Henneman Bee Photos

Jamie Henneman, a talented student of mine, visited Beelandia yesterday to take a series of photos of its bee inhabitants. I was so impressed with the quality of these photographs that, with Jamie's permission, I thought I'd share two with you all.

On the negative side of all this, Jamie was stung on the neck during the photo shoot. That didn't stop her from taking more photos, or inflaming another bee enough to sting me.

The Importance of Being Patient

I inspected the two top bar hives today. The weather was perfect: mid eighties temps, slight breeze, sunshine. We had another torrential downpour of rain last night, leaving one large sunflower toppled.

I am so glad I did not requeen Metpropolis early this spring. The large beautiful queen seems quite prolific. She has been laying a nice solid brood pattern, and her offspring are very, very gentle. I would be happier if they had some more capped honey in the hive but they still have collected much nectar.

Plan Bee... has much less bees than Metpropolis, and the bees are nowhere as gentle. (I was stung 3 times on the left wrist while examining the hive. ) I did not see the queen although the egg-laying evidence indicates she is doing quite well. I added two bars to this hive.

Article: Complains that Bees Sting His Gold Fish

 I subscribe to the Historical Bee Articles email list on yahoo. I just was sent this article. Should I be worried about Lala and Naranja?


Lebanon Daily News and The Lebanon Daily Times
November 23, 1926, Lebanon, Pennsylvania

Complains that Bees Sting His Gold Fish

Pasadena, Today— W. H. Chase
promised the police he would get
rid of his bees which, Sam Rice
reported, have been stinging his gold
fish to death when the fishes came
to the surface of his pond. Chase,
who lives next door to Rice said he
was keeping the hive of bees for a
friend.

Step Five: Setting Up Mating Nucs

On Wednesday, ten days after grafting queen cells, I created 7 mating nucs: five in cardboard 'nuc' boxes, and 2 in a "queen castle". Following the instructions found in Lawrence Connor's book, Increase Essentials, I placed one frame of capped brood (with adhering bees), one frame of honey/pollen, and two empty drawn frames in each 'nuc'. I carefully  pressed one ripe queen cell into each frame of capped brood and shook in some "extra bees" as well. I closed up each hive and will check them again in two weeks. Hopefully, each nucleus hive will have a mated queen  by then.

Of course, this process was not without disaster. In the middle of making up one nuc hive, I tipped over the box and stirred up alot of trouble. I don't dress in a full bee suit and paid the price of that decision with 15 stings, mostly to my stomach and wrists. Yes, it hurt for a bit, but I really had no swelling, or any other ill effects from the experience.

Step One In Cloake Board Manipulation

Yesterday, I began setting up Bee Glad... for use in queen rearing. I am following the methods outlined by Susan Cobey in an article available on the internet. I did the following things:


1. Confined the queen to the boxes below the queen excluder on the Cloake board.

2. In the box above the excluder, I placed:

a. a couple of frames of open brood.
b. frames of nectar/pollen near where the grafts will be placed.
c. a frame of open foundation.
d. I also inserted the queen cell frame (with plastic cups included) so that the bees would clean these up before I graft.

3. Pivoted the bottom entrance 180 degrees and closed it off. The top entrance above the queen excluder on the Cloake board is now the only entrance open and it faces the direction (south) the original entrance did.

I will let the hive sit and let the bees settle a bit.

This whole process cost me three stings to the head. Somehow, A number of bees got into my veil while doing this and I suffered the consequences.

"Bee Bait" the Mouse

This morning's task in the Beelandia apiary was to clean out the egg carton winter insulation I had placed on both sides of the follower boards in the top bar hive, Plan Bee... . As you may remember, this hive had an unwanted guest this winter, a mouse which daughter Eme has affectionately named Bee Bait. You can imagine the mess I found on one side of the colony: chewed up egg cartons and newspaper, mouse feces, etc. And, of course, as I dug further into the debris, I eventually found Bee Bait, fully alive in all his/her furry brown splendor.

Immediately, Bee Bait tried to hide in the remaining paper mess but I persisted up until the mouse decided to take off underneath the follower board and into the colony. I tried to follow but the bees would have none of it. Bee Bait's visit whipped them into a frenzy (i.e. one sting, so I backed off and simply continued to clean up the egg carton mess as best I could, making sure there was no place for the mouse to nest. When the bees calm down, I shall return.

