Mark's Bees!

Did the bees know an earthquake was coming? I think yes!

2011-08-24T01:07:00.004-04:00

Earthquakes may be something that people in the western part of the country might be used to, but its not something that we're used to in my neck of the woods here in North Carolina. Make that the east coast. That was pretty apparent when Tuesday afternoon rolled around and everything came to a screeching halt after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit Mineral, Virginia, at 1:51 on Tuesday afternoon.

I'd never even heard of Mineral, Virginia, but I did find out that it is 3 1/2 hours from my home in North Carolina. And while the map shows that kind of distance in mileage, it felt like I was in the same city when my house shook from the tremor.

But the really odd thing...just moments before it happened, I noticed the oddest thing going on with my honey bees.

About 1:45, I went to the kitchen to make my afternoon pick-me-up coffee. As I was filling up the carafe with water, I happened to look out the window and down to my bee hives, and that's when I noticed a frenzy of bees everywhere. They were all in the sky and flying around the yard. It almost looked like a swarm. The bees were flying all around and around in wide circles. It was almost like they were conducting orientation flights, but they seemed to be making extremely wide circles and not going anywhere.

And I noticed that one of the hives, the yellow hive which holds my package bees from Dadant, were all flying in and out of the far right side of the entrance. They were just hovering. Instead of flying in and out of the entire entrance as they usually do, they were all hovering on the one side of the hive, almost as if they could only come and go from that side. I'd never seen them do that before.

Six minutes later, all of a sudden I hear a low roar. That's when the house started shaking, the dishes rattled in the cabinet, and I could hear the house creaking near the top. Klaus, one of my dogs, jumped up and started running all over the house and barking like crazy. After about 10-15 seconds of this rumbling and shaking, it suddenly stopped. I went outside to ask my neighbor what was happening and she had no clue anything was going on and never felt a thing. Coming back in the house, I flipped on the television and saw breaking news that the earthquake had just hit central Virginia, and Facebook went crazy with people talking about it too. Truthfully, I admit it scared the devil out of me. I had never experienced anything like that in my life. Once I got my wits, I called my parents to make sure they were okay and then got ready for a busy day of earthquake coverage at my own job with the local television station.

But the really eerie thing? I went to the back yard and there were no bees flying, no hovering to the side of the hives, no anything out of the ordinary. They were all back to normal, all four hives, and the girls were flying in and out as they normally do. It was like I was looking at four different hives than the ones I saw just minutes before.

A little later I posted the question on my Facebook page and wanted to know if its true that animals and insects know when something like an earthquake is about to happen. The overwhelming response from my friends was YES! Many of them said their dogs and cats and other animals acted really odd just before the earthquake hit, and the observation of my honey bees went along with what they were saying. I know that bees will come back to the hive and stay put until bad storms and rains pass...sometimes knowing before we humans know. So maybe, just maybe, they know when something like the earthquake is about to happen too. It just seems to make sense.

The good news is that very few places around here reported damage from the earthquake. Most people were just "shaken up" from the event.

Now that we've made it though an earthquake, Hurricane Irene is now heading up the coast and it looks like North Carolina is in her sights. While we really need the rain here, I'm hoping that it will stay far enough away to not bring high winds. I was working for the Sheriff's Office when Hurricane Fran hit our area. Even though we're over 200 miles from the beaches, Fran came inland and tore through the mid-part of the state. Trees and power lines were down everywhere and people didn't have electricity for days. If Irene becomes a category 4 storm as predicted, we could be in for a mess.

I think Mother Nature should take a vacation...

ADDENDUM: Hey gang! Today (Wednesday) I received the following email from Gloria Radcliff who lives in Indiana. I was tickled to get it because I thought people may think I'm nuts because of my observation of the bees just before the earthquake hit. Here's what Gloria had to say, "Mark, I'm glad that I just read your blog about your bees and the earthquake. I was in my garden about 2pm today (yesterday now), and one of my 4 hives started to act like they were going to swarm, which this hive did 2x last year. The bees were in front of the hive, buzzing loudly and flying way above the trees, but remained in front of the hive. I couldn't believe it and didn't associate this activity with the quake because I didn't feel any tremors or other earthquake related things and in past years I have felt quake activity, usually the ground rolls! I just thought they were nuts since this has been my wild hive. I live in southern Indiana 30 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky. I had no idea what the bees were up to, it was really intense activity. It sure appears that these bees knew about the quake. P.S. Enjoy your blog."

Thanks, Gloria! I appreciate the email! And thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and thoughts too! Let me add that I was speaking to a newspaper columnist friend on Wednesday, the day after the earthquake, and she told me that someone told her they also observed bees acting crazy before it hit. She was amazed at what I was telling her about my own bees. You know, I think we may be on to something here about the bees and their keen senses!

A hot, North Carolina summer night!

2011-07-12T23:06:00.000-04:00

Yet another hot, humid and hazy North Carolina summer is here. Today was the hottest day of the year so far. Unofficially, here at my house, the daytime temperature was 101 degrees. And tonight its not much better. As of this moment, the temperature is 86 degrees and the relative humidity if 65%. All you have to do is step outside and you're soaking wet. A lot of air conditioners, fans and front porches are getting workouts in this miserable weather.

Not to be outdone, bees in the Old North State also look for means to keep cool. That includes covering the outside of the hive to get some sort of air. It was such a hot day that the bees covered the front of the hives both day and night, the ones on the landing furiously fanning their wings to circulate air inside the hive. As you can see in the photos, the bees in the green and orange hives have larger populations, while their sisters in the blue and yellow hive are newly established hives with lower populations.

Mother Nature is giving us a reprieve though. The daytime temperature in the next few days will be in the upper 80s and lower 90s with a chance of showers. But remember, we're just in mid-July. August is usually worse temperature-wise.

Wonder if they make mini air-conditioners for bee hives?

HONEY!

2011-06-29T01:35:00.000-04:00

Oh those silly bees! As much as you think you've figured them out, they will pull a fast one and surprise you. Case in point, I put honey supers on two of the hives a good while back. One hive went right to work drawing comb on the frames, and the other took its sweet time. I sort of figured that the slow response may have been because of swarm season and a changing of monarchs, and I figured they would get around to it. And they did. Just not in the way I thought they would.

While checking the hives on Saturday, I did as I always do and looked for brood. And while I found quite a bit of brood, I noticed something else too. In the upper deep chamber, I found that the ladies were packing the nest with honey. I found four frames in one hive jammed packed with honey, and another frame was mixed with brood and honey. Deciding that I needed to lighten the load and avoid a honey-bound hive, I pulled the frames that held nothing but honey and decided to extract it. While I got a brand new extractor for Christmas, I decided that it wouldn't be worth it for a few frames, so I decided to do the "crush and strain" method. After scraping all of the honey and wax off the frames into a strainer, gravity made all the golden honey drip into the five-gallon bucket below.

After all the honey dripped out of the wax, I strained it through mesh and then bottled it. The four frames yielded almost two gallons, and between all my neigbors and family, it went rather fast. I still have quite a bit left over and I have even more honey waiting in the hives. And with the honey that I'll be getting from the supers on the two hives, that means I'll have to make the trip to Walmart to buy even more jars. And I wondered whether I would be getting much honey this year!

As you can see, the honey is a beautiful dark amber color. It has a heavier taste compared to last year's harvest, but a delicious taste. I'm wondering if it came from crimson clover.

But the ultimate compliment came from my neighbor. She told me that her grandsons have already dived into the honey and loved it with hot, fresh biscuits and butter. And while that truly made my day, I can't take the credit. The bees did all the hard work. I just provide the house they live in.

Bon appetit!

Paying a visit to a new beekeeper's hives...

2011-06-26T13:56:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, I paid a visit to a friend's bee hives. Keith Mabe started beekeeping this year with his own two colonies. After taking the basic beekeeper course that was offered through the Rockingham County Beekeeper's Association, he bought his hive set ups and his bee packages and got started right away. Here you see Keith as he stands next to one of his hives. This one is booming by the way.

Keith was a little concerned because one of his two hives seemed to be running a little slow. He told me that he didn't see a lot of eggs and spotty capped brood, and thought something may be wrong. So he asked me if I would come out and take a look and give him my opinion. Always glad to see another beekeeper's hives, I accepted and met him on Saturday morning. The hive he was concerned about is on the left.

Based on what he told me, I though he may have a failing queen. But once we got into the hive, I found a lot of eggs in a tight pattern. And we also found the queen as she made her way across the frame with all the eggs. There was also larvae present that was hidden under bees on the frames. I told Keith that it appears that all is okay with this hive, and that some colonies are faster in building up than others. My advice was to close the hive up and not disturb them for a week, and to continue to feed them sugar syrup so they can finish drawing the frames. Even without smoke, the colony was gentle and easy to work with.

The hive on the right is doing great! Keith told me that this colony took off as soon as he hived them, and that's apparent by the numbers of bees and the eggs and honey all throughout the hive. They had so much honey there that I advised Keith to put a shallow super on top and let them fill it with honey, then he could have some for himself and leave some for the bees. This colony was a tad testy at times, but they had a lot of honey to protect and we didn't smoke them either. Overall I say that this is a very prolific colony that should do well through the rest of the year and hopefully overwinter well.

Keith has a great location for his bees. They are near several area gardens and he provides water for them near the hives. They are in a rural area of the county, not far from the county seat, and the area isn't accessible unless you drive through a parked gate. So they should be protected from vandals or theft.

My only advice was to keep an eye on them to make sure that he sees eggs and brood, and that we would check them again in a few weeks. I also advised him to switch to a non-toxic weed killer to spray around and under his hives, and to not use something like Round-Up which the bees can get into take back to the hives. I use a gallon of vinegar to one full container of table salt. Once I mix it in a sprayer, I use it liberally around and under my hives. While you have to apply it more often, it doesn't carry the risks of poisonous chemicals. You can also use rock salt under your hives to kill weeds and grass.

I think Keith is going to make an excellent beekeeper. He's very excited about his bee colonies and doing all he can to help them. Plus he wants to learn all he can from more experienced beekeepers. And as we all know, that's what it takes to survive the ups and downs of helping the bees.

Happy summer!

Appalachian State University students working with Bee Informed...

2011-06-21T20:31:00.000-04:00

From Appalachian Today which is the official magazine of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina:

The U.S. honeybee population has been dying at a high rate each winter—an alarming 30 percent during the 2010-11 winter. That matters because pollinating bees are responsible for 15 to 30 percent of the food U.S. consumers eat, scientists say. Possible contributors to this "colony collapse" include environmental change-related stress, potent pesticides, pathogens and insect diseases, cell phone radiation and genetically modified crops.

Faculty and students at Appalachian State University are working to be part of the solution through the Bee Informed Partnership, a $5 million program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and led by Penn State. The team hopes their efforts will reduce national losses in honeybee populations by 50 percent in the next five years, by identifying common bee management practices and determining the best management methods on a regionally and operationally appropriate level.

Participants in the project are:

•University of California
•University of Illinois
•The University of Georgia
•The University of Tennessee
•University of Minnesota
•North Carolina State University
•Lincoln University
•Florida Department of Agriculture (and Consumer Services), and
•NASA

"We would like to reduce honeybee mortality, increase beekeeper profitability and enhance adoption of sustainable management systems in beekeeping," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, senior extension associate with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture who will lead the project. "At the same time we want to increase the reliability of production in pollinator-dependent crops and increase the profitability of pollinator-dependent producers."

Appalachian's Department of Computer Science was awarded $729,736 through the project to create and maintain a honeybee health database with an interactive web-based interface that will provide valuable feedback to beekeepers as well as information for future research. Appalachian's funding will support full-time research associate Mark Henson, who also is a beekeeper, as well as undergraduate students who will work on various aspects of information technology support.

Department chairman James Wilkes' experience as a beekeeper and his desire to blend computer science with the science of beekeeping led to the university's involvement in the project. "Personally, I had a horrible winter this past year with my own bees," he said. "I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do, but something happened and I lost a lot of bees. That's what's been happening in the beekeeping world for the past several years."

Appalachian students have already gotten involved with the issue. They have been working with Dr. Jay Fenwick, professor of computer science, to develop an Android mobile phone application that will help beekeepers keep track of maintenance of their beehives. The application provides a mobile, secure way for beekeepers to store their records and will provide alerts of needed maintenance. Fenwick and his students presented this project at the 2011 National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Ithaca, N.Y., this past spring.

"I have benefited from this project by seeing the students use the concepts and theories they have learned in their classes in a real-world setting," said Fenwick. "The students benefit from an exposure to the culture of research as well."

Appalachian's response to the honeybee concern has provided students with hands-on experience with an issue affecting their community and the world around them. With more than 10,000 beekeepers and more bee hives than any other state, this is an opportunity for Appalachian students to make a real difference in North Carolina.

*In the photo, Appalachian State University professor, James Wilkes, displays a swarm of honeybees*

We have BROOD! All four colonies get two thumbs up!

2011-06-05T00:14:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to say that I have four thriving colonies in my humble backyard apiary. Months ago, I somehow got the idea that this may be a "run of the mill" season as far as my beekeeping goes. But that all quickly changed with the April addition of the colony I bought from Dadant, then the swarm that I was lucky enough to catch in Danville.

Since it had been a few weeks since I hived my swarm colony, I figured it was a great time to do a first inspection and check all the hives for brood production while I was at it.

First up, in the blue hive, the Danville swarm. This is one gentle hive of bees which I believe are Italian. In eighteen days, the bees had already drawn several frames (with a sprinkling of some bur comb too). As you can see, on this frame, they mixed new capped brood in with honey at the top. On the other side it was mostly brood. This has been one busy colony in the time they've been here, and I think I should be able to add a second deep box and frames pretty soon.

Next up, the colony from Dadant inhabits the yellow hive. I did add a second deep to this since they had drawn around seven frames of comb. As you can see, these caps are a little older and the hive is full of it, plus they're storing honey at the top of some of them. The queen in this colony is really good, Italian stock, and she went to work as soon as she was released and had a place to lay. This colony is increasing in numbers thanks to her majesty's hard work. They're a very gentle colony too.

Here is the green hive, one of the existing Carniolan colonies which was a split from last year. A couple of inspections back, in April, this hive was full of swarm cells and no eggs - which can indicate the preparations for swarming. Then a few weeks ago during a brief inspection, there were no eggs in either deep, but the swarm cells were disappearing and I could not find the marked queen. I also noticed it seemed the population was less than before, so that led me to believe this hive had already swarmed. But here's what I found on Friday. This hive is full of eggs, larvae and capped brood, so now I believe that a new queen is ruling this colony. This colony hardly required smoking so they're very gentle. I can't wait to see what these bees look like once they start hatching.

Last but not least, here is the orange hive which is another of Carniolan stock. As you can see, here is another fine example of a lot of brood. Back in April when I did a deep inspection of this hive, I could not find the marked queen, and that was after three intense inspections of all twenty frames. This colony had swarm and supersedure cells all over, a few of them opened at the bottoms, and I found a couple of new queens walking the frames. After giving it a couple of weeks, I opened this hive and found new eggs everywhere, so I knew one of the new queens had successfully returned from her mating flights. This Friday's inspection also indicated that most of the swarm cells had been torn down from the sides. I'm led to believe that this colony superseded the queen since the population doesn't seem to be much different than it was when the marked queen was here. I'm also interested to see what these bees will look like. And this colony was a gentle as lambs too.

After inspecting everything, I added a hive-top feeder to the blue hive, a second deep chamber and syrup for the yellow hive, then closed it all up. The orange hive will have a super of honey ready soon, and that may be all I get this year. While I haven't gotten a lot of honey from my bees, the peace I get from working with them is my satisfaction. Plus hearing the remarks from my neighbors that their gardens are doing the best ever since I brought bees here (and them giving me some of their surplus too) is a big payoff. In their own way, the bees are helping the neighbors and me too. I'm happy with that!

Until next time, fellow beekeepers!

My new swarm colony from Danville is doing GREAT!

2011-05-28T03:11:00.000-04:00

The Danville, Virginia, swarm that I caught a little over a week ago is doing really well. I admit that I was a little worried after this catch. After all, in just one day they landed on a stake, then I placed them in a cardboard nuc, moved them to North Carolina at night, then kept them in my storage building overnight. The first thing on my mind when I woke up the next day was getting those bees in a permanent hive - then pray they would stay put.

As soon as it warmed up some (and I had a couple of cups of coffee), I got everything ready. That included putting the feeder on the front and getting the frames inside the hive so the bees could start building their new home. I added some clean "used" frames (ones that came from a previous colony which had been scraped clean) along with brand new frames sprayed with sugar syrup. With everything set up, all I would have to do now would be to move the frames out of the cardboard nuc to the new blue hive.

Here are the bees after I added them to the hive. The white, plastic frames are the ones that were inside the cardboard nuc. When I opened the nuc to remove the frames, the bees were extremely calm and very few of them flew around. Unfortunately I didn't see a queen, but based on their very calm demeanor, I believe the queen was in residence anyway. As soon as I got the bees settled into the new hive, I started to shut everything up.

Here you see the new colony as they get their bearings. Once I got the inner cover on the hive, the girls started peeking out. While this was probably a good sign, I was also a little apprehensive that they could still be in swarm mode. So I hurried to get everything shut up so they could settle down. I put the hive top on and covered it with a paving stone to weigh it down so the wind won't blow it off in a storm. Oh, and I kept my fingers crossed all day that they would stay put!

I went back about a half-hour later and found that the girls were already flying some. And oddly enough, they ventured out and took to the air faster than the colony I bought from Dadant. Before I left for work later in the afternoon, I noticed that air bubbles were rising in the feeder bottle every few minutes, so I knew they were taking the sugar syrup. And now, a little over a week later, they're taking one bottle of sugar syrup per day.

With the addition of the Danville bees, I now have four colonies in my back yard apiary. The Danville bees occupy the blue hive, the package from Dadant is in the yellow hive, and the green and orange hives are last year's stock. But there may be some news as far as the green and orange hives. With spring came the abundance of swarm cells in both hives, and I can't find my marked queens from 2010. I saw a new queen in the orange hive weeks ago, and now I'm finding frame after frame of eggs, larvae and capped brood. The green hive may be in trouble, but I'm working with them and hope to have good news soon. More on those hives later!

Once again I would like to thank the Jacob, Barbara and Kimberly Hairston of Danville for helping to save another colony of bees! Good job!

Bee vigilent everybody!

Got my first (and only) swarm this year thanks to a Virginia family!

2011-05-23T08:00:00.034-04:00

So far this has been a slow year for me getting calls about honeybee swarms. Although I've talked about the swarm season on my television shows, and even advertised my website through Facebook, I've only had a few nibbles. And most of those were from people who had bees in precarious places like the walls of their houses or chimneys. Last year I had all sorts of swarm sightings reported to me, but this year, it has been a little slow. I was beginning to think the bees had let the swarm season pass..at least in my case anyway.

That all changed this past Wednesday, May 18th. I received a text message and phone call from a coworker, Bruce Hedrick, who said that a lady called our office in Danville, Virginia, and said a swarm of bees landed at her house. I called her and spoke with a very nice lady named Barbara who said that the bees were on a stake in her yard and close to the ground. She told me the bees must have landed there Tuesday or earlier that morning and they were still there. When she told me that the bees were close to the ground, I became concerned that they may not be honey bees at all and could be yellow jackets instead. To help me decide the identity, honey bees versus yellow jackets, Barbara said that her daughter could send me a picture with her cell phone. So and after a few minutes, I got the picture and sure enough they were honey bees. So Barbara and I talked again and I told her I would be on the way to her house. So I packed up my overalls, a spray bottle of 1:1 sugar syrup, and a cardboard "nuc" and then I headed north to Danville.

When I got there after the 24 mile trip, sure enough the bees were waiting for me at the edge of the yard. They were so gentle that I stood really close to them and they didn't even budge. I met with Barbara who told me that recently her family noticed that honey bees were drinking from the birdbath in her front yard, so that led me to believe that the colony was fairly close before they swarmed. And with Wednesday being the first really sunny day without rain in about a week, the bees knew it was time to hit the road. So I suited up, soaked the bees with the sugar syrup, then I gently pulled the stake out of the ground. All I had to do at that point was gently shake the bees off the stake and they plopped right into the nuc. It was a very easy job!

