Hive Visit: Saturday June 6, 2009

I managed to get out to the hives again this weekend, and had some great weather. And the bees appeared to be doing great. Still buzzing. Still busy. Still not stinging me. I even had my first taste of honey! I scraped off some comb that was attached to the inner cover (bees never stay between the lines) and found just enough for a little snack.

The only thing sweeter than the fresh honey was my avoidance of what should have been a guaranteed sting. I had my gloves off for a while to get some pictures, and a minute or two after putting them back on, I felt six little legs crawling on my right hand. I slowly put down the frame I was holding and eased off my glove. My little bee buddy just flew away. If you can have a bee in your glove while you’re working and not get stung, bees are definitely getting a bad rap.

Here is a picture of Queen Elizabeth. I know I earlier claimed she was marked with a yellow dot, but clearly she has red. I have no idea what I saw, or thought I saw, previously.



Now on to the update.

Hive A
Hive A looks good. The feeder is bone dry. There are bees on 6 frames, and 5 of those are almost covered with comb. There aren’t a lot of bees flying in and out of the hive, but there are tons inside. They may just be enjoying the sugar syrup too much. Initially I vowed to wean them off this week – a promise I broke when I was so pleasantly surprised by not getting stung. You want to reward good behaviour, even with bees. Maybe especially with bees. I opted not to add an extra hive body this week, mostly to see what difference it would make between Hive A and B to try something new.

Hive B
I thought Hive B was doing great. The feeder was drained, there were tons of bees, and lots of activity around the front door. I thought Hive B was doing so well in fact that I added an extra super to the hive, giving them more room to grow. But just a few minutes ago I found out the cause of these weird stains


It is bee diarrhea caused by nosema parasites!!! With all new equipment and high quality (read expensive) bees, I thought I would avoid disease for at least a month. This is also why I treated them with Fumagilin. I don’t know yet how bad this is, but I don’t like it and I’m worried. If anybody knows anything about how to measure the severity of nosema, please pass it on.

Treatments and Feedings
Both hives given a feeder of sugar syrup.
My awesome neighbour helped me cut down some more branches to let the light in.

To do list
Find out more about nosema and follow any recommended steps.
Put a sign on my apiary (just realised this is required by law)

Thoughts

I guess all animals get sick. I’ve been sick myself sometimes. Of course I’ve never been so sick that I shat down the exterior wall of my home, but I’m not a bee either. I’m going to try not to worry, and instead will seek some expert advice.

By far the happier thought from this weekend is that I am now a farmer of sorts. My neighbour Adrean, who is a farmer from his hair to his boots came over to chat on Saturday. For the first time, I felt like I knew something he didn’t; that I could contribute to the conversation. The residents of Fournier, Ontario all consider me a city boy, no doubt. But I have livestock – more head than any cattle farmer. I have a crop – honey's comin' in fast this year. And I have problems to grumble about – dang bees went and got sick. If that doesn’t make me a legit farmer, I don’t know what would. But yes, the barns are a little small.