Sign of Spring? My First Bee Sting

I took a slippery walk into Beelandia on this foggy, rainy upper 40F degree day. The snow has mostly melted in the yard but there were still patches of ice and slush which made walking quite difficult. This is the time of the year I get a bit "antsy" for warmer weather, and blossoming flowers, asking myself, "Will my bees starve before proper foraging conditions exist?"

On the basis of quick glances into the entrances of each hive, I am happy to report that all the hives seem to be doing well. And, as usual, the carniolans in Lib-BEE-taria are as fiesty as ever, giving me my first sting of the season. Spring can't be far away!

This Week In Beelandia

Just a few notes on what's gone on in Beelandia since my last post:

• I did a 24 hour sticky board test for mites in both Bee Glad... and Lib-BEE-taria on Wednesday. I am pleased to report that their mite levels are very low. Only three mites appeared in Lib-BEE-taria and 4 in Bee Glad...
• The queen in Plan Bee... is healthy and laying. Besides seeing her, I also observed brood in all stages.
• I refilled the frame feeder in Nuc To Be Named Later.
• Today I went out in the drizzle to check the hives and one guard bee in Bee Glad... took a distinct dislike toward me. She got me right on the back of the right hand.
  

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.

Almost a Disaster...But Everything's Alright Now

Structural linguists state that "meaning is in difference." You don't know what a stream is until you know how it differs from a river. To know a cat is gentle, you must also experience a mean one. I think I am finally understanding what healthy bees look like by comparing them to the bees I had last year... you know the ones that died!

I inspected the carniolans today and found them expanding at a much greater rate than last year's bees. In the langstroth hive, 9 out of the 10 frames in the second box, which I put on just last week, are being worked on. In the top bar hive, I had to add two more top bars to an ever expanding brood nest. Yes, there could be other reasons besides having healthier packages this year, but my intuition tells me probably not. There are much, much less bees scampering on the ground around the hives this year and, as of yet, nothing significant to report on the mite front unlike last year.

All was not perfect in today's inspection, however. Besides the sting I took on the finger, I dropped a top bar while working in Plan Bee... I was culling some capped drone brood and the bar just slipped out of my hand, bees and all. I am happy to report it was not much of a mess, and the bees were not too badly riled up.

I gave each hive a sugar dusting!

Finally...An Inspection

The last two days have been cool and rainy but this morning the sun shone brightly. When I went out to inspect the hives at noon today, I could see that the bees had cabin fever, with all the activity in front of all four hives. I fired up the smoker, put on my veil, and opened up the two Minnesota Hygienic hives: Bee Glad..., and Metpropolis.

I only checked the top box of Bee Glad... and saw that the honey bees have been pretty busy this past week. They have begun to draw comb on half the plastic frames in the box, and the queen is laying on some of the frames. (I did see the queen on one of these frames.) Everything else looked fairly normal with plenty of stores to report. I closed up after a powdered sugar dusting.

The top bar hive, Metpropolis, is booming. I didn't see the queen in the hive but I did see plenty of evidence that she is there and laying well. I did notice the start of a supercedure cell but this is probably just a part of the normal insurance policy the bees are taking out. There is no evidence that the queen is deficient in anyway. Before I closed up this hive, I filled up a pesticide duster with powdered sugar and dusted the bees with sugar.

I am glad to report: no stings!

Adding A Second Box to LIb-BEE-taria

I had a very pleasant surprise today inspecting both of the hives containing carniolans. The last week was a productive time for both Lib-BEE-taria and Plan Bee... The hives have grown much bigger over the last week than I expected.

I added a box to Lib-BEE-taria, the langstroth, after inspecting the 10 frames in the bottom box. The queen seems healthy and strong judging by the brood in various stages. All ten frames were being drawned and worked. There was also a great deal of burr comb on the inner cover and tops of the frame.

I added two bars to Plan Bee..., the top bar hive. I did get to see the queen again in this hive, in pretty much the same place as I did last inspection. There was plenty of brood in all stages of development, and a good deal of honey and pollen stored. I cut out some drone brood as part of my mite control program.