Some of the bees that were on the ground near the bottom of the stake were still in the grass. But once the bees in the nuc got their bearings after being plopped in the box, it didn't take long for them to come out of the hole and start fanning their scent into the air. Of course that attracted their sisters to come inside, and that's when a mini parade began towards the entrance. I stayed for a little while to make sure everything was okay and secure the box, then I told Barbara I would come by around nightfall and collect the nuc while all of the bees were inside.

So once it started to get dark, I went back to Virginia to get the bees. Once I arrived and suited up, I slowly opened the top of the nuc and found a box full of honey bees. After one last stray bee made her way inside, I put the plastic cap on the entrance and taped the top on the box to make sure the lid wouldn't come off while I'm traveling back home. The bees were lively inside the temporary hive, and as soon as I picked it up -- they started making the steady hum of an active colony.

After I loaded the bees in the truck, I stayed for a few minutes and talked to Barbara and her husband and daughter. In the front of me is the bird bath that Barbara told me acted as the watering source for the bees. Apparently the bees would fly to the bird bath and sit on the edge and drink the water that would collect there. Knowing that bees will usually go to the closest water source, that's what led me to believe that the colony was housed somewhere close by.

Meet the Hairston family. That's Jacob, Barbara in the middle, and Kimberly, their daughter. Barbara told me that they knew I kept bees because they've heard me talking about it on my television shows. And I also found out that Kimberly found my blog and website so she did some reading up on beekeeping and swarms. The Hairstons are extremely nice people who decided to help save the honey bees by calling a beekeeper. And I just happened to be the lucky beekeeper who got the call to go to their house. It was a pleasure meeting them and I hope to see them again soon. Thanks again for helping the bees, and thanks to Kim for the pictures of me picking up the bees!

I got the bees home and kept them in my storage building overnight. Then on Thursday morning, I hived them. More on that (complete with pictures) in my next post. But so far, so good.

Calling Ranger Smith! Yogi Bear raids a bee hive in my county!

2011-05-21T00:44:00.000-04:00

Not so long ago, I read a news report that said the bears are now waking from their long winter slumbers. And like many humans, they probably wake up, mmmm, hungry as a bear! That means they get up, yawn, scratch themselves some, then decide to scrounge around for something to eat. I think bears are like a lot of humans. They're not always particular what they eat. You know how it goes; you wake up and in a fit of hunger, then you eat the first thing you find.

But the last thing most humans would do would be to raid a bee hive with thousands of angry and confused bees. Bears? They're not so particular.

Just this week I read that my friends Jessica and Glenn over at The Beneficial Bee had their bee hive ravaged by a bear. And then tonight one of our local television stations reported that a bear got into a local beekeepers hive in Madison, North Carolina.

While the town of Madison is rather rural and almost 19 miles from me on the other side of the county, its still a little close for any kind of bear sightings. Especially when they're getting into bee hives!

I guess I'm thankful I live in a bigger city in the county and my bee hives are behind my house. But to be honest, I've seen a bunch of deer in my neighbor's yard at their apple tree, so I guess that's no guarantee that a bear wouldn't wander around here too.

So like Ranger Smith keeping an eye out for Yogi Bear and Boo Boo as they try to snatch a "pic-a-nic" basket -- I guess all of us Rockingham County beekeepers will have to keep a closer eye on all of our bee hives.

I'll be happy if the bears will just stay in Jellystone Park!

Here's the story that was broadcast on our local Fox affiliate, WGHP!

Here we go again? Scientist claims cell phones to blame for bee deaths...

2011-05-18T02:05:00.001-04:00

Mark's note: Greetings fellow beekeepers! While I think I'm pretty open to the various theories of Colony Collapse Disorder, I'm not so sure that I buy the cell phone theory as the cause. Several years ago, this theory made the rounds and was later debunked by scientists as complete hogwash. But now there appears to be a new cell phone/CCD theory making the rounds thanks to Dr. Daniel Favre who previously worked as a biologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Now he claims that his study shows that an active cellular phone disturbs bees. The reason I don't necessarily buy it is because in my years of working in radio and television broadcasting, I've noticed that some insects like wasps and hornets seem to be attracted to the signals emitted from transmitters. While I'm not a broadcasting engineer, my own eyes have spotted countless wasp and hornet nests around the "dog houses" that encase AM/FM/TV transmitters and antenna equipment. Even a good friend of mine, who is a broadcast engineer, said that he's noticed throughout his career how they're attracted to the signals. And even though cellular signals are different than AM/FM/TV broadcast signals, I just don't believe that cell phones are driving bees away from their hives. For right now, I lean towards the chemical poisoning theory and believe that bees are bringing something home (which they share) and that causes the bees to leave and forget how to find their way back. But of course, I could be wrong. Anyway, now that I've finished my stand on the soapbox, now its your turn to read the article and decide for yourself. The article appeared in "The Daily Mail" (United Kingdom) with reader comments afterward. Be prepared, many of those that posted their own comments aren't buying the theory either. -Mark

Why a mobile phone ring may make bees buzz off: Insects infuriated by handset signals
By David Derbyshire

Signals from mobile phones could be partly to blame for the mysterious deaths of honeybees, new research shows.

In the first experiment of its kind, a bee expert placed a mobile phone underneath a hive and then carefully monitored the reaction of the workers.

The bees were able to tell when the handsets were making and receiving calls, and responded by making the high pitched squeaks that usually signal the start of swarming.

Dr Daniel Favre, who carried out the experiment, believes signals from mobile phones and masts could be contributing to the decline of honeybees and called for more research.

But British bee experts say there is still no evidence that mobile phones posed a risk.

They blame the vanishing honeybees on changes in farming, the decline of wild flowers and pesticides.

The number of honeybees in the UK has halved in the last 25 years while in America bees have been badly hit by 'colony collapse disorder' - the sudden disappearance of entire colonies over winter.

Experts say bees have been badly hit by the varroa mite, a blood-sucking parasite that makes colonies vulnerable to disease, freak weather or poisoning.

Some experts say the latest generation of pesticides may disrupt the nervous systems of bees, causing them to get lost and confused.

And most bee experts say the creatures are suffering from the loss of wild flowers, meadows, rough pasture and untidy gardens.

However, a handful of experts say mobile phones could also be partly to blame.

Dr Favre, a teacher who previously worked as a biologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, said: 'This study shows that the presence of an active mobile phone disturbs bees - and has a dramatic effect.'

He placed two mobile phones under a beehive and recorded the high pitched calls made by the bees when the handsets were switched off, placed on stand-by and activated.

Around 20 to 40 minutes after the phones were activated, the bees began to emit "piping" calls - a series of high pitched squeaks that announce the start of swarming.

Within two minutes of the phone call ending, the worker bees calmed down.

In the study, the bees did not swarm - even after 20 hours' exposure to mobile phone signals. However, the onset of unexpected swarming triggered by mobile phone signals could have 'dramatic consequences in terms of colony losses', Dr Favre reports in the bee keeping journal Apidologie.

The study did not show that mobile phones were deadly for bees, he said.

"But one hypothesis is that electromagnetic fields could be contributing to the disappearance of bee colonies around the world," he added.

But British bee expert Norman Carreck of Sussex University said: 'It's an interesting study but it doesn't prove that mobile phones are responsible for colony collapse disorder. If you physically knock a hive, or open one up to examine it, it has the same result.

'And in America many cases of colony collapse disorder have taken place in remote areas far from any mobile phone signals.'

You can read reader reactions here.

In case you need a chuckle...

2011-05-10T08:45:00.000-04:00

Here's my brand new three hive stand!

2011-04-28T14:08:00.001-04:00

So it was in March that I ordered a new custom built hive stand from a local welding and machine shop. With my backyard apiary expanding (the girls are doing it on their own) - I had to order a durable stand that could hold multiple hives. With the help of Wesley Amos of Amos Welding and Machine Shop in Reidsville, we put our heads together to come up with a large enough stand to hold multiple hives and stand up against time and the elements. Wesley built my first hive stand two years ago, so I knew he was up to the task. This new hive stand will hold three booming colonies.

This past weekend was nice enough that I could get out and get my new stand ready. So with brush and roller in hand, I made sure there were no rust posts anywhere, then applied multiple coats of Rustoleum paint to seal the surface. I used the same paint on my first stand, which holds two hives, and with the exception of a few minor spots thats popped up in two years, the metal paint works like a charm.

Once the paint was fully dry, the task was to dig the eight holes to plant the legs in the ground. Each leg has a "foot" or metal plate on the bottom to keep it from sinking deeper into the soil, but to keep it from sinking at all, I poured Quikrete (concrete) around the legs and let it set for 24 hours to make sure it cured. After the concrete is cured and hardened, you can then put the dirt back to fill in the holes.

Let me add that you need to use a carpenter's level to make sure everything is..level. You want a slight decline in the front so any water from rain or snow or hive moisture will drip out the front and stay out of the hive. Other than the slight decline in the front, the stand is level side-to-side. That took me awhile to get it that way since the stand is so wide, but once I finally got it set, I poured the Quikrete around the legs and then the water and left it alone.

Once the concrete set up and the dirt was filled in, it was time to move my first hive to its new home. Since the yellow hive had a brand new package of bees who were basically building comb and little else, I decided to move them. I picked up the light hive and made the short trip to its new home. When I first hived this colony, I used a solid wood bottom board, but really like using screened bottom board. So I moved the hive, transferred the frames over to the second yellow hive body, and got ready to close eveything back up and leave the girls alone. After all, they already had a busy week of being hived and now moving to a new location. Talk about confusing!

Being that the girls were moved, and thinking that some of the foragers may be confused, I placed a piece of bamboo over the entrance. That's so they would re-orient themselves to their new location. And to catch any that may have gone to the old location, I put a carboard nuc there and sure enough, I caught about a handful of them and took them over to their new abode. The "obstruction over the entrance" trick works. I've used it a couple of times with great success. It forces the foragers to re-orient themselves to the area (after all..there wasn't a tree in the front door before) -- so chances are they will find their way back home. Try it if you have to move a hive.

So here it is, my new three hive stand. You can see that its close enough to my other hives so I can just go back and forth when needed. That should really come in handy when having to transfer frames and supplies between hives. And its very close to my storage building where I keep all my beekeeping supplies. I intentionally set it at an angle to keep the bees from the green and orange hive from slamming into the new bees when crossing flight paths. Will it work? I don't know, but in my head it will. Guess we'll see!

Here's the dimensions of my new hive stand. Remember it will hold three hives (especially heavy hives in winter when packed with honey). Each hive will sit in a 2 foot by 2-1/2 foot square on top of the stand.

Side to side length: 6 feet wide
Depth: 2-1/2 feet deep
Leg length: 24 inches (I bury mine. You could make them shorter.)
Top: Heavy gauge grated steel mesh (Proper ventilation.)
Body: Heavy gauge angled steel
Construction: Welded
Paint: Rustoleum

Feel free to use my plans or tailor them for your own bee yard. And happy beekeeping my friends!

More coming on my adventures with a "piping" queen in my own hive!

Waste not, want not (especially syrup spills)..

2011-04-27T08:01:00.002-04:00

Never let it be said that bees will waste a free trip to the snack bar. While filling up the Boardman feeder for my new package of bees, I accidentally spilled some sugar syrup on top of one of the hives. And when I turned around, some of the ladies were already working on the cleanup detail. Glad they could get to it before the ants did.

Georgia bees find a new home in the Tarheel state!

2011-04-21T23:03:00.003-04:00

The first "bee day" arrived on Monday, April 18th, at Dadant & Sons in Chatham, Virginia. Actually the first shipment of bees ended up being a week late, but that wasn't a problem for me since I had some things to get ready anyway. So Monday came, and with receipt in hand, I headed north for 44.5 miles to Dadant to pick up my new bees. Once I arrived, the staff handed me a really healthy looking 3-pound package of golden yellow honeybees. A loud, buzzing box of bees! Mine was just one of around 550 packages that arrived in Chatham from an apiary in Georgia. Knowing that they were stressed from the long ride through four states and they were probably thirsty, I rushed them to my house back across the North Carolina line to get them to their permanent home.

To help them settle down, I kept the package in my garage overnight, and I occasionally misted the package with water from a spray bottle to keep the ladies refreshed. And I have to admit that it was hard to sleep Monday night because I was excited to finally get my new bees in the home. So Tuesday finally came and it was beautiful! It was the perfect day to install my new package at their final destination. And although I have a brand new hive still in the box, I decided to recycle the yellow hive which held my first ever colony of bees.

Like all packages, the queen came in her own cage complete with attendants. Unlike my other queens, ths one wasn't marked, but she was easy to spot among all her daughters. After popping off the cork that protects the fluffy, white candy, I took a small nail and punctured the candy to make it easier for the bees to access. And while I was getting everything ready, a passing bee dropped by to meet her new neighbors. There you see her as she pays a visit.

Since there was no wax to embed the cage in, I snugly wedged it between the tops of two frames. The screened side of the cage is facing down (which allows the bees to feed the queen and her attendants too) and it is slightly pointed downward. That's so the queen can simply walk out when she's released. I've also been told to never point the candy end completely down (vertically) because if the attendants should die in the cage, they may jam the hole and the queen will not be able to get out. I have used this same method before on two other occasions and it works just fine.

After the queen was put into place, I gave the bees a good spritzing with sugar syrup, then poured them over the queen and into the empty hive. The bees began making a higher pitched humming, and what bees didn't end up in the hive, soon became a cloud over the hive. Although I've seen it before, it was amazing to watch the bees as they started a slow, steady march in between the frames in the hive. It didn't take long before all the bees you see in the picture started covering the frames.

Although I planned to use my Boardman feeder anyway, I also decided to use the can of sugar syrup that came with the bee package. After all, it seemed almost full so why waste it? So I grabbed up a shallow super to hold the can and I placed it to the side of the hive. That's so the bees could easily access it and not pile up around or near the queen who is closer to the middle of the hive. Plus I don't want to disturb the bees who are eating their way to free their queen. The Boardman feeder is on the opposite side and on the front of the hive.

Take a look at the girls as the aclimate themselves in their new home. It didn't take long before I noticed the girls fanning their scent to the outside to guide any strays to their location. And not long after that, I noticed a few as they flew from the hive, made their lazy back and forth motions in front of it, then up and round and round to orient themselves to the area. Then a few hours later, I noticed bubbles as they occasionally rose to the top of the quart jar full of sugar syrup. It seemed that the bees had already started working to get their new abode ready.

Two days later, it seems the bees are doing fine. I went down and stood nearby and watched them fly to and from their home during the afternoon sun. While its nowhere as busy as the other two hives (which have swarm cells in them as of now..more on that later) - I know that its just a matter of time before the old yellow hive, which fell silent this past winter, will soon resonate with the sounds of a lively box of bustling bees, the sweet sound that eminates from a happy hive. Needless to say, there's nothing quite like it.

Note to my fellow beekeepers: Just a reminder to ALWAYS make sure that you're dealing with a reputable apiary when you buy package bees from out of state. Without a doubt, I knew when I ordered a package through Dadant and Sons that I would end up with a top quality package. That's why I didn't hesitate in the least to order one through them and I'm very satisfied. But that wasn't the case with my first ever package of bees which I ordered from a beekeeper in Georgia several years ago. Without going into a lot of details, the website for this so-called apiary looked very professional and this beekeeper's previous online ratings were very good. But after I got "stung" by the guy when most of my bees arrived dead, then he refused to answer my phone calls and emails, I found out he was wasn't anywhere close to being a professional businessman. In addition to my hard earned money, he took a lot of other people's hard earned money. I wasn't the only person he refused to respond to. He also refused to respond to all the others that bought bees from him which ended up dead on their doorsteps. When he did respond, he said he would "make it right" -- but he never did. Digging further, I found out that the Sheriff's Office in his home county knew him well and a ranking officer told me that he's a regular in their civil process service division. Needless to say, all of his "customers" got screwed. So please, take my advice. Make sure that you check the reputation of an out-of-state apiary or beekeeper before you do business with them. There are a lot of great people who are dedicated to customer satisfaction, and then there are those out to make a fast buck. Always know what you're buying and who you're buying from. Whatever you do, do your research and don't become a victim.

Happy beekeeping!

What was beekeeping like in 1951? Check this out!

2011-04-02T12:21:00.004-04:00

This is a re-post, but many of you that just started following my blog have probably never seen this.

The educational movie we're about to see goes back to 1951. It is titled "Bee City" and its narrated by John Francis Kieran who was an American author, journalist, amateur naturalist and radio and television personality.

While it has an almost spooky appearance at times, and Kieran almost appears to ramble through his narration, he does a pretty good job of explaining how a bee colony works.

While the production values are seriously dated, the information the film contains is about as current as it gets.

So butter the popcorn, break out the beverages, and gather the friends and family around for "Bee City" -- and feel free to take notes if needed!

Help other beekeepers! Take these two surveys for BeeInformed.org

2011-04-02T01:41:00.003-04:00

BeeInformed.org would like all U.S. beekeepers to take two short surveys. One of the surveys deals with winter losses, and the other deals with management practices for the past year. The information gathered by these surveys are for research purposes and hopefully help all of us to be better beekeepers.

If you plan to participate in the surveys, you must do so before April 18th.

I took both surveys and it took around 20 minutes. And the questions were quite enjoyable (but maybe that's because I enjoy beekeeping).

Dear Beekeeper:

We need your help. Please take 20 minutes out of your busy day to complete these two surveys. Both surveys are only open from 1 April through 18 April 2011.

The Winter Loss Survey can be found here and should take less than five minutes.

The Past Year Management Survey can be found here and should take less than 15 minutes.

The purpose of the Bee Informed Partnership is to use beekeepers' real world experiences to help solve beekeepers' real world problems. We will use the data generated from these two surveys to help you decide which management practices are best for beekeepers like you, who live where you do and have operations similar to yours. For this to work, we need as many participants as possible...so please take the time to fill out the questionnaire and SEND THIS EMAIL TO ALL THE BEEKEEPERS YOU KNOW asking them to fill out these questionnaires too.

Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us at askbeeinformed@gmail.com or call us at 443.296.2470.

You can learn more about the Bee Informed Partnership at beeinformed.org.

BE INVOLVED, BE INCLUDED, BEE INFORMED.

Thank you.

The Bee Informed Partnership Team

New equipment for an expanding apiary!

2011-03-28T06:01:00.000-04:00

Tis the season for beekeeping equipment. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to pick up a couple more complete hives to add to my backyard apiary. And to hold my new colonies, I just received my custom-built, all steel, three hive stand. It was built by a local welding shop, Amos Welding, and built to my specifications. Its 6 feet wide, 2 1/2 feet deep, and sits 24 inches off the ground. Click on the picture and you can see the heavy duty screen that covers the top (which combined with screened bottom board will aid in ventilation), and the legs have "feet" on the bottoms to keep them from sinking into the ground. The steel is heavy grade so it will safely hold the hives..even at their heaviest when full of honey honey in the fall.

Once it receives two coats of metal paint, I'll locate it at the back of my property and in close proximity to my current hives. I'll use post-hole diggers to plant the legs in the ground, then once its leveled, I'll use some Quikrete to secure the stand. Once it sets, I'll be able to locate my new colonies at their new home.

I have to have everything ready by April 11th when my new 3-pound package of bees arrives at Dadant and Sons. That will take one space. Then I'll use another space when I split the orange hive. Then the third will be ready to go for any swarms I may catch this spring. And if I get more swarms, I'm already thinking about alternate locations. After all, I have to keep the neighbors happy too!

Winter just doesn't want to leave...

2011-03-26T18:50:00.000-04:00

This past Monday the high temperature here was 84 degrees and the bees couldn't stop bringing in the pollen. And now the various forecasts are calling for the possibility of snow here Sunday and Monday.

Winter truly doesn't want to let go even though the calendar says it is officially spring.

Recent visit to the hives (and a friendly word of warning)...

