Last Tuesday, I inspected all the hives in Beelandia. While it was sunny and reasonable warm, the wind was very gusty. I have caught the bees foraging Dutch White Clover, chives and mint on my property. I was a bit concerned about the bees since we had rainy and unseasonably cold conditions the previous week.
All the hives seem to be doing well. Plenty of larvae in all stages of development. They are bringing in pollen and the queens look large and healthy.
Drones have hatched in Plan Bee..., the largest top bar hive. I did not see any in the other hives.
I took off the top feeders but did leave a pollen patty in each hive. They have been consuming it and, with the rain and cold, I have worried about the bees diet.
Showing posts with label pollen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pollen. Show all posts
Friday, June 3, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
First Inspections of 2011
I made my first inspections of the hives this week.
On Saturday, the temperatures were in the low 60s (F) with sunny conditions. The next two days were overcast, and stormy, so no inspections took place. Today is sunny and warm with temperatures finally reaching into the low 80s.
From outside the hive the bees are bringing in a good deal of pollen. I have caught the bees foraging on our plum tree's blossoms and those of the dandelions on the neighbor's lawn.
On Saturday, I inspected the 3 langstroth hives, 2 of which I just installed. In the newly installed hives, I found plenty of eggs and young larvae, I also found the queen in each which wasn't all that difficult. All the queens in the newly installed packages are black and the workers packaged with them are all much lighter in color. The bees are not eating the sugar syrup provided and prefer the combs of capped honey last year's bees have provided them. I retrieved the queen cage in each.
Today I opened the top bar hives and found pretty much the same thing. Eggs, larvae, (even some capped brood) and an active dark queen. Again, the syrup provided went pretty much uneaten. Queen cages were retrieved.
On Saturday, the temperatures were in the low 60s (F) with sunny conditions. The next two days were overcast, and stormy, so no inspections took place. Today is sunny and warm with temperatures finally reaching into the low 80s.
From outside the hive the bees are bringing in a good deal of pollen. I have caught the bees foraging on our plum tree's blossoms and those of the dandelions on the neighbor's lawn.
On Saturday, I inspected the 3 langstroth hives, 2 of which I just installed. In the newly installed hives, I found plenty of eggs and young larvae, I also found the queen in each which wasn't all that difficult. All the queens in the newly installed packages are black and the workers packaged with them are all much lighter in color. The bees are not eating the sugar syrup provided and prefer the combs of capped honey last year's bees have provided them. I retrieved the queen cage in each.
Today I opened the top bar hives and found pretty much the same thing. Eggs, larvae, (even some capped brood) and an active dark queen. Again, the syrup provided went pretty much uneaten. Queen cages were retrieved.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Pollen?
It's the 30th day of March in Winona MN. The temperature was about 45 degrees F in the beeyard. The sun was on the one surviving hive (Bee Glad...) and a number of bees looked to be bringing in pollen. Except for the crocuses, I have not seen any other flowering plants in the neighborhood. I still would like to think the bees are bringing in healthy food.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Opening Up Bee Glad...
I went out and opened up Bee Glad... (a langstroth hive) very quickly to look at the state of the hive. The bees were in the top box (out of three) and in need of some food. I left a pollen pattie for them and shut up the hive without incident. I did bring a "hobo bee"for the cats to play with however.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
"Pollen" Mystery
We've had another unusually warm November day, so the bee have been out. Interestingly enough, the bees have bringing back bright orange "pollen" today. What they are bringing back and where they are getting it is a total mystery to me. There is really nothing to forage.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Latest News From Beelandia
It's been 4 days since I installed the two packages and the bees seem to be doing just fine. They are not consuming as much sugar syrup as anticipated but they are bringing in pollen from some unknown source. Except for a blossoming forsythia, I cannot see any other sources of pollen in the neighborhood right now, though many trees are about to flower. In three days I will do my first inspection and remove the queen cage from each hopefully.
I have discovered how mcuh my mental health is connected to working with my bees. Since installing these packages and watching the hives each day, I feel much less anxiety and am probably sleeping better. I know the death of my two hives installed last spring took much out of me.
I have discovered how mcuh my mental health is connected to working with my bees. Since installing these packages and watching the hives each day, I feel much less anxiety and am probably sleeping better. I know the death of my two hives installed last spring took much out of me.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Week 16: Today in Metpropolis
It didn't look like I'd be able to inspect this morning. It was cloudy and threatening. By noon, however, the weather was sunny, hot and humid and the bees were out flying. This week the bees were bringing in a dark, almost turquoise pollen.
I began with Bee Glad... but quit in a bit. They were somewhat aggressive today and while I did not get stung I was really not focused enough to deal with that. I did get to scrape off some burr comb they built under the propolis trap. The comb was sticky, full of nectar, which made me sticky as well. Earlier in the week, I'd put an entrance reducer on this hive to give them a bit of an edge against the wasps trying to enter. I placed a shallow super on today.
