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 3: After the Rain

I was finally able to inspect both Plan Bee... and Lib-BEE-taria this morning between classes. The last three days have been cool and rainy. This morning it was sunny and in the 50s as I opened both hives. Maple and plum trees are blooming close by and the first dandelions are flowering as well.

I was very pleased with what I found in both hives. In Plan Bee..., the top bar hive, the carniolans have drawn a significant amount of comb on 5 bars. Three of the combs have a nice, full pattern of capped brood, and some capped honey to the top. The bees were unbelievably calm on the comb as well. I added another bar to the ten that were already available, since they have comb built right next to a bar located adjacent to a follower board.

I found Lib-BEE-taria, the Langstroth, healthy also. They are drawing comb on 4 of the plastic frames. I was skeptical about using plastic but wanted to experiment a bit. I melted some extra beeswax on the foundation to make them more appealing and that seems to have done the trick. Again, as with the top bar, these carniolans seem to have a healthy queen if the brood pattern is any indication.

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.