October 2, 2009: The Feeding Continues...

I'm continuing to feed both hives a 2:1 syrup mixture in hopes of building up honey stores for the winter. I need to buy better top feeders, because I'm seeing a lot of drownings.

We had the first heavy frost of the season this week.

September 23, 2009: The Feeding Begins

Both hives are weak going into fall, so I have been starting the 2:1 sugar syrup feeding. They are going through the sugar fast. Quite a few Mussolinis drowned in the feeder due to my being stupid and not noticing that a shim was propolized to the outer cover. There was enough space for them to sneak under the lid and drown in the syrup.

This is not the most recent configuration: I removed both queen excluders and the top super from the left hive after the inspector came out. So both now have 4 boxes each. The entrance reducers are also in.

September 23, 2009: Linda's Blog

I have discovered the best blog about bees from Linda in Atlanta! Unlike me, she updates her blog regularly. I have learned so much from Linda. I followed her video for the crush and strain method of honey extraction which worked extremely well. A couple days ago, she reported on the flood that wiped out a 7-hive apiary in Georgia. The pictures are horrifying. What a tragedy for Linda!

So, check it out: http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/

August 28, 2009: How are the Bees?

Well, it's been a long time since I posted a blog entry. Blogs are cool but it's difficult to maintain the momentum when we're all so busy.

So how are the bees doing? It's been a rough year.

• The Italians I purchased in April are mean as heck. I dread working with them. I've renamed the overwintered Italians the "Filippellis" and the mean ones, the "Mussolinis."
  
• The state inspector last week left a note that my "hives are dying" due to varroa mite infestation. "Treat with CheckMite ASAP." Well what if I don't use chemicals?!!
  
• I got lazy with the powdered sugar treatments.
• I only harvested 2.125 pounds of honey (used the crush and strain method, worked well).
• The bees have little honey stores going into fall.

It is discouraging to be a beekeeper these days: it seems like a hopeless battle against the mites, when you're trying hard to be organic. It's an expensive hobby when you have to buy new bees every year and harvest little to no honey. But I guess, most hobbies are expensive.

February 8: Russians Dead: An Expensive Hobby

A few weekends ago, when it warmed up a bit, I checked the Italians and was relieved they were alive, but concerned that they were clustered at the top of the hive box. Bees work upward over the winter, eating along the way. I'm considering emergency feeding.

JANUARY 28: SNOW DAY (no work) SNOW, ICE AND WIND!!!
(20 inches of snow for January)

Let's check for damage:
On Feb. 1 (40s), I opened up the Italians to check them again. Still clustered at top so proceeded with emergency feeding. I put a shallow box on top (from the crappy plastic top feeder). Then placed a piece of newspaper on the top bars and poured about a cup of dry white sugar on it. The bees were quite angry to be disturbed and I got a few stings. The inside cover is still upside down and propped up with shims. Russians were not out and I couldn't hear any buzzing but I wasn't too concerned. It wasn't that warm out.

Today it was very spring-like, in the low 50s. The Italians were flying about. I opened them up and put in some more sugar. Then I realized the Russians were not out. That was odd, considering the temperature. They should be taking some cleansing flights.

I opened up the Russian and discovered that they were all dead!! How disappointing! They were so strong all summer long. I am very sad. My bees are like pets to me. Sometimes, I wonder why I've picked this hobby. I must be doing something wrong.

Autopsy:
I examined the dead bees and there were many with their entire bodies stuck down into the cells with there little butts sticking out. It almost looked like the cluster had broken up to feed and then been struck dead all at the same time. There was plenty of honey so I don't think they could have starved to death.

What next? I decided to rob the dead and feed the poor.

I moved the top super of 10 frames of honey to the Italians (hoping that the Russians didn't die from a disease) . I wrapped up the next 10 frames and stuck them in the freezer. I gathered up a lot of bees off of those frames. There were tons of dead bees in that hive. There are still 2 boxes outside. Not enough room in my freezer for more frames.