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
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Far From Perfect
Six yards of beautiful dirt was delivered to my home yesterday. The dirt came from a place where they dredged a pond and is a nice mix of peat, topsoil and loon shit. When we ordered it we had some choices one of which was topsoil off an alfalfa field. I wouldn't even consider that one because of all the chemicals I was sure they have used on that field. I didn't want that stuff in my garden.
After a nice paddle on the Turtle River my sister came over to help me shovel the dirt into my raised beds. She's putting in sweat equity in exchange for fresh produce. Two of my newer beds are filled with grass. I couldn't even dig it out it was so thick. So, I walked into the garage, grabbed the Round Up and headed to the offending beds. I pumped air into the sprayer and pressed the nozzle. Nothing. I pumped some more. Nothing. On my third round of pumping I realized what I was about to do. I stood up, looked at my sister and said, "Well, I guess this is the Universe speaking to me."
I wasn't even thinking of the implications or what a hypocrite I was when I grabbed the Round Up. I was just looking for an easy way out of the weeds. Convenience at the expense of...health? Bees? I wasn't even thinking about how I rail against Monsanto or Cargill or Bayer. I just wanted to get the weeds gone.
In the end I found that we had some weed block fabric which we put down and shoveled dirt on top of. The Round Up is back in the garage next to the Seven Dust and another insect killer I bought last year for the Japanese Beetle infestation I had. I'm not sure what to do with my poison collection for now. I do know that I will not be using them this year or ever again. Next year I'm planning on a hive or two of bees for my property. I can't be using stuff I know will harm them. I'm already concerned about the lack of pollinators for this years garden.
I assume the Japanese beetles will be back as will the cut worms, potato beetles, slugs and other insects. My garden will be far from perfect this year. I will probably not get all the weeds out, especially the grass in the new beds but I will, at least, not be running more chemicals into the ground and doing in my beneficial bugs. And the bees....my garden will be a safe haven for bees. That will help me sleep better at night.
Peace,
Karen
(who is far from perfect)
After a nice paddle on the Turtle River my sister came over to help me shovel the dirt into my raised beds. She's putting in sweat equity in exchange for fresh produce. Two of my newer beds are filled with grass. I couldn't even dig it out it was so thick. So, I walked into the garage, grabbed the Round Up and headed to the offending beds. I pumped air into the sprayer and pressed the nozzle. Nothing. I pumped some more. Nothing. On my third round of pumping I realized what I was about to do. I stood up, looked at my sister and said, "Well, I guess this is the Universe speaking to me."
I wasn't even thinking of the implications or what a hypocrite I was when I grabbed the Round Up. I was just looking for an easy way out of the weeds. Convenience at the expense of...health? Bees? I wasn't even thinking about how I rail against Monsanto or Cargill or Bayer. I just wanted to get the weeds gone.
In the end I found that we had some weed block fabric which we put down and shoveled dirt on top of. The Round Up is back in the garage next to the Seven Dust and another insect killer I bought last year for the Japanese Beetle infestation I had. I'm not sure what to do with my poison collection for now. I do know that I will not be using them this year or ever again. Next year I'm planning on a hive or two of bees for my property. I can't be using stuff I know will harm them. I'm already concerned about the lack of pollinators for this years garden.
I assume the Japanese beetles will be back as will the cut worms, potato beetles, slugs and other insects. My garden will be far from perfect this year. I will probably not get all the weeds out, especially the grass in the new beds but I will, at least, not be running more chemicals into the ground and doing in my beneficial bugs. And the bees....my garden will be a safe haven for bees. That will help me sleep better at night.
Peace,
Karen
(who is far from perfect)
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Bees and MPR
As I was getting ready to write today's blog I spotted this on Facebook. Below is a link to an MPR* segment about the diminishing bee population. While our hives are thriving there are many who have hives perishing. This should concern all of us whether we keep bees or not. Bees are critical to our food supply and, as I was told over the weekend by a local bee keeper, if the bees were gone today we'd be gone about 4 years later...something to think on.
Here is the link:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/26/environment/pesticides-suspected-in-minnesota-bee-deaths
Peace,
Karen
*MPR - Minnesota Public Radio
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Radical Apiary Dronectomy
The following blog contains graphic descriptions & images....you have been warned!
If you've been tagging along on our journey you know that a few nights ago Kris and I discovered a problem in one of our hives. A drone problem to be exact.
We (Kris, Bill and I) along with our auxiliary team members David, Dee and Mike and special guest Lisa went back down to the bee yard to solve our little drone problem. In full bee gear, except me because I have a bad case of bravado, we went in with surgical precision and performed a procedure which we now call a Radical Apiary Dronectomy.
Fist we anesthetized our bees with smoke, then we carefully lifted the frames one by one, checked for the queen and using the hive tool we scraped all the drone cells off of the bottom of the frame. It was not a pretty site. Large white drone larva oozed from the cells and dripped onto frames. If the sight of carnage was not enough there was also an accompanying sound which I believe David described as popping a chocolate covered cherry. I thought it sounded more like running over army worms with your roller blades. This was not for the squeamish. We lost a few of the auxiliary members at this point.
After we scraped the drones off we also removed supercedure and swarm cells. Threw on the queen excluder, added third deep and closed up the hive. Surgery was over. We hoped we had not accidentally scraped off our queen. This was our only concern.
Below are pictures of our latest adventure in beekeeping - special thanks to David for taking them. As we looked at the pictures that night we were happy to discover we had a picture of our queen. She was up in the second deep safe and sound.
Peace,
Karen
 |
| The Bee Team |
We (Kris, Bill and I) along with our auxiliary team members David, Dee and Mike and special guest Lisa went back down to the bee yard to solve our little drone problem. In full bee gear, except me because I have a bad case of bravado, we went in with surgical precision and performed a procedure which we now call a Radical Apiary Dronectomy.
Fist we anesthetized our bees with smoke, then we carefully lifted the frames one by one, checked for the queen and using the hive tool we scraped all the drone cells off of the bottom of the frame. It was not a pretty site. Large white drone larva oozed from the cells and dripped onto frames. If the sight of carnage was not enough there was also an accompanying sound which I believe David described as popping a chocolate covered cherry. I thought it sounded more like running over army worms with your roller blades. This was not for the squeamish. We lost a few of the auxiliary members at this point.
After we scraped the drones off we also removed supercedure and swarm cells. Threw on the queen excluder, added third deep and closed up the hive. Surgery was over. We hoped we had not accidentally scraped off our queen. This was our only concern.
Below are pictures of our latest adventure in beekeeping - special thanks to David for taking them. As we looked at the pictures that night we were happy to discover we had a picture of our queen. She was up in the second deep safe and sound.
Peace,
Karen
 |
| Our ladies of the hive |
 |
| The mass hanging below the frame is drone cells |
 |
| Drone Cells |
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| Drone Cells on the ground next to the hive tool. |
Thursday, May 23, 2013
More Problems than Pictures
Ask two bee-keepers a question and you'll get three different answers.
The problem? Mostly amateur beekeepers and our big super hive aka Lyle's hive. It has a lot of bees and apparently not enough work. Kris and I were on our own today for hive inspection. Bill was out on the soccer field with grade school kids. (Another kind of problem all together) All went well until our last hive, Lyle's, which we always save for last.
A week or so ago we put a second deep on that hive because it was so big. Our theory was give them more to do and reduce the risk of a swarm. Just so you know, swarm is good and bad. Good if you catch it because you get another hive of bees for free. Bad if you don't because you lose 50 - 70% of a hive which will not be able to recover enough to produce your honey for fall.
Kris and I cracked Lyle's hive. The top deep had new drawn out comb in the center which was good. But the big question was...do we check the bottom deep or not? *cricket, cricket, cricket* I voted for yes. Kris was with me on it. But if we remove the top deep and the queen was in it and she fell out because we set it down and we didn't know?.....*cricket, cricket, cricket* So, the plan went like this: set the hive lid upside down, take the top deep and it in the lid so if the queen did fall out we could collect her and reinsert her.
We were pretty proud of ourselves and were feeling really bee-keepy at that point. Then it all went to hell. We pulled the first frame of the bottom deep, then the second. The bottom of the second frame was pendulous with drone cells, half of which we had ripped open when we extracted the frame. Big fat drone larva oozed out. We were mortified. A look down into the hive bottom revealed more drone cells attached from the bottom of the frame to the bottom of the hive. Houston, we have a problem, but what kind and to what extent?
Kris ran for her phone. We got one of the bee-boyfriends on the line he gave us some options - vent the hive, let cool air in, make them think "Tornado" which will distract them from swarm behavior and buy you time because they sound like they are gonna swarm and they will to it at 10 in the morning so be there to watch and catch your swarm and you will need another hive to put them in....or....you can split your hive. Make them think they actually did it themselves but you will need another hive and another queen. He suggested we go to a website and watch a video on how to split a hive.
We vented the hive, gathered our tools and did the only thing we knew to do - we went to the house and opened a bottle of wine. There we watched a video and decided to call the other bee-boyfriend who said, "Oh just scrape those drone cells off. All droned do is eat and take up space. You don't need them they are beetle magnets."
We felt better after hearing this. We had another glass of wine. Then bee-boyfriend number one called back with different advice: put another deep on top to give them more to do. They will forget about swarmning. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....