2011-03-22T08:01:00.004-04:00

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of weeks. While March can come in like a lion and leave like a lamb, most of this month has been worthy of all the lambs in North Carolina. As you can see, the flowers are blooming and the trees are budding. Here you can see the Bradford pear trees at my house as they open and show their blooms.

This past Friday, the temperature made it to a balmy 80 degrees, perfect weather for foraging for pollen. Here you can see the girls in the orange hive as they come and go from their home. Deciding that it was nice enough to fully open up the entrance to the hive, I removed the wooden reducers to give the girls plenty of room to some and go. While the holes are small enough to keep mice out, they also create traffic jams for the girls coming and going.

Here the girls have all the room they need to come and go. This was just after I fully opened the entrance. While I had the hive open, I scraped all the burr comb off, and I added a green drone frame to keep the burr comb down to a minimum. I also put a honey super on to keep the girls busy. The bees are bringing in all sorts of pollen, so I know they'll soon fill up the brood nest with honey. So now they can go to work filling the honey super.

The ladies that inhabit the green hive were not to be undone when it came to foraging. Actually, the bees in this hive seemed to bring in more pollen than the orange hive. I could see that the bees were having to wait to get inside the hive, so I also took the entrance reducer off this one too.

Take a look now that the entrance reducer is gone. And if you click on the picture, you can actually see the different kinds of pollen that the bees found on their foraging trips. I found bees bringing in bright orange pollen and a pale green pollen too. The dandelions are in full bloom as well as all sorts of trees and bushes. If they're finding this much pollen already, I can only imagine what they'll find in a few weeks when the pollen hits full force.

As I mentioned earlier, I added a honey super to the orange hive. Because the green hive is slower, I didn't add a honey super to it, and that's because I don't want to stress them. The good news though, the queen in the green hive is working. I found four frames of capped brood and freshly laid eggs so the queen is alive and well. Once I see more honey production in the green hive, I'll add a super to it as well.

The ladies in the green hive came to the top of the frames to see what all the commotion was about. Since it was just me, they went right back to work and forgot about me. Unlike the orange hive, I haven't had to smoke this colony quite as much to work with them. While the orange hive is full of bees, this one is a little slower and their numbers lower. But with the queen laying a good pattern, I think it won't be long before this hive will be teaming like their next door neighbors.

A WORD TO THE WISE: This is the time of year when the grass and weeds start to grow. Many of you are like me and prefer to keep a neat bee yard, and that means keeping the grass down. Always remember to be careful and protect yourselves when mowing or trimming around bee hives. I always prefer to wear a veil and gloves or my overalls to work around my bees, especially with a lawn mower or Weedeater. Bees can easily become agitated by the vibration, the exhaust, fast movements and flying grass. And of course, when they become agitated, their behavior can become completely unpredictable -- but chances are they will go on the defense. This past Saturday, while mowing with the riding mower, my bees went into a frenzy because I made a fast, close sweep by the hives and they followed me to the street. I should have known better..but I was in a hurry. Most of the time I make slow motions with the push mower while trimming close to the hives, but I was trying to save time and that turned into a mistake. Luckily I didn't get stung. But next time I might not be so lucky. So remember, when you're mowing close to your hives, take your time and mind what you're doing. My neighbors chuckle when they see me in full gear while mowing near my bees, but I'd rather be the butt of their jokes than picking stingers out of my butt (or my head or somewhere else) while trying to be bold. We all have to remember that bees are wild and we have to respect that. When they go on the defense, that's their instinct. You can never predict what they're going to do, and yes, that includes even the gentlest of bees. Happy bees mean happy beekeepers. Remember friends, its better to be safe than sorry!

Bee good everybody!

Carrying on a family tradition: Beekeeping

2011-03-06T17:24:00.000-05:00

By Rachael Wright
Contributing Writer
News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
March 6, 2011

In the photo: James Wilkes (left) takes frames of honey out to explain the process to a professor from Appalachian State University as his son, Sullivan, watches.Courtesy of James Wilkes.

Mark Martin and James Wilkes are passionate and deeply involved in the adventure of beekeeping. Martin even calls his worker bees and the Queen bee in his hive “the girls.” The two men’s work in apiculture, or beekeeping, is as important as saving the rites of spring.

Wilkes, professor and chairman of the computer science department at Appalachian State University in Boone, grew up with bees in his backyard on Moir Street in Eden. His dad, Bob Wilkes, began keeping beehives a few years before Wilkes’ birth. Wilkes learned all the skills, terminology and discipline of beekeeping at a young age from his father, a beloved Eden educator.

Martin received his first beehive as a Christmas gift from his wife, Teresa, after they bought land on Roberts Road off N.C. 770. Martin had finished his Navy duty by then and had returned to his hometown. The Martins bought 3 acres — enough for fields of flowers, a garden, a greenhouse and the bee yard.

Three more beehives now sit in their lower front yard as sisters to the first hive in the back. Martin counted on the close-knit community of the Rockingham County Beekeeping Association to help him set up his hive. Bill Waddel is a friend and mentor to Martin.

In 2006, colony collapse disorder was first noticed, and ever since bees have been vanishing from many states and elsewhere in the world.

“The media jumped on the story of the disappearing bees, and people thought the world would come to an end,” Wilkes said. “With no bees, there is no pollination. Without pollination, there would be no fruits, nuts or vegetables.”

Although there has been no single cause attributed to the devastation of the bee population, research is being done to find a reason, Wilkes says.

Martin describes the heartbreak of opening a hive and instead of finding thousands of bees, finding only a few.

Varroa mites are particularly deadly because they enter the abdomen of the bee and are hard to see. Other mites, beetles and diseases plague the hives and the beekeepers. Colony collapse disorder is perhaps the most dreaded.

Even Albert Einstein worried about bees. Rachel Carson’s 1960 “Silent Spring,” a groundbreaking study about the evils of using pesticides in farming and gardening, initiated a burst of environmental laws and research.

Martin is a crusader for helping bees. He encourages people to plant bee-friendly plants and flowers and to set out water for bees.

Martin often sees bees encircling his birdbath. He hopes that gardeners will think twice before using pesticides. If pesticides are used, he suggests spraying in the late afternoon. Bees will take the toxic pesticide from a blooming flower to its hive.

Martin’s descriptions of the life and care of bees make it hard to believe that beekeeping is only a hobby. He is employed at Dixie Sales in Greensboro and also operates a landscaping business from his home.

Wilkes inherited three hives from his father in 2000. Now, he has 75 hives on his farm in Creston. He leases one-third of his hives and splits the honey harvest with the leasers. His older sons, Galen and Sullivan, are already involved in keeping bees and selling honey at the Watauga Farmer’s Market in Boone on Saturdays from April to October.

On the family farm, the brothers help their dad with the beehives. They are learning beekeeping: the fascination of bees, smoking the hive to calm the bees to be able to work with them, catching swarms that have left a crowded hive to find another home in the springtime, observing Wilkes extracting the honey from the centrifugal honey extractor and, as Wilkes says, “trying to figure it (beekeeping) out.”

Busy bees and getting ready for spring!

2011-02-28T23:50:00.000-05:00

With the weather 76 degrees on Sunday, I knew it was time to do an in-depth inspection of my two surviving colonies, the first real inspection of 2011. When I opened the orange hive, I noticed what looked like a tower of bees over the frames in the top chamber. The bees, in their quest to go higher, had started building comb up to fill the space where the shallow super sets and where the bee candy was located. That was my cue to reverse the hive boxes to put the brood nest together and move some frames around to give the queen room to lay.

As I got down into the frames, here's what I found. As you can see, the queen is already busy laying. I found capped brood and larvae all through the frames scattered around the hive, so she's been all over the place. I decided to move the brood frames together in the bottom chamber, while moving the honey frames to the top chamber. This should remedy the urge for them to build up and over the top frames. I didn't see eggs this trip, but I'm very confident the queen is in residence.

Take a look at this frame from the orange hive. You can see that the queen is laying all through the frames, even those that have honey at the top. As I mentioned earlier, I took all of the frames that held brood and combined them in the bottom chamber, then moved the honey frames together at the top. While March weather can be fickle, the long term forecast for my area doesn't show any really severe winter weather, so I think they should be okay. By the way, the orange hive is full of bees. With the warm snap, I figured they will get the urge to build swarm cells soon. Now I'll have to keep an eye on this colony and do a split when I can get my hands on a new queen.

Here is a frame from the green hive. I only found two frames with a small brood pattern, so its obvious that this queen is behind her sister queen in the orange hive. This queen, while robust when she first arrived, has been much slower than the other two colonies. But I have to give her credit that she's kep this colony going although the numbers are much lower than the other hives. I am considering replacing her with a Minnesota Hygienic and using this queen for a nuc. I honestly believe that she can't produce enough to keep the colony going full force, and if I don't replace her, the bees will.

Deciding that I need to "beef up" the green colony, I took one of the many frames of brood from the orange hive, and put it in the green one. I thoroughly shook every bee from the frame and then moved it over to the neighboring hive. The bees in the green hive were still in the bottom chamber with the brood, and there was plenty of honey at the top. Unlike the orange hive, I did not alternate the boxes in the green hive. Instead, I moved all the brood frames together in the lower deep -- adding the frame from the orange hive as a supplement. Now this should help the numbers in the green hive, and I can move more frames from the orange hive as needed.

Once I moved the brood frames together in the bottom deep, you can see that the bees congregated there. And I replaced some of the frames that were above them and unfinished with drawn comb from the yellow dead-out hive. And I have drawn frames that I'll use for my package coming from Dadant this April. It will just be less work for them when they get here and make their home in the yellow hive.

After putting both hives back together, I slid the orange hive over to where the yellow one sat. The returning foragers did a fine job of finding their way home. That's because the bees stood at the entrance and fanned their scent outward to their returning sisters. When I checked a little later, not one single bee was on the concrete blocks wondering where their home went. Overall it was a successful inspection, and I'll keep a check over the next month to watch for swarming indicators. Hopefully I'll be able to make a split before the ladies hit the road on their own!

Bee safe!

Anatomy of a dead hive...

2011-02-18T01:01:00.002-05:00

If you read my last post, you saw that my big mother hive, the yellow hive, died without warning. I was suspicious that the colony died of starvation, but wouldn't know until I did a thorough exam of the inside. So with the weather being in the 60s for the last few days, I decided to take the hive apart to see what I could find. And sadly, what I found confirmed my suspicions.

But before I get too far ahead of myself, let me say that just the other day, I noticed quite a few bees flying in and out of the big yellow hive. I started to question if the bees in the yellow hive were really dead or if they were just cold and in some type of suspended animation. Maybe the warmth had stirred them from their slumber and they were now alert and back to being honey bees? But sadly, I learned that I was right all along and the colony really was dead after all.

As you can see in the picture above, there is plenty of honey left in the yellow hive. You can see where the bees ate their way along the honey frame from the bottom. And the two surviving hives, the orange and the lime, knew there was honey here. The bees I saw flying in and out of the yellow hive were robber bees from the neighboring hives who knew that a honey gold mine lay next door. It was easy to tell they were mine because the robbers were darker Carniolans, while the deceased inhabitants of this hive were yellowish colored Italians.

Here is the frame where I found the dead cluster. Looks are deceiving. While they look alive and just standing there, they're very much dead. Its as if they just died where they stood...frozen in time forever. When I raked the dead bees away, you could see dead bees inside the cells, head down, trying to get food. While there was plenty of food in several of the frames all around them, and candy patties just above them, they didn't move because of the cold and that caused them to starve to death.

The dead monarch lies among her daughters. You can see the dead queen here, easily identified by the green dot on her back (indicating she was of 2009 stock). This cluster on the left was in the same clump of bees as above but they were on the opposite frame. As you can see, the queen was in the middle of the mass and died where she stood along with her daughters. I will miss this queen and wish all of mine were of the same dynamic quality she was. As I mentioned before, she was a terrific layer and kept this colony going with beautiful brood frames ever since arriving in 2009.

A sure sign that the colony starved. Here you can see that the bees, trying to get food from the cells, died head down. These bees were covered by the bodies of their sisters who died where they stood. It baffles me that the bees didn't move over one frame where lots of honey waited for them. Instead, they died trying to get what was left out of these cells. I didn't try to remove the bodies from the cells and will leave that for next colony that moves in the yellow hive weeks from now.

The good news, I have a package of bees coming from Mark Bennett at the Chatham, Virginia, branch of Dadant and Sons in early April. With the frames in the yellow hive already drawn with wax, and honey still available too, it will give the new colony a leg up on establishing themselves. And I plan to split the orange hive this spring too, so I should have plenty to keep me busy.

Until next time, "bee" vigilent in keeping your colonies alive until the spring thaw which I hope is very soon. Until then, you have my very best wishes!

The silence of the hive...

2011-02-08T13:58:00.001-05:00

The yellow hive is silent. That's because all life inside her has ceased. Suddenly and without warning, all of the life and activity that makes a honey bee colony exciting came to a cruel and abrupt end. And I've thought about it extensively since I discovered it days ago. Needless to say, it has broken my heart.

Last Thursday night, I decided to go check the hives by "listening" to them. As many old-time beekeepers will tell you, you may not see a lot of activity around a hive in winter, but you can always listen for life inside. While many beeks will put their ear to the hive and tap the sides it to arouse the colony, I use a medical stethoscope instead. Just as a doctor will listen for signs of life through his stethoscope, I listen for life with mine too. The stethoscope works well because you can put it all on the sides of the hive and better find where the colony is positioned. Plus you don't have to do all of that bending and stooping to put your ear to the boxes.

I listened to the orange hive first and heard the distinct sounds of buzzing inside the top brood chamber. Then I moved to the green hive, and while not as loud, I could hear the bees in the top box. But when I moved to the yellow hive, the strongest colony in my yard, I could find no sounds anywhere. I moved the scope to the sides and the front and back, and no matter where I moved it, there was no noise of any kind. That's when I immediately knew that something was seriously wrong.

Not being able to stand it, I carefully opened the top of the hive...and my heart sank. I could see dead bees all in the bottom, and a small cluster in the middle of the frames at the top -- all dead. There were no bees anywhere else. Trying not to panic, and thinking they may be so cold they couldn't move, I closed the top and went inside the house. But in my heart, I knew they were all dead. I was so upset that I sent my friend Jared a text message with the news. I guess I just had to tell to someone. After we talked, I decided that I would check on the next warm day which would be over the weekend. The forecast was calling for temperatures in the low 50s, so I knew I would get the chance to look inside.

On Sunday, the temperature rose to 54 degrees, so I went out to look further. My suspicions were correct, the colony was dead..I only found one lone bee crawling around between the frames. While I didn't dismantle the hive because I want to do a more intense examination later, I could see that they apparently starved to death. The honey was gone from the middle frames while there was honey left in the frames to the sides. And while there was a candy pattie directly above them, they didn't move one inch from the cluster, so they apparently starved. It was the saddest sight I've seen in my beekeeping experience.

This was my first colony of bees. This is the colony I cut my teeth on to be what I hope is a better beekeeper. This was the only colony I harvested honey from. The queen was a champion because she was an excellent layer and the workers kept a great hive. They were extremely gentle and it was true delight to work this colony. Plus it was just a month ago that they were alive and thriving.

And then all of a sudden, poof, they're all dead.

This experience has taught me a valuable lesson. No matter how confident you feel about your bees, never take it for granted that they'll be around in a week or a month from now. While you may see a lot of life outside the hive, you need to know what's going on inside the hive too. Outward appearances can be deceiving.

Unfortunately its too late for my bees in the yellow hive. As soon as its practical, I'll move their honey to the other hives to keep them going for what's left of this winter. And I'll introduce a new colony to the yard this spring. Life will once again come to the now silent and desolate hive.

Goodbye, girls. I'll miss you. Pleasant flights!

*Note: The bottom picture is from the fall of 2009 when the yellow hive (it was still white then) was making food stores for the winter. As you can see, the workers did a terrific job of making honey, and the queen laid an excellent pattern.

Another nasty winter storm hits my area!

2011-01-11T06:01:00.004-05:00

The same nasty winter storm that has crawled across the southeast for days finally made it to my area of North Carolina on Monday. The same winter storm that drove major cities like Atlanta into a frenzy this past Sunday, complete with snow and sleet and freezing rain, arrived here like a lamb on Monday afternoon. But as soon as night fell, that gentle lamb turned into a ferocious lion and brought my area to a virtual standstill. Hour by hour, the storm grew heavier with snow that was topped by sleet. All of this while the temperature hovered around 27, 28 degrees.

Here's one of the pictures I made of the snow while it was pouring down later in the evening. I just had to share it since it looked so cool. Check out the streaks from the snow during the photo exposure. Impressive I think.

Winter drags on.

Could bee venom one day be used for contraceptives and HIV protection?

2011-01-10T08:01:00.000-05:00

Unconventional idea for antiviral contraceptive gel wins
Gates Foundation grant

From the American Bee Journal which reprinted from it Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

A vaginal gel that affords both contraception and HIV protection using nanoparticles that carry bee venom is one of the bold, unconventional ideas that won a 2010 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Grand Challenges Explorations is a Gates Foundation initiative to foster innovative projects in areas where unorthodox thinking is most urgently needed. Recipients receive grants to explore creative solutions to global health issues.

Sam Wickline, MD, professor of medicine, of cell biology and physiology, of physics and of biomedical engineering at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is one of 65 scientists selected in November to participate in the grant program.

Wickline proposes to develop a contraceptive, antiviral gel containing trillions of nanoparticles that will target both HIV and sperm and deliver a bee venom toxin that will incapacitate them.

“Sperm and HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus that can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS) are remarkably similar in their natural mechanism of genetic transmission,” Wickline says. “Both need to fuse with their target cell in order to deliver their genetic payloads – DNA in the case of sperm, and RNA in the case of HIV.”

Wickline’s plan is to use the very means by which sperm and HIV operate to destroy them. “The idea is to trick each to fuse with a synthetic Trojan Horse – a nanoparticle that will overwhelm sperm and HIV in numbers and in destructive power.”

It is an unconventional and creative plan for sure, but it is grounded in proven technologies and research-based knowledge. If the idea shows promise, the initial seed money grant can lead to additional funding.

The Trojan Horse or decoy that will be used to attract the sperm and HIV is a lipid nanoparticle created by Wickline and colleague Gregory Lanza, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, that has already been proven safe for clinical use. Given the size of nanoparticles – spheres of around six millionths of an inch in diameter – “Trojan Pony” may be a better metaphor.

A toxin derived from the substance bees insert into their victims when they sting is the agent that will destroy the sperm and HIV. The toxin, called melittin, comprises more than half of the dry weight of the venom of the honeybee Apis Mellifera.

The nanoparticles will carry a synthetic version of the toxin melittin to the targets.

“Cells readily take in melittin,” Wickline says. “But once it gets in, it pokes holes in cell membranes to destroy the cells."

A local biotech startup company, Kereos Inc., is testing melittin as an anti-cancer agent.

Since melittin can annihilate almost any cell, the trick is to target the melittin to the specific cells intended for destruction (cancer, sperm, HIV) without causing collateral damage to other cells in the body.

Wickline and colleague Paul Schlesinger, MD, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, attacked that problem two years ago when they developed “nanobees,” the name coined for nanoparticles that sequester melittin so that it neither harms healthy tissue nor is degraded before it reaches the intended target.

Wickline and his colleagues have also developed the ability to add agents to the nanobees to cause them to home in on specific target cells. Although nanoparticles are a few thousand times smaller than the dot above an “i,” each can carry hundreds of thousands of molecules on its surface.

“We have the ability to attach and swap in various specific targeting molecules to nanoparticles that will bind with receptors on the surface of selected cells,” Wickline says. “This gives the particles the ability to home in on specific target cells.”

To get the nanobees to hook up with sperm and offload their lethal cargo, Wickline intends to target a well-known “docking site” on the sperm cap. Sperm cells, which are roughly 160 times bigger than the 250-nanometer particles, will be swarmed with nanobees.

HIV virions (individual HIV particles), which are less than half the size of the nanoparticle, will be captured and destroyed with special molecules attached to the nanobees that bind to complementary molecules on the virion that play a role in initiating HIV fusion to cells.

Although these nanoparticles have been proven safe in the body, they are too large to move outside the vaginal vault, and will remain on site in surveillance for sperm and HIV until washed out by the body’s natural fluids.

“We believe this can succeed because both sperm and HIV are built to target, fuse and discharge their cargo,” Wickline says. “Our nanoparticles are similarly built to target, fuse and deliver their cargo. These attributes will enable a process of mutual assured destruction in a sequestered biological environment.”

If successful, Wickline’s idea could have enormous benefits for women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that accounted for 68 percent of new HIV infections among adults in 2008. Women and girls in this area continue to be affected disproportionately — in some countries up to four times higher than males.

Sub-Saharan Africa also has the world’s highest fertility rate — 5.6 children per woman and twice the world average. The region’s population is expected to increase to 1.6 billion people by 2050 unless women are empowered to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

A contributing factor to the vulnerability of women to both HIV and unintended pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa is fear of violence from male partners if condom use is suggested. This technology could enable women to protect themselves without the need to seek approval from male partners.

While bringing the technology forward for clinical use by women would require many months of testing, the concept is supported by a recent trial of vaginal gel-based anti-HIV drugs in South African women. That study found that gel based delivery systems can substantially decrease the spread of AIDS with no harmful side effects.

Wickline has assembled a multidisciplinary team of collaborators to carry out the proof of concept activities that the grant funds. Kelle Moley, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, will contribute expertise in reproductive biology; Lee Ratner, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, of molecular microbiology and of pathology and immunology, will serve as the authority on HIV and human retrovirus infections; Schlesinger will provide expertise in membrane biophysics; and Josh Hood, MD, PhD, instructor in medicine, providing expertise in immunological targeting.

Warmer weather brings the girls out! And the bee candy is a success too!

2011-01-09T03:36:00.002-05:00

Like most of the country, we've been in the dreary pits of winter lately. The weather here has been frigid. We've already had two significant episodes of wintry precipitation with another on the way next week. This is the time when I look out the kitchen window and wish that I could suit up, fire up the smoker, and head for the hives. Soon enough I suppose. Spring will be here before you know it.

But out of the cold weather we've had lately, a warm day finally emerged last week. As the sun was shining bright, the temperature reached into the 50s, and the bees emerged from their hives. Here you can see the girls from the yellow hive as they decided to venture out and enjoy the warmth. This is the biggest colony I have, and even in winter their numbers are high. Click on any of the pictures to see the larger version.

Not to be outdone, the girls in the lime green hive came out to bask in the sun. I've worried more about this hive than the others, and I've had my doubts about their survival. But out of all three colonies, this one had more bees hanging around outside the entrance. Even though this is a Carniolan breed which is generally darker in color, you can see some lighter, yellow bees in the foreground. Those are younger bees which indicates to me that the queen has been laying. In all probability, this is probably the first time they have ever been outside the hive.

I wanted to check and see if the bees were taking the bee candy I made over the holidays. And as you can see, they are. While the lime green hive had adequate stores, the orange and yellow hives seemed to be rather low. So I made bee candy to help get all three colonies through the winter. After all, its not the temperature that kills bees in winter...many times they starve to death. In my opinion, the bee candy patties I made are much better than using the "mountain camp" method of feeding. That's because it doesn't leave a big, gummy mess like the mountain camp method does. Plus the candy patties are fairly easy to make. I made enough to feed the bees through this winter, so once they finish these patties, I have more in storage.

The bees have eaten a hole in the side of this bee candy patty. Another thing that makes this method unique is that the natural heat from the cluster inside the hive had risen and softened the patty. That made it easier for the bees to take it apart and consume it. This is just one of several patties that the bees had made holes in. The other patties are the ones I had broken in half and they had a jagged edge for the bees to start working on.

A part of the warm weather ritual for the bees includes housekeeping. That also includes removing dead bees from the hive. Bees are extremely hygienic and will not tolerate trash and dead bees to clutter their house. Here you can see some dead bees lying on the stand in front of the entrance. I watched the bees as they would drag some of the dead ones outside, then dump them over the front.

A housekeeping bee rests on a leaf after she dumped her dead sister on the ground. While many bees will just dump the dead ones outside the hive entrance, some will actually pick the dead bee up, fly away from the hive, then dump them. After that manuever, she'll fly back to the hive to begin the task all over again. The living bee is on the leaf, and just behind her (in the white circle) is her dead sister.

Overall I was very pleased and excited to see that my three colonies were so active on a warm day. While there is very little I can do with my bees at this point, I know that this is the time to start getting prepared for the spring. Before you know it, it will be swarm season, time for splits, starting new colonies, experimenting to see what works and what doesn't, and just enjoy what beekeeping is all about.

Here's hoping that 2011 will be a very successful year for your beekeeping endeavors, and in your personal lives too! I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be a great year for all of us!

Bee happy, fellow beekeepers!

How to make candy for your honey bee colonies!

2010-12-28T08:01:00.028-05:00

It was in February of 2010 that I worried that my bees may starve through what was left of the winter. When we started out last winter, the hive was heavy with honey. But it was a long winter, and like every other living being, the bees ate to survive. The hive became very light and I could tell that their honey stores were depleting. That's when I decided to use the "mountain camp" method of feeding to keep them from starving. With the mountain camp method, which you see above, basically you lay a piece of newspaper or wax paper across the top frames, then you add a layer of sugar, wet it with warm water, add another layer of sugar, wet it, then keep repeating until you build up a decent store of food. Pros: The bees have food and shouldn't starve. Cons: Its messy and gums up the hive.

A few months ago, I knew my bees were running somewhat low on stores. So to beef them up, I fed them 2:1 syrup until they stopped taking it. Then I considered using the mountain camp method again to get them through this winter. But then I saw a blog post where fellow beekeeping friend and blogger, Steve at Steve's Apiary in Cedartown, Georgia, posted a recipe for bee candy. When I saw his blog post, I figured I would give it a try. It looked easy enough and might be fun. So I ran down to the grocery section at Walmart and purchased the ingredients, but you can find them at any grocery store. I doubled Steve's recipe since I have multiple hives, but you could cut it in half if you need to. Here it is:

Bee Hive Candy
Ten pounds of granulated sugar
32 ounce bottle of clear Karo Syrup
2 1/2 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar (to keep it from crystallizing)
Pure vanilla extract
Heavy grade paper plates (don't use foam plates)
Candy thermometer

First I put the sugar and Karo Syrup in a large, stainless steel stock pot. Then add the water and the cream of tartar. My advice is to use a pot with a heavy bottom. If you don't, when the syrup starts cooking, it will burn and you'll have to start over again. I started out with a high heat, then once it starts to boil, I turned it down to medium high. Oh, and prepare to stir, stir..and stir some more!

The syrup has to reach 240 degrees Fahrenheit. And it will. Just keep watching the heat and stir, stir..stir! At first, the syrup is cloudy but as the syrup heats, it becomes more of a clear liquid. What do you do now? Just keep stirring. When it starts boiling, take your candy thermometer and keep checking it until the mixture reaches 240 degrees. Once you get there, turn the heat off and continue to stir the mixture.

Keep watching your candy thermometer, and when the temperature drops to 180 degrees, you can begin to pour it in the paper plates. But before that, I added a healthy splash of pure vanilla extract to give the mixture some smell to attract the bees. But be CAREFUL! The candy started to splatter after I poured the vanilla in, and I had to back away until it settled down. But as I stirred the candy, the sweet smell of vanilla filled the air. From the pot, I poured the mixture into the paper plates with a metal ladle. The entire mixture was enough to fill nine large Chinet paper plates.

If you don't think that all that stirring is enough to build up your biceps and triceps, then maybe scrubbing and washing the pot and spoon will give you a workout. Actually it wasn't that bad at all. I'm sure the dish washer would easily remove the candy residue, but I just decided to wash it the old fashioned way.

How did the bees like it? See for yourself! The next day, I broke a few of them in half to give them a rough edge and to make it easier for the bees to get started. Before I put the candy in the hive, I laid down a sheet of wax paper and punched small holes in it so the bees could easily get to the candy. I also sprinkled some Mega Bee pollen substitute around too. The bees went right to it and started eating away. I consider this to be a great success. So did the bees.

The next time I make bee candy, I think I may experiment some. I may try some essential oils or maybe a splash of Honey-B-Healthy. Or I may try some other natural additives to see what the bees are more attracted to, for example, citrus or mint extracts. Oh, and by the way, I couldn't help but test the final product to see what it tastes like. My opinion? Marshmallows. Its nowhere as fluffy as a marshmallow, but tastes just the same. I'm no fan of marshmallows. So I'll leave the candy for the bees.

Just a note: You can find cheaper syrup besides Karo brand, but I wouldn't. Karo lists just corn syrup and water in the ingredients. I found a cheaper brand that was full of preservatives and things I'd never heard of. It pays to read labels. Second, unless you're an excellent candy maker, you need to use a candy thermometer, and if you don't have one, buy one. Don't chance it because you will mess it up. And last, be careful. The boiling candy mixture is extremely hot. If it gets on your skin, you can count on a really nasty burn. Protect your hands with protective, insulated gloves...maybe something like an Ove-Glove.

If you decide to try it, good luck! And thanks to Steve for passing along his recipe.

Christmas brings a honey of a package! Beekeeping goodies and a white Christmas!

2010-12-25T10:37:00.006-05:00

Christmas morning brought all sorts of gifts to my house; clothes, gift-cards, edible treats and more. One thing Santa Claus delivered (for me of course) was beekeeping goodies! I got new beekeeping overalls, new gloves, and a stainless steel honey extractor! While I was perfectly okay with the "crush and strain" method, Santa Claus decided that was a little time consuming, so he had those hard working elves make an extractor and he delivered it during the night.

The description, written by those nice people at Dadant and Sons (I'm sure they guided Santa's elves) says: Stainless steel hand powered. Capacity: 2 frames (9 1/8" deep maximum) per load. Stainless steel extracting basket and top assembly. Piano style continuously hinged lid. Easily converts to 175-lb, storage container. Frames must be removed and turned to extract both sides. 1½" plastic honey gate included. Tank: 304 stainless steel 14" dia. x 23¼" tall, all welded construction. It looks like the slim, old-timey washing machine like my Great-Grandmother used to have.

As I said before, I was happy with the crush and strain method. But I guess Santa Claus figured that with multiple hives, and chances are more coming this spring, an extractor would be the ideal gift!

Who am I to second-guess Santa? He's one smart man!

We also had the surprise of a white Christmas. Honestly I don't remember the last time we had a white, snowy Christmas, but it was a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday. Christmas morning started out sunny and bright, but the clouds gathered as the day progressed, then the snow started after lunch. The weather forecast called for 3" to 6" of snow, and by ~~holly~~...I mean by golly, we got it! Needless to say, it was absolutely beautiful and created memories for many!

Merry Christmas to all!

Although its been said many times, many ways...

2010-12-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

And to my many fellow beekeeping friends

around the world, I bid you and yours:

Feliz Navidad!

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

En frehlicher Grischtdaag!

Nollaig chridheil huibh!

Milad Majid!

Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun!

Kala Christouyenna!

Feliz Natal!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Nadolig Llawen!

Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!

Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom!

Joyeux Noel!

Buone Feste Natalizie!

Hristos se rodi!

Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Srozhdestvom Kristovym!

Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova!

And for 2011, may your hives be full and your honey sweet!

God be with you all..

Mark

My worst fears may come true. It may be a long, hard winter!

2010-12-15T11:37:00.001-05:00

The news accounts are true; the East coast is absolutely, positively frigid! As you can see, it was mighty cold here this morning. When I snapped this picture, the temperature was 13-degrees, but the morning low at sunrise was an icy 11-degrees. And the weather services are calling for snow and ice here tonight and tomorrow, then another wave of it on Saturday. It looks like Old Man Winter decided to come calling a little early.

In preparation for the cold snap, I checked my bees over the weekend. They're no longer taking syrup, so I switched over to feeding them homemade bee candy (the recipe is coming in a future post).  Two of the three hives are fine and I'm sure they'll make it through the winter.  But the third, the lime green hive, I admit I have grave concerns about.

The temperature on Saturday was 45-degrees as I did the quick inspection, and the bees in the yellow and orange hives met me as I cracked open the tops. Everything looked fine although they were a little testy. I'm most sure they wondered who was opening their home in the cold weather. So I placed candy and pollen substitute on the frames and shut everything up tight so they could settle down. Plus I didn't want to take too long and allow the cold air to permeate the hives.

But the lime hive, well, that was a different story. When I opened the hive, I found honey all through the top chamber, but I only saw a few bees...and they were dead. I looked down through the hive and could see all the way through to the screened bottom board. And as I put my head down near the top, I could hear buzzing. Finally in frustration, I took my hive tool and rapped several times really loud on the side of the hive. That's when a handful of bees came to the top to see what the ruckus was about. With an uneasy feeling, I put the candy and pollen substitute on the frames and quickly shut it up. I may be wrong and hope I am, but I have a feeling that may be the last time I hear buzzing coming from this colony. This has been the weakest hive I own; much weaker that the other two and just slow to build up. If they are lucky enough to make it through the winter, the first thing I want to do this coming spring is replace the queen. While she was fine initially, I think she has slowly failed as the year progressed. And my gut feeling is that if I don't replace her, they'll supersede her on their own. We'll see what happens.

I'll post the recipe for the bee candy soon. Its a heck of a lot better than gumming up the hive with the "mountain camp" method...and my bees went right to it.

Until next time, BEE warm!

You can see my hives from high in the sky thanks to Google!

2010-12-10T00:01:00.006-05:00

Well what do you know? Google has changed their newest satellite maps in my area and now you can actually see the bee hives behind my house!

The older images that Google used before were seriously outdated. They were really fuzzy and it was tough to make out the details about my area. But they obviously decided to do an update sometime since mid-March of this year because my outbuilding, which is located at the lower end of my property, was finished when the image was made.

If you click on the photo above, you can see my house as it looks high in the sky. You can see my house, then my outbuilding -- and just to the upper right of the building -- you see my hives. And of you look really close, albeit a little fuzzy, you can even make out three bee hives. I believe the glow from the hives is the sun's reflection from the sheet metal of the hive covers. And if you look just beyond my hives, you can see the creek that my bees use for their honey and to cool the hives in the hot, humid summer months in North Carolina.

Looking at the image, I have to wonder if that's the view my girls see when they make their orientation flights to learn where home is? Is that the sight they see when they come home after a long day of foraging?

Google is getting really good with the technology they use these days. Before you know it, they'll get so good, you'll be able to make out the bees as they come and go from their hives!

If you want to see if you can find your house and even your hives, click on the link above and play around with it. Its pretty simple to use and fun too.

Another reason to buy LOCALLY produced honey!

2010-12-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

I was picking up a few things are the grocery store when I happened to take a good look at a bottle of honey sitting on the shelf. And when I read the label, I could see just one more reason why people should buy locally produced honey.

Whenever I talk to people about honey bees, I often tell them to support their local beekeepers. Why? There are so many reasons why. Mainly because local honey is so much healthier and contains the elements (nectar and pollen) from local fruits and vegetables and flowers which is great for people with allergies and other health issues. Plus its great to suppport the local beekeepers and their families because you keep local dollars in their pockets.

But here's another reason. Take a good look at the label from this container of "Burleson's Natural Pure Honey" that I found at the grocery store. While Burleson's is headquartered in Texas, the honey in the bottle comes from EVERYWHERE else! If you read the print, you can see that it comes from the United States, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Vietnam! So while the honey in the jar did in fact come from honey bees which makes it natural, it also comes from all over the globe. And to me, that's just not good.

I've read that almost 240 million pounds of honey is imported into the United States from a number of countries, but mainly from places like Argentina, Canada, China and Vietnam. Who knows what kind of management practices some beekeeper in Vietnam may use with his or her bees...or what chemicals they use to treat them? I've read accounts where Asian honey, tested by U.S. Customs, contained Ciprofloxacin and Enrofloxacin and different pesticides. If you remember, Ciprofloxin or 'Cipro' was the same antibiotic used to treat people exposed in the Anthrax attacks years ago. Who wants that made-made chemical compound in their honey?

Please understand that I'm not slamming beekeepers in other countries. I have many online friends who are beekeepers in other continents and countries...including Canada. And I thoroughly enjoy reading their blogs to see how they handle their bees. But when it comes to honey, I just think its better to buy a locally produced product from people you know. That way you know how they handle their bees and know about the end product. My opinion is that's its better for everyone all around.

Support your local beekeeper!

SNOW! My area gets the first snowfall for the fall/winter season of 2010-2011!

2010-12-05T00:38:00.006-05:00

Its the beginning of December, but Santa Claus would be proud of the first snowfall for the fall and winter of 2010-2011. And hey, according to the calendar, its not officially winter yet! The snow started around 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon with huge flakes falling, then light snow, and then back to huge flakes. Throw in a light sprinkling of some sleet too and we got a nice wintry mix. As you can see though, the concrete and asphalt were warm enough to not cause problems until night fell, but the roads started getting slushy late in the evening.

North Carolina is the home to the University of North Carolina Tarheels, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack, the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons and the Duke University Blue Devils. Since this bird house is Duke blue, it would only be appropriate that a blue jay reside there in the warm summer months!

A sleeping Dogwood tree. This is a beautiful tree that borders my property and is covered with dark pink flowers in the late spring in time for Easter. Snow flakes covered every limb!

One of several camellia bushes in my yard. Mind you, they're all covered by snow now, but they're loaded with buds for the spring of 2011! I don't think that bees are attracted to camellia flowers because I've never noticed them on mine. But my neighbors keep beautifully landscaped yards so they have plenty of other flowers to choose from!

No album of a snowfall would be complete without a snapshot of my bee hives. Yes the girls are all snug as bugs inside their hives. But as you can see, the snow covered up the entrances to all three. While it sometimes acts as an insulation barrier to keep those icy winter winds out, it also keeps the bees from going out when temperatures rise.

To help the ladies, I opened up their entrances so they wouldn't have to wait for Mother Nature to do it for them. Now they can quickly and discreetly go outside to do their business when nature calls. By the way, the bees in the yellow hive are still taking 2:2 syrup from the Boardman feeder.

The snowfall of December 4th covered everything. It was truly beautiful. And thank goodness it happened early enough in the day that everyone could enjoy it. With the Sunday temperatures forecast to be sunny and in the 40s range, you will never know that a snow event even happened here. But with photos, we'll always have our memories. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Its been a long time, but we're all still here!

2010-11-30T03:11:00.001-05:00

It has been a good while since I've blogged. I had someone ask me just the other day what has become of my bees and me, so I knew then that it was time to jump online and do an update.

Its not because I don't care anymore or that I've lost interest. Oh no, far from it. It seems that I got lost in time around late summer when my brother got sick, and then his death. Then it seemed like I just didn't have enough time to do things. Throw in my yearly vacation and then back to work, and broadcasters will tell you that one of the busiest times of the year is between Halloween and the new year. So I've definitely had my hands full and unfortunately, blogging had to take a back seat. But I hope to get back in the groove and get back to blogging about my love for beekeeping.

My bees are doing okay. As you probably know, I have three hives. The yellow hive is the oldest and the orange and lime hives were established this year.

All three colonies are doing okay, but I have to admit that I'm a little worried about the lime colored hive. It seem to have the smallest number of bees of the three. As I took the top off the hive to check for honey stores, I could look down through the frames and see the bottom board. There were bees in there, but unlike the other two colonies still booming with bees, the lime hive has what seems to be lower numbers. And honestly I think its the queen in that hive. This colony was slower to get off the ground, the queen would do fine in laying for awhile and then get spotty, and it seems like they just didn't do as well as the other two.

The other two colonies? They're fine it seems. I have a feeling I'll feed them through the winter just to make sure they'll do okay; syrup until they stop taking it, and if necessary, the "mountain camp" method until spring.

As of now, I'm sure I'll replace the queen in the lime hive this spring, probably with a Minnesota Hygienic. As I look back now, I should have replaced her this fall, but with everything going on I just didn't have time. But if the colony makes it until spring, I'll replace her. The queen in the orange hive (which is a sister to the queen in the lime hive..they came from the same queen breeder) has done rather well and I hope she will keep going strong. And I plan to keep the queen in the yellow hive even though she has some age on her (she was my first queen) -- and she'll stay as long as she keeps laying a good pattern. So far, so good. We'll see if she cranks up and gets going this coming spring. Some beekeepers believe in replacing their queens every two years, but my theory is, as long as a queen does a good job, just leave her alone.

So that's it, a brief update. As you can see, we're all doing okay, and if we can all make it thorough the next few months, we'll get started up again this spring. As of right now, I'm making a list of things I need for the coming year including hive equipment. I have a feeling I'll have more bees this spring. Thing is...where will I put them? Wow...now theres even more to think about!

More updates soon!

Georgia man killed by swarm of Africanized bees.

2010-10-23T01:29:00.005-04:00

Africanized Honeybees Found In Georgia
Courtesy: Georgia Department of Agriculture
Tommy Irvin, Commissioner

Entomological tests have confirmed that Africanized honeybees were responsible for the death of an elderly man in Dougherty County last week. News reports say the man accidentally disturbed a feral colony of bees with his bulldozer and that he received more than 100 stings.

“This is the first record of Africanized honeybees in Georgia,” said Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin.

Africanized honeybees are a hybrid of African and European honeybees. Because of their extremely defensive nature regarding their nest (also referred to as a colony or hive), they are sometimes called “killer bees.” Large numbers of them sometimes sting people or livestock with little provocation.

The Africanized honeybee and the familiar European honeybee (Georgia’s state insect) look the same and their behavior is similar in some respects. Each bee can sting only once, and there is no difference between Africanized honeybee venom and that of a European honeybee. However, Africanized honeybees are less predictable and more defensive than European honeybees. They are more likely to defend a wider area around their nest and respond faster and in greater numbers than European honeybees.

Africanized honeybees first appeared in the U.S. in Texas in 1990. Since then they have spread to New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and now Georgia. Entomologists and beekeepers have been expecting the arrival of these bees in Georgia for several years. There has been an established breeding population in Florida since 2005.

Because Africanized honeybees look almost identical to European honeybees, the bees from the Dougherty County incident had to be tested to accurately ascertain they were the Africanized strain. The Georgia Department of Agriculture sent samples of the bees to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which has the capability to do FABIS (fast African bee identification system) testing and the U.S. Department of Agriculture identification test (the complete morphometrics test) to confirm the bees’ identity.

Africanized honeybees are the result of an experiment that went awry in Brazil in the 1950s. Researchers were trying to create a honeybee better suited to tropic conditions. A few of the African bees escaped and began hybridizing with European honeybees. The hybrid “Africanized” honeybees (so named because they get their extremely defensive nature from the African honeybee) began colonizing South America and Central America, then Mexico and the U.S.

“Georgia beekeepers are our first and best line of defense against these invaders. They are the ones who will be able to monitor and detect any changes in bee activity,” said Commissioner Irvin.

“The Georgia Department of Agriculture is going to continue its trapping and monitoring of bee swarms to try to find where any Africanized honeybees are,” said Commissioner Irvin. “We also want to educate people about what to do in case they encounter a colony of Africanized honeybees. Georgians can visit our website for more information. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service has a publication on Africanized honeybees that is available online (http://pubsadmin.caes.uga.edu/files/pdf/B%201290_2.PDF) or at Extension offices.”

Has science really solved the mysteries of Colony Collapse Disorder?

2010-10-11T03:29:00.001-04:00

(Mark's Note: While this is promising news that there may be a breakthrough in Colony Collapse Disorder research, the news comes with a bit of controversy. Since the news broke in the last few days, there has been finger-pointing and eye-rolling in the scientific community already. I present this to you as what is being reported by the American media outlets. Whether the findings are accurate or not, I believe that the media focus on the endangered honey bee and the plight of beekeepers is extremely important to this cause.)

Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery
Kirk Johnson
The New York Times
October 6, 2010

It has been one of the great murder mysteries of the garden: what is killing off the honeybees?

Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.

Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.

A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.

Exactly how that combination kills bees remains uncertain, the scientists said — a subject for the next round of research. But there are solid clues: both the virus and the fungus proliferate in cool, damp weather, and both do their dirty work in the bee gut, suggesting that insect nutrition is somehow compromised.

Liaisons between the military and academia are nothing new, of course. World War II, perhaps the most profound example, ended in an atomic strike on Japan in 1945 largely on the shoulders of scientist-soldiers in the Manhattan Project. And a group of scientists led by Jerry Bromenshenk of the University of Montana in Missoula has researched bee-related applications for the military in the past — developing, for example, a way to use honeybees in detecting land mines.

But researchers on both sides say that colony collapse may be the first time that the defense machinery of the post-Sept. 11 Homeland Security Department and academia have teamed up to address a problem that both sides say they might never have solved on their own.

“Together we could look at things nobody else was looking at,” said Colin Henderson, an associate professor at the University of Montana’s College of Technology and a member of Dr. Bromenshenk’s “Bee Alert” team.

Human nature and bee nature were interconnected in how the puzzle pieces came together. Two brothers helped foster communication across disciplines. A chance meeting and a saved business card proved pivotal. Even learning how to mash dead bees for analysis — a skill not taught at West Point — became a factor.

One perverse twist of colony collapse that has compounded the difficulty of solving it is that the bees do not just die — they fly off in every direction from the hive, then die alone and dispersed. That makes large numbers of bee autopsies — and yes, entomologists actually do those — problematic.

Dr. Bromenshenk’s team at the University of Montana and Montana State University in Bozeman, working with the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center northeast of Baltimore, said in their jointly written paper that the virus-fungus one-two punch was found in every killed colony the group studied. Neither agent alone seems able to devastate; together, the research suggests, they are 100 percent fatal.

“It’s chicken and egg in a sense — we don’t know which came first,” Dr. Bromenshenk said of the virus-fungus combo — nor is it clear, he added, whether one malady weakens the bees enough to be finished off by the second, or whether they somehow compound the other’s destructive power. “They’re co-factors, that’s all we can say at the moment,” he said. “They’re both present in all these collapsed colonies.”

Research at the University of California, San Francisco, had already identified the fungus as part of the problem. And several RNA-based viruses had been detected as well. But the Army/Montana team, using a new software system developed by the military for analyzing proteins, uncovered a new DNA-based virus, and established a linkage to the fungus, called N. ceranae.

“Our mission is to have detection capability to protect the people in the field from anything biological,” said Charles H. Wick, a microbiologist at Edgewood. Bees, Dr. Wick said, proved to be a perfect opportunity to see what the Army’s analytic software tool could do. “We brought it to bear on this bee question, which is how we field-tested it,” he said.

The Army software system — an advance itself in the growing field of protein research, or proteomics — is designed to test and identify biological agents in circumstances where commanders might have no idea what sort of threat they face. The system searches out the unique proteins in a sample, then identifies a virus or other microscopic life form based on the proteins it is known to contain. The power of that idea in military or bee defense is immense, researchers say, in that it allows them to use what they already know to find something they did not even know they were looking for.

But it took a family connection — through David Wick, Charles’s brother — to really connect the dots. When colony collapse became news a few years ago, Mr. Wick, a tech entrepreneur who moved to Montana in the 1990s for the outdoor lifestyle, saw a television interview with Dr. Bromenshenk about bees.

Mr. Wick knew of his brother’s work in Maryland, and remembered meeting Dr. Bromenshenk at a business conference. A retained business card and a telephone call put the Army and the Bee Alert team buzzing around the same blossom.

The first steps were awkward, partly because the Army lab was not used to testing bees, or more specifically, to extracting bee proteins. “I’m guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk,” Charles Wick said. “It was very complicated.”

The process eventually was refined. A mortar and pestle worked better than the desktop, and a coffee grinder worked best of all for making good bee paste.

Scientists in the project emphasize that their conclusions are not the final word. The pattern, they say, seems clear, but more research is needed to determine, for example, how further outbreaks might be prevented, and how much environmental factors like heat, cold or drought might play a role.

They said that combination attacks in nature, like the virus and fungus involved in bee deaths, are quite common, and that one answer in protecting bee colonies might be to focus on the fungus — controllable with antifungal agents — especially when the virus is detected.

Still unsolved is what makes the bees fly off into the wild yonder at the point of death. One theory, Dr. Bromenshenk said, is that the viral-fungal combination disrupts memory or navigating skills and the bees simply get lost. Another possibility, he said, is a kind of insect insanity.

In any event, the university’s bee operation itself proved vulnerable just last year, when nearly every bee disappeared over the course of the winter.

Fall feeding frenzy! My bees are definitely preparing for winter!

2010-10-09T01:53:00.000-04:00

Fall is here again and the girls are busy trying to get their houses in order before winter sets in. Spring and early summer was really nice with lots of flowers and rain and so the bees kept busy. But the latter part of the summer turned hot and dry and there was a definite lack of supplies for the girls to work with. One day I found at least twenty of my honey bees trying to get the food out of the hummingbird feeder And later during an inspection, I found the bright red fluid in the cells of my hives.

While fall is here by the calendar, the daytime temperatures are still in the 80s while a few nights the temperatures dipped into the upper 40s. But I know that it won't be long before the weather will turn cold and my colonies will cluster to survive the winter. But in order to survive, they need enough food to get them through the frigid season, so now the frenzy begins to make enough honey to store.

This is the frenzy time for more than the honey bees. I noticed a dead bumblebee at the entrance to the orange hive. I'm guessing it tried to sneak in the hive to get some honey but it was met with guards that went on the attack to protect their home. The end result wasn't good..at least for the bumblebee. So to stop future events, I placed the entrance guards on to keep intruders out. Same thing with the lime green hive, and once I take the Boardman feeder off the yellow hive, I'll reduce the entrance there too. I've noticed some daring yellow jackets trying to get in the hives, but the bees usually chase them away.

While I'm using hive-top feeders on two of the hives, I'm also experimenting with open feeding. Here you can see a bowl of sugar syrup placed near the hives and the bees taking it. While I did notice some fighting near the bowl, I didn't notice any bees fighting in the bowl. They just simply rested on the rim or the floating pine bark nuggets and drank the syrup. The next day I used a two gallon pail with wine corks floating in it for the bees to sit on. I have to admit that while it may be an effective way of feeding the bees, it causes quite a stir and looks rather ominous for all those bees to be flying around.

I've always heard that even the worst of enemies can sit down and have a good meal together. It may be true. Take a look at the picture to the left. At the four o'clock and six o'clock positions, check out the yellow jackets having a meal with my honey bees. They all seemed to get along fine while at the dinner bowl. But let a yellow jacket land near the entrance to the hives...and the story changed dramatically.

Based on what I observed, the open feeding doesn't seem to cause any real problems, but I can see where the stronger colonies would benefit from it while the weaker ones would get shoved out. But it may have to suffice for now since anytime I open the tops to my hives, the girls get defensive and hard to manage. But that's fall behavior and nothing new to me, but I'd rather not disturb them anymore than I have to so they can get their stores made for winter.

I'm asked to speak on beekeeping! And no, my audience didn't go to sleep!

2010-09-25T02:22:00.001-04:00

Anytime that I'm asked to talk to a group on the importance of helping the honey bees, I'll do it. I guess I consider myself as a town crier of sorts to tout the need to help our insect friends to survive and thrive. I have to admit that when I decided to become a beekeeper, I never imagined that I would end up speaking to groups about my hobby or saving the honey bees. But its amazing how things evolve from one activity into something else completely.

My friend, Bruce Citty, asked me a month ago if I would be his guest at the Reidsville Kiwanis Club meeting to talk about beekeeping. Without hesitation, I said yes. So we set the date for September 23rd and I got myself prepared with some facts and figures...and I peppered them with a few personal experiences too. When I arrived, the Kiwanis fed me a really nice buffet lunch, then I spoke for about 15 minutes on why we need to help the hard working honey bee. Of course, I could have gone on for hours, but the Kiwanis Club is made up of busy business leaders, so I had to keep it short.

What a great group! After I made my presentation, they asked some really great questions about hive management and honey production. And I think they took great delight (especially the ladies) when they discovered that colonies are dominated by females and they kick the drones out in the fall. It seems that when people learn that the ladies work themselves to death, all while they attend to the drone's every need...they think it mimicks human life. It always gets a few chuckles.

I really appreciate Bruce for inviting me to speak to the Reidsville Kiwanis Club to spread the good word about beekeeping! It was fun and I hope to go back sometime in the future and talk about it even more. And thanks to Bob Mullings for the great photographs.

Fears of a Decline in Bee Pollination Confirmed (from the American Bee Journal)

2010-09-07T08:48:00.001-04:00

TORONTO, ON - Widespread reports of a decline in the population of bees and other flower-visiting animals have aroused fear and speculation that pollination is also likely on the decline. A recent University of Toronto study provides the first long-term evidence of a downward trend in pollination, while also pointing to climate change as a possible contributor.

"Bee numbers may have declined at our research site, but we suspect that a climate-driven mismatch between the times when flowers open and when bees emerge from hibernation is a more important factor," says James Thomson, a scientist with U of T's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Thomson's 17-year examination of the wild lily in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is one of the longest-term studies of pollination ever done. It reveals a progressive decline in pollination over the years, with particularly noteworthy pollination deficits early in the season. The study will be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences on September 6.

Three times each year, Thomson compared the fruiting rate of unmanipulated flowers to that of flowers that are supplementally pollinated by hand. "Early in the year, when bumble bee queens are still hibernating, the fruiting rates are especially low," he says. "This is sobering because it suggests that pollination is vulnerable even in a relatively pristine environment that is free of pesticides and human disturbance but still subject to climate change."

Thomson began his long-term studies in the late 1980s after purchasing a remote plot of land and building a log cabin in the middle of a meadow full of glacier lilies. His work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. (University of Toronto)

A "sting" operation with a colony of bees and a North Carolina deputy sheriff!

2010-08-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

(Wake County, North Carolina): A sheriff's deputy was trapped in his car for three hours as tens of thousands of honeybees swarmed his vehicle.

Wake County deputy sheriff, Brandon Jenkins, answered a distress call of a disabled truck in the middle of the night. The vehicle was pulling a trailer of honeybee hives. As he helped load some of the broken boxes of bees back on the truck, they began to get irritable.

Jenkins, who took refuge in his squad car, could only watch as about 50,000 of the stingers swarmed over it. Wake County sheriff's spokeswoman Phyllis Stevens said: "They were confused, without their queen, they swarmed the police car probably because that was the biggest thing around that they could find."

The deputy even had to resort to deadly force when a few of the intruders got inside. "It was more or less self-defense," he said. " There were a couple of bees in my personal space, my comfort zone, and I just wanted to get them out."

Jennifer Keller, a beekeeping expert from North Carolina State University, was called to help and sprayed sugar water on the insects so they would lick each other and regroup, making it easier for the insects to be returned to their hives.

"I had never seen anything quite like that," Keller said. "The bees had nowhere to go. I guess they used the car as a resting spot ... I got one sting. I struck a bee, so it was my own fault."

Wake County surrounds Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina.

Telling the bees: My brother, a former beekeeper, died...

2010-08-10T01:33:00.002-04:00

We buried my brother, Wayne, on Monday. He was 64 and my oldest brother. After a lifetime of being plagued with health problems; from a car weck that left him pieced together with metal and screws, and multiple back surgeries that left him practically crippled...he had a devastating stroke months ago. That was the beginning of the end for Wayne. From one setback after another, my family and I knew that he wouldn't rebound when they placed him in Hospice care two weeks ago. That's when the watch began. After two long weeks of struggling to live, in the most pitiful sight my eyes have ever beheld, he drew his last breath at 4 o'clock on Friday morning, August 6th, and left this life forever. His long and difficult journey is now over.

A myriad of emotions have flooded me in the last few weeks...but especially since he died days ago. Needless to say, I miss him. I know I'll never hear him call my name or make me laugh by some silliness we've cooked up together. Even though he was almost 17 years older than me and grown when I came along, he influenced me in so many ways while I was growing up. Because of him I became a CB radio operator many, many years ago. And I would be glued to his every word when he would talk about beekeeping. At one point, Wayne and his father-in-law, Horace, kept over 20 hives of bees...and I loved to hear him talk about catching swarms and queen bees and robbing bees and getting stung. I think he's responsible for my fascination with bees and why I'm a beekeeper now.

Maybe it was just fate or maybe it was some divine guidance that caused me to harvest my first honey just weeks before Wayne fell ill. While he lay dying in the Hospice unit, I took a jar of my honey so he could see it and because I knew he would be proud of me. Even though he was weak and sick, he bragged that it was beautiful honey and that I did a good job. And while I was there, in addition to the many other things we talked about, he told me over and over to take care of my bees...and I promised him I would.

But maybe what touched me most of all is that he asked his brother-in-law, Robbie, to feed him some of my honey. He couldn't eat anything else by that point, he had trouble swallowing, but he wanted to taste that honey which I brought to him. And he really liked too. It was also the last bit of food he ate before he slipped into unconsciousness. And that jar of honey stayed by his bedside until he died. When he died on Friday morning, I took the honey with me when I left the hospital. After all, it was his honey and I wanted him to have it forever.

On Sunday night, when my family arrived at the funeral home, I took that jar of honey and placed it in the casket with Wayne. The funeral director told me that the ancient Egyptians put honey in their tombs, so I guess in some way, I was carrying on some unintentional tradition. All I really knew was that I wanted my brother to have that special honey forever...and he will. My family, especially my sister-in-law, Carol, thought it was a fitting tribute by me to include the honey in his casket. It will be there long past my own departure from this earth.

Did I go tell my bees that my brother, a former beekeeper and my inspiration, had died? No. When I got home from the hospital on the morning of his death, I visited my hives while waiting to go make arrangements at the funeral home. I didn't tell the bees as they say because I was so flooded with emotions and worn out that I couldn't think clearly. But the next time I work my hives, I plan to lean down and whisper "good job" to the girls in the yellow hive which made the honey. I feel they deserve it and my brother would like that too. I'll tell them for Wayne.

Farewell, my brother. I love you.

Sweet! I harvested my very first honey!

2010-07-23T03:03:00.002-04:00

I knew the time had come to reap the rewards of my very first honey harvest. The bees in the big, yellow mother hive had filled a shallow super with honey over a month ago, but with my busy life and some laziness thrown in, I decided to just let it set. But after checking during a routine inspection, and seeing that my bees were filling up the frames in the brood box with honey too, I knew it was time to take it off. So with minimal smoke and a hearty shake method, I got the bees off every single frame in the shallow...and I have to admit they didn't give me a hard time like I thought they would. As many of you know, when you mess around with honey frames, you'll discover the real disposition of your bees. But I have to admit that mine were pretty cool during the process even though I was 'robbing' them as the old timers call it!

Let me assure you now that my next purchase will be an extractor and bottling kit. But to get me through this first time, I decided to use the "crush and strain" method with goods I have around the house. Fun? Yes, but a mess. I was lucky to have a few things on hand like this Pyrex strainer to keep the comb from mixing in with the honey I scraped using a cappings scratcher. As you can tell, the honey poured through the screen and into a brand new and thoroughly cleaned five gallon bucket. After scraping as much honey off the frames as I could, I sat them aside so they could ooze what honey was left on them into the sink. And later on I'll put the frames back in the shallow super and near the hives so the bees can clean off what honey is left.

Check out this beautiful, liquid gold! After the honey leaked through the Pyrex strainer, it still had tiny bits of wax and comb in it. So I filtered it again through extra fine cloth to get all the small bits, and the finished product is what you're looking at now. The only reason it looked somewhat cloudy here is because of all the fine air bubbles in it. But before bottling it, I let it rest for a little bit to get the bubbles out while I washed and sterilized the jars and lids si I could bottle it.

It still had some bubbles in it, but as the night progressed on, it cleared up a lot. These are just a few jars from the one super I harvested. I had two full quart bottles and a bunch of the smaller bottles to give to the neighbors and friends. I plan to give the smaller, flatter, 4-ounce bottles to all the adjoining neighbors since they've been really good and adapted to my mini backyard apiary. I promised them that I would give them some of my very first crop, and I'm a man of my word. I hate to tell them, but I'm keeping the quart bottles though! I deserve a little reward. Right?

