How 'bout a Bit of Sun?

Checked the Bees today with the help of a couple buddies. Eric came into the yard and assisted in holding frames and video taping a bee emerge from a brood cell. It was kind of neat to watch him cheer on "Theodore", as he called her. I didn't have the heart to remind him that worker bees are all female! I understand that excitement and love the feeling of seeing new life emerge Eric's encouragement was just another reminder of the small things most of us take for granted. Joe watched with Erin from behind the fence but certainly had a front row seat to the excitement. The weather continued to be overcast but the rain held off so I squeezed in a much needed inspection. the temp was 64 degrees and a bit humid. I brought a third brood box along in case it was needed. My reports from around the state are that bees are WAY ahead of normal and some keepers are already adding honey supers. I knew it was early but you never know.

We smoked the entrance and removed the cover. Bees everywhere and comb being drawn out nicely. The Box was about 50-60% full very good but not enough to add another box. We removed an empty frame and worked through them watching for the queen, looking for brood, larvae, and eggs. We saw alot of brood, both capped and emerging and loads of larvae ranging in size from very small to ready to be capped. I didn't notice eggs or the queen. We moved onto the first box and saw much of the same but this box was nearly 90% full. I scraped off some burr comb (excess comb built on or around frames) and what appeared to be the beginning stages of a swarm cell. I tried not to panic and simply removed it. My research to this point re enforced what I eluded to two posts ago, that there are MANY reasons why a colony produces swarm cells and MANY things that can happen within a hive. I checked for the queen once more and not finding her closed the hive and called it a day. With so many bees in the hive and with me having an unmarked queen it is not unusual to not see the queen.

After everyone left I hit the books looking for an explanation. Did I kill my queen? Did she get sick and die? Did I just miss seeing eggs? Here is what I believe happened and why. I believe that my queen is still there and still producing. We found several stages of larvae, some very small some large and ready to be capped. An egg is laid and remains an egg for about 3 days. At this time it hatches into a larvae which molts everyday for about 6 days. After four days it secretes a scent that alerts the workers that it is time to cap the cell. After about 15 days it emerges as a new worker. I was in the hive over two weeks ago so the queen laid eggs and larvae was born since I was there. I didn't hurt her. The sky was overcast and I am new at beekeeping. I also am using light colored foundation which makes it difficult to see tiny eggs which stand on end within the cells. As for the swarm cells, they may have just been burr comb, or, possibly they were swarm cells. Jim from Nature's Nectar in Stillwater wrote on his blog this weekend about the weather keeping the bees inside for so long that it triggers a pre-swarm response. I think of it as bees getting cabin fever like we do in winter. They can't get out to forage and they make these cells to prepare to swarm. He and others recommend removing the cells and the bees will go back to normal once the nice weather arrives and they can get out foraging again.

I went back to visit the bees several times today from a distance and observed tons of activity as bees came and went. many were loaded with pollen. I believe everything will be fine and that the arrival of some sun will get things back on track.

Rain on the Whey!

I know it's cheesy but Erin and I have been having alot of fun making our own cheese lately. We started with mozzarella, then made a farmhouse cheddar and are now making Gouda. Cheddar and Gouda are hard cheeses that need to be pressed. Rather than buy a press for around $200 we decided to build one. The first design didn't work well at all and we ended up using a cement block (48lbs.) and a can of pineapple. The second design is still being tweaked but is working pretty well. Both designs can bee seen here.

Rain is here and it is amazing to see the garden grow! This is one of my favorite times of year because with a bit of rain you can quite literally see the garden grow if you slow down enough to pay attention. We have harvested spinach, radishes, and one cucumber from the garden and are waiting for the strawberries to ripen. new cucumbers and squash are popping up everyday on the vines and the peas, beans, and corn are rocketing skyward.

With all the rain the bees have been cooped up inside the hive hopefully drawing out comb, and raising brood. When the rain stops and the sun comes out the air is filled with activity as they scramble to gather pollen, clover nectar, and water. At times there are so many bees in the air you wonder how they avoid crashing in to you or each other.

I visited a friend's bee yard last weekend to see how his first year is going. He started in a different way than me. He started his bees from nucs or nucleus colonies. He bought two nucs containing 3 frames each of bees, brood, pollen, a queen, everything. he put those frames into boxes and frames that he bought from an old beekeeper over twenty years ago. He had always intended on getting into beekeeping but never had the time. This year he decided to do it. His first colony seems very active and appears very busy. There are several stages of growth within the frames and the bees seem to be raising brood and collecting food. The other colony seems weak and quiet. We saw larvae, and emerging brood but didn't see eggs. It was a bit overcast so we may have missed it. The brood pattern appeared scattered and not nearly as full as the other. We discussed some of the possible reasons and he is going to ask the folks at his local bee club for ideas and suggestions. I wish him luck because I know how excited he is about finally being able to start keeping bees. On a side note, the Uof MN classes and literature suggest starting bees on new equipment and using package bees if you are new to beekeeping. They claim that if you start this way as a new keeper you should have a couple of years of experience under your belt before any major problems crop up. This is not to say my friend did anything wrong, any number of things can happen to any colony at anytime.