October feeding

Replaced my emptied "bee tea" jars today; sugar, water, dandelion root, camomile, thyme and a speck of eucalyptus. The barn hive had bees up in the feeder, the Woodstock hive was quiet and the Greeting Garden hive was quiet also but when I lifted the cover I was glad to see 5 drawn combs of honey. They live in the top of that hive so I wonder if they will move down to feed during the winter... I haven't been "inspecting" the hives since it got cold; it would be like someone leaving the door open on a cold day at home. Bought a bale of hay and will insulate next week by placing newspaper and hay in the top of an empty super over the hive to wick condensation moisture out of the hive (hopefully). Also need to mouse proof with #8 wire. (which is well traveled in the back of my car; sometimes I'm lazy but I need to beat the mice who seek warmth inside the hive) Bought 3 quarts of honey at Montgomery Place for feeding. It got cold all of a sudden with some spotty snow yesterday, but today was near 50* with brief sun this afternoon. The bees seem to be "hunkering down". This has been a very stumbly start to my bee keeping as Aunt Margaret passed just when I was starting, which kind of got me off balance. I hope that they make it through the winter and I will readjust things next spring. I hope I am supporting them and doing the "right" thing. This is all so new. Bless the bees.

Farewell to the Drones

It was September 6th when I first noticed the drones being forced from the hives; some of them just pushed out, some at the entrance with workers on their backs pecking at them, others in tussles with (much smaller) workers, rolling off the landing onto the ground like scrapping teenagers. I sat mesmorized by this ritual which I had only read about until now; part brutal, part beautiful, all fascinating. (the male drones must be fed by the female workers so get "kicked out" each autumn to conserve food stores for the winter) "How can she sit and stare at that hive for so long?", I'm sure my neighbors think. Yesterday I went to "feed" them as everyone else had already been feeding the sweet concoction of sugar water and herbs for weeks. I was lead to include eucalyptus in the batch and later read that menthol is good to treat tracheal mites....Thank You, Universe. The colonies are much smaller now with the drones pretty much gone and the "summer bees" dying off. The Woodstock hive (a top bar hive from Sam Comfort) had a few ants wandering on the top and when I opened the end the last bar had a small virgin yellow comb drawn which was empty. I did not disturb the rest of the hive as they had propolized the bars for winter. I left them their tea in the empty end, covered by a roof of unused top bars. When I left for the day they were buzzing with delight. I hope that they like it! The 1st hive, now the "Greeting Garden Hive" as it is in the middle of the circle garden made from my new driveway seems to be OK. There was no where to feed the bees except place the feeder inside the hive, which is what I did. The "Barn Hive", my only Langstroth hive, seems to have the most robust colony. I slid the feeder into the entrance, no fuss, no muss. I'm experimenting with different styles of hives and, so far, I do like the primitive beauty of the top bar hive. I'll go back in 5 days to check them and mouse proof the hives. (which should have already been done...) I've been a little slow this year. It's been a year of big changes for both the bees and me and the bees have become my "family", of sorts. My human family moved to Texas, my Aunt Margaret died and now I am possibly going to lose my job for refusing the H1N1 flu vaccine. Well, if the bees could make it after losing their mother hive by being shaken into a box which ended up in my yard, I guess I can make it, too.