Rather than choose up to 100,000 names, I've decided to name just the queens.
Hive B: Queen Elizabeth
Hive A: Queen Latifah
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Hive Visit: Sunday May 24
I visited the hives on the weekend for the first time since installation. Normally, I won’t be visiting (i.e. bothering) the bees more than once a week, but it is early days and I’m especially anxious. I want to make sure they are well fed and that I haven’t done anything to kill them all in the first couple days.
Hive A
Hive A has consumed about half a feeder worth of syrup. This seems pretty good to me, since bees are only little. The feeder holds 1.5 litres. In the good news department, I managed to spot the Hive A Queen. She seems healthy and active, and I now know that I didn’t kill her on day one. In the bad news department, Hive A is infested with ants – hundreds of little red ants. They seem especially interested in the sugar water that I spilled on the hive while filling the feeder and in the feeder itself. Seemingly ignorant of the ant problem, the bees are making wax. They have covered about half of the empty plastic frame with comb.
Hive B
Hive B has consumed two thirds of a feeder of syrup and seems determined to prove its dominance over Hive A. It has produced more new comb than Hive A, and clearly has more bees. Best of all, Hive B has no ants. I wonder if this is the cause of its apparent superiority or a result of it.
Treatments and Feedings
Both hive’s feeders topped up with 2:1 sugar syrup.
Tree chopped down to provide additional evening sun.
Thoughts
If you are thinking that this blog sucks without any photos, you are not alone. Next week I should be confident enough that I can take my gloves off for a minute or two and snap some pictures. At the very least, I’ll show you how silly I look in a bee suit.
I’m pretty pleased that I’ve got my bees in the hives, and the queens are alive and well. This was the first big test and it looks like I passed. The presence of the ants kind of pisses me off. It took less than a week to get my first infestation of something. There are worse problems than ants, but they are a problem nonetheless. We will see how the bees and I cope.
Hive A
Hive A has consumed about half a feeder worth of syrup. This seems pretty good to me, since bees are only little. The feeder holds 1.5 litres. In the good news department, I managed to spot the Hive A Queen. She seems healthy and active, and I now know that I didn’t kill her on day one. In the bad news department, Hive A is infested with ants – hundreds of little red ants. They seem especially interested in the sugar water that I spilled on the hive while filling the feeder and in the feeder itself. Seemingly ignorant of the ant problem, the bees are making wax. They have covered about half of the empty plastic frame with comb.
Hive B
Hive B has consumed two thirds of a feeder of syrup and seems determined to prove its dominance over Hive A. It has produced more new comb than Hive A, and clearly has more bees. Best of all, Hive B has no ants. I wonder if this is the cause of its apparent superiority or a result of it.
Treatments and Feedings
Both hive’s feeders topped up with 2:1 sugar syrup.
Tree chopped down to provide additional evening sun.
Thoughts
If you are thinking that this blog sucks without any photos, you are not alone. Next week I should be confident enough that I can take my gloves off for a minute or two and snap some pictures. At the very least, I’ll show you how silly I look in a bee suit.
I’m pretty pleased that I’ve got my bees in the hives, and the queens are alive and well. This was the first big test and it looks like I passed. The presence of the ants kind of pisses me off. It took less than a week to get my first infestation of something. There are worse problems than ants, but they are a problem nonetheless. We will see how the bees and I cope.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Hive Visit: Thursday May 21, 2009
I picked up 2 nucs (nuc is short for nucleus, essentially a mini hive) from Benson Bees at 9am. By 11am I had , for the most part, figured out my protective bee suit, though I had an extra plastic support that (despite reading the directions carefully), I was unable to install in my suit’s headgear. The instructions clearly indicated that this piece of plastic is instrumental in preventing stings to the face; the instructions were far less clear on how it is meant to be inserted. I convinced myself that a ball cap was a more than suitable substitute.
At 11:15, I installed my bees.
