Added a box to each June 13 2020

The SE hive has a bunch of bees in the bottom (third) box so we added a box to each hive (because of upcoming shoulder surgery Monday the 15th, best to plan ahead).
Smoked the hives, all went well. No stings.

Lots of bee activity. Then Mark weed whipped all the grass down to clear the area around the hives. New batteries put in the fence charger.

2019-2020 update lost my hives

So I lost one hive last November and my other one in February. So I hived two new colonies this year on April 11 and they're going like gang busters. I used old comb with honey and fed them until June 2. I will need to put another box on the SE hive today since they are filling the lowest (third box). Both hives have 3 boxes on. No plans to take any honey this year.

September 24, 2019

I have filled the feeders a couple of times, it's still warm and they're bearding.
The NW hive has 4 boxes, since we put the one back on and the SW hive has just 3.
There is a pile of comb near the hives, I figured it was far enough away that it would not encourage robbing.
Here's today's photo and video:

Summertime summary

I took the feeders off around June 9.
Then I left the hives all summer until now............

So two days ago, September 10, Tuesday, it was glorious outside but I knew it was going to get rainy and cool and I needed to get my feeders on for the fall.
So what better time than now to remove a box off each hive for the winter? Mark and I did that without a sting but Duchess got nailed by bees.

Well, there probably was a better time.

There is only comb being built in the bottom boxes and I didn't want to take top boxes full of honey - because then I would have to process it (I have plenty in the pantry) and I want them to go into winter with a full hive of honey to see if their overwintering success will be better.

This is an experiment!

So the SW hive had a lot of bees in the bottom box but by 9/11 they were all back in the main hive - I hope.

The NW hive was FULL of bees and even by this morning, 9/12 in the dark, in the rain (after torrential rains 24 hours ago) the bees were still bearding on the front of the hive and were still in the box sitting next to the hive (the bottom box).

So, armed with a smoker, Mark and I went down there again, in the dark and misty cool rain and put the bottom box back on. I got one sting through my jeans but I can tolerate lower extremity stings much better than upper extremity so, there you go.

I'll check them tonight - it's just getting dark earlier and I get home too late for sunshine. It's supposed to be warm and sunny again this weekend so I'll check them then.

Note to self - wait to take off bottom boxes until the hive has naturally decreased in size by killing drones and when it is definitely going to be cold and autumnal.

Will I ever learn?  😖🐝

April 27, 2019 New packages

I picked up the bees on a snowy morning in Rochester and hived them in the 40s with sun back home. Interesting weather pattern, to say the least.

They're doing well, taking sugar water down especially in the south hive. Lots of activity when it warms up, back into a rainy spell now on May 9.

Interesting discovery when I checked the hives

March 2019
Last I reported, both hives were dead and I assumed that when I opened them that both would be full of dead bees. Well just one was full of dead bees and the other was empty. So I surmise that the hive failed in the one that toppled and they swarmed in the other after that one toppled. But who knows? I have them ready for my new packages though - so here's hoping this is a better year!

November 20 2018 yep they're dead

Both hives gone - I'm sure it was the loss of warm space with the tornado blowing them over and losing comb from the top 2 boxes of each - where all the honey was.
Ok, on to new packages next spring!

I'm not sure they're going to make it this winter

Well, my newly packaged hive looks like there are hardly any bees in there. I'm so sad because they were doing great before they toppled over in the tornado.
The overwintered hive seems to have more activity but again, not like I would like to see it this time of year. We'll see how they fare come February to March!

Final feeding push

Sept 28 2018
I refilled the feeders one last time - the issue with filling/feeding 2:1 sugar:water combination is that the sugar precipitates in the dependent position thus crystallizing and plugging the feeder holes. Hopefully, they can still get syrup with their proboscises.

Next week, we'll remove the feeders and the lower boxes and hope winter treats my little ladies well.

Harvested honey - unplanned

So there were several combs that fell off of their top bars when the hives toppled. I had put them in the top box so the bees could clean up the honey (the empty feeder boxes) but then I took them out and harvested 2 1/2 quarts of honey from about 5 broken pieces of comb.

