Taylor and the Bees

The first step in educating the public about honey bees and their bio-physical environment is to provide them with realistic knowledge about this fascinating creature. Beekeepers need to counterbalance the adolescent African Hybrid paranoia that exists without resorting to anthropomorphized and dysnified images of friendly bees who only sting evil people. Education should instead generate a healthy respect for this generally non-aggressive, important species. With this in mind, I decided to introduce my 4 year old granddaughter Taylor to the ins and outs of bee management.





On Thursday, Taylor and I suited up and went out to inspect the carniolan hives in Beelandia. (I'd bought Taylor a small bee suit from B & B Honey Farm.) I taught Taylor the various names of the inspection tools I use and we went out to open up Plan Bee... and Lib-BEE-taria.





Taylor just loved the experience while learning a great deal about the lifecycle and behaviors of the honey bee. Grandma Monta took a few photos of the inspection I'd like to share with you all.

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.

Video: Bee Activity At the Entrance to "Bee Glad..."

A short video of the entrance to one of the hives in Beelandia. Look closely and you will notice a number of interesting behaviors occurring: "wash boarding", ventilation of the hive, the exit and return of foragers.

Third Box On Lib-BEE-taria

Yesterday was a busy day of beekeeping at Beelandia. After driving Monta to work, I drove off to Houston Minnesota to pick up a telescoping cover at B & B's. Monta constructed a double nuke last weekend and I wanted to be prepared for any queen cells that might be built and be ripe. It rained a bit along the way, so I wasn't really expecting to do my scheduled inspections of the carniolan hives, but, by the time I got back, it was quite sunny with a temperature about 80 degrees.

Around 1:00 p.m. I did my scheduled inspections. I started with Lib-BEE-taria, the langstroth hive inhabited by carniolans. The bees were busy in the second box, working on all ten frame, so I added a third box with a frame added from the second and opened the entrance fully. In all, Lib-BEE-taria is a very healthy hive with gentle bees that allow me to work quickly.

I can't say that my experience in Plan Bee..., the top bar hive, was the same. Yes, this hive is also doing well "production and health-wise" but they seemed a little too defensive this afternoon. It wasn't simply the one sting I received on the hand but also a handful of guard bees hovering around my veiled face challenging me to continue. I got most of my activity done but the hive remained "testy" all afternoon. They didn't want me in Beelandia! I am pondering why right now. Cabin fever from two and half days (on and off) of rain? Some disturbance over the last few days? Just "mean" genetics? They are not unworkable, just not as gentle as the other three hives.

Video: Top Bar Hive ConstructionSimply

I like top bar hives for a number of reasons, including their ease of construction. Top bar hives can be constructed simply using recycled and reused materials. The following video shows just how simple it is to build one of your own.

A special thanks to Outofabluesky for uploading this video on youtube.

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...

Wasp, Bees and Me

I was culling some capped drone brood from one of my top bars and set this bar aside. Some type of wasp flew in to steal a bit of honey and annoy the carniolans.