Honey Of a Fourth

 

Pure Honey

Originally uploaded by dmb90260

The Playa Vista bees had swarmed earlier in the month even after I had added a third super.  I had done it too late and neglected to move some of the frames with brood or honey up in to the new super. In the dog world we refer to this a "handler error."  Bees do what bees will do but sometimes we mess up and make it harder for them.  As noted in "Bees In Lavender" I had captured the swarm three weeks ago. They were still in that nuc sitting in the lavender bushes and needed a new home.   My neighbors are very close and I did not have enough space to justify keeping them.  I needed to check into the Playa Vista hive and fix some frames with messed up comb and I also wanted to inspect the Twitchy Bees.  I had not been deep into the hive for a long time.   I made a deal to handle all of this.

                             

On July 3,  John Lyons arrived with  his 11 year old son Arguna (with his own bee suit).   We would inspect the hives, make any honey decisions and he would leave with a nuc of nice gentle bees.  This was a win-win-win situation.  Arguna would learn more about beekeeping, so would I and I had time to take some pictures.

The #4 super on the twitchy bees had some activity and comb but not much so we left it alone and set it off to the side.

This is what we found on the end frame of #3 super.  Beautiful full capped honey.

A couple of frames in and it looked like this with brood surrounded by capped honey.

It was like this all across the super.  We did not go deep enough to look for the queen.

With another full capped frame on the other end, these bees had been busy.  I think the number of bees was down from before and they were no longer twitchy.   We had almost no aggessive behavior out either hive.   I think they may have swarmed and I did not know about it.  In the process the new queen may have mated with nicer bees.  I am guessing about that but I am very happy with the quality and amount of honey they are producing.

We harvested two combs.  When John cut the comb off he left a 1/4 inch of comb on each to use as a guide.  Those two frames were put into the #4 super to encourage the bees to move up and then we closed that hive.  Other than a quick peek we did not bother the brood nests on supers #1 & #2.

On to the Playa Vista hive where John and Arguna checked everything very closely with a head to head inspection.  (Is this a form of mind melding in the bee world?)

They were able to spot the queen swarm cell.

John also spotted the queen on this frame  but she kept moving back and forth on the bottom and I was never sure I got a shot of  her.

 One of the frames was missing on the bottom super due to odd honey comb.  We fixed that and then Arguna swapped a couple of full frames up to the top super to encourage the bees to move up more.  The hive was closed and that part was done.

John and Arguna wrapped up their nuc of bees for transport home.  

 But first the comb had to be crushed.

That brought out all sorts of four legged and two legged honey inspectors present,

 Arguna gave his taste of approval.   The honey was left to drain while I took the dogs out of town away from the noise of fireworks.

The honey is great and a small harvest is better than no harvest.  This honey is from the Twitchy Bees which I got from Kirk in September of last year, it has been a while but well worth it.

You have to good to your workers.  While I was gone with the dogs I found Some Russian Sage to reward the bees.    

This really was a honey of a Fourth.
(Special thanks to John and Arguna)

Bees In Lavender

Home Grown Swarm

Originally uploaded by dmb90260

If you read the last post you saw this opening sentence "The Bees are being busy making honey and I have nothing to show about them for a while."

Hah! The bees were up to much more than making honey. After posting that entry I was doing things around the house including laundry. The bee hives are located by the outside wall next to the laundry room. As I was loading the dryer I heard a very loud and persistent buzzing outside. I checked the Twitchy bees, their hive is four supers high and could use another one soon. They were no more active than normal but four feet away the Playa Vista bees were in berserk mode. There were bees on the ground, on the front of the hive and zooming all around above the hive, lots of bees, very active bees.

The little dog in the previous post got curious and was wandering near the bees. Mainly out of concern for her I got her away and inside the house quickly. My other dogs have gotten bees tangled in their coats before, never stung, and now  know to leave the bees alone. The youngster has more to learn.

I knew the Playa Vista bees needed more room but with a road trip in mid-May and some dog activities I was slow in addressing the issue. I had to get some new hive boxes, nail them together and make and install the wax starter strip in the frames. Six days ago I finally completed that work and added a third box. Normally I would have swapped a couple full frames from the second super with a couple empty ones from the new addition. The bees looked happy and I was preoccupied with other things so I did not do the swap.  I did note a number of larger dark bees around the front of the hive. I was curious but not concerned with this, there did not seem to be any conflict between the normal small bees and the larger ones. Now I wonder if they were drones, going on or returning from a mating flight.

