I Lost One

December 22, 2012

I Lost A Colony

I had some chores to do today at the farm, such as re-secure parts of the tin roof above the shop.  But since it was such a beautiful day I also decided to check on the colonies.  I was very surprised and disappointed to find that one of the colonies had totally disappeared.  There wasn't a singe live bee to be found and maybe a dozen dead bees laying around.  Sadly, some of these bees froze to death with their heads in the honey (the main colony was gone so they couldn't collectively stay warm with the cluster).  I don't have pictures at this time, but I will post some the next time a take a trip to the farm.  I couldn't find any obvious signs of disease or distress.  From within the brood box, all of the honey and, with few exceptions, the brood cells were cleaned out. 

I will remove the honey super and harvest it for spring feeding, it has 8 full frames and 2 frames that are 1/2 full of honey.  As I mentioned in a previous post I didn't take any surplus honey from the colonies this year.  Apparently, I am now.

Bee Candy Time

What a sad day.  I was hoping to dive into spring with 3 colonies ready to go and use one to create a new queen to replace the aging queen in Tom.  Harry appears to be a very strong colony.  I hope to keep it that way through winter.  This means, it is time to make some bee candy.  Last year I made some at about this time and placed it on top of the brood frames.  It was interesting to monitor the consumption of the bee candy over time.

Really?! Zombie Bees?!

Something I never heard of before.  Bears watching...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/washington-states-first-zombie-bees-reported-parasite-causes-bees-to-fly-at-night-die/2012/09/24/fbcefa56-0677-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_allComments.html?ctab=all_&


Also a zombie bee map and more info (I don't think I have every heard of a zombie fly before).

www.zombeewatch.org

We Have Honey!

9-16-2012

We actually have some honey!



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/31974115/Honey%21%209-16-2012.wmv

We have very little honey in fact, and all of that from Harry, but it will be nice to have a small harvest!  I checked the other two hives and there isn't much to recover from them.   The bees in Dick have drawn out most of the comb in the honey super, but they don't have any surplus honey.  This is still positive (except for over winter feeding), because we'll have two honey supers full of drawn comb ready for next season (from Dick and Harry).  It takes a lot of bee energy and nectar to draw out comb.

Here is an interesting and recent article about Colony Collapse Disorder and its potential impact on our food supply.  I highly recommend eating food that is organically grown as much as is humanly possible.  Society has only just begun to discover the long term impact of inorganic farming practices on our bodies and the environment.

http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/19-crops-would-disappear-without-bees?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl12|sec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D207396/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000058?test=latestnews

A guy's gotta have some fun!

Monday September 3, 2012

I could hear the vehicle approaching from 1/2 mile away.  Fully expecting a large pickup with dual wheels and a huge power stroke diesel engine, I had just walked to the front gate to push it wider when a recent model, souped up Mustang GT with big rims and low profile tires showed up.  From inside the vehicle I heard "'r you Eric"?  I fully expected a young kid behind the wheel of this hot rod.  Instead, his appearance was predictable but his mode of transportation wasn't.  He was a long skinny man, maybe a little older than me, with well worn wranglers and a button up work shirt that had the look of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun doing hot, sweaty work.  After inspecting the 'stang a little more closely I noticed the usual signs of it's being a country car, something that has seen a lot of travel on gravel roads.  "That's not what I expected you to show up in," I declared as he climbed out.  He responded, "a guy's got to have some fun, sometime."  The next day, being Labor Day, he arrived in his usual work attire but with an entirely different toy.  This time it was an eighteen wheeler with a large John Deere dozer on a low-boy trailer.  And I was sitting there thinking, which would be more fun "operating a large earth mover or driving a mustang GT"?  It's too close to call.

He finished the spillway and the pond dig-out in less than two days.  Just in time for the fall and winter precipitation.