A Kenyan, A General, A Reporter and a Beekeeper walk into a Irish Pub

Interesting news week. Although I agree with the general, he proved that it is never a good idea to have several drinks with a reporter and start talking about your moronic boss. The President did what he had to do to preserver the chain of command, and a four star general should have know better- especially since he already got away with a public disagreement once. Overall the article is a good article , it was probably the title of the article that really got the Kenyan mad "...the wimps in the Whitehouse" feel free to read it it http://rollingstone.com/poltics/news/17390/119236 - some extreme differences between the Kenyan and the Snake Eater.

Thanks for tolerating my ramblings. Now onto the reason you follow the beeblog...the bees.

After several emails with NJEB about the merits of feeding bees in the summer. I decided to follow NJEB's lead and stop feeding the bees. Why did I stop the sugar syrup feedings you ask. 1. Ants - ants where attracted to the hive 2. I didnt want the bees to start storing sugar water in the hive - if they dont have any real honey in the hive for the winter, I will just resume feeding 3. NJEB stated that there is plenty for the bees to eat and when I ran Wed night, I hit a bush and had several large yellow spots on my shirt. The yellow spots where large pollen deposits from a crape myrtle . Once that happened I knew NJEB was right.

Although I didnt refill it with sugar water the top feeder was completely empty. I suspect the bees wher partially using the sugar water to cool the hive. Once I was done checking the frames, I did put the top feeder back on the stack, but I refilled it with fresh water. As hot as it has been the bees need alot of water.

As the hive heats, bees either go outside to reduce the body het in the hive or they will fan water across the frames- thus misting themselves to reduce the tempature. Today's picture shows how many bees were outside the hive.

If you have been watching the World Cup, the sound of the soccer horns sounds very simliar to the hive when you "smoke" them. I noticed this while watching the the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game.

Although I might have riled a few bee blog followers up about my Kenyan comments; regardless of your voting record, keep the armed forces and their families in your prayers. Being in the miltary is hard job, that doesnt have the hours or financial rewards of cushy corporate life. Thanks dad !

muy caliente y húmedo hoy. No mas humedo!

It is so hot and humid today that the bees where speaking in spainish when I check the hive this evening.
The hive looked good. Lots of new larve in the second brood super- no activity that I could see in the Ross Rounds. I was glad to see larve in the upper chamber, as that tells me the queen is working both brood supers. The bees are starting produce propolis. Propolis is a glue like substance that they produce, it has a simliar appearance and texture to pine tar.

Since I am still feeding the bees sugar water, I did notice alot of drowned ants in the feeder. I need to ask NJEB (New Jersey Eddie Balough) if he is having problems with ants in the feeder. Overall everything looked good.

The Bee's of the Bellagio Hotel

We are back from our trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Great time- the Grand Canyon is incredible. I love being out west! On our trip we went to Las Vegas, Sedona Arizona, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and a few places in between. The hotels we stayed in ranged from rather dumpy (Excaliber in Vegas but why we were even at the Excaliber is a story in itself) to as they say in Vegas ...the "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" suite at the Flamingo Hilton. We received an upgrade to our stay at the Flamingo since they didnt have two adjoining rooms as we requested. The suite we received was on the 27th floor overlooking the stip and was as big as the first house Karen and I owned.

Enough about our trip and on the the bees. Beekeeping is alive and well in the dessert. After many miles of highway signs (simliar to South of the Border signs) promising cold drinks, fresh jerky and local honey we stopped at the honey shack near the Arizona Nevada border. They had a variety of honey which was neat to see. Buckwheat honey i svery dark, desert wildflower was very light, clover honey was medium. In addition to this shack, we saw several places selling local honey.

The pictures are from the atrium at the Bellagio Hotel.

I will check the bees on Friday and give everyone an update on the Porter bees.

How much sugar does it take to produce honey?

I am going to start tracking how much sugar I purchase. I can recall purchasing four bottles of Karyo syrup, two five pound bags of sugar, and one bag of powdered sugar for the bees. They like to eat sugar water, since they are a new hive they dont have any stored honey thus on rainy days and days when the flower nectar isnt flowing the bees would go hungry if they didnt have sugar water. Once the hive is established they will have stored honey and should need less sugar water.

Hive looked good today. The second brood box is getting built out. The build out is occuring on the center frames. The lower brood frame looks very good. I saw alot of eggs and larve in both brood boxes.

I did dust for mites this afternoon. The bees appear to really dislike being dusted for mites. The dusting process consists of applying powdered confection sugar over the frames with a flour sifter. They bees really got worked up when I was dusting. Today's picture is the post sugar dusting - they eat the sugar off of themselves and others.

To answer a common question - I have not been stung by the bees yet.

Weather hot and humid. Lows 90's.

Beekeeper

Earl

P.S. Is anyone besides me tired of Sarah Palin? I cant even watch the Belmont without hearing about Sarah Palin and seeing her at the race.

The Decline of the Honey Bee

This article was in the newpaper earlier in the week. Last year 33% of the honey bee population died, thus farmers are very concerned. I am suprised the Obama hasnt held a press conference declaring his outrage at the honey bees decline and promising to hold hearings until the guilty party is found and fairness is returned to the honeybee. I just finished reading the news and have had my fill of the Obama , Senators, Congressmen and County Commissioners for the day. The fools cant stop spending money they dont have.

Enjoy the article. When I check the hive later this weekend - I will dust for mites. To dust for mites you take powdered sugar and sprinkle it across the frames. The bees become coated with the sugar, mites fall off and the bees lick the sugar and get an additional feeding.