Black and Yellow Bumble Bee on Blue Salvia

I had 2 Bumble Bees on my blue salvia this morning. I don’t often see them here. There are so beautiful.

I carried these plants inside each night for a couple of months to keep them from freezing. I had 2 Salvia and 2 milkweed plants that I put out each day for the butterflies. Everything else had been killed by the frost.

I haven’t had any Monarch Butterflies  in  a few days…but the bees are enjoying the salvia.

My back yard sounds a bit like a jungle with the birds in the background. Palm trees and wetlands…..”our little piece of the jungle”.

Painted Buntings at the feeder

I’ve had Painted Buntings coming to the feeders for a few years now.

The most males in full color that I have seen at one time, this year, is 2. Although, the green bird sharing the feeder has a bit of color on it’s breast and may be a juvenile male.

They are very skittish birds. If I get anywhere near the door or window they depart in a hurry. These photos aren’t the best because I was shooting from inside and about 4’ from the window.  They are dark because the window is tinted. This male has a bright yellow on it’s back….in some males it’s more orange.

You can see how quickly then come and go in this video.

Maybe next time I’ll have a picture of an Indigo Bunting. I’ve seen one male, but he must have been a juvenile…he wasn’t showing the vibrant blue, but a combination of blue and brown. Still a beautiful bird.

Cape Honeysuckle and Honey Bee

I was happy to see the Honey Bee come to the Cape Honeysuckle for pollen. I didn’t think they would be able to get nectar since the bloom is so long. But…..this little bee surprised me.

It is a small plant and I never had more than 4 Honey Bees on it at the same time. What is interesting is…if one came in and went to the stamens for pollen…it never attempted to go inside for nectar …..and if a bee came in and immediately went inside….it didn’t pay any attention to the stamen. They would go from flower to flower and never deter from their specific job.

I planted this Cape Honeysuckle for the Hummingbirds….but I can see it is definitely going to be doing double duty.

 

Honey Bee on Cape Honeysuckle

My friend, Debbie, called me a few days ago from a place where she gets many of her plants. They had some nice Cape Honeysuckle and wanted to know if I wanted one. I did, so she picked one up for me.

I haven’t decided where to plant it yet. It is so pretty I think I want it in the backyard where I spend most of my time.

I bought it for the Hummingbirds. It is supposed to bloom fall and winter and will be a good addition to the hanging feeder.

I am also trying to get a couple of swarms of bees for my 2 hives. I was pleased to see this little gal working on the Cape Honeysuckle.

She seemed to be interested in pollen. It rained off and on during the night, so I wasn’t sure how much there would be, but she kept coming back to the flowers.

I think the blossoms are too deep for her to collect nectar and I didn’t see her even try.

The picture doesn’t do the color of the blooms justice. But the color shows up much better in this one.

You can see she is hard at work.

Top Bar Hive with observation window

Monday:

I don’t have any bees yet, but I hope to be ready before long. I do have one hive set up and Jim is helping me build a Top Bar Hive with an observation window.

The opening at this end will be for the cleanout tray that slides beneath the wire mesh. The entrance will be at the opposite end. We have to drill the holes for that yet.

There will be a cover over the window on the outside so I can drop it down and see what is going on.

So far….it hasn’t cost us anything. The Plexiglas was leftover from repairing the window in the boat. The hardware cloth was left over from building the screen board for the other hive. The boards are “recycled” 2x6’s that were destined for the dump or burn pile. Jim and I loaded them up and brought them home. We split them in half …making 1 x 6’s. I still have flashing left over from the other hive for the cleanout tray. All the “top bars” are going to be made out of scrap wood also. We are using what we have….hope the bees like it.

Tuesday:

Today we were able to get most of the finishing touches on. A door on the observation window.

I have enough “top bars” made to get started. I will  start with just a few and add them as they are needed. Each bar has a strip of wood to act as a guide so the bees will build their comb along that line.

 

The “follower board” allows me to adjust the size of the hive as the bees continue to raise brood and store honey….and if the “girls” will allow it….I’ll probably be sitting and watching.  Better than TV.

The cleanout tray will slide in and out of the back of the hive. It slides under wire mesh that is too small for the bees to get thru but big enough so the small hive beetles will fall thru. I’ll have either borax or diatamatious earth on it to help destroy the beetles.

Tomorrow Jim will  put  flashing on the top, and then it will need a final coat of paint.