I refilled the feeders today and am hoping the bees can get enough honey for the winter - but now there are spaces in the boxes where the combs broke off - that's not good. Harder to keep warm in the winter as well as climb from one comb to the other for honey and I don't know if some of the combs are squished against each other and therefore there isn't "bee space" for them to move up and down. But I am not taking the hives apart again. They'll just have to do this on their own.

Yikes tornados

Sept 20 2018
Apparently two tornados went through when we were gone this evening and both of my hives were toppled.
Angry bees.
In the wet darkness, Mark and I put the boxes back together.

Friday Sept 21
After work, I got the smoker going and took the comb out of the feeder boxes to bring in and process. Then I replaced the feeder jars in the top empty box, put new sawdust in the quilt boxes and reassembled them.

Sunday September 16 2018 - feeders on

Today I smoked the hives, put the mouse guards on and put feeder jars on each hive.
But when I removed the top cloth to place the cloth with the hole (which goes under the jars), the propolis had nearly sealed the top bars completely. So not sure how much they will go up to the feeders. Meanwhile they've gone crazy on the hummingbird feeders and on these flowers in my ravine - I don't know what this plant is.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - Bearding on the hives

It's been hot and here are shots of my hives this evening:
my large hive - the overwintered hive:

my small hive from the new package:

here's a link to a good article on Bearding:


http://countryrubes.com/template/images/The_Phenomenon_of_Bee_Bearding2_8_17_10.pdf

they're packing in the nectar

My top boxes look great - I now have 5 boxes on each hive and they are filling the 4th box, the bottom boxes don't have windows though.
What a great nectar flow - I was not planning on harvesting honey this year, but I may have to take the top boxes in order to get the hives down to a reasonable size for winter.
We'll see!
Here are videos of each box:

roof blown off and adding boxes

July 2 2018 - we returned from a week away horse camping in Roosevelt Nat'l Park to find Hive B's roof/quilt box on the ground! Must have been windy here. The top cloth was pulled back 1-3" on the SW corner and some bees were going in and out of the top box. Thankfully, it was plenty warm and the queen must not have left. I put the quilt box and roof back on!

July 4 - Mark helped me lift FOUR boxes on each hive as we added a box to the bottom of each hive because they were filling the bottom boxes. Hopefully, we did it in time and she won't swarm with half of her hive.

This is Hive B (new package this year):

 This is Hive A (overwintered hive):

 Monarchs on our milkweed:

After the jungle heat ...

I took off the feeders today, the packaged hive B had empty feeders and there was still syrup in my overwintered hive A.
Now I won't feed again until the fall, the bees are doing well.

Added 1:1 syrup for the last time

June 15 2018: I filled the feeders but when they empty them this time, I'll take them off until fall feeding. All is well in both hives.
Going into a hot hot weekend of 100° heat index.

June 12 2018 added boxes

Got the smoker going, beautiful day out and around 10:30am, Mark and I lifted the 3 boxes on each hive and added a windowed box to the bottom.
I put some pollen patties on and kept the feeders on.
All looks good.

Here they are:

 workers on the bottom board bringing in pollen

the light boxes are my feeder boxes, we use the white table to move the boxes over then place a new box down and replace the hive on top of the new box. It's slick and it's the perfect height.

Filling feeders

June 7 and 11 I filled the feeders.
In the meantime, Justify won the Triple Crown on Saturday June 9 - 3 years after America Pharoah!

Memorial Day 2018 and 99°!!!

This must have been a record setting day.
Suffice to say the bees are busy, though the bee population in my overwintered hive still seems slim in comparison to my package, but feeders were nearly empty on both hives so I topped them up.
I can still feel pollen patties under the top bar cloth so I did not open the hive to replace them.
The bees are always at my bird waterer by my house, despite the fact that I have supplied them with a bucket of water in the apiary.

Oh, and my husband ran into a fawn on our land: