Naming the Hives

I miss our bees. Oh no! We haven't lost them. It's just we haven't needed to go in and do anything with them since the dronectomy. Kris has been checking the hive and had this report on the 29th:

I picked up three drawn out supers. I checked the hives tonight. Lyle's hive is doing just fine. Bees still very busy working the deep/super we put on last Friday. I next checked the Phoenix hive. Just fine. Bess still in the center of the second deep. The Dudist hive, however, had bees all the way out to the outer frames. So, I put a queen excluder on and our first super. I used one with drawn out comb. Electric fence working fine. I have been checking regularly. I am targeting June 9 for the next delve into the hive? 

So, your next question is probably what is she talking about? Lyles hive, Phoenix hive, Dudist hive? Lemme do some 'splainin.  We named our hives.

Let's start with the Dudist hive. This hive is our most laid back hive. It has a real Zen quality about it. You open it and the bees are like the scene from the Big Lebowski where he's all peaceful in the bathtub with whale music on. They seem to say, "Aggression will not stand, man."

Next is the Phoenix hive. We worry over this hive. It's our smallest hive and seems to struggle. Yet we think, no believe, it can rise like a Phoenix and be a great producing hive. This is the only hive we have where we have not seen our queen. Still, eggs and larva are present and they are building up into the second super. We have faith in this one.

Then there is Lyle's hive. We call it Lyle's because it came from Lyle Robinson, another local bee guy who is a wealth of knowledge and teasing. The other two hives came from Mann Lake. It's easy to tell Lyle's hive apart from the other two because it is painted a light blue-green. Plus, like Lyle, it gives us a little grief each time we visit it. This is our most aggressive hive and the one that "sends us to school" on a regular basis.

Each time we go into the hive we log what is going on inside that hive. We chart how the bees behaved, if we saw the queen, eggs and larva. We log brood pattern, pollen and honey stores and if we see disease or predators. We will use this information in future years for comparison and hopefully as a predictor of what we should watch for and when so we may be proactive.

Sunday is our next foray into the hives. It will be good to see the "Ladies" and get some bee therapy. Our weather has been cool and wet. Flowers are everywhere and it is my hope that the weather warms so our bees can get out and do what they do best.

Peace,
Karen