I didn't give y'all an update last week...but here is the news as of today.

It has been a little chilly and rainy for the past week (or more) and so I kind of had to play with the weather for this week's check-up. I was going to do it yesterday, but decided to wait until today since it was supposed to be a couple of degrees warmer. Thankfully, it also was no where near as windy!

Hive #1 (the one in the nuc) got transferred from the nuc to a full 8-frame brood box today. I spotted the queen (she's one of the biggest I've seen yet!) and I have eggs, worms, and capped brood in addition to some capped honey! The five frames from the nuc are not entirely filled in with comb yet, but they are coming along. The bees where busy bringing in some awesome bright orange pollen. I wonder what plant it is coming from? The dandelion pollen is the bright yellow stuff (I would assume)--and my dandy's haven't grown back immensely since the last mow--been too busy raining I assume. 

Hive #2 doesn't seem to be thriving quite as briskly as Hive #1--but once again, there I have brood of all three stages. I didn't spot the queen, though I did the last time I was in this hive. 

This being only the third time I've played in this batch of bees I'm pleased to say that I haven't gotten stung yet and that I'm getting some of my confidence back where I don't get trembly at the notion of poking my hands into the bee's habitat. I didn't dawdle over the job today because it is cool and I didn't want the brood getting too cold; particularly in Hive #2 where the number of bees seems to be less than in Hive #1. 

This is my third year of beekeeping. Maybe this year I can keep the buzzers alive.....

I was almost ready when the phone rang this morning. Our friendly postal worker informed me that my bees were there and I told her I'd be over in a few minutes to get them. I glupped down the rest of my coffee and got my hair brushed and up (I wasn't going anywhere with that mass on the frizz). Once I collected the bees I came home and ate breakfast before going out and installing them.

I ordered two packages again this year (a grand total of 6 pounds of bees). Because I only have one nuc hive, I put one package in that and the other in just a regular hive body. I'm going to see which one thrives better--kind of experiment. 

Anyway, here is the unexpected part of the story--the first package had at least three queens! I  discovered that accidentally. I had just dumped the queen out of the queen cage and I happened to spot another smaller queen sitting kind of off to the side. Well! A free queen! I got her and a couple of worker secured in the now empty queen cage. I'm going to see if she survives and if I can start another colony with her. (I just had a thought--I wonder if she's a virgin queen?)

What about the third queen? Well, I found her while I doing the clean up after installing the second colony. I went back over to the nuc hive and there she was, sitting on the front porch. It was as clear as the daylight that she was already mostly dead, but since I'm collecting dead bees (how morbid! no...not really) for my 1860's beekeeping presentation I really need to work on, it was okay. So...I scooped her into the other queen cage and have yet to pin her to the cardboard strip I have three workers and a queen already pinned on here in the house.

I got both lids on in a relatively short period of time...it's a little cool this morning so that is an assist. 

Oh, and just in case you are wondering...I did not get stung! ;)

I knew, as winter blew in, that I was more than likely going to lose my hives; if not all, then at least two of them, this winter. Mid-October they had no honey and though I tried feeding them, I knew it wasn't going to hold them through, and it was already cold enough that they weren't out much. Anyway, on the spur of the moment this afternoon, I decided to look, it being somewhat warmer today.

Hive #2 was dead. I was not in the least surprised. 
Hive #3 was dead. I wasn't too surprised.

Hive #1 on the other hand still has life. It was the only one that had had any capped honey going into winter. I put some home-made, once-was-syrup rock-candy under the lid. 

Then I went to it--cleaning out and stripping the other two hives. I ended up with a five gallon bucket of comb which is now sitting in the garage waiting to be melted.

I'm trying this year to think ahead better than last year, and as such, I'm planning on starting flower seeds in mid-February and maybe even getting a new package or two ordered. In the meantime, I keep praying that my one and only live colony stays that way. 

I collected a couple of the dead bees and skewered them onto a piece of cardboard. I'm still formulating some sort of beekeeping living history set up for my Civil War reenacting. I might as well put a couple of those poor dead buzzers to good use...

Well, no. More like bees.

I was going through my hives yesterday and discovered three frames of crooked built comb. (By that I mean that the comb started on one frame, but ended up on another.)
In gently pushing the comb over in an attempt to square it up under the proper frame, the comb broke loose and fell from the first frame--right between my feet--leaving a wriggling mass of bees. Well, I stood mostly still and didn't think too much about it as I set the frame down and picked up the slab of comb, now dripping honey and bee larvae (man! I destroyed a rather large number of under-developed bees!) and set it up next to the hive. Might as well let the bees rescue that honey, after all--I didn't really want to get bee larvae guts in any of it that I could have salvaged.

All of a sudden, I realized that my legs felt rather--crawly.

Now, I've had sweat give me that feeling before, but this time, I had a feeling that, due to crawl going UP that I had bees up my britches. 

Well, I just got stung last week and I didn't want to test out bee-stings on my legs this week, so I backed very slowly away from the hive and tried not to panic--or dance--or anything rather nonsensical that people might do under any sort of duress. 

Mom was in ear-shot so I called to her and told her that I thought I had bees in my pants. 