Hive A
I installed Hive A second. I am referring to it as Hive A because it is closer to the trailer and therefore the first one I see on my approach. These bees seemed more sluggish. I couldn’t spot the Queen, but I confirmed that she was not left in the nuc box. The nuc has two nearly full frames of brood cells (bees soon to be born), including 20ish drone cells, one frame of honey and one empty plastic frame. The bees seemed reluctant to leave the nuc box, and when I left, many remained sitting in the box in front of their new home. I wish I had had more time to watch them drift into their home.
Hive B
Hive B seemed very strong and active with lots of bees, and virtually no stragglers in the nuc box. The nuc has two nearly full frames of brood, including 20ish drone cells, one frame of honey, one empty plastic frame. The Queen was spotted in the nuc box and carefully placed into her hive. She disappeared quickly, seemingly in good health. She has a yellow dot painted on her back, which seems like an odd colour to paint a bee if you are trying to make it stand out from the other bees – anything other than yellow, brown or black would be more obvious choices.
Treatments and Feedings
Both hives given full plastic feeders of 2:1 sugar syrup.
Both hives treated with Fumigilin B in syrup as per label.
Both hives treated with Oxysol in syrup as per label.
Later noted that OMAFRA recommends powdered sugar treatment rather than syrup.
Thoughts
Overall, I am struck by how gentle the bees are. Perhaps I was heavy handed with the smoke, but they didn’t seem to hate me. Safe inside my bee suit, I was not stung at all. I estimate if I had been naked I would have been stung only five or six times. If I had had the whole day free, I would have spent it all with my bees – they really are that captivating. I am worried that I have not seen the queen of Hive A, but I am still not very practiced at spotting queens.
At 11:15, I installed my bees.
Hive A
I installed Hive A second. I am referring to it as Hive A because it is closer to the trailer and therefore the first one I see on my approach. These bees seemed more sluggish. I couldn’t spot the Queen, but I confirmed that she was not left in the nuc box. The nuc has two nearly full frames of brood cells (bees soon to be born), including 20ish drone cells, one frame of honey and one empty plastic frame. The bees seemed reluctant to leave the nuc box, and when I left, many remained sitting in the box in front of their new home. I wish I had had more time to watch them drift into their home.
Hive B
Hive B seemed very strong and active with lots of bees, and virtually no stragglers in the nuc box. The nuc has two nearly full frames of brood, including 20ish drone cells, one frame of honey, one empty plastic frame. The Queen was spotted in the nuc box and carefully placed into her hive. She disappeared quickly, seemingly in good health. She has a yellow dot painted on her back, which seems like an odd colour to paint a bee if you are trying to make it stand out from the other bees – anything other than yellow, brown or black would be more obvious choices.
Treatments and Feedings
Both hives given full plastic feeders of 2:1 sugar syrup.
Both hives treated with Fumigilin B in syrup as per label.
Both hives treated with Oxysol in syrup as per label.
Later noted that OMAFRA recommends powdered sugar treatment rather than syrup.
Thoughts
Overall, I am struck by how gentle the bees are. Perhaps I was heavy handed with the smoke, but they didn’t seem to hate me. Safe inside my bee suit, I was not stung at all. I estimate if I had been naked I would have been stung only five or six times. If I had had the whole day free, I would have spent it all with my bees – they really are that captivating. I am worried that I have not seen the queen of Hive A, but I am still not very practiced at spotting queens.
The Monkey Beesiness Blog
Here I will be posting diary entries related to my beekeeping. I am brand new to beekeeping and am very much looking forward to taking on a nifty new hobby.
As a registered beekeeper, I am required to keep a record of treatments given to my bees. It is generally considered good practice to also keep notes on the overall state of the bees for purposes of hive management as well as personal learning. This blog will combine my required record keeping with my informal notes and my thoughts, experiences and fears related to getting stung.
Many folks seem interested in my bees. And now I can tell you all about it without having to tell the same stories over and over.
As a registered beekeeper, I am required to keep a record of treatments given to my bees. It is generally considered good practice to also keep notes on the overall state of the bees for purposes of hive management as well as personal learning. This blog will combine my required record keeping with my informal notes and my thoughts, experiences and fears related to getting stung.
Many folks seem interested in my bees. And now I can tell you all about it without having to tell the same stories over and over.
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