Thursday, May 22, 2014
Saving Seeds
I am in my garden this morning looking at the progress of things and decided to look into growing chives from seed. A little tour through my herb garden revealed I had seed ready to be harvested from my own chive plants. I wasn't sure what I needed to do to save them so I found this website about saving vegetable seeds. http://howtosaveseeds.com/seedsavingdetails.php#chives this is a great resource if you want to give seed saving a try.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Cause For CCD?
This was a very interesting article on a study done to determine the cause of CCD. http://m.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/05/smoking-gun-bee-collapse check it out here. I agree with this study and also think CCD is caused by neonicotinoids.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
We Saw The Queen!
Her Majesty, Queen of Autumn's Apiary, was spotted today during our hive inspection. We were thrilled to see her and all of the work she has been doing, laying full frames of brood!
We installed a little bracket on our fence beside the hive to help us hold the top bars full of comb and bees. My partner helped with keeping track of the order of the bars and inspecting for brood.
One of the sections of comb was fully capped brood! There was more larvae on the other sections as well, but these will all be bees soon!!
The comb is getting larger and with the new additions coming soon, this hive will easily double in size within the next month.
I saw quite a few drones this time. Can you see the difference in size? This drone hung out with me during the hive inspection. Bees continually amaze and inspire me.
Bee Observations:
We wanted to make sure there was brood and if possible to see the queen. We also wanted to assess if we should put the next super on top of the hive.
It was 62 degrees and sunny when we entered the hive at 9:45 am. The bees were active and very busy tending to the hive and bringing in pollen. They did not seem to mind our inspection today. We took off the outer most empty bars to get to the comb. We carefully pulled out each bar, making sure to keep it level and transferred it to the holding area. We noticed one full frame of capped brood, and 4 other frames with larvae! They were all surrounded by uncapped honey, ready to feed the babies. The comb had grown another 2-3 inches on all sides and the bees expanded to the next bar. There were about 100 or so dead bees in the bottom of the hive. We are keeping the entrance small (reduced) until the hive gets a little bigger and can defend a bigger entrance. I did not see any evidence of disease or pests. These bees are healthy and were not aggravated by our entrance. As we were reassembling the hive, my partner spotted the queen. She was near some uncapped brood being followed by her entourage. She looked good and is doing a great job!
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| We spotted our queen today! |
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| Just in case you couldn't see the giant bee...that is the queen! |
We installed a little bracket on our fence beside the hive to help us hold the top bars full of comb and bees. My partner helped with keeping track of the order of the bars and inspecting for brood.
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| One bar of comb with capped brood! |
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| Closeup of the capped brood with cells of honey. |
The comb is getting larger and with the new additions coming soon, this hive will easily double in size within the next month.
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| The hive is growing! |
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| Awwwe.... aren't they just the cutest! |
I saw quite a few drones this time. Can you see the difference in size? This drone hung out with me during the hive inspection. Bees continually amaze and inspire me.
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| The big bee with the large eyes is a drone! I was hoping to photograph one so those following my BEE FACTS can see the difference. |
We wanted to make sure there was brood and if possible to see the queen. We also wanted to assess if we should put the next super on top of the hive.
It was 62 degrees and sunny when we entered the hive at 9:45 am. The bees were active and very busy tending to the hive and bringing in pollen. They did not seem to mind our inspection today. We took off the outer most empty bars to get to the comb. We carefully pulled out each bar, making sure to keep it level and transferred it to the holding area. We noticed one full frame of capped brood, and 4 other frames with larvae! They were all surrounded by uncapped honey, ready to feed the babies. The comb had grown another 2-3 inches on all sides and the bees expanded to the next bar. There were about 100 or so dead bees in the bottom of the hive. We are keeping the entrance small (reduced) until the hive gets a little bigger and can defend a bigger entrance. I did not see any evidence of disease or pests. These bees are healthy and were not aggravated by our entrance. As we were reassembling the hive, my partner spotted the queen. She was near some uncapped brood being followed by her entourage. She looked good and is doing a great job!
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| Little bee larvae! |
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Hive Peek
Today I had to go into the hive and retrieve the bee box all of the bees came in. So while I was in there I took a peek at how things were progressing. It has been 6 days since they have been in the hive and they are building up quite the comb!
OBSERVATIONS:
Today was sunny and 60 degrees at 10:30am when I entered the hive. I did not use any smoke and did not move them any more than I had to to get the bee box out of the hive.
They had built their comb on the top bars we set in the hive. Since we don't have frames they are not restricted on the size or shape of comb they can build. The largest piece of comb was over 6 inches deep and 8 inches wide. The comb was pure white in color. The parts of the comb closest to the bar was full of honey. I did not notice any brood, yet. There were about 100 dead bees in the bottom of the hive. I assume they were from the transport and establishment. Otherwise the bees look healthy and are very active and not aggressive.
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| Under that cluster of bees is where they have built their comb. Amazing how it is in a hexagonal shape. |
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| Close up of the bees before I started pulling out the bars of comb. |
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| Here you can just see the pure white comb under all of those bees. The top half of the photo has cells with honey in them :) |
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| This was third from the center and not the largest piece of comb. They are doing very well. |
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| Here is a look inside the hive without three of the top bars (which were on the bar holder). Amazing how bees will build naturally when they are not in a structured frame. |
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| I got the bee box out and let the stragglers that were still inside find their way to the hive. |
Today was sunny and 60 degrees at 10:30am when I entered the hive. I did not use any smoke and did not move them any more than I had to to get the bee box out of the hive.
They had built their comb on the top bars we set in the hive. Since we don't have frames they are not restricted on the size or shape of comb they can build. The largest piece of comb was over 6 inches deep and 8 inches wide. The comb was pure white in color. The parts of the comb closest to the bar was full of honey. I did not notice any brood, yet. There were about 100 dead bees in the bottom of the hive. I assume they were from the transport and establishment. Otherwise the bees look healthy and are very active and not aggressive.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Neighborhood Bee Awareness
I have decided to start a little project to get my neighbors and community aware of the environment and especially bees! My hive is in my front yard garden behind two doors I painted and decorated to direct their flying path away from the sidewalk. So on or near those doors I want to post a fact about bees in English and Spanish for all my neighbors to read. My hope is that there will become an interest in helping to save the bees and clean up our environment.
Here is my first bee fact!
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| My Hex Hive is right behind these doors! |
Here is my first bee fact!
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| Bee Fact for May... |
The Bees of 2014
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| Bees working on a sunny morning. May 6th |
Today I took some video of the hive entrance. They were busy today!
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| All the purple flowering in my garden. 5/5/14 |
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| Installing the package of bees! 5/1/14 |
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| Picking up my package of bees after doing a queen inspection at Ruhl Bee Supply in Portland. |
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