Isn't it beautiful? Here you can see that the amber color really shows through as the air bubbles settle to the top after bottling. And as you can see, the smaller bottles make it seem lighter colored while the quart jars make it appear darker. Speaking of bottling, maybe by the time I harvest my next batch, I'll have my own personalized labels. A friend of mine that works with me at the television station (he's a graphic artist) is designing a "Mark's Bees" logo for me to use on my website and on my honey too. That should really make it look sharp!

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty darn proud. And I admit it has been a long and winding road. The bees in the mother hive were on the brink of dying when they arrived last year, but with a lot of determination, they made it. Then they survived the harshest winter we've had in years and rebounded this spring. Now they're rewarding me for helping them through it all with the sweet product of their own toils. It really isn't necessary...I'm just having a blast being a beekeeper, but what the heck, I'll accept it with pride. And when I give some away and people thank me, I'll tell them, please don't thank me -- thank the bees!

Happy harvesting!

How do bees keep cool? By blowing a breeze, baby!

2010-07-17T10:00:00.003-04:00

It has been hot here for the last few weeks. And only getting sporatic rain doesn't help either. But then when you throw in a heaping dose of North Carolina humidity, you have the recipe for totally miserable weather. That's what we've had lately and a lot of it too. So I decided to go out and take some pictures of my girls keeping their cool...even if the rest of us couldn't. And I have to admit they were doing a pretty darn good job of it too.

As you can see, the orange hive had girls stationed across the front and fanning away. As their sisters brought in orange pollen, a row of fanners on the bottom and a few on top (you can see their bee butts) kept things cool. Same thing for the lemon yellow hive. The yellow hive is the mother hive which has two deeps full of bees, so there's lots more space to ventilate. But they fan to keep it cool in the day, and at night, many tend to cover the hive front and enjoy the night air.

No exception to the rule, the girls in the lime green hive keep their cool too, but they tend to be a little more acrobatic than the other hives. This is the hive that's closest to the creek, so they fly out, make a sharp right and about 15 feet they can get all the cool water they want. And while all of the hives are in the full sun most of the day, in late afternoon, the ladies all get a reprieve and can take it easy since the hives fall in the shade of a row of trees. They deserve the rest after all that intense fanning all day!

So as you can see, and up close too, the bees know exactly what they're doing when it comes to keeping their cool in the harsh summer days. Nature provided honey bees with their very own air conditioning -- and believe me -- after opening my power bill this month -- theirs is much cheaper!

Stay cool my friends!

How hot is it? This HOT!

2010-07-08T01:05:00.000-04:00

In case you haven't heard, the south has been hit with a tropical heatwave. Oh yeah, my friends, it is really hot here. How hot you ask? Well, when I left for work on Wednesday afternoon, the temperature at the house was 103 degrees. At my office in downtown Reidsville, it was 100. And at our regional office in Danville, Virginia (which is about 24 miles north) it was 102 degrees. And to think that just last week, a cool front moved through and the daytime highs only reached the low 80s for a few days. It never fails that with the weather being this extreme, people don't ask you how you're doing, they ask you if its hot enough for you.

I had a great question put to me today by a co-worker. He wanted to know how the honey bees survive in this type of weather. My answer to him was, very well, thank you!

To help illustrate how the bees stay cool in hot weather, I made these pictures on Wednesday night. Beekeepers know this is a common sight in summer months -- many times its called bearding. This is a night-time occurance. Why at night? Because the forager or worker bees are gone in the daytime, out working and searching for pollen and nectar. But at night, when the whole colony is back home, it gets hot and crowded in the hive. So, many of the bees will go outside to relax -- much like people do by sitting on their front porches at night. The really cool thing is to stand right in front of the hive and listen to the steady buzzing of the bees as they fan their wings. It sounds like a fan on low speed. The only thing missing is a big, cold glass of lemonade.

The yellow hive is the oldest of the three, and the lime and orange hives are this year's splits -- so they don't have quite the population as the mother hive. But as you can see, they're doing just fine, and the girls are working to keep their sisters (and queen) cool during these miserable, muggy nights. Good job, ladies!

Until next time, bee cool!

North Carolina Governor Stung By The Beekeeping Bug!

2010-06-25T21:04:00.000-04:00

(Raleigh, NC) On Tuesday, Gov. Bev Perdue suited up in beekeeper attire and approached a job perhaps no other North Carolina governor has tackled – pulling honeycombs from beehives with thousands of honeybees buzzing nearby.

“That’s a lot of honey!” Gov. Perdue exclaimed, as she removed a narrow honeycomb literally dripping gold.

The two beehives sitting on the north lawn of the executive mansion in Raleigh were installed late last year, after grounds supervisor Gerald Adams decided to explore the benefits of having bees to pollinate the gardens on the grounds. Adams, who oversees production of a number of crops used by the first family and donated to local area food banks, has already seen a dramatic difference.

“Apple trees that have never had more than a handful of apples on them now show 50 or 60 or more,” he said. “The pollination benefits of the bees have been clear already within the first six months of having the hives.”

The honeybees, which may fly up to a 2-mile radius around the hive every day, were sprayed with non-harmful smoke to subdue them; then the governor assisted Danny and Mary Jaynes as they removed the trays of honeycombs from the hives. Danny Jaynes is the president of the Wake County Beekeepers Association and has mentored Adams during his introduction to beekeeping.

"The honeybee is not only North Carolina’s state insect, but also a crucial player in North Carolina agriculture. Their role in pollinating our crops is essential, and often overlooked by people who don’t know the important part they play,” said Gov. Perdue. “Having the bees here on the mansion grounds not only gives us a chance to boost our own fruit and vegetable production, but also serves as an education tool for the school groups and tours who visit the mansion regularly.”

So just how much honey did the group harvest? According to the Jaynes, nearly 12 gallons, or some 150 pounds. The honey, which was inspected and deemed “Grade A,” will be bottled and used at the mansion, given as gifts from the governor and first gentleman, and donated to local food banks.

Story from a news release from the North Carolina Governor's Office issued July 23rd, 2010.

One new queen is well on her way. The other could be in trouble!

2010-06-20T01:40:00.002-04:00

Saturday was inspection day for my three hives. While I had been inside the yellow, mother hive already this week to pull the green drone frame and replace it, all of the hives needed a really decent look-see. And while the temperature was at 94 degrees and the relative humidity was 48% -- I braved the elements to get it done (and hopefully I lost a few pounds too). It was like being in a sauna.

Here's the work of the new Carniolan queen in the orange hive. I have to admit that is one fine looking frame of brood. This was the hive I was most worried about because the workers were so slow to leave the hive. The queen was introduced on June 2nd and she was out by June 8th. She was readily accepted, but I couldn't figure out why the workers were dragging their feet on foraging. I still don't know. But no worries now, they're out of the hive daily and now I can see that the queen is doing her job. I also found eggs and larvae so I have some of all stages of the bee birthing process going on here. The orange hive is well on its way to success.

While the orange hive seems to be fine, the lime green hive (a frame from it pictured right) still has troubles it seems. This is the hive that went from swarm cells to supersedure cells -- then those disappeared and it developed a laying worker. So after shaking all the bees way away from the hive, I introduced a new Carniolan queen at the same time I put one in the orange hive. They both came from the same apiary. This queen was accepted as well...but look at this pattern. Spotty at best and there were lots of raised drone caps all throughout this hive. If there were new eggs, I didn't see them, but I did find larvae, so she has been laying. And I found the queen too, she was on the last frame (like all of them always are) so she's most definitely alive.

Here is the other side of the frame from the green hive. As you can see, while there are drone caps here, she has laid a decent pattern of flat, worker brood here too. And in the ones not capped, you can see glistening white larvae nestled in the cells. This capped brood is new. The only capped brood in the hive on June 2nd was from the mother hive (the big yellow hive). The capped brood in the hive on that date has already hatched. So it is my assumption that the workers have capped all of the cells you see here since June 2nd...just like the bees did in the orange hive that's thriving.

If I'm doing the math correctly, it is distinctly possible that a lot of the drone cells in this hive were from the laying worker I hopefully shook away earlier this month. Here's my thoughts: It takes 21 days for a bee to go from an egg to an adult. I shook this hive on June 2nd and the frames held typical laying worker eggs -- two and three per cell. So even though I introduced a new queen to this hive that day, I believe it is possible that the worker bees went about their daily routine and fed and capped the eggs and brood as they should. And my calculations say that brood should emerge sometime this coming week. After all, from June 2nd until June 19th -- that's only seventeen days, so its possible this mess isn't related to the new queen at all, but a hold-over from the dreaded laying worker. Least that's my thinking. Of course I'm open for theories here so throw them out at will.

While I plan to talk to the beekeeper at the apiary where I bought her and I've left some messages for some experiences beeks, I am now thinking that I should give her a few more days and watch for new eggs before I replace her. After all, she walked into a mess from the laying worker, so she hasn't had it easy.

Of course I'll keep everybody updated on what is going on, but if you have some ideas, I am more than willing to know what they are.

ADDENDUM: On Sunday, I decided to swap some frames from the yellow hive over to the green hive. The yellow hive has plenty of full frames of worker brood, and since the green hive has mixed frames of worker and drone brood, I decided to swap some frames. After shaking every bee off the frames, I swapped them -- thus giving the green hive more workers that will hatch soon -- and the big yellow mother hive can handle a few more drones. Hopefully this will work out and keep the green hive on even keel until I can figure out what is going on. Wish us luck!

Attention ladies: There really is life outside the hive!

2010-06-10T00:39:00.001-04:00

I have to admit that I've been a little concerned about the new orange hive. Why? Because its seems that its been extremely slow to respond after last week's split. Every day I've watched this hive to see what the bees were doing. And other than the occasional bee flying in or out, not much has really been going on.

Honestly I couldn't understand it. When I made the first split weeks ago, the green hive was busy with bees out and exploring within three or four days. But not the orange hive. Six and a half days later, and there wasn't much of anything going on. I was so concerned that I opened the hive on Tuesday evening just to see what was happening, and I found a deep chamber with lots of bees just sitting there. Some of the bees were newly hatched, all bright yellow and fuzzy, and there was lots of capped brood yet to hatch, but the house bees just seemed to be lifeless and bored.

But that all changed. On the seventh day, Wednesday afternoon, the lethargic hive came alive! While looking out the kitchen window, I noticed a flurry of activity in front of the hives, and when I took a closer look, I realized that much of it was in front of the orange hive. I grabbed up my camera and headed for the yard, and what I found was a whole volley of bees doing orientation flights from the orange hive. Like all bees do, they would crawl out on the entrance or the face of the hive, then they would start the slow back and forth flight in the front of their home. Once they got a few feet off the ground, they would start making smaller circles -- and the higher they got -- the wider the circles -- then they would fly off in all directions.

Seeing that made me feel a lot better about this colony. It is my hope that since they now know where their home is, they'll start doing what bees are supposed to do and that's to forage and fend for themselves. And while I do feel better, I'm sure that I'll still have some concerns about them until I see the constant traffic coming and going like I do at the other two hives.

But you know, just in case, I'll be here to nurse them right along.

UPDATE: The new queens are out and things look good so far...

2010-06-08T12:49:00.000-04:00

"And...they're off!" That's what comes to mind after inspecting my two new colonies on Saturday and finding what you see to the left...empty queen cages. I admit that I was prepared for them to be out of the cages and inside the hives. But would they be accepted by the bees in those colonies? That seemed to be the issue for me.

Why? As I discussed in my previous posts, the green hive had gone from swarm cells to supersedure cells -- then those disappeared and suddenly I had a laying worker on my hands. So while technically queenless, my concern was that acceptance would be a huge issue since one of the worker bees was now laying eggs and trying to save the hive. But after doing a "shake" and removing every bee from every frame and then introducing a new mated queen, I think I took care of that issue. She's out and doing fine.

The orange hive, the newest, wasn't much of a real concern since they were queenless for 24-hours before I put the queen cage in. I moved bees and brood over from the mother hive, then waited till the next day to put her and her attendants in. So I wasn't all that concerned that acceptance would be much of an issue for this hive.

As you can see, that's one of the newest monarchs introduced to my apiary. She's Carniolan, so she's darker than her adopted daughters from the other hive which are Italian. And she was born this year and this is a blue year for queen markings. This is the queen in the orange hive and believe it or not, she's already laying. I found new eggs in the cells and she has a consistent pattern so I think she will do fine. The queen in the green hive isn't laying yet, least I don't think do. A few of the frames in that hive had been used by the laying worker, so she doen't have a lot of empty space there now. But she was out and crawling across the frame and looked great.

Since the frames in the lower deeps are already drawn out, I decided now is the time to give these girls some room to expand. So to match the yellow hive, I added a second deep with nine frames and one drone frame, and on top of those I added feeders with 1:1 syrup to help them draw comb. Considering that both of the new hives have plenty of workers, that should give them something to do and keep them occupied.

I admit I am a little concerned about the orange hive though. It doesn't seem to have the coming and going traffic like the other two hives, and I've noticed ants crawling up the sides and occasionally in the entrance. But its only been a week for them now. The good thing I did notice was that one of the guards chased some of the ants out, so maybe they're settling in to make this their home. I also noticed an nasty earwig (which I smushed) in the corner of one of the frames, and I believe that's became the hive is sitting on cinderblocks. I'll eventually move it over to a steel stand like the others sit on, but I have to wait for the city to finish some clean-up work on the creek behind the house. Then I plan to relocate the hives to a more level location just a few feet away.

So that's my update. Things seem to be okay so far, and I'll check them again this coming weekend to see if they're on track.

Bee cool!

Two new queens and one old queen are in residence...

2010-06-04T08:00:00.003-04:00

As you can see my own little back yard apiary is expanding. It hasn't been easy, but with baby steps, we've done pretty darn good. And I do have to admit I'm proud.

It was this time last year I started my beekeeping voyage with one package of bees from Georgia, most of them dead and the rest struggling for life. But with some quick thinking, a new queen, two frames of brood from another apiary and lots of TLC, it became the thriving colony it is today.

As I mentioned awhile back, I found all kinds of swarm cells in the yellow hive, so I moved those over to a new hive (green) with brood and bees to start a new colony. My inspection about a week later indicated that the swarm cells were gone and a lot of supersedure cells had popped up -- a situation that perplexed me and more experienced beekeepers too. But I decided to wait it out because I wanted to see if a virgin queen might be there...and see if she may fly away to mate, come back, then come home to begin her own family.

That never happened it seems. Apparently the queen (if there was one) never returned and so my worst fears came true. When I opened the green hive, I found eggs alright. Two or three eggs per cell. Some had one, but many of them had two and three eggs -- meaning that I now had evidence of a laying worker. Since that means the colony is headed for disaster, I had to act quickly -- so I took the hive to the other side of the yard, almost a couple hundred feet away -- and I shook every single bee off every frame. And when I got back to the hive stand where the green hive rests, a swarm of the bees from the hive had covered the entire inner cover which I propped up. And as I sat the hive back up where it belongs, the bees started marching back into their home. It was a great sight to see. I'm just hoping the young laying worker wasn't able to find her way back to the hive.

I ordered two new queens from an apiary in Winston Salem, North Carolina, called Tate's Apiaries (on Union Cross Road, 336-788-4554). Larry and Janice Tate raise Carniolan and Italian queens, and since my good friend Jared Watkins had such great success with his, I decided to get two Carniolan queens. There they are on the right, and although they're hard to see, if you click the picture to enlarge it you can almost see the blue marks on their backs.

The colony in the green hive had been queenless for weeks, so I went ahead and introduced one of the new queens that same day. But since I was doing a second split (making it my third hive) -- I decided to move frames of brood and pollen and nectar into the newer orange hive, wait for 24-hours for them to realize they're queenless, then introduce the new caged queen and let them slowly get used to her. As you can see, there are quite a few bees from the mother hive in the new orange hive. And after making a small hole in the candy with a nail, I tightly wedged the cage between the frames so the workers can take care of the new queen and her attendants.

Take a good look at one of the brood frames I moved into the new orange hive. Nice, huh? This is from the mother hive or the yellow hive. As you can see, the queen is a laying machine, so I had enough frames to move into the green hive and the orange hive. And guess what? While I was busy looking to make sure I wouldn't move the queen from the mother hive, through the corner of my eye, I happened to see something green lumbering across the frame. It was the original queen I introduced in 2009! For the first time since last October, there she was moving ever so graciously through her daughters on the frame. Her green dot (indicating she was a 2009 queen) was worn but still there. Am I planning to replace her this year? No way. If she continues to do this well, she's got a home for as long as she wants. I was very careful to make sure she stayed in the yellow hive because I separated the frame she was on from the colony...and was careful to put it back when I was done.

As soon as I put the cage with the new queen in the orange hive, the bees went to work checking her out. No aggression or anything to indicate they wanted to harm her. They just appeared to be curious and even started working on the candy stopper. I'm hoping that she'll be released in the next few days, and as it stands, I'll give them the standard five days to see if she's out and hopefully laying eggs. I'm hoping I'll find pleasant surprises in both hives in the next few days.

As you can see...this is a happy update and I'm excited. My mother hive is ruled by an Italian queen, and the two new hives will be dominated by Carniolan queens. I am looking forward to working with this race of bee since I've heard good things about them. I hear they're hard workers, gentle, and adapt to local conditions better than Italians. And besides, if it doesn't work out with them, Larry and Janice Tate sell Italian queens too.

So it looks like my apiary is moving right along and now I'm thinking about at least one more hive behind the house. If I decide to expand beyond the four, I think I'll have to find another location. My neighbors seems to be very cool with my backyard apiary so far -- and I just want to keep them that way.

Expect an update soon with the details of how my new colonies are faring.

White House hit by swarm of bees...

2010-05-19T00:12:00.001-04:00

(CNN) – The Secret Service is always on the alert for aerial assaults - but on Thursday, White House grounds were hit by one unexpected airborne threat.

A swarm of honey bees took over a bush located between the Northwest security gate of the White House and the area where television networks stand-up positions are located early Thursday.

CNN photojournalist John Bodnar said he came through the Northwest gate around 12:30 pm and was warned about the bees by Secret Service on duty in the guard post. "I walked out and thought it was a swirl of blossoms blowing in the wind, but turns out it was a swarm of bees," he says. Half an hour later, they were still issuing warnings."

White House carpenter Charlie Brandts, who is also a beekeeper and will be managing two bee hives in Michelle Obama's garden, came over to the area around shortly before 2 pm wearing protective gear and carrying a cardboard box. Brandts was reportedly able to get the queen bee in the cardboard box and many, though not all, of the other bees followed. CNN has not yet been able to confirm the capture of the winged invaders.

The picture above is of one of the hives in the garden of the White House in Washington, D.C.

Change of Blogspot and website address...

2010-05-17T02:30:00.001-04:00

Greetings beekeeping blog followers:

Just to let you know that I changed my Blogspot URL and I have a new website address too. In case you want to continue to follow my blog, you will have to go to my new blog and add me again.

It appears that when I changed my Blogspot address, it didn't update so now I have to start all over again with followers.

You can still follow me at: http://marks-bees.blogspot.com/ or at http://www.marksbees.com/

If you have any problems, feel free to email me directly at marksbees@gmail.com and we'll see what the problem is.

Thanks! And I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Mark

Two OLD supersedure cells + Eight NEW supersedure cells = TEN CELLS!

2010-05-16T02:19:00.000-04:00

If anyone ever says that honey bees are not industrious creatures, they're liars. I know they're a helluva lot smarter than me and they know what they're doing in their own house, but I can't help but wonder why they do what they do. Maybe a part of it is my years in law enforcement and I know much of it has to do with my fascination with these little creatures.

I decided to give the bees in the new lime colored hive (a split from the yellow hive) a week free of any interference from me so they could adjust to their new surroundings. As you recall, when I first moved the frames from the mother hive to the lime green hive, they had four swarm cells on the bottoms of the frames. But a week later, the bees tore two of those down and made two sealed supersedure cells in the middle of the frames instead. That was last week, so I figured I would give them a week and check on them.