She came over and thankfully, had her apron on, with which she shielded me from the road as I gingerly slid my pants off. I am so grateful that the bees, of which there were probably half a dozen or so, decided NOT to sting me. I was able to shake them all out and return to my hive inspecting without further incident. No stings.

However, I couldn't help but snort a bit in remembering what Luke K. had asked on Sunday, over-hearing me telling one of his family members that I have arthritis, "Have you tried bee-stings?"

I'm glad I didn't have to test that topical bee-sting theory; especially after looking like this just last week:

Granted, being needled in the hip or thigh wouldn't have been as outwardly noticeable, but I'm going to assume that it would have hurt as bad and also swelled up enough to make sitting uncomfortable.

I'd rather put up with my arthritis than test the theory...

Oh, but in other news (sort of), I saw the queen in Hive #3 and I most definitely have brood in both! Hurrah!!

I'm not a Trekkie by any means, but I've seen enough 'Star Trek' to know what Mom meant when she said I look kind of like a Klingon...

In other news, I'm practicing my left handed typing again...

Most importantly, I have brood in both hives. 

Okay, to stop being cryptic...I got stung this morning. Three times. 

Once on the middle finger of my right hand. Once on the first finger of my right hand...and once on my forehead, right about my widow's peak.

I decided to work my bees barehanded. Heh. These boogers are more vicious than last years.

The forehead sting was a bigger surprise, but this bee got under the veil and jabbed me right in the hairline. 

I don't think the pictures quite show the swelling as impressively as in real life... ;) Suffice to say, bending my fingers all the way is impossible.

I see I did not update on the fact that the queen I bought for Hive #1 died--probably a great deal my own fault. But to skip on and not dwell on that. 

I thought that the bees in Hive #1 would probably survive long enough for me to get my two new colonies and--well, when I poked my nose in the box Saturday, all that was left was a clusters roughly about the size of my fist. Not enough--and they sure weren't going to make it until the other queens had enough space to start laying.

Alright, maybe I ought to back up to Thursday, April 28th. My new bees arrived on that date, in the AM. I got them installed, despite cool and damp and returned to cooking up a storm for my sister's wedding. Essentially, I forgot about them for the most part until late last week when I finally got around to lifting the lids on a warmer day.

I think it was partly due to the cool and wet weather we have been having that they had not built quite as much comb as I was expecting, but I saw no brood, though I did see some honey in what little comb had been constructed. Observing the inner bowls of the new hives, I sadly decided that the other bees weren't going to survive long enough, so I went ahead and robbed the three frame of honey out of that hive. 

I have therefore, been draining honey in a rather messy, hap-hazard, on and off, fashion since Saturday afternoon.

The set-up looks like this:

I'm finally working on the third frame and I may have a couple of slightly dusty, wax-infused honey by the time I get done. :) It tastes nice even if it looks a bit dirty. So, if you get any, just be prepared to spit tiny hunks of comb out. The stuff gets caught in my teeth terribly and it makes me wonder why some people like to chew the stuff.....

Or, An Adventure of Queenly Proportions 

Alright, enough with the funny stuff! Determining that Hive #1 (as you may recall, the only surviving hive) was indeed queen-less, and that the population was rapidly declining, I started hunting for a queen. 

For starters, when Daddy called the folks we buy our honey from, he inquired into the possibility of acquiring a queen from them (apparently, they do sell queens when they have them). No go.

With that option closed, I immediately went to the websites of two bee-supplier/supply shops within driving distance--one north, one south. I heard back from the northern most one first--no queens. I was a little disappointed, even though I did not really like them much the first time I had dealings with them--not that there is probably anything wrong with them, I just didn't "like" them, if that makes any sense. It was very odd since I don't normally have that reaction to people unless given a reason to dislike them. However, moving on.

I had, two years ago, attempted to buy a nuc from the second of these two companies--but since I got around to "putting myself on the list" too late I was unable to buy from them. So, knowing about them, I shot an email off and soon a reply came back: "I have two queens". YES!! (And ten bucks cheaper than the other place!)

The long and the short of it is, I made an appointment to go pick Her Majesty up at 2:30 this afternoon. Daddy and I left here at about 1:30 and due to a hang up at the gas-station we really left town at closer to 1:45. From there, we took another accidental fifteen to thirty minute detour due to "new roads" and a consequential wrong choice on the freeway. Oh...AND the wind. Horrendous straight winds of gale proportions requiring a slowing of driving speed.

At anyrate, we reached the place (in a beautiful residential neighborhood), and in under five minutes, I handed over $30 and walked away with a queen cage tucked inside Daddy's jacket to keep the wind off her ladyship and her maids on the short walk back to the car. (He had her because I had to dig my wallet out.)

The ride home was uneventful except for a pit stop at a gas-station where it was amusing to watch people nearly blown off their feet. I think Daddy drove about 45 all the way home.

It was snowing when we arrived, so I waited until the sun popped out again (it's been doing this on and off all days--sun--rain/snow/sleet--sun--repeat). Then I grabbed my hive tool, wrenched the cork out of the candy end of the queen cage, hurried out, pried up the hive body (in order to break the propolis free so I could slide the entrance reducer out), slid the queen cage in, put the entrance reducer back in and ran back inside. 

