Fall has arrived, and September has been quiet. Some late autumn flowers are still around like golden rods and wild asters. However, with each day passing the nectar is becoming a rarity. Anticipating winter, the honey bees are kiking out the drones (males) picture below.
which won't be needed until next spring. This innate behavior, is extraordinary to me. Think about this for a minute: the female bees are killing the males insuring that they will have enough food during the harsh winter. The way they do this is by pushing them out physically from the hive, 5 or 6 ladies against a big fat drone! The most surprising observation to me was the fact that the males don't fight back... somehow they seem to know and time has arrived. They sit pittifully right in front of the hive in the grass, eventually starving to death. What a greck tragedy again! However nature always amaze me... the drones' bodies are not wasted. One can observe ants, and wasps cleaning up the remenants.
September for beekeepers is a month were really caring for the honeybees becomes the most important task before the cold winter comes. It is our last effort to make sure the bees will have a good and safe winter. Therfore, Ben and I were busy giving them thymol for 4 weeks to help reduce the amount of mites. After that treatment, to prevent Nosema ( a fungal disease which affect adult bees and can lead to the entire colony to die), a powder is added to the heavy 2:1 syrup that they will drink happily until frost arrives. This disease is more prevalent for northern regions as the honey bees are closed up in their hives for a very long period of time... about 6-months.
Ben and I felt happy and confident that we had made it that far with our bees...and thought that we could now relax...until.....
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