Barefoot Beekeeping

The weather's going to get cold and rainy in the next few days, so I did a full inspection this evening while it was still warm. It's the best way I can think of to spend a Friday evening.

The previous water supply was a big plastic planter filled with water, but instead of being a bee pool, it quickly became a mosquito nursery. Whoops. I dumped it out last week and today I replaced it with a pie tin filled with marbles and a couple of rocks. Sure enough, within an hour, one of the girls tried to drown herself. I fished her out with a stick and added some more marbles for landing pads. Silly bee.

I have these gray plaid rain boots I've been wearing to the hive, but the problem with them is that the right boot is way too tight, and I can't really wear them for very long before my foot starts to ache. I haven't had a problem the last couple of visits, but this time, I got all the way back to the hive and remembered that I forgot the hive tool. Back I went, and by the time I got back from the car, my feet had had enough. I took them off and promised to be careful where I stepped.  The girls were in a great mood today so I didn't have to worry. I didn't even wear gloves or a veil. There were a few curious girls buzzing my hair, but nobody head butted me, let alone came after me.

I was SO proud of Maud today. Not only did I find more eggs, I saw last week's eggs in various stages of hatched, some capped brood, some pollen, and even a little honey. All of this is food for the brood, so it looks like they're getting ready for the big hatch just in time for the main honey flow around the solstice. I brought a hive inspection sheet with me this time and wrote down what was on each frame, and whether there were eggs and brood. Now I have something to show my bee teacher when I ask her what to do with my ladies.

After two weeks of drama, the girls seem to be settling in quite nicely. I'll leave them bee for a while and let them do their thing.

Maud is happy! 

Oh, and here's a bonus! This lovely creature snuck up on me while I was packing up.

God Save the Queen!

Sweet relief! Good Queen Maud has been found.

I combined what was left of queenless Myrtle with Maud last week. I put a sheet of newspaper on top of Maud and put Myrtle's box on top and shut the lid. They'll sort it out from the inside, and sure enough, they did. There was a big hole chewed through the middle of the paper to get up into the piddly comb that Myrtle has. Still nothing on any of the outer frames, but the bees are alive and are now part of the bigger colony.

Good. Step one. 

I didn't want to do a full inspection, so I just looked at the frames in the middle box, Maud's second box. All I really wanted to see was evidence of a queen so I can rest easier and not have to worry about them all the time. I pulled one frame and didn't see anything except pollen and some nectar. Same old story as last time.  The next frame had a lot of unattended cells, but as I looked closely, with my glasses on, I saw tiny little grains of rice standing on end.  Eggs! Woo hoo! Evidence of a queen! I didn't see anything capped, but at least I saw eggs. That means the queen was there at least in the last three days. Better get the frame back in so they don't get cold...

Step two. Check.

I pulled the next frame, just to see if there were any more eggs, and there, up in the corner, she jumped right out at me. MAUD! Holy crap, there she is!  She's big and fat and gorgeous, and she's laying eggs. Hallelujah, I have a queenright hive. 

Jackpot.

I buttoned everything up and called it a day. No sense disrupting the rest of the boxes. I saw what I needed to see.

Now my challenge is to leave them alone for a couple of weeks so they can do what bees do. Wish me luck. ;)

Trust me, she's there. Top left corner-ish. Surrounded by her attendants.

Giving my girls a big hug. 

RIP Myrtle

The girls have been in their hives for 9 days, and already there are signs of big trouble.

When I checked Myrtle last Monday, there was burr comb (extraneous, or in the wrong spot) attached to the inner cover. This isn't good. I scraped off a big chunk and pushed it into an empty frame. (they're all empty...another un-good thing). My bee teacher said that was the right thing to do.

I checked her again yesterday and not only did they not build more comb in the frames like they were supposed to, they had re-filled the top cover area with more burr comb. It was really beautiful comb,but sadly, it can't be connected to the inner cover. I pulled it off and put the chunks in the frames and took away the top feeder and box, just so they wouldn't do it again. They weren't taking the feed anyway.

Today I got there and there were paltry few bees in the box and absolutely no evidence of Queen inside. Then I found her...dead.  She was dead and laying in front of the hive.

< sigh >

Ok, so how's Maud?

Well, the Maud hive has a lot more bees than Myrtle, and there are several frames, heavy with drawn out comb. There is a lot of nectar in the cells and a nice bit of pollen. These are good things. However, I cannot, for the life of me, see any eggs, or any larvae. This is not good. I wore my glasses and looked for a long time, but I just couldn't see a queen. The bees are all different sizes. The drones are easy because they're the size of Refrigerator Perry, but the queen looks a lot like other bees, only really long. I just can't see her, that is, if she's there.

