Signs of Life!

No beekeeping class at this time...

Thursday January 22, 2014

I was reminded today how lucky I am to love bees!

I learned Monday 1/20 that I won't be teaching the backyard beekeeping class in Eden Prairie and that was after knowing the faith of my own bees... I was really sad because I love talking bees, beekeeping, new ideas and so on. Maybe at a later time, when people are more interested. After all we are in the middle of our second Vortex, no one is thinking about spring.

However, I received an email today about someone who was also bummed not to be able to attend the  beekeeping class. That made my day! I knew it, there are some people who love bees like me :) and want to know more. Thank you for your uplifting note Josef :)

I went to see my bees this past Sunday 1/19

My hive in Shakopee is alive! It was about 38F, and I walked in the snowy field. I was huffing and puffing, sometimes I was walking on top of the snow and sometimes I was dropping all the way to my hips! What a walk!

Then I collected myself, and a curious bee flew on my red winter coat as to welcome me. I put her delicately on the telescopic metal top cover. She stayed there while I was looking/ peeking into the hole of the hive. 

You may not be able to understand the joy, and happiness that I felt...the bees were alive and were greeting me at the door! (see pictures)

See the bees?

The one that welcomed me!

On my way back, I was thinking: Winter is not even over, very cold temperatures are still lurking. With -15F (-26C) today and schools cancelled again, one can only dream of spring.











In my apiary in Chanhassen,  I lost 3 hives. I have to wait until I can know from what they died..is it starvation or the frigid temperature or a disease? I will open the hive later in March or April. Liz was with me when we discovered the death toll, and that was really sad.

First there were no sign that the bees had taken their cleansing flight ( this is when the bees fly out to defecate, yes they hold it until it is a bit warmer, so they don't soil inside the hive...aren't they smart? or what?)

So, that gave me a clue (bad feeling), but one never knows. I had to see them, to make sure. I was knocking on the boxes, and nothing was happening...until the third to the last colony.

The Russian bees are alive!

They must have thought : " What the heck is banging on our door like that?" And I saw them with my own eyes...they were there, alive.

I did a little dance, and Liz was laughing! We decided to move the wall of hay that Liz had build to help with the wind, closer around the surviving hive. We felt that we had to do something to protect the little bees.

The lonely hive alive

Now after that horrific visit, I had to see my precious Russian bees. Liz and I hopped in my car and drove to the second bee yard . The bees were flying in and out! Incredible! What a sight!

But reality hit suddenly, now my 3 hives have to survive the next 6-7 weeks, which is not the most obvious thing to do. Their food is getting low, and we cannot feed them yet. We can only hope and Nature may surprise us again. In the meantime, have a thought or two for the beautiful bees.

Beekeeping Class in Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Happy New Year to All!

I am sorry that I have neglected my blog for too long...5 months! I don't know where time went. However I am back and ready to continue my updates for the coming season 2014.

I would like to tell you that I will be teaching a beekeeping class, starting January 22, 2014!

               The Eden Prairie Community Education is offering the class: 

            Backyard Beekeeping I

            From January 22 to March 5, 2014 (total 7 classes)

            Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm

            Cost: $89.00

To Register go on their website: https://edenprairie.thatscommunityed.com

Look for Adult Enrichment then Hobbies, and find the class

You can always call if you have any questions @ 952-975-6940

That's the buzz in Eden Prairie! Join the first backyard beekeeping class ever in Eden Prairie! It is an introduction to keeping honeybees by learning the basic skills: The history, honey bee society and biology, hive products, honey bee health, rules and regulations, starting your own colony, colony management and more! I hope you can join me in this new adventure. I look forward to see you in class :)

Lazy Days of Summer!

Honeybee on Goldenrod

August 21, 2013

It has been a month since I wrote about the bees...During that period, we just looked and speculated how much honey were in the supers. It is always a good thing not to disrupt the bees. Inspecting too often slows them down, and "break" their bee-routine.

Overall, we will have a good harvest...if the bees decide to finally cap the nectar that is becoming honey! Last week-end, we saw that many cells are open, although full to the brim; the honeybees have not placed a little layer of wax on them yet. Therefore, we have to wait for them to finish their job, so we can do ours: harvesting.

In order for us to take the boxes full of honey, each frame has to be 80-85% capped. This how it works.

The foraging bees are still collecting some nectar, this substance has a lot of moisture. The bees inside the hive will agitate their little wings, fanning each cell. This activity will "dry" the nectar, and them when the water content is 18.6%,  other house bees will secrete some wax and deposit a thin layer of wax on each and every cell. this is called:capping.

Natural garden where the Russian bees are located

 We hope that this perfect very hot weather will encourage the bees to get busy. We hope to harvest during Labor Day weekend...but will they be done? We will see.

