As I lay on the beach in Montauk, NY, soaking up the sun and relaxing during the family summer vacation, I was reminded (by an avid reader of this blog) that I had not posted in a while! My apologies, Uncle Pat, for keeping you waiting.
Just before leaving the Miami area for a trip, something pretty major happened. The colonies had to be moved! Now, this is major for me for two reasons: 1. I am a mere hobbyest, 2. I was unable to supervise the evolution. The city of Miami is laying a new sewer pipe right through the garden and the hives happened to be in the exact path of the work. Moving honey bees requires little knowledge and lots of guts. Fortunately, since I was leaving town the day the notification came in, James (from the garden's organization) volunteered to assist.
Honey bees, unlike many college students, leave the hive at the first sign of light to begin their days work. At this time a small and mature group of workers head out to forage. They work all day, returning to off load their nectar and pollen and head back out immediately, until the sun goes down. Only after the workers have come home can a hive be closed and moved. I prefer to use newspaper and duck tape to close the hive openings, but there are many other techniques that work just as well.
Once the hives are closed an old beekeeper's adage takes effect: if a hive must be moved, move the hive either two inches or two miles. Honey bees are creatures of habit. Even if moved across the yard, honey bees will try to return to their old spot due to flight paths. After any move, several bees will come back to the old location to find it has been moved! Surprisingly, this has happened to several of my friends returning home for the holidays from college...anyways, the bees will fly around looking for the hive in confusion until their wings fall off and they die. Colony #1 and #2 have been moved to another location in Miami. I am very happy that someone opened their yard for this temporary move, but I have yet to see them since and have no idea exactly where they are! No worries, I will see them later this week and report back. Hopefully the city will finish their work sooner than later and we can get back to pollinating the gardens in Opa Locka.
On another note, often I am asked what I plan to do with the hives when I move from Miami. (Yes, the Coast Guard is the military and we have to move every few years.) I plan to pack them up and take them to my next station! Emily has volunteered to NOT be in the car with me and the bees as we drive north (says something about "what if the bees get out of the hive, blah blah blah"). Ok, maybe I will rent a truck and do it that way.
If you have not seen this yet, check out this video from a movement to "Help The Honey Bees":
http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/#tv
Until next time, bee nice to your neighborhood pollinators!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Rainy Season Expansion
The rainy season began since the last posting. Currently it rains everyday somewhere in the greater Miami area. This weather pattern will continue until hurricane season ends in November. The colonies, however, thrive during this wet time as anything and everything blooms. South Florida's sub-tropical climate allows for unusually long colony expansion time and almost an endless honey flow (11 of the 12 months!). In the rest of the country, the honey flow might be only 2 or 3 weeks!
When Emily and I took the bee-ginners beekeeping class at the Fairchild Gardens, we were warned about working the hives on cloudy, cold, or ugly days. The teacher was right and lessons were learned the hard way yesterday. As I arrived at the hives around noon, the cloudy sky and warm temperatures gave me mixed feeling about the ensuing encounter. The goal for this trip: check the health of the colonies, add a second box to Colony #1, and add the first honey super to Colony #2. Both colonies displayed great activity at their entrances. As I lit the smoker I made a play-by-play in my mind to ensure a quick and efficient visit. Did you know that, on average, 150 bees are killed during hive manipulation? This serves as more proof that honey bees should remain uninhibited as much as possible (within reason, of course). Also, it does not help when I accidentally drop the lid 2 inches and get a few hundred ticked-off bees airborne. Granted, I kept my cool and only got stung once (on my thumb).
As I opened hive #1, it looked more crowded than a Japanese subway. Never have I ever seen that many honeybees in one box! Bees, like humans, allow weather to affect foraging and their overall mood. Ask Emily, when cold or overcast days become too much for me, I become a cranky old man. On cloudy or rainy days the colony comes home to the hive. Anyways, I methodically inspected the frames and observed new worker brood in a nice tight formation. Oh, and I also saw the second Queen! She is a golden beauty. Unfortunately, I did not capture a picture of her...maybe next time. I quickly replaced the frames to their positions and added a second, empty medium hive body.
Colony #2 provided a surprise of more honey comb on the roof of the hive! This colony is ready to expand into a honey super. At least two frames in the top box were almost strictly capped honey. Working from the bottom box up, I only inspected a few frames observing more worker brood and a few drone brood as well! Drone brood looks like a bullet is sticking out of the hive since drones are bigger and they incubate just a little longer than queens and workers. I removed the queen excluder from the hive floor and moved it to the top to separate where the queen can lay and where I will collect the honey. Yes, this means the queen has access to leave now, but the strong hive she rules over keeps her within the hive. I then added the first honey super (an empty medium hive body with 10 frames).
Sometimes necessity dictates the manipulation of the hives on cloudy days. If avoidable, remember to work honey bees only on nice beautiful days that you would rather lay on the beach and drink mojitos.
When Emily and I took the bee-ginners beekeeping class at the Fairchild Gardens, we were warned about working the hives on cloudy, cold, or ugly days. The teacher was right and lessons were learned the hard way yesterday. As I arrived at the hives around noon, the cloudy sky and warm temperatures gave me mixed feeling about the ensuing encounter. The goal for this trip: check the health of the colonies, add a second box to Colony #1, and add the first honey super to Colony #2. Both colonies displayed great activity at their entrances. As I lit the smoker I made a play-by-play in my mind to ensure a quick and efficient visit. Did you know that, on average, 150 bees are killed during hive manipulation? This serves as more proof that honey bees should remain uninhibited as much as possible (within reason, of course). Also, it does not help when I accidentally drop the lid 2 inches and get a few hundred ticked-off bees airborne. Granted, I kept my cool and only got stung once (on my thumb).
As I opened hive #1, it looked more crowded than a Japanese subway. Never have I ever seen that many honeybees in one box! Bees, like humans, allow weather to affect foraging and their overall mood. Ask Emily, when cold or overcast days become too much for me, I become a cranky old man. On cloudy or rainy days the colony comes home to the hive. Anyways, I methodically inspected the frames and observed new worker brood in a nice tight formation. Oh, and I also saw the second Queen! She is a golden beauty. Unfortunately, I did not capture a picture of her...maybe next time. I quickly replaced the frames to their positions and added a second, empty medium hive body.
Colony #2 provided a surprise of more honey comb on the roof of the hive! This colony is ready to expand into a honey super. At least two frames in the top box were almost strictly capped honey. Working from the bottom box up, I only inspected a few frames observing more worker brood and a few drone brood as well! Drone brood looks like a bullet is sticking out of the hive since drones are bigger and they incubate just a little longer than queens and workers. I removed the queen excluder from the hive floor and moved it to the top to separate where the queen can lay and where I will collect the honey. Yes, this means the queen has access to leave now, but the strong hive she rules over keeps her within the hive. I then added the first honey super (an empty medium hive body with 10 frames).
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| Colony #2: The queen excluder is on top of the second hive body. The queen excluder is just that, it allows workers and drones to pass through, just not the queen. Also, observe the fresh honey comb on the roof of the hive. |
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| Goals Met: Additional hive body for Colony #1 and the addition of a honey super to Colony #2. |
Sometimes necessity dictates the manipulation of the hives on cloudy days. If avoidable, remember to work honey bees only on nice beautiful days that you would rather lay on the beach and drink mojitos.
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