Lastly, I squashed another bee with my left pinky and received another sting.

Carniolans Inspected and All Is Well

After two and half solid days of rain, the local weather finally became fit for honey bee foraging and inspection. The weather was sunny with a temperature in the low 70s. The dutch white clover is finally blooming, though I've only caught my honey bees on some purple nightshade protected by the front porch.

I first opened up Plan Bee..., the carniolan inhabited top bar hive. The honey bees were drawing comb on a all 13 bars. The penultimate bar on the side nearest the feeder had a bit of problem with some crosscomb which I promptly trimmed and moved into a straighter position. Last year, I might've allowed it to stay as is, hoping that the bees would fix it themselves but that only left me a real mess to deal with in October of last year. So I spent a little extra time, hoping the bees follow my suggested changes. I took out the feeder, put in the "longer" follower board where the "feeder" follower board had been and closed up.

The carniolans in Lib-BEE-taria, have drawn some comb on every frame in the one box. As with Plan Bee..., the hive looks very healthy and the queen is very productive. I imagine that next Thursday I will be able to add a box to this hive if they continue as they are doing. I was stung once on the tip of a finger while examining this hive. I accidently squashed a worker but she did not die without reminding me to be a wee more careful.

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.

Final Weekly Inspection of the Season

Sunday was my last weekly inspection of Bee Glad.... Other maintenance will be done before the winter wrap but weekly inspections of individual frames is done with.

The temperature was in the mid- 70s on Sunday with full sun and a slight breeze. The colder temperatures were noticed by the bees of course -- no "bearding" on the front of the hive. The bees were bringing in bright yellow-orange pollen.

The bees in Bee Glad... were again very defensive, so I only did the minimum. Most of the frames in the top deep (one of three) were filled with capped honey primarily. (A real heavy box!) The middle box was mixed half and half with honey and brood. The bees still don't like working the green drone frame in the middle deep. If given a choice between foundationless and plastic, they seem to choose foundationless. These bees are heavy propolis makers. The queen seems to be slowing in her egg-laying.

As I mentioned, the bees were quite defensive, flying at my veiled face, and stinging my ungloved hands. (I received six stings in my brief inspection.)

Sometime this week I will also do my final weekly inspection of Metpropolis, and go back and review my Beekeeping in Northern Climates manual to plan out my September and October tasks.

This winter I will plan out any apiary expansion and continue to research and write professionally in the area of environmental sociology. My chief difficulty will be time. School started today so I will have to switch into my professorial mode as well. It should be a busy school year.

Week 14: Six Stings and Possible Supersedure Plans

I was in Chicago this weekend and it rained yesterday. I was finally able to get into the hives late this morning and early in the afternoon on this muggy, partially cloudy day.

Not much to report on Bee Glad..., the Langstroth hive. The top box is so very heavy with honey. The other two contain some honey and brood in various stages. The hive is brimming with bees, all ready to sting me in order to protect the products of their own labor. I was stung 4 times working Bee Glad... this morning.

Metpropolis, the Kenyan top bar hive, is also brimming with bees but it seems that they also have some other plans afoot. There are a few bars heavy with honey but there was also an inordinate amount of capped drone brood, and three supersedure cells on the comb of one bar. While I found some capped worker brood, there was not as much as I thought there should be. I will watch Metpropolis closely over the next week or two to see what is up. I hope they can produce their own queen without my intervention.

I was stung twice working Metpropolis.

Week 10: Between the Raindrops

The 10 week inspection of Bee Glad... and Metpropolis took place yesterday. When I started the inspection at around 11 a.m. the weather was partially cloudy; by the end, the clouds were a bit more threatening as afternoon and evening storms moved in. The bees are foraging a variety of plants, though they don't touch those I have blossoming in The Forests of Beelandia at this moment. Cucumbers, borage, chamomile, narrow-leaf milk weed are all flowering, along with the continuation of vetch, and white clover in and about the neighborhood.

This inspection included a new associate: Robert, a son-in-law, who I think has caught "bee fever", despite the fact that he took a sting near the eye today.