I cannot remember if I have explained the re-queening process on here or not, but the basic idea is that you put the queen cage in, still closed up basically, and let the bees eat through the candy stopping up one end of the little box--thus giving both sides the time to acclimate to each other. I imagine my girls will be so happy to have royalty amongst them that they will eat her out rather rapidly (hopefully the cold will not hinder the process). However, if she is not out by tomorrow afternoon when I get home from church, I will go ahead and pry the wire off and let her out. I need babies fast.

It got practically 70 degrees today and with prompting from my dad to feed the bees, I decided to open the hives. 

Hive #1 is doing fine apparently. They even still have some capped honey. Regardless, I put a little more honey out.

Hive #2 on the other hand is, well, dead.

ALL those bees are dead.

I raked them off into the garden and Daddy helped me strip the comb off. We're going to melt the majority of it (some of it was kind of spoiled) down--there are all kinds of use for beeswax, so it's not a complete waste.

While I cannot say that I'm happy about this, I find that I am strangely calm about it all. Maybe because I don't feel so well--and I still have ONE hive going!!

After a month of no updates here on The Bee Project, I have a report.

First off, last week when I checked my bees, the decline in the population of Hive #2 was noticeable. I suffered a few moments of anxiety before shoving it to the back of my mind, trusting the Lord that IF I were going to have a queen hatch from that frame of brood that I put into the hive from Hive #1 on the 4th of August, that I'd find the evidence in good time.

Well, today was "in good time". First I saw the larvae. Then I saw--THE QUEEN!!!!!!!

I think I hollered. You'd have to ask my parents who were clear across the yard.

This queen is rather black-ish. She's the darkest one I've seen yet out of the half a dozen I have seen. ;) 

If that wasn't enough of an exciting day in the hives, I actually saw the queen in Hive #1 too!! She's nearly an inch long at this point. Once I see queens, I wonder why I ever got a worker bee mixed up with a queen. :D It's a very obvious difference. 

Anyway, good news today. :)

In checking my bees this morning, for the first time since their transfer into the hive bodies, I discovered that the queen from Hive #2 (which, ironically, is the one I check first) was on the bottom board, DEAD. 

WAH!

Well, anyway, while it is frustrating since I've only had her for five weeks (if one counts today). I think she must have just died (I DID NOT mash her; see picture below for proof) because the carcass was still soft--and you know that insects get a little crisp after being dead for a few days.

I am going to see if the bees will raise their own queen. I'd rather save the $40 if at all possible; but I also want to see how and if they will (which is the natural thing for them to do). I saw no supercedure cell, but if she just died, that may not be exactly surprising yet. So long as they catch a larvae at just the right stage (3-4 days), there shouldn't be any problem.... (I'd cross my fingers if that ridiculous superstition was any good.)

I didn't really take over much stock on how many, if any, eggs were in the hive because at that point I did not realize the queen was dead. I saw her as I was fixing to put the eighth frame back in and close up. So, hopefully, the bees will have enough selection to pick a larvae of just the right age to raise up...

Anyway, in Hive #2 here's an interesting thing to note:

The frame on the right is foundationless. It has been in there for one week and already is pretty near full of comb--which is in turn pretty well full of honey. The frame on the left has the plastic foundation in it. That is the one that I took out to put my experimental foundationless frame in. When I put the bees into the hive body last Monday, I reinserted it into the hive. At the time I initially took it out, it had just a few cells drawn. Once again, as you can see, the bee took to the foundationless with a vengeance and practically ignored the foundation.

So, other than lacking a queen, Hive #2 appears to be doing buzzingly.

Hive #1, like #2, had seen no work done in the super (I forgot to mention that above)...so I went straight into the hive body. I just about had a panic attack (okay, so that is hyperbole), when I noticed a mashed bee on the rim of the hive body. I thought it was the queen! (Obviously, I rather had queens on the mind.) The more I got to looking at it, and comparing it to the workers, I decided that it was not (even though I never did see Queenie). This hive of bees has less 'hair' on their thoraxes anyway, so it's a little easier to confuse them. (Queens have had bald thorax.) 

Not all the frames were filled, but all but one had some noticeable amount of comb drawn on them. 

I saw brood: eggs, open brood, and capped...we even spotted one bee hatching! I literally watched her exit her cell! Daddy tried to get a picture...but she didn't show up...

And just for humour...that is a rather typical Racheal-squinting-at-frames expression. :D

When I closed up, I left behind me two hunks of comb, both with honey, laid against the side of the hive. When I rip it out like that, I leave the comb so that the bees can salvage the honey. I'll bring the wax in and add it to the collection in a day or so.

So, I think, other than my mysteriously dead queen (second one, two different hives, one year), that my hives are doing alright...UNLESS Hive #2 is sick....they were a bit more docile today. Oh dear. I wish I hadn't thought of that...I'll be a little more vigilant on my daily "peeks" at (not in) the hive and see if they seem lethargic or anything...