Fast forward to Saturday.

So I decided to get inside the green hive and see how things were doing and if anything had hatched from the two supersedure cells. And the answer is no, the two original supersedure cells were still intact. But there was something new that had popped up in the last seven days. Eight, that's right, eight NEW supersedure cells joined the previous two cells -- so now this hive has a whopping ten cells. Apparently the girls thought two may be seriously lacking -- so they made a whole bunch of new ones to fall back on.

I didn't make the picture to the right, and I didn't carry my own camera with me (honestly I didn't think I would need it) but the picture shows you what classic supersedure cells look like. On one of the frames in my hive, it had three cells; another couple had two cells each and one just had a single cell like the others from last week. All of them were very prominent and jutting out from the middle of the frames. While I was a little shocked to find so many new cells, I remembered that Richard Underhill of the Peace Bee Farm told me that it only takes four days for bees to make and cap queen cells. So while this colony is queenless, they have still been busy building new queen cells -- and they have been bringing in some nectar and pollen too.

I took the one frame that had three queen cells and cut them off. My mother hive is in need of empty comb so the queen can have room to lay, so I removed every queen cell, shook all the bees off, and put it in the yellow mother hive. The bees in the yellow hive are making honey like crazy and they have made it in frames that I prefer the queen would use for laying eggs. So while they make comb in the shallow supers, and they , I added more deep frames for the queen to lay.

While I was at it in the yellow hive, I removed two frames of old honey that the bees made last year but didn't use over the winter. I scraped the dark honey and comb completely off the frames and then put the frames near the hive for the bees to clean off. Once the frames are clean, I'll put them back in use again -- thus rotating them and keeping cleaner, newer comb in the hive.

Just what will happen with the lime hive, I just don't know, but it should be interesting. While I'm toying with the idea of letting them raise their own queen, I've read that emergency or supersedure queens are pretty much substandard and weak -- so maybe allowing them to raise their own may be a big waste of time. I will have access to a mated queen or two this coming week, so I may cut all the supersedure cells down, leave them queenless overnight, then put a caged queen in for slow release. I have several days to think about it and mull it over and that's what I plan to do.

By the way, I think it may be time for yet another split from the yellow hive. I have a brand new hive from Brushy Mountain that I've painted orange, so that will be the next hive that I fill with inhabitants. And since I will have access to mated queens soon, I may just go ahead and get another and just make the split now.

More later. Until them, bee happy ya'll!

Mark's Silent Screen Classic: "Bees and Spiders" (1927)

2010-05-14T23:43:00.002-04:00

Butter up the popcorn and settle in for this silent screen classic titled "Bees and Spiders" -- a vintage educational film from 1927. I really can't tell you much about it other than what I found online which said, "Life history of the bee, the economic value of bees through honeymaking and pollinization, and the habits and appearance of the garden and trap door spider."

While I'm not crazy about spiders (I was bitten by a brown recluse and had to take shots and antibiotics for a month...not to mention the bite wound that basically rotted out) -- I am fascinated by the beekeeping aspect of the movie. And really, there was nothing new or shocking there either, but I'm just excited by the art of beekeeping.

Oh, and check out the young lady at the beginning of the film who walks right up with her smoker, no veil or anything, and opens the hive up and starts pulling a frame. And she's wearing a dress too. I'm scared to death that a bee is going to crawl up the leg of my coveralls -- and she wears a dress! What nerve!

Again, it is a silent feature, so don't try to adjust the sound on your computer or fiddle with your hearing aid.

Got another swarm call! This colony moved into an apartment!

2010-05-14T00:09:00.002-04:00

Wednesday is normally a relatively mild day for me. I like Wednesday because not too much is usually going on at work and then the weekend will be here before you know it. But my office called and said that the manager of a local apartment complex, West End Plaza Apartments, wanted to know if I would like some bees they found on the property. So I took the number and called them back but got no answer, so since the complex is about five minutes from my house, I decided to ride over to see where the swarm was located and what equipment I would need.

When I arrived, I met Tammy, who is the complex manager. I also met Dave who is the maintenance manager who took me to see the bees. When I got the call, I was thinking that maybe the bees were on a tree limb or maybe a swing set at the complex. Boy was I wrong. No, the bees in question had become squatters on the apartment complex property and had moved -- into the building! Apparently they found a hole at the corner of one of the buildings and liked it so much that they decided to move in.

Knowing that the project was more than I really wanted to do, I politely declined. But I told Dave I knew someone who would probably take them, so I called my good buddy Jared Watkins in Winston Salem, who had previously told me he would like to do a cut-out sometime. Jared's been itching to use his homemade bee-vaccum and to do an extraction -- so when I called him he agreed to come up and sure enough, he got here about an hour later.

Upon Jared's arrival, here's the greeting he got! The bees in the apartment were in full swarm mode and piling out of the hole. Remembering the story that noise will settle swarming bees, the people that lived in the apartment gave Jared some pots and pans, and he banged on them to settle them down. And luckily, it worked. When I arrived a few minutes later, the bees were hanging on the bricks and headed back into the hole in the building. Knowing that dusk would arrive soon and that it was going to take awhile to get the bees out of the building, Jared decided it would be best to come back on Thursday and remove the bees.

Here I am looking out the window as the bees settle back into their home in the wall. Dave the maintenance guy pulled back the carpet so we could try to listen and find their exact location (we could hear the buzzing through the carpet) -- and when he did, Jared pointed out a bee who was making her way through a hole in the floor. So it was obvious that they were right there between the floor joists or along the wall somewhere. And we were right, when they pulled the floor up on Thursday, the bees were in a relatively small space in the corner.

Due to prior plans, I couldn't be there on Thursday. But Jared was able to get some help from Greg who is a fellow beekeeper in Forsyth County, and Dave, the apartment complex's maintenance manager. So when the three pulled the floor boards up, there they were. Jared told me later that it was a small colony, maybe three to four pounds or the size of a package you would buy. And believe it or not, even with all the pulling and prying, he said they were pretty laid back. And get this, he also said that this wasn't the first colony that had inhabited this small corner space before; they found old comb there that indicated that prior squatters had checked in before. And the old comb had signs that a mouse had been there. Maybe the old comb is what attracted the bees to the spot this week.

Using the homemade bee-vac, Jared and Greg were able to vacuum up the girls from the floor space and later put them into the 8-frame boxes that Jared prefers to use. They also cleaned up what old and new comb was there and then all that would be left to do would be to take them to their new location which is near the Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston Salem (named after the son of tobacco magnate, R.J. Reynolds). Jared said that while the bees were laid back while being evicted, their mood changed and they were a tad testy once they got to their new home. Well you do have to admit, they had been through a rough day with being sucked into a vacuum cleaner and eventually evicted from their nice apartment complex. But maybe once they settle down they'll like their new home in the country better. Besides they'll never have to catch a cab to get to the airport.

To keep future bees from moving in the space again, Dave the maintenance guy filled in the opening with expanding spray foam. As you can see, a few of the returning foragers found their entrance blocked off...and I'm sure they were totally confused by it all. I mean, you leave during the morning and when you come home, this white foam is blocking you out. I am sure it was a "what the heck" moment.

While I was there on Wednesday, I praised Dave and the staff at the apartment complex for calling a beekeeper and not killing the colony. Come to find out, Dave's uncle is a beekeeper in the county whom I've met before and is a really nice guy, so he knows the value of helping the honey bees. And Tammy, the manager, once had three honey bee hives herself! So good job to Dave and Tammy and the staff at West End Plaza Apartments. And great job to Jared and Greg for taking the time to catch a wayward swarm and giving them a new home.

And an extra thanks to Jared for sharing his pictures so I could tell the tale!

Can swarm cells turn into supersedure cells? (Cue "Twilight Zone" music)

2010-05-10T03:43:00.002-04:00

So it had been a week since I moved the four swarm cells from my first colony to an empty hive. As you recall, I found them during a routine inspection, scattered on the bottoms of four different frames in the upper deep. Following the advice of several longtime beekeepeers, I moved the cells with some capped brood, eggs and larvae and pollen and nectar to an empty hive, along with a generous sprinking of bees, and closed everything up. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was extremely quiet and very little coming and going was happening at the new hive -- so little that I became concerned that something was very wrong.

But when Thursday rolled around, I found a lot of flying in and out and I could see some orientation flights underway too. This made me feel better but I knew that I wouldn't truly feel better until I took a good look under the lid to see what was going on inside.

Without using smoke, I opened the hive and as I was doing an inspection, I found two of the four swarm cells almost gone. I had the frames with the swarm cells placed where I could easily find them, and the precious cells were practically gone. Truthfully I thought I picked the wrong frames out, but then on closer examination, I realized I had the right ones after all. It was obvious that the bees had torn the cells down, I knew it wasn't me because I'd been extremely careful about moving the frames as to not tear the cells. And a third swarm cell was completely empty. I didn't even look at the fourth, because after all of that disappointment, I closed up the hive. When I got in the house, I started calling around to try to find a queen without delay. The queen I have on order in Chapel Hill is still a week or more away and no one else I called in the immediate area had any ready to sell. One had them but the waiting list was at least three weeks. With all these disappointments, I knew I was headed for trouble. I kept thinking that if I don't do something soon, I am going to find myself with a laying worker and then everything will be a total mess. Needless to say, I called everywhere and no luck was in the cards.

Looking to buy some time, I spoke to a local beekeeper who told me to take more eggs from the mother hive and put them in the new hive and the bees should take them and start making new queen cells again. And since the queen I have is a laying machine, I knew I should be able to find more donor eggs. So the plan of action for Sunday would be to move some eggs over and keep my fingers crossed.

So Sunday rolled around and I opened the mother hive to look for eggs. Taking my time, I found a frame with some eggs scattered around, but since this is honey flow time here, I also noticed that the hive was scattered with lots of nectar and pollen and becoming honey-bound. So I grabbed up a shallow super to put on top of the hive so they can move the honey up and give the queen room to lay. And then I opened the new hive to find a frame to swap out -- but I found something that perplexed me totally. It was something new, something I never saw before in the past week, and something that has me totally confused. I found two new queen cells -- two supersedure cells.

The supersedure cells were in the middle of two different frames situated next to one another. In all my examinations of these frames, I never, ever saw these supersedure cells...and I honestly believe they are new and created in the last week. No eggs were in the new hive, so there should be no other queens there, at least not a mated queen anyway. And since I found eggs in the mother hive, it is obvious that a queen is there and working. So I don't quite understand why the bees in the new hive tore down the swarm cells and moved up the frame and made supersedure cells instead.

Is it because they realized that they had no reigning queen and created emergency cells? Is it because they have changed plans to swarm (since they're not in a crowded hive box anymore) and decided to create a different queen instead? And why did I not see these cells when I've examined the frames on two occasions in the past week?

I carefully closed up the new hive and took great care to not bump or rub the supersedure cells. And after adding a honey super to the mother hive, I closed it up as well and don't plan to disturb them again for a week or two. They've been stressed enough this past week so now I'm going to give them time to get back to being bees.

Without a doubt, I plan to keep an eye on the new hive to see what is going on there. If all goes to plan (at least the bees plan anyway) -- a new queen should emerge soon. But I'm not so sure that I should leave an emergency queen there or go ahead and replace her. I have read that emergency queens (by supesedure) are sometimes inferior to mated queens from a dealer. Maybe these are just the stories that some dealers tell just so beekeepers will buy their products, or maybe there is some ring of truth to it. I plan to mull it over in the meantime and do some research.

Anyone with experience with this kind of situation or your ideas on what you think is happening are more than welcome to offer comments. I would love to hear what you think is going on.

ADDENDUM: Beekeeping expert, Richard Underhill at the Peace Bee Farm, just sent me a note about my swarm cells turning into supersedure cells: "The swarm cells being replaced by supersedure cells is an interesting occurrence, but I think there is a simple explanation. You moved in a frame with swarm cells. The first one to emerge killed the others inside their cells, and the workers chewed out the sides of those cells. Now you find supersedure cells on the sides of frames. These may have been started as emergency queen cells by the workers when you started this new hive. The first day the new hive would have detected that it was queen-less. If there were eggs on one of the frames that you brought in, the bees would build emergency queen cells by extending worker cells and turning them downward. You did not see them on your previous inspection, because it only takes four days for them to build and cap a queen cell."

As always, thanks Richard! So if I understand this, there exists the possibility that my new hive could be queenright after all. Richard's scenario is that one of the queens in the swarm cells may have hatched and killed her sisters. The frames that now hold supersedure cells were a result of the bees realizing they were queenless and so they panicked and started building. Makes sense. I've always read that a queen-less colony is hard to work with, moody and irritable. But I've noticed that in the times I've been in this hive this past week, I never used smoke and they were really gentle -- so maybe the colony really is queenright. Now the search begins pretty soon to see if I can find a queen or eggs in the the new hive.

Forget catching swarms! I found FOUR swarm cells in my own hive!

2010-05-02T19:09:00.001-04:00

Today was just plain muggy. The temperature made it up to 92 degrees here, and the relative humidity held out at 47% -- meaning it was sticky hot. As I mentioned before, we've gone from a hard winter to summer, then back to spring -- and now back to summer. Since the weather was hot, I decided to go ahead and do an inspection since it had been a couple of weeks. Good thing I did because I found some interesting developments since my last peek under the cover.

Even the beginning beekeeper should recognize this -- a swarm cell. Not one cell, but at least four of them. Two of the cells were on one frame, and the other two cells were on individual frames. Was I surprised? No. This colony has been absolutely booming after making it through the winter, so I knew that the congestion would eventually lead to swarming. I was hoping that they would hold out until I could do a split with a bred queen from the apiary in Chapel Hill, but as you can see, the bees had a different idea.

A few of the frames I pulled out had burr comb beneath them, some attached the frame in the middle chamber to the frames on the bottom chamber. I did the best job I could of not pulling the comb open and exposing the larvae and pupa, but it wasn't meant to be in some cases. No matter how hard I've worked to keep the burr comb to a minimum, just letting them go a couple of weeks can leave a mess for you to clean up. But as you can see in the picture to the right, this burr comb is intact including the obvious swarm cell. The pupa I did expose was collected and dumped into the creek behind the house. The creek is full of small fish so they had a nice Sunday snack.

Here's one of those frames I mentioned above with the exposed pupa. But you can see yet another swarm cell on the front, and when I looked up into it (it wasn't capped) there was a very lively larvae inside. So making sure as best I could that the queen wasn't on this frame, I moved it over to the empty hive next door. I did that with all the frames holding swarm cells. Doing the best I could to make sure that the reigning queen wasn't anywhere on them, I placed them in the empty hive along with the bees on those frames. I'm just hoping that her highness is still in the mother hive and didn't get moved over. I'll have to check in a few days to see if there are new eggs in the mother live.

A mixture of cells, what I believe to be drone cells and swarm cells too. The one on the bottom had a larvae inside and was almost completely capped. Some of the cells above that are drone cells. But to the other side of the frame, it appears that the oblong shaped cells were swarm cells as well. So now we're up to at least four swarm cells on the bottom of the frames, all of them in the middle chamber of this hive. The box I placed above it weeks ago, including frames with Plasticell foundation -- the bees had already started drawing out with comb. Two of the frames were drawn on one side and they had started on a third. And that's without me feeding them syrup.

So what did I do? As I mentioned above, on the advice of beekeeping guru, Richard Underhill of the Peace Bee Farm, he said that if I found swarm cells, I needed to move them to a new hive and do a split. Some other beekeepers told me that a split should also include capped brood and eggs too. So acting on the information I had absorbed from everyone, I moved the frames with the swarm cells to the new hive, and I added some capped brood and egg frames. Some of the capped brood frames had larvae too which was even better. I also found a nice frame of newly laid eggs, so I put it there too. And to top it off, I added some pollen frames and one full frame of honey for them to use.

I would be lying if I said that I'm completely comfortable with everything I did. I just pray that I did everything right. Even if the queens don't emerge or they don't make it, maybe they'll still have enough in this new hive to make a new queen. Although I included pollen and honey frames, I decided to go ahead and add sugar syrup to give them more food since the nurse bees have never left the hive. Then when I check it again in a week or so and things hopefully look okay, I'll possibly add another chamber with empty frames so they can start drawing comb. I placed the empty frames that are partially drawn back on the yellow hive which is the mother hive, so that should possibly keep them busy now that the swarm urge has hopefully dissippated with the disappearance of the swarm cells.

I am open for critiques here. Let me know if you think I handled this okay. With great advice from longtime beekeepers like Richard Underhill and others, I feel like I did the right thing. I'm just hoping that the bees have the same idea. So let me know what you think.

I'll BEE waiting to hear from you!

Here's a story about the BIRDS and the BEES!

2010-05-01T23:59:00.002-04:00

So for the second year in a row, an Eastern bluebird has decided to build her nest on top of the bird house at my parent's residence. That's right, on top! The bird house is attached to a pole under the metal awning that covers their basement door, and evidently it is just too cramped inside. So what does she decide to do? The next best thing...just build it on the roof. Honestly she is too big to go inside anyway, but since it is 7-feet off the ground and inaccessible to cats, she's pretty safe there. The problem is she is easily frightened. If you get within 20-feet of the nest, she flies away. I tried to wait her out and get a picture of her sitting on the nest, but she didn't come back, so I put the camera over the nest and snapped a picture of three eggs in the nest. As you can see, she has three beautiful eggs that she's tending. My dad says that she always comes back when the coast is clear. I'm going to keep a check to see when the babies hatch and maybe get a picture of them too.

And now the bees. Today was a nice, sunny, balmy 90-degrees with the humidity at over 60%! Yeah, we've gone from a hard winter to early summer, back to spring, and now back to summer..and its just the beginning of May. When I got home from dinner, I noticed a dark blob on the front of my hive, and when I checked it out, I found the ladies were having a front porch social. They were fanning so much that I could hear them while standing away from the hive -- it sounded like a fan running on low speed. While some might think this sight is unusual, actually it is the bee's way of keeping the hive cool since some of the bees come outside and avoid the congestion inside. This hive has a screened bottom board to aid in air circulation and pest management, and the inner cover has an air notch too. I have a feeling that I'll see lots of this throughout the next few months since I have a feeling it will be a long, hot summer.

In other news, the Busy Bee Apiary told me that their new queens won't be ready for pick-up for another couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I plan to break this hive down and look for queen cells, and if I find some, I plan to go ahead and split it. If I don't find any queen cells, I plan to put a queen excluder between the boxes in about a week -- that way I can corral the reigning queen and not move her in the transfer of frames to the new hive. That tip was given to me by beekeeping guru, Richard Underhill of the Peace Bee Farm. Then all I'll have to do is transfer the frames, wait for 24 hours so the new hive will realize its queenless, then I'll introduce the new queen in her cage. That method should make it easier for the new packaged queen to be accepted. I just hope I don't goof it up and do something wrong. I've practiced it over and over again in my head. Now if all will go according to plan, everything will be fine!

I'll update everyone when I do my inspection to let you know what's shaking.

Until next time everyone, BEE happy!

Easy come, easy GO! My first swarm catch hits the road!

2010-04-27T05:00:00.004-04:00

When I went to bed on Sunday night, I figured Monday would be just like any other Monday...and that's really busy. And I wasn't disappointed in the least. But I got a great surprise around 9 o'clock Monday morning. That's when one of the guys that works in my office called the house to say that a public school in the county had a swarm of honey bees on a picnic table and wanted them gone and would I be interested in getting them. The answer was a resounding YES!

I called the Rockingham County High School which is 8-miles from my house and in the county seat of Wentworth. The school's secretary told me they did in-fact have a swarm on the school grounds. She told me they were under a picnic table and they would like to give them away to a good home. She said one of the teachers heard me talk on my television show about being a beekeeper, so they immediately thought of me and wanted me to come get them. I told her it would take me a few minutes to get there, so I ran and loaded up an empty hive and a spray bottle of syrup and my veil and headed to the school. When I got there about a half hour later, I was met by a friend who is the school resource officer (a deputy sheriff assigned to guard the school). Jeff Strader, the deputy and one of my former co-workers at the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, guided me to a courtyard just outside of the school cafeteria. And there they were...a big, golden blob of honeybees.