The bees are now working in all three boxes of Bee Glad... The middle box was heavy with honey and brood. The top box had partially filled frames of comb and brood. The bottom box was much like the middle. I removed one frame each from the bottom and middle box and exchanged them for "empties" in the top box, in line with suggestions given in the book Beekeeping in Northern Climates. Now the top two boxes have only 9 frames each. Before inspecting this hive this morning, I examined a sticky board I had placed under the screen bottom 24 hours before. I found no mites. Bee Glad... continues to thrive.

Metpropolis is also thriving. The queen is still producing brood and the bees are storing pollen and nectar. I added two bars to this hive, one on each end. This hive also seems healthy as I found no sign of disease in it as well.

Mackenzie the Beekeeper

On the evening of June 1st, one of our cats, Mackenzie ran off. Today, we discovered that Mackenzie was found dead by a neighbor a few days afterwards.

Mackenzie was unlike any cat I've ever met. In some ways, his relations to humans were more dog-like than feline. He loved jumping into people's arms, wrapping his paws around their neck, and snuggling. When I worked at home, he was my shadow, sitting next to me at the computer, or at the dining room table. He found a new passion this spring: beekeeping. He loved to follow me outside and into Beelandia, not to annoy or antagonize the bees, but to sit on my lap in front of a hive and watch the bees' comings and goings. Even his first sting didn't deter Mackenzie from joining me in the bee yard. (He happened to step on a bee while running to sit with me!)

I do regret not getting a photo of "Mac" helping me at work with the bees. I will miss him.

(This photo was taken by our son, Gareth.)

Motorcycles and Bees

I'm a motorcyclist who prefers to ride bikes that make a gentle, rumbling, purring sound. I like my hearing and I don't try to display my masculinity with loud, screeching pipes. I found out the hard and painful way, yesterday, that my bees hold the same preference.

I was sitting in front of Metpropolis observing the comings and goings of its inhabitants when a young squid on a crotch-rocket decided to go up and down the street making as much noise as possible. The bees became agitated, voiced their protest, and, as a consequence, a guard went after me, as if I was to blame. There was no reasoning with this bee and I was stung on the wrist. Thankfully, I wasn't inspecting the hive when the noisy neighbor decided to assert his testosterone.

Another lesson learned!

The Less than Perfect Third Inspection

Just about the time I was getting cocky about this beekeeping activity, the bees, gravity, and an uninvited guest taught me better.

My first mistake today was probably not waiting an hour or two before opening my hives, I guess. It has been unseasonably chilly for May, even in Minnesota, but I still decided to open the hives at 10:45 this morning. It was sunny and in the 50s, some foragers were out, and I had other things that needed doing so I went ahead with my inspection. In doing this, I broke my number 1 rule of sustainable beekeeping: Do things to the hive according to the bees requirements, not the beekeepers! My second major mistake was opening up the hives when I wasn't fully there mentally. I'd been working on an assessment report earlier in the morning and was still "stewing over" that process.

I opened the top bar hive, Metpropolis first and began a battle with some cross comb. Overall, I handled that pretty well, and the bees were fairly cooperative. I am beginning to understand the benefits of the top bar hive. The bees seem calmer and less disturbed by my observations and small manipulations. However, I experienced one surprise. There on the corner of one comb, quietly resting, was a wasp!!!! It seems that the bees and I discovered the intruder at just about the same time. They began attacking the intruder about the same time I tried to flick the creature off with my pocket knife. The creature disappeared ( I think out of the hive!?!) with some bees hanging on to it.

Overall, except for the cross-comb problem and the uninvited guest, Metpropolis looks to be doing very well. I did not see the queen but I did see capped brood, and larvae. I added three new bars to the top bar and closed it up.

My time with Bee Glad..., the Langstroth went less well, though, like Metpropolis, the hive seems well. I even saw the queen busily at work, but I did have some difficulties getting the inspection done. I had some difficulty separating some frames and a piece of comb on one frame fell to the ground as I took it out and inspected it. ...yes, a real mess, though, I am happy to report that all adult bees escaped alive! The small section of comb contained some capped brood and larvae of different ages which were lost. I had to close the hive up after this. They were not in a very good mood because of my clumsiness (My sting index went up by 4!)

Overall, Bee Glad... is also healthy, drawing comb, and raising brood. I will need to put a box on top of that hive soon.