Honey Bees 8.25.13

I can see my hive from the screen room where I have my morning coffee.

This is the hive entrance  before the sun gets to it. They look like little soldiers all standing in a row. There are scouts going in and out. I guess this is the “guard”.

Once the sun hits the front of the hive there is more activity. More of them come out and start some serious cleaning.

This Jatropha bush has been blooming all summer. I had never seen a bee on it until a few days ago.

It was fun following this one around. She is gathering pollen.

You can see a nice drop of moisture hanging from the plant. Humidity is very high.

Most of the Cabbage Palms have already finished blooming. I expect they are gathering where ever they can find it.

Look at the size of the pollen sacs on her legs.

You wouldn’t think she could fly with all that pollen…but she wasn’t finished yet.

My old camera does not do good close ups….and when I crop them out they are a bit blurry.

Looking for more. She is flying away from me…that is her proboscis (tongue) you can see hanging down just forward of the pollen sacs.

The bees have been working  the Bottle Brush. It has been blooming off and on all summer, but it was pretty much ignored.

Now they are back. I can see 4 on this bloom that is still opening.

This Salvia has been blooming all summer but didn’t interest them until a few weeks ago.

This is another type of Salvia ….have never seen a bee on it.….but this little Skipper seems happy that it is here.

I never realized how cute they were until I took some pictures of them.

I’m glad I have such a diversity of plants. Guess I can use these to judge how much feed there is out there.. Nice to  see them feeding closer to home. Unfortunately….it probably means these plants are not their favorites or the easiest to work…or they’d be on them all summer.

Another Hive Check…looking for signs of a Queen 8.19.13

It’s been 9 days since the last check.

I came prepared with a magnifying glass. Jim suited up and did a good job of taking pictures. Unfortunately….I always had the comb in the wrong direction for looking directly into the cell with the camera.

It was HOT!   You can see sweat beads on my veil.

I’m posting some of the better ones.  Guess I need to number the frames so I can look at the pictures and know I’ve seen them all.

There is a good sized bunch of bees on the right end of this frame.

Don’t know why…here’s a closer look.

They were very calm as we went about our business.

There is a bee in the upper L corner that interests me….looks like her abdomen is down in the cell…laying?  Queen or laying worker?

Here’s a closer look….and looking at the other bees…there seem to be a lot of them with their heads in a cell cleaning…. more so than on other frames….making more room for her to lay?…or is it just wishful thinking.

Here are a few on a bit of capped honey…..aren’t they beautiful?

Nectar and pollen. Notice all the different colors of pollen. This is really very pretty when you see it.

I ask lots of questions on the www.beemaster.com forum and it has been suggested I wait a little bit longer to give a Virgin Queen a chance to mate and start laying.

I’ve located a beekeeper that has Queens and will order one after the next check.

If any of you “beeks” out there can see something that would swing it either way…please let me know.

Monarch Butterflies 8.21.13

It always makes me think of laundry day….they hang there and dry their wings.

I released 12 today.  There are a few more to go.

You can see a Queen caterpillar in a “J” in the back. She has 2 sets of antenna. Both are hanging straight down….she pupated a few minutes after I took this. Her chrysalis looks similar to the Monarch’s but does show a light pink color later on.

This was an escapee. I have a basket on the top of the Butterfly House where I keep some small tools etc. Thread and scissors for tying up a “J” or Chrysalis that is on a leaf. This on was on a plastic bag in the basket. I keep several small sticks to tie them to. I’ve found them on the ceiling, under the coffee table and even on the foot stool. Always on the lookout for one.

I’ve 4 tiny Queens….they’ll go inside as soon as the rest of the Monarch’s have gone to the top.

Drones at the hive entrance 8.11.13

I try to watch orientation each day that I am home. This was always a great thrill for me…but they’ve swarmed twice now and I get nervous that this will be the third time. They probably wouldn’t recover from another.

Today I noticed an unusually large number of Drones. I have learned from other beekeepers that Drones can go from hive to hive….I wonder if they are waiting for a Virgin Queen to take one of her mating flights.

All the big bees with the dark heads (eyes I think) are the Drones.  Their heads appear round while the worker bees heads look like a triangle. There are a few in this photo but most are Drones.

Maybe a “beek” with lots of knowledge could pick out a Virgin Queen…but not me.

A few hours later everything had settled down…I sure hope this is a good sign that a Virgin Queen is in the hive and just needs to make her mating flights. Without  a laying Queen fairly soon….the hive will die out….unless I purchase another.

Sam Comfort…the beekeeper I bought these from told me to check the hive again on Thursday ….if I see no sign of a laying Queen he could send me one. I’ll forward a link to the blog to him and see what he thinks this could mean.

Here’s a video of the action at the front of the hive.

Oh….remember those little Monarch caterpillars I posted about a few days ago?   Here are some of them today. They are little eating machines….most of these should go to the top and pupate shortly…..at least I hope they do….I’m running out of plants.

Hive Check ….2 weeks after first swarm

I decided to do a hive check….there have been 2 swarms from this hive and I killed a white larva with a brown head that was almost in the hive. I think it was a wax moth larva. They can ruin a weak hive.
Good news….no wax moth larva in the hive…no small hive beetle larva on the combs…..but all brood has emerged. There will be no more bees unless they have a new Queen and she gets mated and starts laying.
Here are some of the frames as I checked them for eggs…the sign of a new mated Queen.  I couldn’t spot any…
    
Jim tried to get pictures of both sides of each frame…
  
He was photographing in bright sun light and thru a veil. We were not sure how the bees would be acting….but they were pretty nice. No stings.