So, you will forgive me tonight if there are no awesome pictures of our bees. Trust when I say they were magnificent and we didn't get stung twice in a row. We think we have a plan for tomorrow at 6 and there may be pics then. For now, however, we have more problems than pictures and clearly not enough wine to go around.
Peace,
Karen
The problem? Mostly amateur beekeepers and our big super hive aka Lyle's hive. It has a lot of bees and apparently not enough work. Kris and I were on our own today for hive inspection. Bill was out on the soccer field with grade school kids. (Another kind of problem all together) All went well until our last hive, Lyle's, which we always save for last.
A week or so ago we put a second deep on that hive because it was so big. Our theory was give them more to do and reduce the risk of a swarm. Just so you know, swarm is good and bad. Good if you catch it because you get another hive of bees for free. Bad if you don't because you lose 50 - 70% of a hive which will not be able to recover enough to produce your honey for fall.
Kris and I cracked Lyle's hive. The top deep had new drawn out comb in the center which was good. But the big question was...do we check the bottom deep or not? *cricket, cricket, cricket* I voted for yes. Kris was with me on it. But if we remove the top deep and the queen was in it and she fell out because we set it down and we didn't know?.....*cricket, cricket, cricket* So, the plan went like this: set the hive lid upside down, take the top deep and it in the lid so if the queen did fall out we could collect her and reinsert her.
We were pretty proud of ourselves and were feeling really bee-keepy at that point. Then it all went to hell. We pulled the first frame of the bottom deep, then the second. The bottom of the second frame was pendulous with drone cells, half of which we had ripped open when we extracted the frame. Big fat drone larva oozed out. We were mortified. A look down into the hive bottom revealed more drone cells attached from the bottom of the frame to the bottom of the hive. Houston, we have a problem, but what kind and to what extent?
Kris ran for her phone. We got one of the bee-boyfriends on the line he gave us some options - vent the hive, let cool air in, make them think "Tornado" which will distract them from swarm behavior and buy you time because they sound like they are gonna swarm and they will to it at 10 in the morning so be there to watch and catch your swarm and you will need another hive to put them in....or....you can split your hive. Make them think they actually did it themselves but you will need another hive and another queen. He suggested we go to a website and watch a video on how to split a hive.
We vented the hive, gathered our tools and did the only thing we knew to do - we went to the house and opened a bottle of wine. There we watched a video and decided to call the other bee-boyfriend who said, "Oh just scrape those drone cells off. All droned do is eat and take up space. You don't need them they are beetle magnets."
We felt better after hearing this. We had another glass of wine. Then bee-boyfriend number one called back with different advice: put another deep on top to give them more to do. They will forget about swarmning. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....
So, you will forgive me tonight if there are no awesome pictures of our bees. Trust when I say they were magnificent and we didn't get stung twice in a row. We think we have a plan for tomorrow at 6 and there may be pics then. For now, however, we have more problems than pictures and clearly not enough wine to go around.
Peace,
Karen
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
No Stings - once in a row
On Sunday we went in to treat the hives for the last time. We were advised by our bee guys to do this. So they got a medication for bee diarrhea and one for a bacteria that wrecks our brood. Either way we are done with that sort of thing unless we some other problem crop up.
We checked for eggs, brood and stores. Stores are pollen cells and honey cells both capped and uncapped. We had all these things! Our bees are doing what they are supposed to do. We saw two of our three queens and on one of the frames we saw a brand new bee emerging into the world.
I'm proud to say that we went into all three hives and for the first time no one got stung! Kris, Bill and I were pretty impressed with ourselves on this one and fist bumps abounded.
Below are a few of my favorite pictures from our day.
Peace,
Karen
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| The queen is the long bee in the center. |
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| Kris pulling a frame of bees |
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| Bees just hanging out on Kristine's hat. |
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| Looking into the hive. |
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Community - A blog by Kris
I have never blogged before, and I am really enjoying following Karen's blog about our bee journey. But it is more than a bee journey, it is a human journey. I have wanted to keep bees, but I don't think I would have had the courage to do it alone. Once I had recruited partners, there was no turning back and I did it. My friends provided me courage and I thank them for that.
Our bee journey has also been an opportunity to allow new friendships to flourish. Bill, Karen and I, and our spouses, have become good friends. David and Mike have become canoeing buddies. I look forward to a season of frequent get-togethers to tend bees and tend friendships.
Finally, this fledgling bee journey has reminded me of the importance of community. I have been introduced to veteran bee keepers Les and Lyle. Both have willingly and frequently offered advice and support in the practicalities of bee keeping. Without their help, I am certain we would have failed. They both take time to answer my questions whenever I call, and I have been to both of their homes on numerous occasions for hands on help. Both Les and Lyle want us to succeed and I thank them both for their wisdom, humor and tolerance.
This is a journey well beyond bees.
Kris
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