So if Maud doesn't have any brood, I won't have anything to give to Myrtle. Not to mention, if Maud doesn't have any brood, the hive will wind up like Myrtle soon enough.

These little bees are in my charge and I'm letting them down. They're both queenless, and going down before they ever got a chance to thrive. I have emails out to seasoned beeks who will hopefully have something good to tell me. What I need is brood, and I need it fast. Maybe there is someone out there who can sell me a couple frames.

Ugh. This is a learning experience, but right now, I don't feel like I've learned anything.

Drama Queens!

Thursday, 1:00pm: Sent a text to my hive host in Ann Arbor, letting him know I'm going to come by and set up my cinder blocks in preparation for my bees arrival on Saturday. I still have two days, which is plenty of time to set up the site.

Thursday, 7:00pm:  En route to his house, with a car full of cinder blocks and 4x4s, my host calls me to let me know that there have been some issues at home and that his 10 year relationship is ending (which is sad), he will be moving out,  and that he suggests I find a Plan B for my own hives. I'm free to install them there, but they'll eventually have to move.  Oh, and by the way, the hive next to which I'm going to put mine is super hot and ornery and attacks anything and anyone in a 20 foot radius so I'd better wear all my protective clothing. Not my idea of friendly neighbors. I keep driving past his house, and head toward home.

Thursday, 7:05pm:  Hang up the phone with my host. Look at phone. There's an email from the bee supplier..."THE BEES ARE HERE EARLY! COME GET YOUR BEES NOW!"  Shit. They're here and I don't even have the nursery ready.

Thursday, 7:25pm:  Back to my house, I run in to take a couple of tums for the ridiculous indigestion I'm now feeling. 

Thursday, 7:30pm : Grab phone, run back to car to go to Napoleon, MI (a/k/a middle of nowhere) to pick up my bees. on the way out of the neighborhood, I see my beekeeper neighbor, Andy, working in his yard. I stop by to ask him if the girls will be ok in their package for an extra two days, and can I bring them in the house, or do I have to leave them outside. I use extra flaily hand gestures to indicate the level to which I am freaking out.  Andy is calm, and says, yes, I can bring them in the house, they'd like that. Also says when I get them home, I should spray them with a little water, as they're probably thirsty. He said they'll stick their little tongues through the screen to get to the water. He was right, and they were adorable.  Also said they'll be absolutely fine for a couple of days. Good. Thank you. Off I go.

Thursday, 8:30pm:  Arrive at bee supplier. Notice I don't have my purse. Make note to self to drive slower on the way home.  Wonder what else I've forgotten. I check in at the office and go out to the truck where a nice young man in a bee suit (a beekeeper's suit, not a bee costume) picks up two packages and puts them in my car. No government approved car seat required. There they are, Myrtle and Maud and all their attendants. I still haven't decided which one's Myrtle and which one's Maud. They're quiet, which I didn't expect. 

Thursday, 9:30pm:  At home now with my girls. I mist them with some water. They're tired, hungry and thirsty, and crowded as hell in their boxes. I stay up until midnight making sugar syrup for their feeders.  I test a little on my wrist to make sure it's not too hot, and give them a couple sprays of syrup for a bedtime snack. I collapse into bed, unable to sleep a wink. 

Friday morning before work:  I notice that one of the packages doesn't have nearly as many bees clinging to the sides, and that there seems to be an inordinate amount of dead bees on the bottom. I can see right through the package, whilst with the other one, the sides are completely coated with bees and they're somewhat active. I can't see through it at all. I worry if spraying them with sugar water made them stick together and wonder if they'll get themselves unstuck. (no, they're just dead) I'm still frazzled from yesterday and nearly get out the door before realizing I'm not wearing any shoes. 

Friday morning, at work:  I still have a job, so I'm trying to get some work done. Not too easy. I frantically post something to Reddit asking for calming words or advice on what to do about the second package. I also post something to the bee company's facebook page. The owner called me directly and said I could bring the package back and he'll give me another, more active one. Huh? Who knew I could just take them back and exchange them? I'm feeling slightly guilty because I'd kind of already bonded with them, and it's not like parents can take their kid back and get another one, right? Well, these aren't humans, and I'd like to have as healthy a package to start off with as possible.  He tells me to come on out, preferably today. He'll set aside a nice, healthy package for me.