When I left the bees by the laundry room I did take time to note there was no fighting, my first guess for the cause of the activity.  It was mid morning and orientation flights here usually occur around 2-3PM so that was not the cause. Once I got the dogs in the house and secured I went back out and could see bees flying next to a persimmon tree across the back fence in the neighbor's yard.   I now had an idea of what was going on.

I went into the garage and donned my bee suit. Not positive of what was happening. I took a little longer so I could get my boots out of the truck also. I wanted to be protected just in case I found a big problem. I also went back and got my camera.

The activity around the hive had subsided but there were still bees on the ground and they were not fighting.  There were small feral bees and some of the larger ones.

 

The bees had swarmed and had settled on to a branch of the persimmon across the fence.  I had  been too late adding the third super.  Not only was I late, I was very late.  According to our Bee Leader, Kirk, when bees swarm, they made the initial decision to do that a month earler.  They had to make a swam cell, let it develop and then have the new queen make a mating flight, all before the swarm would happen.  It is not an overnight thing.  The super should have been added while I was off at a vintage trailer rally in May.

 

There is a raised planter along the fence in this area and they were not up high.  I was able to stand there and reach up to the swarm.  These were all small feral bees sort of light colored

I pushed an empty nuc up under the swarm and attached it with a bungie cord.  I have the branch a big shake and whacked the bottom of the box then left the bees for a while.  I went back and did the whack thing two more times. I could not see the Queen and wanted to be sure she was inside.   The bungie technique is very easy if you are not pressed for time and the swarm is where it does not attract undue attention.  You will be leaving it in place for long periods and you do not want some curiosity seeker to come investigate that whit box in a tree or bush.

  After an hour or so the bees had moved inside the nuc. ( I added the second bungie to make it more secure)

 I lowered the nuc to the fence and propped the lid on the nuc for another half hour so any stragglers could find the queen.

Since these neighbors do not know about my hives I moved it down directly on to the lavender bush, out of sight out of mind.  Later I settled the lid onto the nuc and added a strip of cardboard over the screen I had cut into the lid.  I may swap the screen lid for a solid one later.  Right now I want the to just settle in.   The hive can stay there as long as it is just the nuc.  A normal wooden super will not be able to stay there but this is okay for now.
I have to decide on what to do with the bees.  I do not really want another hive in my limited space but these are tiny feral bees and very easy to work.   I do not want to give them up.  I could give up the Twitchy bees instead but they have a four (soon to be five) super hive and are my honey makers for now.  I do need some honey out of this deal.
I just checked and the bees are still there but this is no guarantee they will stay.   I have had them stay overnight and still leave during the day.  

Not Always About Bees

The Bees are being busy making honey and I have nothing to show about them for a while.
I also need to make another attempt to get Blogger to make note of my new posts.
This is my little girl Cairn Terrier, Joi, Quail Creek's Ode To Joi
This past weekend she earned her first point on the road to her Champion title.
Not too bad for an 8 month old.

Bump The Blog on Bee Eggs

There are netbots or something similar that check the blogs and send out missives if a blog is updated.  For some reason my latest blog with the bee egg pictures is not showing on three different sites that normally list new posts. 
I have spent hours the last couple of days attempting to get that post to show up, all to no avail.  Maybe a new post will show up, that is what this is about.  I will include another picture of Tricia's bees since I am here but the best pictures are in the earlier post.  I have moved on to the latest Blogger editor, maybe that will help.  

We did need a shot of some bees too.  If this "bump" does not work, this post will go away.
The main intent is to get the pictures of the bee eggs noted.

Bee Eggs

In the last post about Tricia's Bees, I had a picture of the bees on comb with eggs and larvae. Due to the way I loaded the pictures they are not full size and it may not be easy to see the eggs. Here are a blow up and also the original size photo. Click on the pictures to get a wider image.

Look in the cell just off the bee's wing tip.

Most of the cells above and along side the bees have larvae. The eggs are in the lower cells. The Queen tends to work in a circle pattern working towards the outside which is probably the reason for the location of the eggs and larvae.