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

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!

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

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!

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!

Inspection in a word: FRENZIED!

Thursday was the perfect day for an inspection here. It was sunny, the temperature was 71 degrees, and no wind. It seemed more like spring than fall, and I figured I would do an inspection and a powdered sugar dusting in case any new varroa mites have sprung up. So I suited up, lit the smoker, and went down to the hive. Things were just fine while I dismantled the hive components; I took off the hive top feeder, then lugged the honey chamber off, and got down into the brood chamber to see what is happening there. And here is what I found.

Pardon the slightly off-center angle of the picture above, but as you can see, and like I've said before, this colony is booming. If I didn't know that fall was coming and that a lot of them will die out before winter, I would swear this hive is a candidate for swarming. Is seemed that most of them were packed in the brood nest (above) and not all that many in the honey chamber. And shortly after I snapped this picture, there were so many on the tops of the frames, I would have to smoke them to run them down into the box. Believe me, after what I started out with, I'm not complaining at all. Just my observation that a lot of bees inhabit this hive.

It had been awhile since I'd done a full-fledged inspection, and it was obvious the girls had been busy in both chambers, but they were making their fair share of burr comb too. When I pulled the honey box off, I pulled apart some of the comb that was full of honey attacked to the bottoms of the frames -- and of course the dripping honey went all across the top bars. So I had to scrape it off and into a bucket, then I had to scrape it off the bottoms of the frames in the top chamber which is packed with honey. There you see the majority of it in the bottom of the bucket (which I use for yard work). You can see the bees at the bottom that just didn't want to give it up.

Here is where it gets interesting. As I said before, I decided to do a powdered sugar dusting to catch any mites, so after I scraped off all the burr comb, I started my task with the honey chamber. I put the powdered sugar in the sifter and dusted it, and it was like someone sounded an air raid siren. They went ballistic! Ahhh, but the best is yet to come -- I had to do the brood chamber next -- and I just knew it was going to be one wild ride. And I didn't disappoint myself -- it was! Look carefully at the picture (to the left of the hive body) and you'll see a bee butting my camera. See her?

After I smoked them down into the brood chamber, I powdered them as well. And while I was doing it, the roar of the buzzing was quite loud and it looked like I was in the middle of a swarm. Some flying around were white, some their natural yellow -- and all were totally irritated. The head butting was turned up a couple of notches..and I looked down to see my overall pants all dotted with bees. They were on my gloves, on my smoker, inside my tool box -- everywhere I looked, there they were. Although I've never received a sting wound on my skin from this colony whatsoever, I found one on my glove and spinning around -- she stung my glove and her stinger was still partially inside her and lodged in my glove so I pulled her off and scraped the stinger out of the leather. They were not happy.

Although I wasn't scared (actually I was fascinated) -- I decided that this was the time to close up shop. I put the hive back together again in the midst of this cyclone of bees, and as soon as I got it together, they started hanging to the front of the hive. As you can see if you click on the picture, they're all on the front of the hive, covering the front of the screened hive stand, and a few clumps were on the ground in front of the stand. Some were returning foragers with pollen on their legs, probably wondering just what the heck was going on, but I think its safe to say that 95% were the ones that just got a dusting.

Take a look at this one. Yeah, that's a lot of ticked off bees. I know why they're so many there -- as soon as the sugar dusting began they took to the air and were now returning. They were hanging everywhere, but the ones that really bothered me were the ones that hung onto the underside of the hive stand and the ones that clumped on the ground. What scared me, and I know it probably didn't happen, but it scared me nonetheless -- was that maybe the queen was under that mass. Could she have dropped off during my inspection? Did she flee when the sugar dusting started? But then I thought it out and realized that I never examine my frames over the grass, I always hold the frames over the hive bodies in case she drops, so chances are her lying in the front of the hive and in the grass seemed really remote.

Take a look at the girls festooning under the hive stand. I watched the bees on the front of the hive slowly make their way back into the hive through the hole in the mouse guard, but then I noticed this clump under the stand. As you can see, it almost looks like a tiny swarm of bees that you might find under the eve of a house or something. While I was being dive-bombed by other bees flying around, these bees didn't do anything other than hang on to each other and wait it out. I guess they were waiting their turn to get back into the hive...in a less crowded space.


Meanwhile, three bees followed me inside my house. I was able to get one of them back outside, but the other two I had to eliminate...which bothered me a lot. One reason I eliminated it is because of my significant other, who is just fine as long as the bees are outside. And the other is because I have a 13-year-old Dachshund who is almost totally blind -- so I just couldn't take a chance of him getting stung. Oh, and that didn't include the ones that flew around the back door for awhile -- almost like, "You invaded our space, so now its your turn, buddy!" 


In the end it took a couple of hours...but the majority finally made their way back into the hive. By nightfall, only a few guard bees were on the entrance going back and forth. And then today, things seemed pretty normal, a lot of flying around in the front of the hive and crawling up the front, but otherwise it seemed fine.