I had more success in my inspection of Metpropolis. The residents seem to be doing just fine. The queen (whether the original or one raised by the bees in this hive) looks like she is healthy and productive and the bees are bringing in plenty of honey. I've been worried about this hive getting too crowded so today I took two bars of almost entirely filled with capped honey out and added an empty bar and the follower board to one end. (I had taken the follower boards out to make room for two more bars.) The two capped bars I put in storage for possible use in the fall wrap up.
The supersedure cells seem empty, atleast they are not yet capped. I think they were built as a safety measure.
I began with Bee Glad... but quit in a bit. They were somewhat aggressive today and while I did not get stung I was really not focused enough to deal with that. I did get to scrape off some burr comb they built under the propolis trap. The comb was sticky, full of nectar, which made me sticky as well. Earlier in the week, I'd put an entrance reducer on this hive to give them a bit of an edge against the wasps trying to enter. I placed a shallow super on today.
I had more success in my inspection of Metpropolis. The residents seem to be doing just fine. The queen (whether the original or one raised by the bees in this hive) looks like she is healthy and productive and the bees are bringing in plenty of honey. I've been worried about this hive getting too crowded so today I took two bars of almost entirely filled with capped honey out and added an empty bar and the follower board to one end. (I had taken the follower boards out to make room for two more bars.) The two capped bars I put in storage for possible use in the fall wrap up.
The supersedure cells seem empty, atleast they are not yet capped. I think they were built as a safety measure.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Metpropolis Inspection
I inspected Metpropolis yesterday and moved a few combs around. The hive has drawn up three bars almost entirely of capped honey. Two others are almost there. The rest of the hive has bars with different proportions of honey, capped brood, and pollen. The three supersedure cells are capped. I pulled one comb filled with capped drone brood for inspection and found a few mites on the larvae. The hives were brimming with workers and a good portion of drones. I couldn't find the queen in all of it however. The bees were fairly gentle considering some of the manipulations I made.
Either the queen has slowed down her egg laying, which is entirely possible at this time of the year, or she is deficient, as the queen cells seem to indicate, because there was only a scant proportion of capped worker brood, and I had difficulty seeing any earlier stages of worker larvae. The bees don't act like they're queenless, but the supersedure cells indicate that they seem to have some problem with the current queen. I will monitor Metpropolis carefully.
Either the queen has slowed down her egg laying, which is entirely possible at this time of the year, or she is deficient, as the queen cells seem to indicate, because there was only a scant proportion of capped worker brood, and I had difficulty seeing any earlier stages of worker larvae. The bees don't act like they're queenless, but the supersedure cells indicate that they seem to have some problem with the current queen. I will monitor Metpropolis carefully.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Week 11: Bringing in Honey
Yesterday, I did the 11 week inspection. I only inspected Bee Glad..., the Langstroth hive, as Metpropolis was inspected two days before. The inspection occurred during some excellent weather at around 11 a.m. The temperature was in the mid-eighties, there was a light breeze, and it was sunny. The bees have continued foraging; some return to the hive covered in a greenish-yellow pollen which I haven't yet identified.
The bees have stored away much honey in the middle and top box. Every frame but one in the top box is at least three quarters drawn with honey on the sides and honey and brood (in all stages) in the middle. . The middle box is, of course, practically fully drawn with much capped honey on the sides and brood and capped honey on the middle frames. Again, the green plastic drone frame has not been worked on with the same enthusiasm as the foundationless frames. I sprayed some sugar water on the drone frame to see if I might induce them to draw it out a little better. The bottom box was almost empty of any activity. There was some capped brood, some bees, but most of the honey has been moved up above. It looks like a "reverse" might be in order for next inspection. I will also be doing the monthly sugar powdering of both Bee Glad... and Metpropolis in that inspection as well.
The bees have stored away much honey in the middle and top box. Every frame but one in the top box is at least three quarters drawn with honey on the sides and honey and brood (in all stages) in the middle. . The middle box is, of course, practically fully drawn with much capped honey on the sides and brood and capped honey on the middle frames. Again, the green plastic drone frame has not been worked on with the same enthusiasm as the foundationless frames. I sprayed some sugar water on the drone frame to see if I might induce them to draw it out a little better. The bottom box was almost empty of any activity. There was some capped brood, some bees, but most of the honey has been moved up above. It looks like a "reverse" might be in order for next inspection. I will also be doing the monthly sugar powdering of both Bee Glad... and Metpropolis in that inspection as well.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Two Month Report
It's been two months since I first installed my bees in Beelandia, and all seems well in the two hives. It was a fine day to inspect the bees, after a rather stormy Sunday caused a postponement. The weather was sunny, a temperature around 70 degrees.
Bee Glad... was booming with activity. Following the suggestion in Furgala, Spivak, and Reuter's book, Beekeeping in Northern Climates, I had added a third deep box since the bees were at work on all frames in the second. As the photo above shows, they aren't too keen on the plastic drone I've installed for IPM purposes, building comb only here and there. However, they "love" building in the foundationless frames. I did have to trim some cross-comb. Before I closed up the hive, I dusted and brushed the frames with powdered sugar.