Meanwhile, I tell my coworker about the drama with the site host, complete with flailing, and she tells me her friend in Tecumseh has a really big yard, and that she and her husband are kind of crunchy and would probably like to have bees on their property. She emails her friend and within mere minutes, her friend says an emphatic YES! to the bees, but oh, wait, maybe she should check with her husband first...you know, just to be polite.  Husband comes back with another emphatic YES!. I think about it for a minute... Tecumseh is about 40 minutes away, but then I look at the google earth view and realize that their property is absolutely perfect for bees. A nice southern face, lots of fruit trees and gardens nearby, in small town with lots of trees and gardens, and most importantly, no big agriculture in the bees forage range.  Ladies and Drones, we have a new site! I'm not thrilled about the drive, but if my dad could drive from Columbus Ohio to pick me up, take me to Granny's for an hour, drive me home, and go back to Columbus, every weekend  when I was a kid, then I could drive 35 miles for my girls. 

By now it's evident that I'm going to need the afternoon off. Rain is in the forecast and I need to get these girls in their hives as soon as possible. My boss ok'd the time and off I go. I stop home to get the weak package. I've decided that the other package is going to be Myrtle, because that was the first name I picked out, and it's a healthy package. The weak one is Maud. Maud and I head back to Napoleon where I bid her adieu and good luck, and pick up Maud II. She's super active and full of healthy bees. 

Friday afternoon:  I get home with Maud II and pack the car with all of the hive equipment I'll need, plus extra veils, all the sugar syrup feeders, extra long sleeved clothing just in case, a sharpie so I can mark the frames, and whatever else I think I'll need. I also have to stop off at Lowes to get a bag of cedar chips and some tie down straps, and something to keep water in close to the hives. Remembered to put both packages in the car.

Friday evening:  My new hostess, whose name is also Melissa, greets me in the driveway with a hug. She's simply fabulous! She walked me out to the site and shows me around. It's perfect. She lets me drive my car (her lot is 1700 feet long!) back there so I don't have to lug 6 cinder blocks a quarter mile. I get the stands set up and proceed to install the first package, Myrtle. The installation goes pretty smoothly, and I'm able to release the Queen Myrtle into the hive with no problem. I put the feeders on and close her up. The girls sit on the front porch with their butts in the air, signaling that "this is home now, and the queen's in here, come on in". Good sign. 

Now I go to install NewMaud. She's in her cage with a couple of attendant bees. I tried to get the cork out of the one end to expose the candy plug. I can't get it out, so I try to push it all the way in instead, except I pushed a little too hard. Of the three bees in the cage, I squished and killed only one. The Queen. Are you kidding me?? I KILLED the QUEEN?!?! Now what?!  The hive can't survive without a queen. They cant't even build a new one because they don't have any brood to build from. They need a queen to lay the eggs in the first place, and now she's dead. What the hell? I put her lifeless body on the bottom of the hive, and dumped the package on top of her. I figured I'd make another trip out to Napoleon in the morning and get another queen.

Melissa's son and his pal come back to check out the bees. I give them a quick Bee Safety 101 course, and promise that when they're all settled in and running smoothly, I'll suit them up and show them how it all works. They were fascinated and thought it was the coolest thing ever. They were even good enough to haul back a big bucket of water for me and fill it with sticks so the bees will have something to land on. Bees love to drown themselves, apparently. Her husband and neighbor joined us and we watched the girls buzzing around, finding their way to their new home to unpack and start building furniture. I called the bee supply place and left a message about me killing my queen and do they have another one. 

Bee place calls me back, said they're still open and if I come now, they'll stay open for me. They have lots of extra queens.  It's only 30 miles down the road. Piece of cake. On my way, I realize I'm very thirsty. I contemplate stopping off for some food and some water, (haven't eaten, or peed, since noon) but opt not to because I need to get the queen and get her into the hive before dark, and before it rains. I can eat later. 

When I walked into the bee place, I said "I'm the idiot who killed her queen". Steve, the owner, was in stitches, wondering how the hell I managed that. He even took the cork out for me and gave me a rubber band so I could fix her to the frame. "Candy up, facing out". Ok, duly noted. They all joked that they'd be laughing about this one for quite a while...I made sure they got the correct spelling of my name for their Facebook post. 

By now it's 8;00 and daylight is running out. I fly back to Tecumseh (I have my purse with me this time) and decide to drive the car back to the hives to save time. It's starting to rain now. I think about putting on my bee jacket to stay dry but decide not to.  I got the lid off, pulled a frame and put the queen on it and secured her with the rubber band. The rain's coming down a little harder now. I'm scrambling to get the inner cover on without crushing any bees. They're milling around and don't feel like moving. "Come ON girls!" I shove them out of the way and put the inner cover on. It's raining a little harder. I get the outer cover on at the very second the sky opens up and pours buckets of water on me. If I hadn't gotten the cover on, I'd have drowned all my bees. 

