Muggy, Uncomfortable Inspection

I was finally able to inspect the hives containing the Minnesota Hygienic honey bees Monday afternoon. The two days before were too rainy to inspect. Today, on the other hand, was bright, sunny, hot(low 90s)and humid. The bees seemed as uncomfortable as I was, as they were bearding and "washboarding" in front of both Metpropolis and Bee Glad...

Bee Glad..., a langstroth hive, has three boxes on now and the bees have started work, in earnest, in the third box. Two frames in the top box had newly laid eggs on them and 7 out of the ten frames in the hive were being drawn on. The second box was fine as well although, again, the honey bees do not seem to take to the green drone frame as well as I'd like. The other plastic frames are being worked quite well however.

I had to add three bars to Metpropolis, the top bar hive. This hive is booming! Plenty of brood (in all stages of development), pollen and honey. I took one bar of capped drone brood out of this hive in my effort to control the mite population, although, so far, my sticky board inspections show no mites in any of the hives.

I received no stings during this inspection but that did not keep me from ultimately getting stung today. I brought Monta out to see all the bees bearding in front of Bee Glad... and carried a hitch hiking worker in the house with me. I went to scratch my back while walking through the living room of our house and WHAM!!!! I received a nice sting in the "webbing" between the thumb and pointer of my right hand. The cats were thoroughly amused.

Added a Third Box To Bee Glad...

Yesterday I inspected those two hives (Bee Glad... and Metpropolis) containing the Minnesota Hygienic bees. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, the bees in Beelandia are so much more productive, and seemingly healthier than those I had last year.

I added a third box to Bee Glad... as the honey bees were working each frame of the second box. I moved a broodless frame up from the second when I did this. I took off the hive entrance, did some powdered sugar dusting before closing up. I did move the green drone brood frame around in the second box, trying to encourage a little more activity on that frame.

Metpropolis, the top bar hive, has also been productive. They are starting to pack away honey on the edges of the colony. I do love pulling out bars that are primarily filled with capped honey. The feel of their comparative heaviness to the other bars is a rush... Yes, I am peculiar! I added two more bars to this hive.

And lastly, no stings...

Added A Box To Bee Glad...

I did my inspection of the Minnesota Hygienic hives Sunday afternoon. The temperature was in the low 70s, it was sunny, and the bees were out. I think that a good deal of their pollen is being collected from the basswood trees that are in bloom all throughout our neighborhood.

Both Metpropolis and Bee Glad... are healthy and thriving, nothing unusual to report. In Bee Glad..., the Langstroth hive, around 80% of the frames have been drawn, so I added a second box, set the bottom entrance to the next size, and unplugged the top entrance on the top shim. I took off the top feeder as well.

In Metpropolis, the top bar hive, all is well as well. I added another bar to the 13 already on and took out the feeder as well.

One thing that was truly noticeable today was how calm and gentle the bees were in both hives. While it is difficult to speculate why at this point, I am guessing that it was the time of day. I usually inspect my hives two and half hours earlier in the late morning. For a number of reasons, I did not get to the hives until 2 or so yesterday. I am guessing that most of the foragers were out and about by this time, and the younger bees were too busy at other duties to take much notice of me. In all, it was a pleasant time for all.

Sunday's Inspection

Sunday's weather was just perfect for inspecting the two "Minnesota Hygienic" hives: Metpropolis (top bar) and Bee Glad... (Langstroth). The honey bees were plenty active, bringing in an array of pollens. There are still dandelions in bloom, but the trees are about done.

I adapted my protective clothing today. I have long hair that, even when pony-tailed, tends to get in my face when I put my sheriff veil on. To solve this problem I wore one of those "helmet caps" as used by SCA (The Society for Creative Anachronism) fighters. It kept the hair out of my face though I did look a bit goofy in it.

Bee Glad... is doing very well. Eight of ten frames have some drawn comb, and the queen has been busy laying eggs wherever she finds a place. The capped brood pattern is very solid. Next week, I will probably place a second box on top of this hive. I am pleased.

The same can also be said with Metpropolis as well. All the bars were drawn on and everyone of the bars contained brood of all stages. I did find the queen laying eggs on a small section of drawn comb on the bar near one of the follower boards. I have to say that this year I've had a much easier time finding the queens than last year, and this is not only due to my increasing experience. The queens I have this year are significantly larger than those I had last year. (Last year, I had nothing but photographs in books or on the web to judge by.) I hope this is an indication of a healthier package of bees.