Metpropolis was even stronger with the bees building nice straight comb on 18 of the 21 frames now in that hive. My patient approach to its cross-comb problems seems to be paying off. The bees are working with me, slowly but surely "changing their ways". I dusted every comb containing bees with powdered sugar as well (using an old smoker as a "puffer") and did only a bit of trimming on comb.
The bees seem to be bringing in alot of pollen and there was much stored away in both hives. My guess is that most of this is coming from white clover, a few basswood trees, and my neighbor's coreopsis bed. My own narrow leafed milkweed and borage are very close to blooming and should provide the bees with a small amount of pollen and nectar in the future.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Coreopsis Grandiflora
The bees have been bringing in a bright yellow pollen recently and I think I discovered its source. A neighbor two blocks away has a bed of coreopsis grandiflora growing near his/her curb. The flowers have attracted a number of different pollinators as can be seen in the photo.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Week 7: It's Such a Perfect Day
I did the week seven inspection a day early. The day was perfect, I think, for both bees and humanity. The temperature was in the 80s, bright and sunny with a magnificent, soft breeze. I've been finding that as a somewhat urban beekeeper (I hesitate to call Winona urban!), it is quite difficult to figure out just what the bees are foraging, though foraging they are. I've seen them exploring white clover, but anything else is just a guess. There are just too many ornamentals growing in the neighborhood to exactly know what type of pollen and nectar they are bringing in.
Bee Glad... was thriving. When I opened up the top box, there were a few hundred bees scurrying around the top of the bars. Unfortunately, one of their number decided to sting me on the index finger as I took the inner cover off. Not a very good way to start the inspection but all went reasonably well after that. The bees have been building comb on all the frames, except of course, the green plastic brood comb frame I am using for varroa control. The bottom box was booming with bees. Unfortunately, it also contained two frames stuck together with cross comb. I did some trimming of comb in that box but will wait until the bees fully move to the top box to really split and trim those frames apart. I am convinced that my cross comb problems in Bee Glad... were the result of not having the starter strips firmly secured to the frame. The bees were tearing the strips out and then had nothing to guide their drawing. I am now using waxed Popsicle sticks glued into the frames instead. If the comb drawing in the top box is any indication, this looks like it works much better.
Metpropolis, as usual, is simply a pleasure to work. I handled one cross comb problem in this hive rather leisurely and the bees didn't mind at all. Also, I cut a section of comb off one bar that was primarily filled with drone comb, as an effort to do some IPM against varroa. (Next week, I will do a varroa count on both hives) There was plenty of brood in all stages, and the bees have begun capping honey on the few bars they have dedicated to it. I added a bar and closed the hive up.
Monta did take photos of this inspection and I will upload them sometime during the week, along with a photo of a spider who feasts on an occasional bee from Bee Glad...
Bee Glad... was thriving. When I opened up the top box, there were a few hundred bees scurrying around the top of the bars. Unfortunately, one of their number decided to sting me on the index finger as I took the inner cover off. Not a very good way to start the inspection but all went reasonably well after that. The bees have been building comb on all the frames, except of course, the green plastic brood comb frame I am using for varroa control. The bottom box was booming with bees. Unfortunately, it also contained two frames stuck together with cross comb. I did some trimming of comb in that box but will wait until the bees fully move to the top box to really split and trim those frames apart. I am convinced that my cross comb problems in Bee Glad... were the result of not having the starter strips firmly secured to the frame. The bees were tearing the strips out and then had nothing to guide their drawing. I am now using waxed Popsicle sticks glued into the frames instead. If the comb drawing in the top box is any indication, this looks like it works much better.
Metpropolis, as usual, is simply a pleasure to work. I handled one cross comb problem in this hive rather leisurely and the bees didn't mind at all. Also, I cut a section of comb off one bar that was primarily filled with drone comb, as an effort to do some IPM against varroa. (Next week, I will do a varroa count on both hives) There was plenty of brood in all stages, and the bees have begun capping honey on the few bars they have dedicated to it. I added a bar and closed the hive up.
Monta did take photos of this inspection and I will upload them sometime during the week, along with a photo of a spider who feasts on an occasional bee from Bee Glad...
Friday, May 9, 2008
Bees At Work
I tried my hand at photography this week and was able two capture two interesting images of my bees at work. The first photo shows a group of them gathered around an old baggie feeder I just took out of "Metpropolis" and set aside for a minute. The girls were hungry!
Below is a photo of a foraging bee on a dandelion just outside of "Bee Glad..." I did check the ground for dead bees before laying on the ground to take this one.
Below is a photo of a foraging bee on a dandelion just outside of "Bee Glad..." I did check the ground for dead bees before laying on the ground to take this one.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pollen Coming In!
I've spent the last few days since I installed the packages into my two hives just watching the behavior of the bees at the front entrances. Yesterday, I noticed that the bees were bringing in a bright orange-yellow pollen; today, the pollen has been various colors. Looking around the neighborhood, I speculate that bees have been foraging at dandelion blossoms, and the red maple trees which are in bloom. Our plum tree just started blooming as well but, as of yet, I have not seen any bees visiting its flowers.
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