Day 11 Hive Check

Day 11 for this hive. All seems well, 11:30a, sun is out, 68 deg, calm air and lots of activity inside hive with sugar water and bees flying in with pollen and nectar. Found the queen roaming on the lower comb of a middle bar. Cannot see eggs or larvae yet although I held comb up in sun...hope she's fertile and will be a good queen for the hive. Bees seem contented and there are no supersedure cells which would indicate bees feel a new queen is needed. It is early yet and next week I'll look more closely for eggs and larvae.

Concerned about the black scum that is forming on the edge of the 50/50 sugar water. Checked web for info; not unusual because the hive provides ideal conditions for mold to grow. Tip is to feed less quantity more often. Also wonder about the amount of syrup in the cells--at least it looks clear like syrup but that could be nectar as well. Bees are using about 2 qts of syrup per day and drawing lots of comb so I will continue to provide the syrup.

Although using a Langstroth setup for the hive, I have provided empty frames (no plastic or wax foundation*) and letting the bees draw comb as they desire. Worked well in top bar hives and should be the same here. The center six frames have comb, 3/4 filled on one, 2/3 on a couple, a smaller amount on the frames moving toward the outside, last two frames on each side empty although bees are hanging together there. See https://honeybeesuite.com/festooning-bees-lacework-between-the-frames/ for a photo...fun.  And the cells on those six frames have nectar and pollen.

Next check will be when I return from Colorado trip on June 4 or 5.

*Read a sad thing--one can consider all of the commercial USA wax foundation to be contaminated because of the pesticide treatments. According to the article, cosmetic companies only buy beeswax from Africa where people are too poor to buy the pesticides.

New bees today in Bend, Oregon, USA! May 18, 2019

I left off during mid_June 2015 with healthy hives and rather routine reports. A quick update on those hives: the Warre hive did well until winter set in; the moisture level was extremely high and the bees could not survive even though I has provided good insulation. Apparently there was inadequate upper ventilation so when I opened the hive during spring when bees should have been flying and were not, it was a drippy moldy cavern. The top bar hive did quite well through the summer of 2017 during which time there were several swarming episodes, due in part to an aging queen which I opted to let the hive handle, and also I think/wonder to an unhygienic environment because I had not switched out the brood comb since the beginning. My thought was bees stay in tree hives for decades (as witnessed by friends in Monmouth Oregon) and the bees know what to do. However, the bees remaining were inadequate in number to sustain the warmth needed during the winter of 2016-17. There was plentiful honey stores remaining which I harvested during spring when I opened the top bar hive and found very few dead bees. Hopefully those swarms were successful and had thriving hives. My primary intention as a backyard beekeeper is to support bees in their propagation and pollination efforts; honey I can purchase. Recognizing that I had travel plans for spring 2017, I opted to remain hive-less and only decided now to acquire a new set and establish another backyard hive.

And so the 2019 story begins! Early this morning I drove to Redmond, OR to meet Matt of Apricot Apiaries in Kimberly, Oregon to pick up the package. Quite cool, in the 40's and the bees were cold from their early morning drive so hiving waited until they have recovered and the day warms. Warmer temperature, overcast and no wind so bees moved into hive, feeder filled, hive closed. Will check feeder (1:1 organic cane sugar and pure H2O from Avion Water here in Bend) each day to determine use and need to refill; will remove queen cage after 3-4 days; will do detailed hive check at about 10 days...stay tuned!

I've switched to a Langstroth hive this year, complete with an inside easy to handle feeding system courtesy of a friend from Independence, OR who was a commercial beekeeper in days gone by. Here come the photos!

I'm Back!

After a hiatus of almost four years, I'm back to share experiences--both with backyard beekeeping and also about my more recent rediscovery of Divine Love, a spiritual path to which I've been moving all my life. I hope you enjoy what I share and use or lose whatever works best for you!