The Life of a Bee

An interesting graphic on the life of a worker bee. I found this in a old book.

Who Doesn't Love the Honey Bee

During a break from the report that I am writing, I went out and cleaned the top feeder and refilled it with a gallon of Sugar syrup. I have been reading a few books on beekeeping and have determined like many hobbies you can read a book on the topic but until you do it and make some mistakes that things really dont sink in. Planbee by Susan Brackney is a decent book.

Overall the bees look good and appear to be recovering from my attempt to starve them.

A few trivial bee facts to close out the post.
1. Some historical records suggest Alexanfer the Great was buried in a honey filled coffin.
2. A worker bee will dance a figure eight pattern to tell other bees about the location of a good nectar source.
3. Honey at a basic middle school boy level is basically bee vomit - actually the bee has a special stomach that nectar is stored in for transit.
4.Honeycombs are not level, rather they point up by 13 degrees. This upward tilt keeps the honey from flowing out of the comb.
5. On averge it takes about 10 minutes for a foraging bee to amass a full load of pollen and three times as long to acquire a full load of nectar.
6. The average Americans consume 1.31 pounds of honey a year.
7. A tablespoon of honey has 64 calories.
8. Bee hives (and hornets) were used as weapons in both the American Revolution, Civil War, and in Vietnam.

Weather - hot and humid. Huge Thunderstorm on Tuesday.

What a Difference a Week Makes

I opened the hive during a break in the TDF coverage (through the 1st time check in the TT, Schleck has closed the gap and the times are even, the next twenty miles should be great). I have also changed my views on attacking during a mechanical issue. - reading and watching comments from several TDF riders gave me a new perspective.

Now to the bees. The bees look good, the frames are wet and the bee are very docile. So docile that I didnt have to use any smoke on them. The seem to prefer the front feeder to the top feeder. The front feeder will need a refill on Sunday. If I had not placed them under such stress, I would let the front feeder go empty and force them to the top feeder, but due to the stress I am going to make their lives easy.

Estamos todavía tienen hambre; Senor Earl!

You know when its hot and humid the bees go crazy and buzz in spainish. The heat makes them crazy. For those that dont habla espanole they said "We are still hungry Mr. Earl!"

The hive is looking better- good activity. I did not pull frames as I feel I have placed enough stress on the hive. I did add a gallon of sugar water to the top feeder tonight and refilled the front quart feeder.

Ten Pounds of Sugar in less than 48 hours!

Thanks for all of the emails asking about the bees!
The past three weeks have been an adventure. The bee's are doing much better, they are eating everything that I have given them. The large top feeder has approximately 25% of the contents remaining, and I just returned from refilling the front quart sized feeder. The hive has totally consumed the ten pounds of sugar that I purchased on Saturday. I will make another sugar run tonight after work.

On a non bee topic - Alberto Contador showed very poor form and a total lack of sportsmanship and respect for the TDF today. He took the overall lead today, but only took it due to a mechanical failure on Andy Schlecks bike. This is bad form, Lance and Urlich used to race hard, but would wait if the other had bike issues. I was glad to her the crowd boo when Alberto pulled on the yellow jersey. I hope Andy gets the jersey back in the final mountain stages and then has the time trial of his life to win.

The Bee are Eating!

The bees are eating! The bees ate the entire front feeder in a90 minutes! I snuck up on them and pulled it out of the hive and refilled it. I will check the two gallon feeder Monday and will keep an eye on the front feeder on Sunday.

John the Bee Mentor Pays the Hive a Visit and Saves the Hive

I am so happy that I have a bee mentor and he lives near by. John came over this afternoon , as we were suiting up, he got a good laugh as he recalled his first visit. As you recall during John's first visit I burnt the recycling bin while lighting the smoker. ( I had the smoker prelight and sitting on the BBQ grill as I didnt want to repeat that fiasco). Johno asked me what I thought was wrong and I told him that I noticed some dead bees, the population of bees seemed light, saw some beetles, a few roaches, and a moth. As we talked, he said he was most concerned about the moth and stated that hive beatles just show up and unless there are a ton not to worry and that cock roaches are not an issues. Once we where suited up we went to the hive and took a look.

He noticed how light and dry the frames where and told me that I did a good job by noticing something wasnt right and calling him. We pulled about half the frames and they where all dry and light . Although this is bad, we did spot the Queen and she appeared healthy as her attendants were with her. My bees had died due to lack of food. He noticed that they had eaten all of the stored pollen, what little honey they had and where probably within two or three days of the entire hive dying due to starvation.

We quickly mixed up some sugar water in a spray bottle and gave the bees a quick spray with sugar syrup. This got the hive a really quick feeding as they will lick the sugar off of each other. Then like a father with a new born that was lacking diapers and formula; I made a quick trip to Harris Teeter and bought ten pounds of sugar. I put the large top feeder back on the stack and filled it with a gallon of sugar syrup and also refilled my small front feeder. The bees immediately took to the feeders- I will check the feeders tommrow as I suspect they are going to eat like they did when they arrived in April.

