2011-03-05: Hungy Mandibles to Feed

On Saturday I visited my parents and paid a visit to the hive to see if they might benefit from some food. I could not hear anything when I knocked on the side, though I often have trouble hearing the bees over the sounds of my parents retriever bounding through the snow looking for a stick. Being concerned about them, I undid the ropes and took off the top. I moved aside the wool that I had placed on top of the inner cover to provide insulation and to stop condensation from dripping back into the hive. I found the hole in the inner cover and could see some live bees looking back. While seeing live bees was definitely a good thing, I have read that when the bees are right at the top they are probably nearly at the end of their food.

I closed the hive again and went inside to get some food ready. This consisted of a pie pan filled with sugar that I had spritzed a slightly diluted solution of Honey-Bee-Healthy to both get the sugar wet so the bees will perceive it as food rather than dirt to be removed and to also act as a lure to them I cut out a section on the side of the pie plate to act as a ramp and then placed another plate over the top to act as a roof. A rubber band held the contraption together. I then worried about feeding the bees that much Honey-Bee-Healthy since it is normally much more diluted. But I decided ot go ahead and give it to them. I went out and opened the top of the hive again. I placed the plate next to the inner cover's hole and sprinkled some sugar into the hole. The bees started to poke their heads out to investigate as I was putting things back into place so I am pretty sure they will enter to get the sugar.

I put a super over the top to make enough space for the feeder and placed the wool back in around it. The extra super raised the outer cover 6 inches higher so that it no longer provided any cover for the entrance in the inner cover's edge. I stuffed some wool into it to reduce the entrance to try to keep the weather out. After I did so some bees came out of it to see what was going on.

Days later the region was hit with heavy snow and wind. My parents got around 30 inches and I do worry that too much snow might have gotten into the exposed entrance. The wind was from the North so I hope the hive will be okay until I check on them this Saturday.

 

 

 

 

2011-03-01: Bee Democracy

Bill Mares, the president of the VBA had a commentary on VPR today. It was titled 'Honeybee Democracy' and, on this Town Meeting Day here in Vermont, it discussed the similarities between how a swarm of honey bees decides on where to start their new home and the activities in a town meeting.

The transcript can be found here:
http://www.vpr.net/episode/50600/


And here is a picture of my favorite little bee showing her support for democracy:

2011-02-20: Beekeeping by Snowshoe

I visited the hive on Sunday in order to try to gauge how they are doing as we approach the critical period of time in late winter and early spring when many hives run out of food or succumb to disease. The weather had gotten into the 60's the previous Friday and I was hoping I would see yellow spots on the snow indicative of cleansing flights. The few inches of snow that had fallen since obscured any evidence. I noticed a few spots on the new snow... it was worryingly brown. I did try to hear what was going on inside the hive but it was hard to make out... though I think a bee took off while I was adhered to the side of the hive.

I did have my picture taken next to the hive, snowshoes and all.

 

I hope to be able to open the hive next month. I need to make some fondant to feed to them when I do so. Also, I have decided to order one more package or nuc of bees to install in a top bar hive that I am building. I hope to have some pictures of that someday soon.

2011-02-05: Bee Inspection in the Big Snow

Several weeks ago I managed to get out to the hive using snow shoes (much easier than digging a path through the two + feet of snow). The snow was so deep that it was covering up over half of the hive. Again I felt thankful that I had added a top entrance to the hive while winterizing.

 

While it was hovering around freezing, the sun was strong and it was warming the tar paper around the hive so that it was warm to the touch. This was apparently enough incentive to convince the hive it was worth sending out a few scouts on the off chance something somewhere was blooming. I found several of these scouts around the hive at the bottom of funnel shaped holes in the snow that they had made after they had fallen on the snow surface and their attempts at flying had pushed aside the very light snow and caused them to drill into the snow. I found one that was still alive and I removed her and placed her on the hive, while several of her sisters took off inches from my ear. She sat on the hive for a while before flying off again into the cold. While her actions might seem stupid (and certainly humans probably have more brain matter dedicated to telling us the current status of our big toes than bees have in total), her actions are the expression of the will of the hive rather than the individual. And in this case the hive thought it was worth the loss of a few individuals (out of tens of thousands) if there was the possibility, no matter how small, of securing an early food source.

 

 

I cleared out some snow from around the hive to aid air getting to the bottom. I thought I could hear the swarm as I put my ear to the side of the hive. One day I should get a stethoscope.

2011-01-17: Quick Bee Inspection

Made my way down to the hive to make sure that all was well. I didn't get all the way to the hive but nothing looked amiss.

 

Do the Bees talk on Christmas?

My mother likes to tell the story of how the animals in the barn will talk on Christmas Eve. I was at the farm for Christmas and I went out to check on the bees. The hive appeared to be in good order with air still able to get to the bottom. There were a few dead bees on the new snow around it, but I believe nothing more than the few brave scouts that the hive sends out on just the off chance that its somehow in the 60's and something is in bloom. And when I put my ear to the side of the hive, the bees did talk to me. Their low hum told me that they were still alive. I hope to hear their voices again in a few months when it starts to warm up.

 

 

Spinning for Gold

This last weekend I went up to my parents to check on some supplies that had been delivered and to see how my mentor extracts honey.

I had purchase anti-mite medication, but since the weather has cooled below 60F I will not be able to use it (the medication needs warm temperatures for the active ingredient to vaporize and saturate the hive) but I wanted it to have it on hand for next year. I had also purchased Fumigilin® B and Honey Bee Healthy. Both are added to sugar syrup and fed to the bees. The former prevents Nosema (bee diarrhea) which is fatal to bees when they are trying to keep a tight cluster during the winter to conserve heat, running to the outhouse in January is bad for us but even worse for little bees who will chill below the ability to fly within seconds. The later is a combination of several herbal oil extracts that promote bee health. I calculated the dosages needed (since we will be feeding one quart at a time not gallons as in a large bee yard) and discussed it with my mother who would be doing the actual feeding in the coming days.

We both then went to my mentor's house where he was doing the extracting. The process consisted of using a electrically heated knife to slice off the wax caps off the top of the honey comb frames. The frames are then attached to a holding armature that will then spin inside a cylinder, looks similar to a washing machine. The centrifugal force causes the honey to fly out of the combs and to hit the walls of the extractor, where it then runs down to the bottom and flows out of a spigot at the bottom.

Since then my mother has reported that she has started feeding the bees and saw over a hundred bees at the feeder, some actually feeding, the others waiting their turn not too patiently. We decided to use both feeders each day instead of alternating. Next year I may purchase or make a larger feeder. Their fondness for the feeding syrup is good since we want to get about 2 gallons of the medicated syrup into them before winter.

Here is an article that was forwarded to me that I thought I would share.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28scibks.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y