I "harvested" a bar of capped drone brood from Metpropolis as part of my varroa mite control program, added a bar to replace this one, and a bar of drawn comb to the edge of the hive.

This Week's News in Beelandia

I am a bit behind in blogging on the comings and goings in Beelandia. Two days ago, I did an inspection of the two hives containing Carniolan honey bees. The top bar hive, Plan Bee..., is doing very good. Twelve of the 13 bars between the follower boards have some comb built on them. Plenty of brood, at all stages of development, were observed on each of these bars. At the edges on each side, a significant amount of capped honey and multi-colored pollen is stored. The weather has been pleasant the last few days, so the foragers have been out and actively returning with pollen, mostly I imagine, from dandelions at this point. As I worked with the carniolans in Plan Bee... I noticed how much more "gentle" they are than my Minnesota Hygienic bees: calm on the comb, and more intent on what they're doing and less focused on my intrusion. Of course, just at the time I was thinking this, one worker, intent on letting me see that no man controls their activities, stung me on the left wrist. I added one new undrawn bar to one side of the hive and closed the hive up.

I opened up Lib-BEE-taria after this as the wind picked up. The carniolans did not like the wind too much and the smoke was just ineffective, but what I did see I did like. I had to scrape some burr comb off the top of frames, and the bottom of the feeder. Like in Plan Bee..., the honey bees in this hive are active in drawing comb, caring for the young, etc. the wind made it difficult to inspect this hive however, so I closed it up swiftly. No reason to stress these honey bees.

Earlier in the week I did a sticky board examination of each hive looking for varroa mites. I am happy to report: no mites sighted.

I added some floating plants to Lake No-Bee-Gone and the honey bees are finally using the pond as their "watering hole." Even though some view them as a pest, the water hyacynths I placed in the pond are extremely "popular" landing sites for the bees. I also planted some floating parrot feather as well. The white clouds also seem to "like" the new additions.

Year 2, Week 4: A Quick Inspection While the Sun Shined

Today was one of those days in Minnesota. Just wait 5 minutes, the weather could get worse. The temperature was in the upper 60s, amidst periods of sunny skies and rain. I quickly got in my inspection of the carniolan bees hived in Plan Bee... and Lib-BEE-taria, between down pours.

The bees have been quite active this week. Trees of various types (e.g. crab apple, maple, cherry) are still blossoming and dandelions are in full bloom as well. The bees come back to the hive looking like participants at a clown convention, pollen of all color types on their back legs.

The carniolans in both hives have been quite active. In the top bar hive, nine out of ten bars had some comb drawn on them. The queen in this hive seems quite good. The capped worker cells on both sides of 5 of the ten bars is solid, very few empty cells to speak of. I closed up this hive, added one undrawn bar to one side, filled the feeder with some more sugar water and went on to Lib-BEE-taria, the Langstroth hive.

The honeybees in the Langstroth have been as well although they have been somewhat reluctant to draw comb on the plastic frames, as I expected they would be. Two frames have capped worker brood but with slightly more empty cells as the top bar. I had to remove some cross comb as well. The carniolans in this hive seem a bit more defensive than in the top bar but were still quite decent to me. I "escaped" this inspection without a sting!

Just a note about the other two hives in which I installed Minnesota Hygienic bees two days ago. So far they have seem to be doing well. Metpropolis, the top bar hive, had drawn comb from last years bees and this year's inhabitants have been cleaning out debris and dead bees from it. They were bringing in pollen and have gone through half a gallon of sugar water already. The other hive, Bee Glad..., the other Langstroth, seems to be doing fine. They have a harder week ahead, having to draw comb in 8 out of 10 frames. I will take out the queen cages Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting.

Installation of More Bees

Yesterday, I installed two more packages of bees (Minnesota Hygienic), one in Metpropolis, and the other in Bee Glad... I was in the middle of grading finals so the bees came at a very busy time. I was in my office yesterday morning, around ten, when I received the call from B and B Honey Farms. I left immediately with my friend Joyce to pick the 3 pound packages up.

The installation went without a hitch. I took a bit of time to make last minute adjustments to each hive, while I waited for Monta to return from work to photograph the process. The actual installation took just a few minutes. Quite a difference from all the fumbling and tentativeness that went on my first year!