Hives of Activity

 Well, despite the fact that it’s January 25^th, our hives are a-buzzing! We couldn’t be happier. We expected that we would have some loss – some of those hives weren’t particularly strong when we bundled them up for winter, we are noo-bees, and winter loss is just a fact of the business. We expected we may lose two or even three of our little apiary, but today, again, they are busy at work. We had to see what they were up to.

The first thing we noticed was that the bees jumped at the opportunity the warmer temperatures brought, and started their spring cleaning. As we have said before, they are incredibly clean animals, not wanting any dirt or debris in their hives. Over the course of the winter, for one reason or another, bees don’t survive, so the first job when cleaning is to push the dead bees out. It looks like a fairly big task, but after watching them kick the drones out – sometimes requiring three and four workers to force the male out of the hive – in the fall, the job is probably a bit easier. Then again, at this time of year, the bees are probably not as strong, being older, and being inside the hive for weeks at a time.

Pushing dead bees from the hive.

We’re thrilled that they are not just surviving the winter, but thriving through it. That doesn’t mean that we are out of the woods, though. We still have to get through February, which can be bitterly cold here, and we may even have to help them get through March, so we can’t party down quite yet.

The hives are alive and busy, which means the bees are eating. More than likely, the Queen has started to lay eggs again, putting more demand on food stores. Starvation at this time of year is always a concern. They’re working, and they could go through their food rather quickly. If we continue to have warm days, though, they could soon start to gather pollen. *waits a minute for the laughter to stop* Here in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, the bees have a ready supply of pollen they can collect any time of the year – pine trees. They are great pollen producers, and if our weather keeps warm like this, and we can make to 60F, our bees could easily slip into the tree belt and get a bit of a nosh to keep them going.

A return of the cold weather could also give another opportunity to mites and disease, as the bees gather tightly together in the middle of the hive. As mentioned in earlier blogs, humidity in the hives is also a concern if the temperatures drop. The cluster of bees can maintain a temperature of 92F, but as they work to maintain that temperature, they sweat. Just like humans, when we consume food to live, we also give off solid and liquid waste. For bees, that moisture – respiration – rises to the top of the hive. If the temperature is below freezing outside, and the moisture collects, and the hives are not properly insulated, ice will form and block the bees from getting to the food. Our special tops on the hives help to stop this by having extra ventilation to allow the moisture to escape, and by having materials that will soak up the moisture without dropping it back down on the bees. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen though, so we still must be vigilant to keep them protected.

Yes, today we opened a hive. It’s cold, and we don’t want to let that cold air in, but we believed the hive had not survived. It was a wonderful surprise to find them alive and happy, and very busy. There’s still more winter to get through, but we’re feeling very blessed today, and are looking forward to getting back into the groove with our 150,000ish little ladies. 

Introducing... The Gang Greens!

We're late, I know... and have a lot of ground to cover to catch up. Yes, some days we wish we had the same stamina and dedication that our little honeys have. This is to catch up from last week (you'll understand why before you get to the end of this log). We will have more tomorrow on Monday, for this week's romp through the hives.

We made the decision about The Dregs. We made three new hives, and took three of the four frames with Queen cells from The Dregs, and created new hives. Considering that we planned on having only 3 hives for the year, we are now a long ways ahead of where we had planned. The Dregs and Pistachio were humming! In The Dregs, they had been capping lots of honey while they waited for one of their 27 Queens to emerge from her cell. Pistachio had been making a massive amount of comb, and was ready for a second box. That said, the bees were a bit.... grumpy (a new epi-pen, a trip to the emergency, and several days in a Benedryl haze attests to their grumpiness... at least where one of us was concerned.)

The three new hives were set out. They were cobbed together pretty quickly, and all painted the same color -- so we give you... The Gang Greens. We will be able to tell them apart though, because each one has a racing stripe that is a different color. Lucky for us, the bees will also be able to tell them apart as well because of the different colored doors.

The White Outs seem to be loving their new home. They were busy, but had only started filling in their new frames. The Mellow Yellows had three frames of honey for us! Team Tangerine was very quiet, their new Queen being a bit slow on the uptake, plus it would seem the majority of the bees who made up The Dregs came from TT. The Moody Blues got a second box as well, so they were all pretty happy overall.

We did discover a mistake we had made, but it was an interesting one, to say the least. We had left out one frame from the Pistachio hive when we took out the feeder. They create honeycomb sculptures to fill in the empty space. Apparently bees, like hoarders, cannot stand empty space.

The Gang Greens are the only ones left in the yard (and they will be moving out soon too). They haven been much calmer, although the bees wanted water and decided the swimming pool would be a great place to get it. After rescuing MANY from the pool, we set up a container of water in the apiary for them, but there was one stubborn bee who wanted pool water instead... and resulted in our second sting of the weekend when, while checking the thermometer in the pool, the bee hitched a ride unbeknownst to us, and decided he didn't like hands on his floaty seat.

(Yes, the first sting was to yours truly... the only one without a suit because you can't write and take pictures with the whites, gloves and veil on. He got me in the face.)

