living, possibly full-time. I don't know what crazy neural misfiring has taken me in this direction, but it gives me something to focus on when I need it, and something positive. At the very least I am learning about what it might be like to live in an RV full time (on paper) and have home be wherever one has parked it. And thus far my "research" has given to my wanting to at least own an RV.

In my research I have been looking at lowering one's environmental foorprint on the road, and others have found ways to make that happen. Solar panels on the roof, compost toilets, remodeling with zero VOC paints, natural fabrics, sustainable counters and flooring. Then there's the reduce/reuse/recycling while on the road: composting, saving recyclables and taking them to the proper facilities, and then there's the trash.

What to do with the trash? I found one family doing an RV tour called The Eco Womb (they bought the bus from the Janssens, which was formerly the Live Lightly Tourbus....running on veggie oil, sunflower seed countertops, no VOC paints, sustainable flooring: And they do something called Bottle Bricking. It's where you take plastic bottles and stuff them with all of the non-recyclable non-food trash until they are hard like ricks. Then they are used like bricks, to build cob benches (use bottle bricks as infrastructure, then cover with cob).

So I DO think that is an awesome and creative way to use trash and make something beautiful, and I do have a couple of things I am curious about. Plastic bottles, which are stuffed with said trash, are recyclable. Are we not then taking something from the recycling stream and putting it into the waste stream?  I love the idea, but I wonder about other ways to expand on this idea without using plastic bottles. Or does the energy used and carbon footprint of recycling said plastic bottles exceed that of landfilling them? 

It turns out that in third world countries, the answer is yes, but in first world countries where there are a plethora of recycling facilities, as long as we recycle at least half of them I believe, then recycling is the lesser footprint option. So bottle bricking is an excellent idea in third world countries. For us, we don't use plastic drinking bottles (the most commonly used bottle brick type) - we have glass water bottles and the liquids we drink are water, tea, coconut water and smoothies. So I was thinking, what plastic bottles DO we use? Supplements, for sure. Ketchup and mustard from Trader Joe's....not really much else that I can come up with. But those can all be recycled and reused. However, I do like the idea of using other trash for building materials.

And at any rate, it's definitely a good idea to really be thinking about where our waste goes instead of just "away".

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.