December snow! And yes, you can tick off guard bees...even in the snow!

Greetings everyone! As promised, I made pictures of the snow storm we had here in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina. Not just here mind you...I see Lynn at Walter Bee (who is in the mountains of North Carolina..to the west of me) had a doozy of a snow fall there too. Parts of our state definitely became a winter wonderland overnight -- and weather forecasters are saying that we might, just might, have another system moving in on Christmas Eve!

I decided to make pictures of all sorts of things, including my bee hive, and of course, each picture has a story. You can click on the picture and it will open up in a new browser in a larger size. So here we go...

This one really doesn't need a description. He's everywhere...

Thank goodness that the hummingbirds are farther south for the winter. If they were here now to see this, they would be totally irritated with me. I just have a feeling that I'll need to buy a new feeder before the spring comes.

Fritz, my 13-year-old Dachshund. He is almost totally blind now. He was extremely reluctant to "do his business" in the yard with all the snow, but after a little coaxing, he finally did it. When he was a pup, he loved the snow and would run like a rabbit through it. But today, after being outside for a new minutes and completing the task at hand, he let me know he was ready to go back inside and get under the blanket with Klaus, my 5-year-old Dachshund. By the way, Fritz was a shelter dog and just a baby when I got him. Animal control officers picked him up wandering and he was scheduled to be put down when I rescued him. He's the best dog I've ever had and there will never be another like him.

My snow covered bee hive! When I got to the hive, a bee, who was dying, crawled out and fell on the ground. I figured that others had to be dead inside, probably from the cold, so I decided to take a closer look while I cleaned the snow away from the entrance hole. It was a sad sight to watch her dying, but I suppose it is a part of nature.

As you can see, I was right. There were casualties of the cold lying inside the entrance reducer..all dead. Not wanting the dead bodies to pile up and trap the living bees inside, I cleaned it out as best I could. But here is where it gets interesting. Pay attention to the upper part of the entrance. See it? That's the cluster of bees. While I was raking out the bodies of the dead bees, I heard them tune up a little -- the buzzing started -- and out comes a frisky guard bee. Oh yeah, I had to dodge that one..and she flew within inches of my head. I have no clue where she went, but I hope she got back okay. She still had plenty of light to guide her back to the colony.

This is a sad picture. This is what I raked away from the entrance -- all dead. I know it only seems like a few bees...less that fifty, but it still bothers me. And yes, I know its nature...like all living creatures, bees are going to die. But something gnaws at me and I always wonder if I did something wrong. The hive is still bustling with bees on warmer days, so I think they'll do okay for the rest of this winter. But whenever I see dead ones, I tend to think the worst. Maybe its because I struggled with this colony when they first arrived in June. I just don't know. Paging Dr. Freud!

Not wanting to let it get cold inside the hive, I hurried myself and put the entrance reducer back in place, then I cleaned off the snow from the top. Now when the temperature warms up and the girls decide to make their cleansing flights, there won't have anything to stand in their way. Plus the mortician bees can clean the rest of the dead bees out of the hive.

I just had to snap this picture of the creek below the house. This is the same creek that sits just feet from my hive and where my girls get their water supply. The picture would be a lot better if it didn't have that pipe that runs across the creek, but I can't help that...it is part of the city's water system. I understand that several years ago, before I moved here, a tree fell across it and when it cracked the pipe, around 400 people lost water until it was repaired. For the sake of the beauty of the creek, you'll just have to pretend it isn't there.

So there you have it. Some of the pictures I made of the great December snowfall of 2009. I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed making them!

And now, its off to make some hot chocolate!

Feeding my bees at night! Oh yes, they were wide awake...

Sometimes it seems like there just isn't enough time in the day for me, especially after Labor Day comes. At the television station where I work, we cover lots of fall events, festivals and such. Then once Halloween passes, we go full speed ahead through the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays. I will get this coming Thursday off for Thanksgiving, but otherwise, its just a regular work week.

Reidsville, the city where I live, held its annual Christmas parade this past Saturday. I was one of the on-air talents and so I was busy all day getting ready..and had no time to check on my colony. For the past week, I wanted to get down there and check on how they're doing, but one thing or another came up and so I got sidetracked. I also wanted to refill the hive-top feeder which was probably empty.

Of course, the weather was beautiful, albeit cold during the parade, but afterwards.. the rains came. And it has been raining non-stop ever since. This has been the rainiest late summer and fall that I can remember in years, and I guess Mother Nature is making up now for lost time. 

While my girls have a really nice winter store of honey going on in the hive, I'm one of those "what if" people. You know, what if it gets really nasty weatherwise in the next few months? What if I'm not careful and they starve to death? What if this.. what if that? So even though they have lots of honey, I mean packed, my cautious judgement tells me to keep the feed bag on. I think that as long as the temperatures stay fairly warm I will continue to feed them to make sure they're okay. 

So while I was sitting at home tonight (10:30) I had a grand idea! Why not feed my girls tonight? After all, they're all resting and snug inside the hive. The temperature was 48 degrees and it was raining.. so why not run out, throw some syrup in the feeder and come back in the house? It would take all of five minutes and I wouldn't need a veil. So I made some syrup and while it cooled, I headed for the hive with a flashlight. And as I made my way, I thought to myself, surely the guard bees will stay in and not worry about what was making those slight noises outside. They're probably asleep. Right?

Wrong...

I got the hive top off and the inner cover off.. and that's when I could hear the slight buzzing start. As I started pouring the syrup in the feeder and occasionally flashing the light on the reduced entrance, I began to notice one bee come out, then two bees, and then more and more. Apparently feeling the vibrations, they decided to come out and see just what the heck was going on. By this time a fine mist was falling, so I hurried up to get the tops and the brick weights back on. Oh yeah, by the time I got everything back together, a healthy number of curious girls had started piling out of the hive entrance.. and I knew it was time to head for the house. While I knew they wouldn't fly very far from the hive if they flew at all.. I was practically standing just inches from it, so I figured they could possibly get up my pants or up my shirt sleeves, so I said to myself that it was time to go. And I did just that.

I have to admit that I do feel better that I got my girls fed. And I'm glad they'll have something to occupy their time during this nasty weather. But I learned a lesson. Even in colder weather, and even at night, your bees are going to check out those knocks and bumps. So if you're going to feed them or do some work around the hive, please, do it in the daytime. That or be prepared to take off if they decide to come out to take care of the situation!

To all my friends in the States and Canada, a Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

New entrance reducer works like a charm!

Sorry for the less that stellar picture, but I made it with my cell phone. Its rainy and gloomy so I decided to head out and see what was going on around the hive.

As you can see, I have a new homemade entrance reducer in place. I made it over the weekend. Luckily for me, I have a duplicate hive set-up in my garage, so it was easy to measure and make the wooden reducer that would fit my hive. As I mentioned before, since I'm using the new Dadant heavy-duty plastic screened bottom board, a standard reducer is worthless -- too long and to thin to work. So I made my own and its working great it seems.

I'll share manufacturing details later, but for now I can take satisfaction in knowing that unwelcome visitors will have a hard time getting inside this hive. And none too soon either...I found the girls dragging a wasp out the day I put the temporary reducer on. Then this past Sunday, when I put the new one on, the guards were fighting a honey bee at the entrance. It wasn't a member of this colony either...she was extremely dark colored (my bees are a bright Italian orange)...and they were giving her a hard time, dragging her out and letting her go, then doing fly-by knock downs when she would land on the front of the hive. So it looks like it is working as it should. 

More later!