HELPFUL HINT -- if you get stung by a bee, remove the stinger right away, then soak the bite in white vinegar. Seriously, it really works. We're learning! (albeit the hard way)

Splitsville!

Herbie the Wonderdog, in case you had to ask.

Well, it’s been a week. After the Moody Blues and White Outs got too cranky to have in the yard, taking their ire out on man (especially when mowing lawns) and beast (poor Herbie the Wonderdog does not like bee stings), we decided it was time to find them a permanent (for now, because that’s how we roll) location. Thankfully, the longest day of the year held promise for such a job.

On Saturday, a day that started at 6am, we cleared out the area where the bees would call home. We pounded in the posts, stretched the wire, covered the ground with crush, built the benches, and finally, at 9pm, we were ready to move the bees. Luckily for us, the Moody Blues and the White Outs had retired early (being cranky all day is probably tiring). We covered their doors and moved them to their new digs. Team Tangerine and Mellow Yellow, however, were more than content to sit on their front porch and visit. After all, it was the longest day of the year, and the evening was very pleasant. They were still visiting out there at 10 pm, and at 10:30 pm... Finally, being the old fogies that we are, we went to bed before the bees, promising to be up early again the next morning to move the last two hives.

Herbie (the twice bitten but still not shy) Wonderdog woke us at 5 am, apparently anxious for the rest of the bees to be gone. We could see that the Mellow Yellows were sleeping in (thankfully) but Team Tangerine was already starting to buzz. A few pieces of wood and some duct tape later, they too were on their way. We put pieces of wood in front of their porches so they would know that something was different so they would do some exploring flights, but some of those bees were just downright determined to stay in the yard, returning there and gathering where their hives used to be. Fortunately, the Pistachios, being the slowest of the hives, had been left in the yard, put in place of the Mellow Yellows. This was done in the event some of the bees wanted to return to their old home. A lot of them did, and are now calling Pistachio home, but that’s okay. It’s a simple and effective way to strengthen a weak hive.

We noticed though that there were a lot... seriously A LOT of bees returning to where Team Tangerine used to live, as well as some to where the other two hives used to be. What to do? The obvious thing to us was to take a new hive, pull a couple of frames with brood and eggs, and some uncapped larvae from the established hives, slip them into the new one, give them a feeder and some protein paddy, and put it where the stragglers were looking for their home. We now have 6 hives (if the new one creates a Queen)... we’ll call the new one The Dregs.

Having upset their routine so severely, we wanted to check on all the hives. Of course, it has to be the hottest day of the year... hotter than the hubs of hell, as my dear old daddy used to say. We opened up the bottom screens for all the hives, giving them some better air circulation. We opened up their doors, allowing more bees to go in and out. We were thrilled with one hive, disconcerted about another and a bit disappointed in the third. Suffice to say that none of the hives were thrilled to see us!

The Moody Blues had moved onto their first new frame. We took out the feeder, and we removed the protein paddy (okay, we left it out by accident but they weren’t eating it anyway). There were still five empty frames so we sprayed them with a bit of sugar water. We were hoping to see a bit more progress from them.

After closing up that hive, we were thrilled to see what was happening with the White Outs. They still had juice, but we pulled the feeder anyway to make some room for more frames They had five frames with both sides capped with brood! We scraped off the comb they had been making on the lid, because it too was filled with open brood, and put it in the second box. Yup, they had progressed enough that it was time to double their hive size!

Team Tangerine still had their drone frame empty. We removed their feeder because the entire top box was full of... honey! There was no brood there at all, so we decided it was time to give them their third box, a honey super. They can fill that baby with honey to their hearts’ content now. We took one of their top frames of capped honey and moved it to the new box we were starting. In their lower box they had very little capped larvae, but all frames were in use and new larvae, uncapped, was there, so the Queen is back on the job. That was a relief to see, because Queen transactions can be tricky.

Yes, that's honey... lots of honey just as it should be!

The Mellow Yellows have been working like troopers. They have had a honey super (third box) on the hive for a week, and they have already filled four frames with honey. On their second box, the outside frames were empty but the rest was very active with brood and honey. We took one frame of capped larvae to the new hive, and one frame of larvae and eggs. Hopefully the bees in the new hive will feed one of the new larvae lots of royal jelly and turn her into a Queen. They really are incredible animals.

Last was poor little Pistachio. The hive is still in the yard, gathering the stray bees from Mellow Yellow, and it was a busy place today. They still have three untouched frames, some capped brood and still have some juice. We opened the door, and will probably move them to the new area next week.

The Dregs was given a full feeder of juice. They will be a little bit of Mellow Yellow, a little bit of Team Tangerine, and tonight, when the Moody Blues and White Outs stray try to go to bed in their old location, we will have a cardboard box for them to sleep in. Once they are asleep, we will quietly move them into The Dregs as well, so they will have a home. Hopefully it works, but it will be a learning experience nonetheless, and could have the potential to create a new hive – a split (because it comes from pieces taken from already established hives). Welcome to Splitsville!

Angry bees -- for now.

Splitsville -- The Dregs, with all it's new bees.