We put 5 entrance holes near the top. Jim made bungs to put in a couple of them. Fewer entrance holes will make it easier for a small colony to defend the hive and it  will be warmer in winter.

Wednesday: Well…my “McGyver” did it again.  We were going to cover the top with flashing…but Jim remembered he had this old door out back. It is all that is left of a shed that was flattened by 3 big trees during Hurricane Charlie. It was the only thing we lost during the 3 storms that hit us: Charlie, Francis & Jean.

This is the final result. Jim salvaged part of the hinges for arrows . He says it’s pointing the way to the entrance for the bees….….I think he just wants me to know which end goes to the front.

Well…the paint is dry…top bars and follower board in place …and the top is on….This is what it looks like sitting in place. Can you tell I put a dab of pink in the paint? It’s sitting on the old stand. Jim enlarged it for the TBH, and made a new one for the Langs. The coffee cans have a small amount of used motor oil in them to discourage the fire ants from trying to climb into the hive.

Nope….no bees yet….just thought I’d check.

New Butterfly House

I decided to have Jim build me a new butterfly house. It has a much smaller foot print, so takes up less room in the Florida room. It also restricts less of the view.

I raised 60 caterpillars on this Giant Milkweed and decided to make the house to fit that plant. Once they have gone to the top to pupate, I can remove this plant,  and replace it with another just like it.

60 caterpillars had most of the leaves stripped right down to nothing. Look how it has recovered in a short time. So…I am hoping that 20 –30 caterpillars can grow up on it…still have some leaves left and this one can recover while another 20 –30 are munching away on the second one. I’ll just keep rotating them. At least that is the game plan..but you know how those things go. These plants cost around $20 at the nursery. It will be a lot cheaper to feed with them. I’ll still have as many Tropical Milkweed plants in the ground as I can. I’ll collect caterpillars from them ………and …..the one outside for regrowth will most likely have a few eggs on it.

The plant will sit in a tray (to catch any water) that has a piece of window screen covering the tray and under the plant. That will prevent any caterpillars that might fall onto it from drowning. The pot will have a screen skirt around it so they can crawl back up to the plant. Jim built a sliding tray for easy cleanout. That is why the plant sits on slats. That way I wont have to remove it each time I want to clean…..and believe me….it will need cleaning most every day as they get larger.

I have 2 Milkweed plants and 2 Salvia plants in pots that are flowering.  I bring them in at night if the temps are below 40* and put them out each day for the butterflies. There is one Monarch that shows up every day the temperature is above 60* and the sun is shinning…..sometimes a second one joins it. A yellow Sulphur, a Red Admiral and a couple skippers drop in too.

Can’t wait for caterpillar season.

Getting the hives ready

My sister, JoAnne, gave me 2 hive boxes with 20 frames. 

Jim built a base with slide-out flashing (for cleaning), a top and a screenboard.

The bees will enter on top of the screen. The holes are too small for the bees but small hive beetles will fall through. I will put a bit of crisco and borax on the flashing to trap and kill the beetles. I can slide it out from the back of the hive to scrape it off. I am going to try organic or natural beekeeping.

Here is the base with the flashing and screen board.

10 frames will rest on the ledge in the front and rear of the hive body.

Part of the frames had foundation. It is designed to get bees to build bigger cells..thus growing bigger bees for more honey production. I am going to try natural beekeeping….no medicines or pesticides etc. and I want to let them build their cells the size that they want to…

so I removed the foundation, sanded off any debris and hopefully removed any chemicals that may have been used in the past. I then glued thin strips of wood in the top to act as a starter bar so they will build along the center of the frame.

I don’t think the hive or frames have been used in many years, other than when I had the small swarm a few months ago.

Everything has been painted white. I would love to have different colors but the hot sun here in Florida might make them too hot. Maybe the next hive will have just a tiny hint of color to it though.

Once the frames are in place an inner cover is put on top of them to provide some air space between them and the cover.

Here it is assembled.

If I am real lucky….catch a swarm, and they survive, and raise lots of bees and need more room for honey…then I add a super with 10 more frames…and so on….

Do I sound like I know what I’m doing? I wish….I have been reading everything I can find on “organic” or “natural” beekeeping, but I need some hands on experience.

Now that Jim has the woodstove all installed and working….

I am going to see if we can build a Top Bar Hive.

Jim says I am stuck on “B’s”    Birds, Boats, Butterflies and Bees.