WHEW!

It's done. They're installed, and they're fine. I have sugar syrup in my hair, and everything is sticky. Time to go home and eat something, drink about a gallon of water and go to bed. 

Saturday afternoon:  I fixed up some more syrup in case they needed it and went to see them this afternoon. They're doing great! Lots of activity at the hive entrances, and I see the girls making their orientation flights. I peeked in the tops and saw that they've found the feeders and everything looks normal. I even saw one girl with pollen on her legs! Yay! 

I'm a real beekeeper now!

Myrtle on the right (pink) and Maud III on the left. 

My First Sting...

...wasn't so bad, and now I know I'm not allergic. I was standing right in front of the hive entrance when the teacher lifted off the bottom brood box. We'd been monkeying with their home for the better part of an hour, so by the time that bottom box came up, the girls were ornery, and I was the closest target.

She got me in my muffin top. Hey, we all know bees love sweets, right?

It felt like a really big mosquito bite. I quickly moved away from the hive lest the "Sting me again!" pheromone reached the rest of the crabby Patties.  She got me through my shirt, so there was no stinger to scratch out. I waved my shirt around for a minute, then went up and stood next to the smoker to mask any lingering scent. Then I went and watched the calmer hive. I figured I'd seen enough of the other.

But, boy did I see a lot! This was a hive that had overwintered successfully and was really going strong already. We saw capped brood, drone comb, and even some supercedure (new queen) cells. If the intermediate class didn't split that hive this afternoon, they were for sure going to swarm.

For the most part, the girls were calm, save the one brave guard bee who gave her life to sting my soft underbelly. I got some great shots.  Notice in one of them, all the bees in flight. You can see their little landing gears... very cute!

Not too much happening in this frame

Lots of capped brood and a few drone cells 

Nice capped brood

They built burr comb on top of the frames that got damaged when we pulled off the box

Notice all the little bee landing gears (legs) dangling beneath them

Busy gals working on the burr comb

The countdown is winding down now, with my girls getting here in less than a week. I'm more than a little nervous for them. I hope I can give them the right kind of home, the right amount of food, and give them a chance to get themselves through the winter.

In the meantime, I'm going to admire the tiny red spot that is my sting and be very thankful I'm not allergic.

A Week Away!

I can't believe the day is almost here. A week from tomorrow I'll jump out of bed before the alarm, throw on my Saturday yoga pants and run out the door to pick up my Uncle Steven on the way to pick up my bees.

Uncle Steven was beekeeper back in the '60s when he was a teenager. He kept them on the garage roof. He also had a pet alligator, but we're not here to talk about alligators, we're here to talk about bees. He earned a Boy Scout merit badge for beekeeping.  The Scouts have since discontinued it, but I have to wonder if they shouldn't bring it back. Grandma and Granddad had to sell his bees when he got shipped off to Vietnam, but he kept all of his books, which he recently gave to me. They're absolute treasures!

Treasures from the 1950s

A couple weeks ago, I went to an equipment build at the farm of one of the bee club members. Newbs like me brought their pieces and parts to get help from the old timers. One thing I learned...I need a frame jig! There were power staplers and plenty of bottles of glue, and a frame wiring thingy that I didn't use.  I used bobby pins instead, since all my frames are mediums.  The larger frames need the reinforcement of a horizontal wire to help support the beeswax foundation, but my smaller ones would hold up just fine with $.99 bobby pins. The old timers showed us how to put things together, then helped us out when we inevitably overshot the staple.

Bobby pins hold the foundation in place.

Frame jigs are a must have.

It was a nice way to spend a morning, and I even managed to get my pretty spring coat all covered in glue.  I didn't mind though, it makes me feel that much more of a beekeeper. I didn't manage to get a picture of the farmer's dog, Phoebe, but I did snap one of our other helper...

Nice day for a rooster!

This Sunday is bee school again, and for the first time, we're actually going to get to play with some bees! I'm super excited and have a dozen questions about how to set up my boxes next weekend, and whether I should spray my girls with sugar water or dust them with powdered sugar. I know not to do both, lest I end up with candied bees. It's supposed to be warm next weekend, but there's also a chance of thunderstorms. I just hope I get a good window to hive them. They'll have been in tiny screened boxes for days, the sooner they can move into their new houses, the better. 

Seven more days!

Oh, geeze, I almost forgot! (Which would be shameful, since I'm sitting right next to them on my deck) I finished painting the hives!

Nice and girly, waiting for the girls.