On another note, we had a misadventure with a hive in Shakopee.  Since Spring, this colony has been struggling. It had a very small population of bees, but nothing indicated that they were sick. Then the colony rebounded, and the population increased steadily. But in mid-July, the hive was quiet. We discovered that there was about only 300 bees! But the queen was still alive. However, a family of beetles (four spotted beetle), invaded the declining colony. In addition, a family of mice were happily lodging under the hive! These opportunistic pests had found a wonderful location...warm, cosy, full of food and safe from predators!

We "kicked out" all the intruders at once! However, I am afraid that this colony will not survive. It is very late in the season to "help" it, by giving them frames of bees and brood from our other healthy hives.

5-frame nuc

I am tempted to take the bees and queen and to place them in a very small box (called a nuc, or nucleus hive made of 5 frames only ), and to give them some pollen and honey.

                                                                               

This is what it would look like!

    Bring them back to Chanhassen, so the mini-colony is closer to me and I can keep an eye on them.  I will wrapped them in the Fall...and see. I have nothing to lose in doing so. I feel I have to do "something" but I am not optimistic. I love my bees. But sometimes, they are a headache .

Nectar Flow!

Hive in Shakopee, so tall! 

  We went to visit our 7 hives on July19, after a very hot and warm week. In Shakopee, we had to add another super on our best hive #1. There is a total of 6 supers already! This is going to be fun (not!) to carry all those heavy boxes across the field to our car. We will see maybe Peter will let us borrow his 4 wheeler.

  As this hive is magnificent, the queen is so prolific, the bees are healthy and very busy. We cannot say that about the other hive, which is really struggling. The queen does not lay more than a handful of eggs. We saw less than 20-25 capped cells of brood. There are plenty of nectar and pollen, but the colony is not going to survive. It is too small to sustain itself properly. Of course we could intervene (again!), and give them a few frames of eggs and bees but then there is a potential risk to disrupt our other hives at a very important time in the season. We have decided to do nothing and to wait and see. If it is not doing well, there must be a reason; but at this pint I don't know what is happening. Since the spring, it has caused us headaches...So, let it be.

Bees on the porch in Chanhassen!

Our 4 colonies in Chanhassen are doing well. This warm and hot weather encouraged everyone to bring back lots of nectar and lots of pollen. All queens are finally doing very well, and seem eager to lay many eggs! The honey bee population has now exploded. Drones are around, surveying the surrounding!

While  temperatures are climbing, the bees spend a lot of time outside the hive...resting and getting some "fresh air" (see picture).

The overwintering hive (#1) is doing well, we added another super, making in 4. Colonies #2 and #3 are progressing nicely, collecting nectar and storing it in the supers as well. They are also working on making new wax for the cells, this activity is called: drawing the combs. This requires a lot of energy and resources from the bees.

Fresh wax

The Russian colony

The Russian colony in Chanhassen remains calm, and very busy. Those darker bees are always in a good mood, bringing nectar and pollen like they are suppose to do at this time. It has five supers now, and the honeybees are filling the cells rhythmically without stress. Beautiful to watch the bees coming and going. It does smell very nice when we open the hive...warm honey...delicious!

That is all for now.   Farmer's Market in St.Boni today from 3-7pm!

The Bees and Summer

The hives are getting taller!

We finally can say that Summer is here! After a difficult Spring, and very wet June...the bees are happier. Our 7 hives are doing fine now. The queens are all healthy, and busy laying eggs. The foragers come back with loads of pollen on their legs! Now that we had few days in the 80's F (26C), they are collecting a lot of nectar. While driving, it is good to see that there are many plants in bloom for the bees. I hope the weather will stay warm and sunny for few weeks encouraging the foragers! Since mid-June I put many supers (box to collect honey). The hives are really tall...some are now as tall as I am!

I was so busy in June with the queens, and trying to save the colonies that I forgot to tell you that Nicolas and I are doing 2 Farmers' Market selling our honey! 

Nicolas and Karine selling honey!

We are in St. Boni (Wednesdays 3-7pm) and St.Louis Park ( 10-2pm) Farmers' Market once a month. In July we will be in St. Louis Park on July 9, and St. Boni July 24. If you have a time, come and stop by!

Happy 4th. of July!

Why Bees Are So Complicated?

Hives in Shakopee

When I thought that everything was going well... Well....I "lost" 3 queens!!!! I don't know where they went, I don't know what happened to them. Do you remember I could not see any eggs!

From deduction, and observation I can only speculate to what could have happened to those queens which  are located in different apiaries and about 10-15 miles apart. One reason, the queens became sick suddenly (because, they did not lay anymore eggs before dying, hence no replacement queens possible) This is absolutely contrary to nature... in doing so, the colony will be extinct. The second possible explanation, would be that I crushed or injured all of them when manipulating the frames! I would think that I am careful, but maybe one could be injured but 3!!! Highly unlikely.