The colony had landed under the end of a picnic table. A teacher told me that they weren't there on Friday afternoon, so its obvious they found their new digs sometime over the weekend. They were very docile, there wasn't any flying around, they were tightly clumped and very still. I got very close to check them out and they never flinched with my bare face just inches from them. So I decided to put on my coveralls and veil and go to work to get them in the hive.

Here's a closer look at the wayward colony. As you can see, the cluster is a little smaller than a basketball. They were in a perfect spot, under the edge of the table at the end...a great place to put the empty hive. So I sprayed the colony really well with sugar syrup, then I picked up the edge of the table and let it drop. The cluster plopped right into the empty hive. By this time, one of the classes stopped what they were doing to come out and watch. Ron Wheeler's automotive technology class watched intently while I collected the stray colony. The students were quiet as church mice until I dropped the table -- then all you heard was "ohhhhhs" and "ahhhhhs" from the future auto mechanics. I felt a little uncomfortable at first, not for their safety but because I was catching my first swarm and now I had an audience watching my every move. But they were super and quiet and asked some really great questions later. They were a great audience.

Here you see the bees as they were dropped into the hive. Once they fell, most stayed inside and some perched on the top of the frames and went to work fanning their pheremones into the air. And for the first time in two years of beekeeping, I got stung. It was my own fault, I squashed a bee with my bare hand that I didn't see. She was on my leg and when I put my hand over her, she got me on the edge of my hand. I scraped the stinger out with my hive tool. I also carry sting swabs in my tool box so I put one on the sting spot and it didn't hurt anymore. Those sting swabs are great.

I waited about 45 minutes for the stragglers to find their way back and then I put the top on the hive. Once I noticed some coming and going from the entrance, and since it was getting close to lunchtime when more students would be around, I decided to stuff my glove in the entrance, load my girls in the truck, and head for home. There were few bees still lingering around the table when I left, but to make sure no one would get stung, I helped Jeff put yellow caution tape around the picnic area to keep the kids out for the rest of the day.

I've read hundreds of accounts of catching swarms, and watched countless YouTube videos too. So feeling pretty confident that I did everything right, I got the bees to my house and put them in their place of honor next to my other bustling colony in the "lemon" hive. I put an entrance reducer on the front and then made some sugar syrup and put a hive top feeder on. I pictured them getting started on drawing comb and living like - well - queens. End of story. Right?

WRONG! After an hour of watching the occasional bee come and go -- all of a sudden, one bee, then tens of bees, then hundreds of bees and then thousainds of bees came boiling out of the hive. No, this wasn't an orientation flight buzz of bees...this was a swarm of bees. My honey bees, my very first swarm catch, the colony I had every intention of turning into a thriving metropolis...had other ideas and decided to hit the road yet again. And all I could do is stand by helplessly and watch them take to the sky. Honestly it broke my heart to watch them leave and to know that my hard work was pretty much all for nothing.

Just across the creek from my hive is where they landed. They were up about 20-feet off the ground and landed on the side of a pine tree entangled with vines and poison sumac. I watched them perched there for about a half-hour, then I went inside and made a few phone calls, and when I returned to check on them, they were gone. I saw a few bees flying around the spot where they landed, but for the most part, the colony had disappeared. I'm not sure if this pine tree has a hollow spot in it, and for all I know they could be deep inside it, but I don't think so. I just hope they like their new place...wherever that may be.

If I get another call tomorrow to come get an escaped colony of bees, I will do it in a heartbeat. Am I disappointed? Of course I'm disappointed, but I look at it as a two way learning experience. I learned how to catch a swarm, and the students at Rockingham County High School learned that saving the honeybees is extremely important. A school is a place of learning, and besides teaching the young people valuable lessons, I learned one on Monday too. It was an experience I wouldn't take anything for even though it didn't work out like I hoped.

On to other news, next week I'm getting another queen from Busy Bee Apiary...and I'm planning to split my current colony. I'm just hoping and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll have better luck with my split than I had with the swarm from the high school.

Thanks to the staff at Rockingham County High School for thinking of me when they found the swarm, and if another colony drops in anytime soon, please keep me in mind. My motto is; Have hive, will travel!

Has Mother Nature decided for me? Okay, beeks, I need your help!

2010-04-11T15:01:00.001-04:00

Today (Sunday) was such a beautiful day that decided to get out and do a quick inspection. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that my colony would do well and thrive for the next few weeks, but not get the itch to swarm. But I've had a deep feeling that since this colony is a booming colony, their natural urge to swarm would kick in before I could make a manual split. They still have lots of room in both chambers, but I noticed that they're loading up the upper chamber with pollen and the queen was laying really well in the bottom brood box. Matter of fact, when I examined the top deep first, I could tell the queen had laid here and there, and I was feeling a little disappointed that she may be giving out by the spotty laying pattern. But when I got to the bottom brood chamber, she was laying like a champ and in a tight, consistent pattern on most of the frames. Capped brood was everywhere as well as larvae.

But before I get too far ahead of myself, let me show you what else I found. Look closely at the photo and just above my website brand. I think that's a queen cell they're making in the upper deep. My photography isn't the best here as I was by myself, but if you could have seen this from my angle...the cell had a downward, protruding shape. And as you can see, there is a larvae inside and several nurse bees were busy attending to it. I didn't find any other possible queen cells, just this one, but I did find bunches of drone cells on several frames. And one of the drones was making a fierce racket while I was checking out the frames. Overall they were in a decent mood, a little testy, but I've seen worse.

Of course you can click on any of the pictures to get a better view. And while you're at it, take a look at this picture on the left. That's a little better view of what I believe is a queen cell. And you can see the bees checking on it. While my first instinct was to take my hive took and tear it off, I decided that might not be the wise thing to do. Beekeepers with a lot more experience than me say that it is never wise to rip the queen cells off because if the old queen has already left with a handful of her daughters or is dead or whatnot, then the hive could be queenless and doomed if you do that. So I decided to leave the cell alone and check it again in a few days to see if they finish the job and cap it and see it takes on the unmistakable appearance of a classic queen cell.

While it may be too late to keep this colony from swarming, I've decided that I may be able to buy some time by adding empty frames to keep them occupied for awhile. I added another deep with new frames (plastic foundation) so they can have a head start in case I do get to make a manual split. And if they do swarm on their own, at least I'll have some already drawn frames for when I find another swarm or get more bees. Oh, and I added the empty hive to the left of my current one. I've read that in quite a few instances, bees that swarm will go to nearby empty hives and settle in as opposed to traveling far away. So maybe if they decide to hit the road, they'll find that there's an empty house next door and ready for occupancy.

Okay, gang, I need your help!

Take a good look at the two pictures that shows the "suspicious" cell at the bottom of the frame. Does this look like a queen cell to you? And how would you handle this situation if you were me? Would you have cut the cell out? Or would you leave it alone?

I'm open for all ideas and suggestions. So lay it on me! All ideas welcome!

Updates from the busy, buzzing backyard!

2010-04-11T11:00:00.003-04:00

Well I have to admit that although spring has sprung here, it has been relatively quiet around my house lately. My honey bees are busy enough; there is a flurry of activity outside of the hive every day although the tree pollens to gather is as close as their front entrance. The state department of environmental health reported the other day that this past week's pollen count was the highest here in seven years. While the bees have been enjoying the weather, I have to say that I haven't. Armed with Claritin to fight the burning eyes and sniffles, I trudge about my routine life while keeping my fingers crossed that my allergies will calm down soon enough.

So the other day I decided to head over to the Virginia location of Dadant. As I've mentioned before, I'm lucky to be just under an hour from the Chatham, Virginia, Dadant warehouse, so if I need something, I can hop in my Xterra and pay them a visit. Plus I needed to return one of the plastic screened bottom boards I bought last year. It had never been used and was in storage all winter, but when I was putting together the components for my second hive, I noticed it was bowed. The hive body wouldn't set even on the bottom board, and because of the large gap in the back, the bees could easily slip out of the rear. So I called Mark Bennett, the manager of the Dadant office in Virginia, and he said he would gladly exchange it for me.

Before I go any further, let me say that although the postal code says Chatham, the Dadant warehouse is actually in a little community called Tightsqueeze, Virginia. No, I am not kidding, its called Tightsqueeze, and stop laughing. Whether its the hardware store, the shopping center or the golf shop, they all share the name of Tightsqueeze. While the name is funny, I have to admit its a beautiful little community that sits in the rolling hills of south-side Virginia. And its just miles north of Danville which was the last capital of the Confederacy just before the end of the American Civil War. Oh, and the reason its called Tightsqueeze? Supposedly it was because of the extremely narrow road between two stores on the path that connected Chatham and Danville many years ago. People would say that the road had a "tight squeeze" (meaning narrow) and it just stuck. And to this very day, people still call the area Tightsqueeze. By the way, even the locals snicker at the name...so don't feel bad.

So I made the trip and Mark gladly exchanged my bottom board for a new one and I also bought a spare hive tool. And knowing that I blog and work in television broadcasting, Mark invited me to come up and make pictures and do interviews on "bee pick-up days" which happens twice this month at Dadant. On April 19th and 26th, Dadant gets shipments of bees for eager beekeepers who want to either broaden or replace their colonies. If I'm not mistaken, Mark said that each shipment will include 300 cages of bees that people have pre-ordered and already paid for, and they will make the trip to Tightsqueeze to pick up their new charges. But Mark warned me that bee pick-up days are madness, and he said it is hard to get close to the building for routine business. I definitely want to go up and make pictures and be a part of the thrill, but the problem is that both days fall on Monday, and that is the most hectic day in my work week. But if I have time to ride up with cameras, I'll do it. I have a feeling the air will be buzzing with lots of excitement that day!

By the way, I have some upcoming posts that may interest some of you. One is about the ApiLife-Var, the all-natural remedy for varroa mites. I've done some reseach and you won't believe what I found. Not bad mind you, but I believe you could save yourself a lot of money by just running down to the health and beauty section at Walmart instead of ordering ApiLife which is expensive. And another post will be about the pending split of my current colony. My colony is doing well and it will be time to split soon, but I have to get a new queen to make it happen. I have one ordered from Busy Bee Apiary in Chapel Hill, but if that falls through, my friend Jared Watkins, who is helping a beekeeper with his queen rearing in nearby Winston Salem, has offered to get one for me if necessary.

More later! Until next time, enjoy your spring!

A visit with my buddy Jared and his Old Salem bee colonies!

2010-04-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday, I had the chance to hang out with my buddy, Jared Watkins, at his house in Winston Salem. In case you've never been there, Winston Salem is the home of Old Salem, a beautifully restored Moravian community from the mid-late 1700s. One thing I've always remembered about the tours of Old Salem are the gift shops...complete with wonderful smelling old-time beeswax candles. If you're ever in North Carolina, check it out. Its a great place to visit.

Anyway, Jared blogs Jared's Adventure Into Beekeeping and he just got his first two hives over the last few weeks. Just like all of us, he is excited about his new bees and wanted me to come see them for myself. Jared has the hives on the deck behind his house and they seem to be adapting well there. These were walk-away splits from a nearby apiary...so they're already accustomed to the general area and the climate. I think Jared told me there are around 100 hives in this apiary and he got his bees from the two splits.

When we got to the deck, we were greeted by Jared's girls. As I mentioned, he has two hives there, and the ones in the picture to the right are very well tempered. I stood right in front of the deck in my street clothes - my face pressed between the spokes along the railing - and they acted like they could care less. Jared said that he uses little smoke with them because they're so gentle, and he did the same thing when I was there for the visit...hardly any smoke at all. Although he did smoke them under the lid, not a single one flew out in anger when we popped the top off. And it was obvious the colony was working and drawing comb and doing what they're supposed to be doing. This is one great colony.

His newest colony is a bit of a different story. They're a little hot tempered and Jared had already warned me about them. We put our protective gear on in his basement, and as we went on the deck and Jared was lighting his smoker, one of the bees from this hive flew off the front and right at my face. Luckily I didn't get stung, and that's when I knew it was time to put my veil on. It was amazing to observe the dispositions of the two colonies. The first was just fine and made little noise. But the second one was ramped up and the buzzing had gotten pretty loud by the time we finished. You could tell they were tuned up and totally irritated by us being there. But Jared told me that this particular colony had issues at their old location, and I told him that maybe they just need some time to settle in and maybe their disposition will change. Maybe once the queen gets cranked up and as the natural cycle of the colony replaces itself, maybe it will get better. If not, it may be time to re-queen.

Overall, Jared has a really great set-up and you can tell he really loves beekeeping. He spent the weekend planting all sorts of bee friendly plants around his house, and can name every single one of them without looking at the labels. His test to be a certified beekeeper is coming up and he's excited about that too. I think that Jared will be a great and conscientious beekeeper who will make a dent in the beekeeping world. And he is already involved in the Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) program too. That was the one day course that Jared, our friend Lynn (Walter Bee) and I attended. Jared is already registered as one of North Carolina's participating apiaries.

Thanks for the good time Jared. And good luck with your girls!

The swarm hive boxes may have arrived in time. I found "scouts" at my office!

2010-04-03T01:02:00.002-04:00

Talk about a slow day at work. I figured with it being a holiday weekend that it would be pretty slow, but little did I know it would be painfully slow. As many of you know, I do news and talk shows for our local television station, and on both talk segments I had tonight, the time just dragged on. My guess is that a lot of people headed out of town for the weekend. I can't say I blame them, with the weather being gorgeous for the last few days, the beach had to be even better.

So during my long break (ten minutes between segments) I decided to go into the courtyard behind our office building and just chill out for a few minutes. The courtyard is completely enclosed and can't be accessed from the street or by the public, just our station personnel and the gun shop owners next door. The courtyard sits under this small tower that sends our signal by microwave relay to a 500 foot tower and antenna which is about 12 miles away. This little courtyard is a great little place to relax for a few minutes and just unwind.

But while I was taking my break, I kept noticing some flying insect examining the cracks in the brick firewall that isolates the courtyard. It would fly up, then down, and all side by side along the cracks -- then it would disappear for a few minutes. But then all of a sudden, this insect was back and doing it all over again. Initially I thought it may have been a bumblebee or carpenter bee. But no, it was too small to be those, but it was too big to be a yellowjacket. So I got closer and waited for it to land, and it finally did. To my surprise, it was a honey bee!

I watched her for a few minutes to see what she was doing. And finally I decided that it had to be a "scout" bee. I watched her carefully as she went from hole to hole in the brick wall. Then I found her going in one particular hole so I marked it in the mortar line between bricks.

You can see where I made a purple X mark on the bricks with my felt tip pen. Just to the left of my X and in the crack (where I added a red arrow) is one of the holes she was scouting. She went into the hole, came back out, flew around some, then went back inside. I'm assuming she was checking the possible accommodations for comfort and to see it is would be suitable as a new home. I went back into the station for a few minutes and when I came back out to check, she was back again and flying all along the wall. I'm just guessing that if she really was scouting this wall, she wanted to make darn sure that she found just the right spot. After all, she is a female, and has the right to change her mind. Eh, ladies?

After I got off the air at 7 o'clock, I went home and got a bottom board, 10-frame deep hive box, and a cover. This is the same hive equipment that arrived just yesterday from Brushy Mountain, so it looks like it may have arrived in the nick of time. It looks like their timing was perfect.

I didn't have any "store bought" swarm lure, but I've read stories where old-timers swear by Lemon Pledge. So I took the hive box and sat it between the two holes that I saw the scout frequent, and I soaked a cotton cloth in Lemon Pledge and put it inside the hive. Supposedly the bees that swarm will be drawn to the smell of the lemon oil because its the same kind of scent emitted by a swarm...and they follow their noses. And this new hive also has the fresh smell of beeswax inside that coats the new Pierco frames. So between the two odors, maybe the bees will be attracted to it and decide to move in. I have my fingers crossed anyway.

Whether or not I'll catch a swarm, I don't know. For all I know, maybe this was just a rogue bee who was being nosey or just killing some time before heading home for the night. But my hope (better yet..a wish) is that someone's hive may have swarmed and they're looking for a new home. Maybe since it was so close to night they decided to stay put overnight and will move tomorrow or before the weekend is over...and maybe into the television station's courtyard and right into my hive set-up. I'm hoping that when I check it out on Saturday or Sunday, I'll have a really nice surprise waiting for me.

I'll keep you posted on my adventure. And I hope the news is good!

My new goodies arrived from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm!

2010-04-02T02:36:00.002-04:00

So I went to eat lunch on Thursday and by the time I got home, I found two packages on my front porch. I was happy to see that my goodies arrived from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm which is located two hours from me in Moravian Falls, North Carolina. As I mentioned in a previous post, I wanted a spare hive in case I find a swarm somewhere, and now I have a fully complete set-up for when the moment arrives. As you can see, the only thing it needs is a fresh coat of paint -- and I've already picked out the color. Bright orange! The orange color like the breakfast drink, Tang. So between my lemon yellow hive, the upcoming lime green hive -- and the spare orange hive, I should have all the citrus colors in my apiary. It should look like a taste of Florida right here in North Carolina!

Thank goodness the pest eliminators I ordered arrived too including the ten pack of ApiLife-Var (for varroa mites) and the disposable Beetle Blasters. Brushy Mountain includes their own instructions with the ApiLife-Var, and when I opened the plastic package to read them, you can really smell the ingredients even though each one is sealed in heavy foil. Each wafer includes the active ingredients of Thymol, Eucalytol, Menthol and Camphor. It is all-natural, and the active ingredient is the Thymol..a more purified form of oil of thyme. You open one foil package (you cut the two wafers into eight pieces) and put it over the brood nest for 7 to 10 days for a total of three treatments (21 to 30 days). The only problem I've read about the pieces is that unless you staple them to the frames or enclose them in screen wire, the bees will try to carry it out as trash. So I plan to take an old window screen and enclose the wafers inside to they can't move it around. You also have to block the screened bottom board and reduce the entrance so the vapors will permeate the entire hive. I'm planning to put the AprLife-Var in the hive for the first treatment this Saturday. And I plan to post just what kind of reaction my colony has to it and what observations I see too. The Beetle Blasters are self explanatory, but in case you've never heard of them, you put mineral oil inside them and put them on top of the frames in the five. When the small hive beetles scurry through the hive, they try to take cover in the traps -- and they meet their demise by drowning in the oil. All I can say is, good riddance! Back to the ApiLife-Var, Brushy Mountain says that used correctly, it will kill 95% of the varroa mites in your hive and won't harm the bees.

Here is the new inner cover I ordered from Brushy Mountain called a Goble cover. I like it much better than the ones I have from Dadant. This inner cover is a piece of 3/8" plywood which is glued and nailed into the outer rim. And as you can see, it has a hole in the front which acts as an upper entrance. Its a lot more solid than the Masonite inner covers from Dadant which buckle really easily from hive moisture (and I speak from experience). I plan to order two more of these inner covers this week for all my hives. I'll never go back to using the Masonite inner covers anymore. Plus you get a better deal with the Goble covers because they're cheaper in price than the Masonite ones.

I have no clue what kind of bush this is, but I know my bees love it! It sits in my neighbor's yard, just across her fence and directly behind my bee hive. I noticed a flurry of bees on it all afternoon. Not only was it popular with my honey bees, but it was full of bumblebees too and they all seemed to be getting along just fine. I went to get my camera and waited patiently to snap some pictures of them gathering goodies from the flowers but every time I would get poised, they would move around. Finally in frustration, I decided to snap a picture of the entire bush. But take a look at the top left of the picture (where I circled in yellow). There you can see a bee as she's flying away from the bush. Hey, it wasn't a picturesque as I hoped for, but I think you get the idea.

I didn't mention that I bought 20 Pierco one-piece frames for the brood nest of my new hive. I've read lot of good things about the one-piece frames, they seem to be the rave of commercial beeks, so I decided to give them a try myself. They're coated in beeswax, and as soon as I opened the box, you could really smell it. Let's hope they work.

Pictures coming of the new lime green hive which goes into service just as soon as I split my current hive!

Bee good, everybody!