Good Girl!

The Buckfast girls are going great guns, (how's that for alliteration?) and Her Majesty is laying in a nice tight brood pattern. Lots and lots of pollen in the cells and a nice mixture of eggs, larvae, and capped brood.

Italian Hiving Hysteria

Monday morning, ugh. Responsible for presenting to a group of visiting teachers at work. Uptight. All went well, but during my presentation I felt my phone vibrate. After I saw the visitors out I checked my voice mail and discovered to my consternation that although my Italian bees had arrived, "the package is open." Not only that, the good people at the South Milwaukee Post Office wanted them off of the loading dock. When I arrived, I saw a few dozen bees flying about the dock. The workers (postal, not bee) had placed the package in a rolling hamper and covered it with a plastic sheet. I pulled off the sheet and another dozen or so bees flew out, but I saw a still rather large cluster in the cage so I put the whole works in a cardboard box, taped it shut, and drove home.

Since I didn't want to lose any more bees, I hosed them down with sugar water, hived them, and went back to work. Since then they seem to be making themselves at home so I'm hoping for the best.

Her Majesty is out and about

Well, the little Buckfast babes have released the queen and are rapidly drawing new comb where I cut out the moldy comb from the dead hive. They also tackled an extra project (see photo) so I put the other deep body on top. They may as well get busy collecting their winter stores. I have high hopes I can add the honey supers in time for the basswood nectar flow. Last year's basswood honey was light and slightly minty. What a treat!

Buckfast Package Hived

My package of Buckfast bees arrived on Friday, May 7. Unfortunately, the weather was cold, windy and rainy so I waited until today (Sunday the 9th--Mother's Day) to hive the little buggers. Buggers was right as I was stung twice shaking the bees into the empty hive. Seriously? I thought they were so docile when being hived. Oh well, I admire their spunk. Let's just hope they do as well as their predecessors did in that hive.

The second package for the new hive should ship in two weeks. I couldn't get more Buckfast bees so I ordered Italians.

Winter Kill

Well...this isn't good. We had a really warm day two weeks ago and I was surprised the bees weren't flying. I noticed some bees about on a warm January day, so I became concerned. Sure enough, the bees froze out--too much moisture evidenced by mold--and apparently they couldn't get to the honey stores either because many bees were stuck head first in the cells. There was still a lot of honey in the upper hive body. Next year I'll need to make sure the hives are properly ventilated.

The good news is that the new hive is ready for paint, and I found replacement bees for both hives. I ordered Buckfast bees from the R. Weaver Apiary in Texas, and when I discovered the dead bees I ordered Italians from Gardner Apiary in Georgia. R. Weaver had sold out of Buckfast by then.

I'll post pics from the hiving process when I introduce the new bees in May.

Last Harvest and Winter Prep

Pulled the honey supers today and extracted four more frames. Deep, rich goldenrod honey and very sweet. I started feeding the thick, fall syrup, too. The first batch contains fumidil b to ward of nosema, and two tablespoons of HoneyBee Healthy. I really need to get on top of the varroa mite infestation. I noticed a few dozen dead and dying bees outside the hive with deformed wing virus which is caused by mites. I also witnessed the poor, stupid drones being evicted from the hive. I guess that what comes of a lifetime of loafing and pleasure. Let that be a warning to us all. HA!

Mike and Ellen, prospective beekeepers, stopped by to take a look at things. They seemed very interested and my amateurish mucking about didn't seem to disuade them at all. I hope they take up this sweet hobby. After I extracted the honey today, I put the empty frames against the hive so the girls could feast on the residual honey. Guess this passes for their Thanksgiving.

Goldenrod Honey

On Saturday, September 18 I extracted 30 lbs. of goldenrod honey. I think I'm getting the hang of this. No problems with scratching off the cappings and running the frames through the extractor this time. I didn't extract about five nearly full frames because sections were still uncapped. The goldenrod is still blooming, the weather is still warm and beautiful, and the bees are still wildly foraging so I'm hoping to extract some more in October. Still lots of capped brood and the second deep is full of honey. Looking good for fall and winter. Now about those mites....