The third option, would be that mosquito control was used by the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District  in that region. But I checked with the environmental Coordinator in Eden Prairie, she said that the helicopters that I saw were not spraying chemicals but "they may do some chemical spraying or use briquettes on the ground in specific areas however."  I looked on their website: http://www.mmcd.org/index.html (Metropolitan Mosquito Control District) and either the lakes/ponds and swamps around the colonies had not been sprayed yet, or they use Bt in granules...which is "supposed" to not affect honey bees! So, now you have it!!! Even if I am suspicious of this type of control.

Spring planting in MN (photo: Tim Post)

Still not satisfied, I then asked at the University of Minnesota,  (Entomology Department)  a very knowledgeable professor, and well known apiarist. They both suspected dust emitted by tractors when planting seeds! The idea is that each seed is coated with  chemicals called neonicotinoids, in order to deter insects from damaging the plant as it grows. Again, I am suspicious about this idea. It is in fact been a lot in the media, but has not been scientifically proven to be a sole culprit in the death of honey bees.

All this to me is only speculation, and absolutely not a certainty. I don't know what happened to my queens; all I know is that they were doing well, laying good eggs, and looking plump and  healthy. Then, 10 days later, during my inspection, they were gone/ dead with no possible replacement because the queens had suddenly stopped laying eggs. Therefore, the workers had no capacity to raise a queen on their own to save their colony.
I found this strange   and troubling that it happened to 3 of my hives simultaneously! The hives would have been doomed if I had not intervened. How sad is that? The bees, with all their ingenuity, and efficacy would have perished. What a calamity....

The Strange Disappearance of Queens

Queen 

I had checked on the colonies last May 15, 2013. They were all doing well, and building up. It was a bit slower than a "normal" spring because we have had (and still have) a lot of rainy and grey days. Honeybees don't like that kind of weather.

On the last day of May, the 31st. I went again to take a look to make sure the bees were still fine, and there way to a great season. As I opened the first hive in Shakopee, I could not see any eggs! I took every frame out and looked on both sides twice!!! I could not believe my eyes. I thought that can't be possible, the colony looked just fine 2 weeks ago.

Construction of a queen cell

I notice only one queen cup, which was filled with royal jelly. Worker bees build these in preparation to raise a queen. I did not think much of it because sometimes some honeybees, like the Russian bees have this tendency ...to be ready in case the queen fails.

I was still puzzled about not seeing eggs, but thought that maybe my eyes could not see them anymore...they are very small after all. And I know that sometimes I need to use my reading glasses when the print is too fine. I opened up the second hive, the one which has overwintered 4-5 times...our strongest, the one who gives us most of our honey. Same thing again...I did not find any eggs. I was dumbfounded. How could that be... the honeybees looked so beautiful, calm, healthy, very blond, and strong.

Capped queen cells

       However, in this hive there were many capped queen cells on few frames. So, they were raising a new queen..I knew that much.

Raising a new queen is "decided" by the workers. The "outgoing" queen will still lay eggs, then the workers choose a few eggs ( less than 4 day old), and give them a lot of royal jelly, more than they would give a mere worker, or drone (male). This stimulates the development of sexual organs, which workers have but are atrophied and not functioning. Nature had decided to take over, so be it! I won't interfere.

I drove back to Chanhassen, anxious to inspect the other colonies. To my delight the Russian bees were great, collecting pollen and flying around...still I opened the hive...and saw eggs!!! I almost did a pirouette on the spot! What a relief!

Now to the last apiary where I had lost 2 hives. Ben and I had divided both live colonies, to make 2 new hives. I was going to get 2 queens few days later, so I could introduce them to their new homes.

One colony looked strong as I walked towards the row of hives. when I opened it, I was a big smile plastered on my face! Liz was helping me :) That is always a bonus:) We lifted, and moved some boxes.

We opened the next one, and Liz who was working the smoker noticed that the bees were very agitated, she could barely keep up with the smoker! I could not see eggs...not again. This time I ask Liz to take a look at the frames.....SHE could not see any eggs either!!! She does have a younger pair of peepers! I thought: unbelievable! I must have said that 50 times.

Honeybee's eggs (look like grain of rice!)

What a day! From 5 hives which survived the last never ending winter and started well, I only had 2 colonies with a queen!!! This was not a good scenario. But what I thought was very strange was the similarity among the colonies. Why did the queens seemed to have "vanished"? There are many pseudo answers: the queen was sick, she was not laying eggs properly, and worst case..I had crushed her inadvertently. But these explanations did not make sense...there were absolutely no eggs at all. Meaning: It must have been sudden.

I can tell you that I was very sad. I love my bees and try very hard to make them happy.