Spring brought sadness and also Hope

Looking at our bees in Shakopee

 We visited our bees for the first time since November 2011, this past Tuesday March 6 2012. We loaded the car, happy and somewhat giddy. We stopped first in Shakopee...a good thing we were wearing our rubber and leather boots. The field was so muddy that when we got to the hives, we had gained 20 pounds...of mud on our feet!
It was 59F (15C), blue sky, light breeze...the perfect day. We saw many honeybees flying and buzzing around. What a happy site! We were so certain that they would be quiet, and mostly inside the hives that we did not take our smoker and hive tools. Seeing all that wonderful commotion, we retreated back to the car through the mud and all to gather our equipment.

In my excitement when getting the car ready in the morning, I had completely forgotten to bring some fuel (newspaper, and lint) for the smoker. However, having a former boy scout as a husband can be useful(!); he used some dried twigs, few leaves...and voila! We were in business again. We got our veils and gloves and some pollen patties. The field was wet, but our hives are elevated and somewhat on the "side" of the field protected by trees, therefore on  dry land.

Bees flying around in Shakopee

We opened the first hive and lots of bees were present. They were mostly curious, and were flying around us, looking for something, and wondering what were we doing. We put a piece of pollen patty, which is protein. It is nutritious for the bees before they can find the pollen on flowers. 

Ben opening the colony

Smoking the bees!

We inspected the second hive, although smaller in size, the colony was well, and alive. We also gave the honeybees a pollen patty. We left Shakopee, happy and full of hope...they had survived a crazy winter.
On our way to Chanhassen we felt joyful and confident. Arriving at the farm, Ben started the smoker and I gathered the pollen patties and hive tools. We were still cheerful, the sun was shining on our faces, and we were checking on the bees: priceless!

Hives in Chanhassen

However, our happy-giddy demeanor became bleaker as we were approaching the apiary tucked to the side by the trees. It was gloomy, no sound, no buzzing, no bees. "Where are the bees? I can't see them" I was repeating again and again. I did not believe that they did not survive, we rushed to the second hive, no bees either, and to the third...no bees. Now all was quiet, nothing moved, and a sadness descended upon us for a few second. We were stunned. We had lost 3 hives this winter, and one in the fall. 4 out of 6! We had lost 67% of our bees in about 6 months :(

After this initial shock, we got busy and started cleaning each hive, one at a time.

1. The purple: Lots of dead dry bees, on the bottom board. A mouse had found a house among warmth and honey. She had devoured some honey in her newly found den, and was a survivor. Probably died early winter. Still lots of stores:pollen and nectar.

Mouse chewed the combs, enjoying our honey!

Close up, chewed comb by mouse

2. The white: Not too many dead bees, but small population of adults. We noticed that this hive had some new brood from this spring, and plenty of food. But probably not enough adult bees to keep them warm. And when a cold snap or cold nights came again, the honeybees' duty were to protect the brood and thus did not move to the food, and died in situ. Sad.

Small adult population

Bees trying to protect the small brood: losing their lives in the process. Notice on the lower right side: little butts poking out...bees starved looking deep for food.

Small amount of brood:dead

3. The green: This hive too had plenty of food. The boxes were heavy. It also had an occupant..a very, very scared mouse wet and cold. As the other one she sprinted as fast as her little legs could carry her far away in the field. I think that she had just made her nest, we found a ball of twigs and grass under the bottom board. The combs had not been tasted yet. However, some frames and honeybees were molded, and wet. Probably more recent death. This one showed signs of complete starvation even though pollen and honey was available.

Bees dead very close to some pollen,upper left

Molded dead bees

"Scaredy" wet, cold mouse

4. The other green one: Got completely robbed at the end summer, too small of a hive to defend themselves. Died fighting.

Last words:
Ben and I take comfort in knowing that we did all we could for our girls last summer and fall; we truly love our bees and were extremely overcome by this horrific  scene. However, spring is for hope, and rejuvenation. And hope we do have for another  season, with strong youthful packages of bees and their revered queens. Confidence and optimism are the motto of this honeybee season!