2016-02-20: We're not dead yet!

On a balmy 55 degree February day I went out to see how the hives were doing.  I'm happy to report that at least three out of the four are alive!  The bees were using the top and bottom entrances on Yellow, Green and Split Hives.

Two items of concern came up and I walked around, both on the Split Hive.  First, they were showing signs of possible Nosema or Dysentery, although I suppose it may have been their first cleansing flight of the winter.

The second odd thing was that the mouse guard that was stapled across the bottom entrance appears to have been torn open.  I guess a skunk or something could have been clawing at it trying to get at some dead bees to eat?

Anyway, it was really good to see that most of the girls had made it this far.  Hopefully White hive was just really sleepy and none of the bees wanted to come out to play!

Hang in there just a while longer girls!!

Poo Storm: 2013-12-28

I've heard of a "poo storm" as a figure of speech before, but yesterday I experienced one!!  The temperature here in Michigan reached a whopping 40 degrees and it was sunny as well.  I decided to take the opportunity to remove some of the ice that was actually blocking the front entrance of the hive.  It had already begun melting and the ice slid off in a big chunk quite easily.  I could now see that the bees had moved many of there dead as close to the entrance as possible but they couldn't get them outside so they were clogging the holes in the mouse guard.  I pulled the dead ones out and brushed off some remaining melt water off the landing board and a few of the more cold hard girls were eager to come outside!

It is cold out here girls!

I took a quick count and there were 10 dead bees that I had pulled out and were now in the snow.  By the time I was done counting, about four more bees came out to investigate what the bright orange ball of light was that was hanging in the sky.  They flew around for a bit, never straying too far.  Two of them seem to be doing orientation flights (hovering in front of the hive facing toward to hive to remember what it looks like).  I looked up and one bee was near the vent hole on the candy board so maybe she crawled up and exited there.  It wasn't long until two of the bees had landed in the snow to take a break.  That is usually a death knell for a bee because if they stay too long the cold will move into them and make them "sleepy".  Of course they can't be that cold for very long without their sisters keeping them warm so they would soon die.  I picked them up out of the snow and placed them back on the landing board.  I ended up doing this a few times and decided I couldn't stay there all day rescuing bees, so I headed into the house.

After having lunch and running around for a few hours, I decided to head back out to take a peek again late in the afternoon.  That when I saw the evidence of the poo storm!  As I neared the hive and hit the boundary of the bee garden, I saw dead bees all over the place.  In addition to that, little brownish yellow splashes in the snow all over the place!

This snow used to be pure white

Hope you feel better now girls

If you didn't know, bees are very cleanly and only defecate in the hive if they have a bad form of bee dysentery.  So, they generally "hold it" for weeks and weeks at a time until there is a warm spell.  They sure took advantage of this one!  I'm just glad I wasn't around when a few thousand other bees decided to come out and drop a load.  Dang!

Having "done their business", it looks like they also took an opportunity to drag out a number of their dead sisters.

Bring out yer dead!

You'd might think with this many dead bees that it was a catastrophe, but this is not the case.  In the winter, the dead generally accumulate on the bottom of the hive until a warm day when the bees can leave their cluster and remove them.  With thousands of bees in the hive, a hundred dead is a pretty normal amount to have accumulated over the course of about a month.  So all seems well in White hive so far this winter!

Survivor Bees!: 2013-04-03

My wife and I just returned from an awesome trip to Brentwood, CA to see our daughter, son-in-law and "grandpuppy".  It was easy to think about my bees shivering back home when we were walking around in our shorts in 65 degree California sun!  So, after returning home and getting the luggage unpacked, one of my first tasks was to put on my boots and head out to check on how the girls were doing.  It was bright and sunny, but the temperature was only about 38 degrees.  Looking out to the hives, I noticed that the wind breaks I had made looking out of kilter somehow.  As I approached, I saw that they were partially out of the ground and leaning heavily up against both hives.  My pace quickened as I walked up to White Hive to see that the wind break had pushed the outer cover partially off the hive!!  AHHHHH!  Part of the inner cover was completely exposed to the elements.  Great!

The bees survive almost all the way through the winter, just to see them die because my stupid wind break opened up the hive.  Lame!  I pulled the wind break off of the hive and braced myself for the worst.  I removed the brick holding down the top cover, set it aside and held my breath as I removed the top cover.  Hallelujah I see movement!  There is the cluster still holding fast against the cold right underneath the opening in the inner cover!!  Those are some tough bees!

Thank the good Lord that all hope is not lost!  Looks like the weather this week is going to be in the upper 40's only dropping down into the 30's at night.  With an entire week of above freezing temperatures forecast, that should be a piece of cake for these hardy girls!!  I think I'm going to bide my time for the first above 50 day before opening them back up again.  Maybe a knock test every few days is in order until then   =)