The good news is the queen is alive and I believe we caught the problem in time to save the hive, the bad news is the hive is going to shrink in size some over the next 21 days. As we saw no eggs or larve. Since the queen knew the food stores had been depleted, she had stopped laying eggs.

A little concerned

I checked the hive tonight and saw a few things that I really didnt like. I think its time to call John and ask him to stop by. The first unsettling thing I saw were about a dozen dead bees on my top screen. Not sure why they died. In addition to the dead bees, I saw a moth, two coach roaches and a few small bugs in the hive. If all these extra insects were not enough to unsettle the new beekeeper, the sheer number of bees appeared to be low. I will call John tommrow and ask if he can stop by in the next few days.

The next day

Before I left for the YMCA , I paid a quick visit to the hive. All of the bees where inside except a few guard bees. The hive has settled down and everything appeared normal. I did ask the guard bees to convey my appology to the hive for dropping the chamber and getting them so angry. The guard bees accepted the appology, but stated if I drop them again they will be forced to sting me.

The guard bees and I also chatted about the Whitehouse bees. They stated the Whitehouse hive is non partsian and would like to sting both Limbaugh, Olberman, Beck and Madow with equal passion. The guard bees also told me that the Whitehouse bees actually belong to a whitehouse worker and one of the cooks asked him to bring a hive to the whitehouse. To learn more about the hive at the Whitehouse just google "Whitehouse bees"

The lucky beekeper and his angry bees

I had quick visions of Bobcat Doug's story being stung over a hundred times.

The hive does not enjoy getting the sugar dusting that I occasionally give them to eliminate the risk of mites. I was half way through the sugar treatment, when the second brood box slipped from my hands. Luckily it was the top brood chamber, and not as many bees live in that chamber. The chamber landed on the bottom side down (imagine dropping a box from 18 inches and having it land upright - that's what I did today). That really got the hive stirred up. Needless to say the second sugar treatment was administered very quickly and I put the hive back and got out of their area. Much to my amazement I wasn't stung (still haven't been stung). You can see from the picture how stirred up they became and how quickly I wanted to leave the area. Tonight when its dark and they have calmed down- I will sneak up on them and put the top on correctly.

Earlier in the week, I saw a television segment on how honey bees fight off their mortal enemies the wasp and hornet. A group of wasps or hornets can easily kill 30,000 bees and rob the hive of its honey. The wasp/hornet is bigger and stronger than the bee and has a strong protective shell. Due to the hornet/wasp protective shell the honey bee can not use the stinger to kill these robbers. When a honey bee notices a wasp/hornet has come to the hive as a scout- a group of bees will get on top of the wasp/hornet and start flapping their wings to generate additional body heat. The bee can have a max internal body temp of 48 degrees Celsius (118 ) versus a wasp/hornet can only have max internal body temp of 44 degrees Celsius (111). Thus the group of bees jump on the scout and raise the internal body temp to a level that kills the invading wasp or hornet.

Finally, my mother told me that the Whitehouse has a bee hive. I doubt that Barack or Michelle has ever dropped a brood chamber while dusting.

A through examination of the hive

After my ride this morning, I put on my Homer Simpson suit and paid a visit to the hive. Overall the hive looks good. I did take the Ross Rounds out the the frame and really look for activity and signe of honey. No such luck - no activity to really mention, but there were alot more bees in the Ross Rounds today versus previous weeks. The upper brood chamber is really looking good with strong activity on six of the eight frames. The middle frame have the most activity. The lower brood chamber looks very good, tons of activity on all frames. Today I saw plenty of larve on several frames- did not see the queen though.

I did notice a few things that I didn't like. There were a ton of drowned ants int he top feeder that I had filled with water and numerous (17) bees that had drowned. Due to the number of dead bees and dead ants; I have completely removed the feeder and will only water the bees via the external water container, near by bird bath, and the dogs swimming pool. The other item that I don't like, but I don't think it is abnormal is the amount of propolis that they are building. Propolis is a normal for bees; it just takes time to scrape it away and makes everything sticky.

The bees need to be dusted for mites this week; need to purchase powered sugar to dust them or I would have done it today. Weather nice mid 80's low humidity- bees like the weather.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. Below is an article that a former manager of mine used to send every July and Bobcat Doug also sent it to me this week. A simple reminder that tomorrow is more than a BBQ and a three day holiday.

The 4th of July:

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the
Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured
before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving
in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the
Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were
farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but
they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the
penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his Ships
swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties
to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move
his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and
his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and
poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British
General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.

He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was
destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed
his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their
13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid
to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning
home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. Some of us take
these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they
paid.

Ironman CDA and the bee blog

I am a little behind on the bee blog; I will check the hive on Saturday. This post has nothing to do with the bee's and is really about ironman and the husband of the bee inspiration.

Shane Turley ( the husband of the orginal beekeeper that inspired Karen to send me to bee school) had a good race going until mile 14 on the run. At mile 14 he developed stomach issues and DNF at Ironman CDA last Sunday. He was having a great race until he got sick- he rocked the bike at 19+ mph. I am still in for the pinky promise 2012 IM CDA trip with NJEB's daughter in law "Beekeeper Kathy" .