Bud's Bees @budsbees - Tumblr Blog

Bee Space. Today, I was introduced to the concept of beespace. To the left, I placed the frame with a gap. The bees, in their ever present quest to work hard, filled the gap with crosscomb. I intend to leave the crosscomb through the winter, I do not want to be too disruptive or expose the hive to robbing. Robbing means other bees, or wasps or other critters, sense vulnerability and attack a colony to steal resources. If one spills a lot of honey around a hive, this could attract other insects that may attack a hive. I was excited to see that my strong hive has filled a medium super box with capped honey. They will use the honey to get through the winter. I added a new super to the top to see if they can continue to build out comb and take advantage of the fall nectar flow. The weak hive is less endowed. I am going to feed them sugar syrup in an effort to help them build stores. They did have capped worker brood, so I have reason to believe that they have a laying queen.

Interesting article.

Cut crosscomb today and pressed out a pound of honey. Yum

Hot day in the apiary. Hives are exploding with bees. Was a little intimidated by the numbers. Thought we spotted a queen but, in retrospect, think it may have been a drone.

Regarding Feeding

My bees came from Mcfarline apiaries in Vermont. Tim is a very passionate beekeeper and has always answered my questions, which I try to keep to a minimum. Recently, I asked him about how I should go about feeding my newly established nucleus hives through the upcoming nectar dearth (mid summer dry season).

His response is a profound yet gentle reminder that nature can take its course without our meddling. I am grateful for his counsel.

“John, sorry hit send by accident. I winter nucs on ½ frames in mating nucs, 4 deep frames, 8 frames ( horizontal and vertical), and everything larger. It’s not so much a certain size but whether the bees are healthy, cohesive, and well provisioned. By cohesive , I mean the queen is surrounded by her progeny. So don’t worry about the bees. Feeding is your business. I don’t feed in dearth because I have hundreds of colonies and they’re fat from basswood, and loosestrife though I always consider protein more so than nectar. So real pollen fermented to beebread is a consideration. Or real pollen patties a la Steve Taber. Again, don’t worry, just trust the bees whose every action is intrinsic to their survival and continuity. Honeybees are a direct emanation of earthly and cosmic forces, so perhaps a little dearth is healthy for them , or rather that our ideas about such things , and their judgement ,may not accurately emulate these same forces.”

- Tim Mcfarline

#nature #beekeeping #treatmentfree #dontworry

Widened the entrance to the hives today. Had a logjam - now traffic is running more smoothly. A storm flew through, the honey bees went back to the hive but the bumbles stayed busy... as bees.

Suzy Beekeper

Hive 2 had a lot of activity, we assumed that they were orientation flights. That is where newly matriculated foragers are getting their bearings around the hive. Hive 1 was bustling, it looked good, they are still drawing comb, the first empty (no foundation) frame is full and they are now working on the frame with foundation that came with the nuc.

#suziebeek

From Tom Seeley: THE foremost expert on swarms and swarm behavior

Next Spring I hope to have a dozen or so baited swarm traps placed to see if I can get some free bees.

We cracked the hives to see how the girls were doing. The freshly drawn comb now fills the frame. Mike and I worked behind veils while my mom stood out front with no protection, taking pictures. The bees were very laid back.

All is well.

New sighting of foragers. There is a lovely lawn garden on Old Succotash. I drove over to show Mom, who is visiting. There was no question - These are my ladies. Working hard on coreopsis, saw three foragers!

#workingladies foragers

Here’s a forager on some anise hyssop just off our back deck. Really cool to see them at the house.

#forager busybee workinggal

This is a cool article.

I saw the first two foragers in my yard today. They were harvesting nectar from milkweed flowers, I did not see pollen in their baskets. Two days prior, my neighbor Mike had seen some on his roses - he is 2,800 feet from the hives.

I have read that bees forage over an 8,000 acre area if required. The International Bee Research Association states that bees will forage effectively four miles from the hive. The law of diminishing returns surely applies to forage distance from the hive.

I did not place the apiary in my yard because I did not want to create issues with my neighbors. I’m lucky/happy there’s an organic farm with a generous farmer willing to host the ladies (and drones).

#forage workingladies

New comb drawn on empty frame. This is on the hive that I thought was weak. Guess not. Did not see queens in either hive but there was plenty of capped brood. They are staffing up! Couldn’t resist, had to look.

Lovely Shell Field Farm

It was a lovely evening. I find myself running over a few times a day to watch the activity. The hive on the left is bustling, the one on the right, steady but rather slow.

I am resisting the temptation to inspect, holding out until next Monday. That will give the bees 10 days to get settled. The hive on the right may have lost the queen. When I installed the nucs, a cluster of bees remained in a crevice in the cardboard nuc box. I later returned and shook them into the hive body.

I will need my nucs for the supercedure cells if there are any. I’ll also need a few replacement frames just in case. I have little faith that any queens will successfully mate but it’s worth a try. If still unsuccessful in mid-August, I will consolidate the bees using sugared newsprint - or buy a queen (last minute). I might find myself trying to overwinter one larger hive, hope not.

We arrived home at 1:00 AM this morning. When I returned at 7:00 the girls already foraging from the nuc boxes. I transferred them into the hives and they are settling in. The nuc carton for the hive on the right repopulated somewhat. I was concerned that the queen was hiding somewhere. I came back and pulled the box apart and brushed the small cluster into the hive. Now I will leave them alone for a week or so. I propped the lid with a small block of wood, they seem to prefer to enter and exit through the top.

Foundationless frames using split paint stirrers for comb guides inserted into grooved top bars.

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