I had hoped to be able to zoom in and check for eggs…but he was too far away. It is probably too soon for a Virgin Queen to have gotten mated and laying.

Since there is no capped brood…there will be no more new bees and these bees only live about 5 or 6 weeks during the busy foraging season. I did see empty Queen Cells…but one may have left with the second swarm.
I've been told by a knowlegeable "beek" that this is an "anticipation" cell. They make them ...tear them down...make them...guess they keep them on hand incase they need a new Queen. The Queen cell would look more like a peanut.

I’ve been over and over these photos but cannot find a Queen. I don’t think a Virgin Queen would be very easy to spot anyways…

2  more anticipation cells

might be another in the upper L corner…

I believe this is the other side of the one above.

I think this one has a little capped honey in it….and maybe a couple of open Queen Cells in the lower left corner.
Now here’s a nice mess….looks like the starter strip came out and they’ve just worked around it. I put it back just as I found it…might be a Virgin Queen running around on it somewhere and I wasn’t going to take any chances.

I was surprised there were this many bees…If you had seen the size of both swarms you’d think the hive would have been empty.
You can tell by the picture above….these are foundationless frames. They make their own honey comb for brood and honey stores. There is a bit of capped honey on the top of this one and 2 full medium frames of honey.
If any of you beeks out there see something that I can’t….please let me know.
There are a lot of Drones….they still bring in pollen….and they still have orientation flights. All they need is a Queen…a laying Queen.
 

Eastern Black Swallowtail 8.8.13

I had 2 big black tubs planted with parsley, trying to draw the Eastern Black Swallowtail to my yard. It is their host plant.

I wasn’t having any luck and decided I’d rather have bee plants in those tubs…so dug them up and gave all the parsley to my friend and neighbor, Debbie. Well…..guess what she has…..lots of Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars, chrysalis and butterflies.

This is a chrysalis she gave me….so very different from the Monarch’s or Queen’s. This is hung by two points, and makes me think of a seashell.  It was green yesterday…now it is empty.

Here is my Eastern Black Swallowtail.

Such a beautiful butterfly.  It is now enjoying the great outdoors.

My Monarch caterpillars are growing….

Two days ago this was the about the size of the one behind it, and the holes in the leaves are growing along with the caterpillars. Each day when I check them I am amazed at how big they’ve gotten. They are little eating machines…then they rest…shed their skin….and start eating again…each time they shed it seems they double in size.

Wont be much longer and some will be going to the top and pupating. I’ve video of a pupating caterpillar on the blog. Just go to the “search this blog” box at the top right and put in “pupating caterpillar” and it will bring up several posts.  The one on 2.22.13 has the video at the end of the post. Hope you enjoy it.

Harvested 8 Quarts of Honey. ( 7.30.13)

After the hive swarmed a second time….we decided to take 5 more frames of honey. Not sure if the hive has enough bees to protect it from wax moths or small hive beetles and didn’t want to lose it. We can feed some of it back to them if they need it this winter.

This one stayed in the tree for 3 days then left for parts unknown.

The cabbage palms are still blooming and the pepper bush will start this fall so they have plenty of time to put up more stores.

Jim loaned me one of his plastic storage tubs to put the frames of honey in.

Once I had removed the 5 frames from the super, I closed it up. I didn’t want to disturb them too much as they may be in the process of raising a new Queen…or there is already a new one. At least I hope there is.

I had called my neighbor, George, and asked how he got the bees off the frames of honey…he said just use your bee brush and brush them off. Now why didn’t I think of that….

I moved the wheel barrow and the honey frames a little way from the hive….then started brushing.

As soon as I had one brushed off I put it in the bin and put a cover over it. Here’s a nice frame of capped honey. Surprising how heavy this is.

This one has some empty cells so I checked them good to be sure there were no eggs or larva in them. The piece that is missing came off on one of the first frames I took a few days ago.

another nice one….this is one that started out in the Top Bar Hive….after the bees swarmed in March…I salvaged the comb they had built and Jim put it into the medium frame.

This little bee was determined to hang around…

This is how it looks before it goes into the jars to strain. (previous post)

I had 2 nice frames that should have been cut into comb honey….maybe next time…if we can keep the rest of the bees happy.

We ended up with a total of 8 quarts from the 8 medium frames.

We use honey instead of white sugar….much better for you….and you get lots of benefits from it for helping with allergies etc. That is why you should buy honey from a local beekeeper. You get honey made from the plants in your area, and the pollen you are exposed to.

No stings this session…..guess I didn’t get the girls all ticked off by squishing one of them.

The bees are acting normal…not finding any dead bee larva on the tiles in front of the hive. They are foraging and bringing in pollen. Unless I see something strange, I’ll wait another week or two….to give them time to get their new Queen mated and laying…..then I’ll do a check. If I don’t see any eggs, new larva or can’t find a Queen…then I will have to buy them one.

Evidently they prepare for swarming by building Queen cells before they leave. The old Queen takes about half the bees and leaves. Before they go…they stuff themselves with honey. Maybe that is why there were empty cells in that frame.

Must have had a Virgin Queen take half of the bees that were left…so guess I’m down to a quarter of the bees that were in there. Hope they make it…I really enjoy watching them…..and the honey is an added bonus.