Truthfully, I don't know if my experience yesterday is normal or not. Since I don't have the luxury of a mentor, I don't have anyone to readily ask...so I have to depend on asking other beekeepers online for their advice. I can say that I've never seen my bees become this aggressive before...it was even worse than the time I accidentally banged the hive during an inspection. And I realize they're protecting their honey store and usually become a little testy in the fall -- so maybe it isn't that unusual after all. So maybe my first-time experience just seemed a little more ominous than it really was.

ADDENDUM: A few other beekeepers on the BeeSource.com forum tell me that they're running into the very same situation when doing their inspections now. It seems to be that "its our honey and our home...leave us alone" mentality (right word?) that the bees have this time of year. It usually disappears in the spring. So it may not be that unusual after all.


Comments and ideas, good or bad, I'll readily accept. Anyone have a simular experience? Please share your thoughts.


I'll BEE anxious to hear from you all!

Lesson learned: How to 'tick off' a hive of bees!

Those of you who follow my adventures will know that I've been keeping a more watchful eye over my bees lately. That's because they've been "bearding" quite a bit. On Thursday night it was the most I've seen yet, the entire front of the brood box was completely covered, and the entrance was clogged up with bees. Although I know it is natural for them to beard, I've also read that after awhile, if it continues to stay hot and humid in the hive, they could very likely abscond to escape the heat, and maybe I should work on more ventilation.

I decided that to help in ventilation, and to aid in varroa mite control, my best bet was to get a screened bottom board. So with the Chatham, Virginia, branch of Dadant & Sons being just 45 minutes away, I made the trip on Friday morning and picked up two of the heavy duty plastic bottom boards, one for my hive now and another for next spring when I do a split. When I got home, I attached some one inch plank risers on the new bottom board (so more air will circulate under it) and decided to install it on Saturday afternoon.

So the time comes for me to install the new screened bottom board, and while I was at it, do a powdered sugar dusting for the mites. While I haven't seen any yet, I figured now would be a good time to do it since I have the new bottom, and knock out two things at once. So this afternoon, when I figured most would be out in the field, I go about smoking them and planning my course of action.

You've heard that saying that if something can go wrong...it will? Let me attest, my friends, I am the prime example of that saying today. It wasn't pretty, and pardon me for saying it, pretty damn scary.

First of all, things were fine when I opened the hive. But when I tried to lift the brood box off the wooden bottom board, and believe me, it was heavy -- it wouldn't come apart, not even with my hive tool. It was like it was glued tight. So here I stand, holding a brood box full of bees, who are a little irritated by now, wondering what to do next. So I sat the whole thing on the ground and quickly put the new screened bottom board on the pedestal that holds my hive. I decided that I would have to transfer all of the frames to another deep box, the one I usually put over the hive-top feeder, so I put it together quickly, and decided that I would add the frames to the new set-up. Plus it would allow me to do an inspection while I was at it.

Here's where it gets a little scary. I took each frame out, one by one, and transferred it directly to the new deep super. Things looked good, some of the frames were totally heavy with capped honey, one side of a frame was totally white, while others had capped brood. I didn't see larvae, to be honest, I didn't look -- I was trying to get it all over with as quickly as I could because it was obvious I was irritating them...the buzzing was getting into a somewhat loud frenzied sound by this time.

I finally finished the transfer of all ten frames, taking care not to squish anyone if I could help it, but the inside walls of the deep (the one attached to the wooden bottom board) was covered with bees. Making sure I didn't see the queen, I decided the best course would be to shake them out.

BIG MISTAKE! While shaking them, I misjudged and hit the top of the hive -- and all hell broke loose. It was like something you would see out of a bad horror movie. The buzzing was at a frenzied pace and loud, bees were flying everywhere, and they were head butting me so hard, they were bouncing off the top of my hat and veil.

Truthfully, I panicked. Finally gathering my wits, I told myself to just walk away and let them settle down, plus it would give me time to calm down too. So after a few minutes of everybody calming down, I went back to work, and they were still irritated, but nothing like moments before.

Figuring that they were totally ticked with me, I decided to go ahead and do the powdered sugar dusting anyway to get it over with...and not wait for a couple of weeks and irritate them again. So I did it, using a flour sifter, and coated the top of the frames, then brushed the excess sugar down into the hive and off the frames. And after doing that, I decided to put the hive-top feeder back on, added syrup, closed it all up and got my tools.

I wish I'd had my camera. The funniest part of the whole operation was seeing this flurry of white honey bees flying all in front of the hive. They looked like little ghosts. and I thought, maybe they'll busy themselves grooming each other and forget about that man in the white overalls with the smoker. Least I hope so.

Today was a learning experience. I am totally amazed that I didn't get stung. And I have to admit, it was the most scared I've been since working my bees. Usually I am really calm and enjoy myself, but today was a day that I really hope to never repeat as long as I keep bees. I do hear old time beekeeps say "you'll make mistakes..everyone does" and all of that. But even though I know we all make mistakes, I somehow feel in my head that I screwed up today, I rushed though working my girls, and I'm afraid that more events like today will make them unmanageable. That's the last thing I want...for them to become unruly and for me to be afraid of them and avoid them.

I won't go back in the hive for another couple of weeks except to feed them, and even then, I just have to open the top of the hive. Maybe they'll have forgotten this day by them. Least I hope anyway. I want to.