Gangbuster!

Our fuzzy bugs are going gangbuster - that's really the only way to describe their activity level. Seriously! There is no stopping them from drawing comb, raising baby bees and loading up on pollen and nectar to feed everybody and hoard for the coming winter.

Heh, that one cracks me up. If they only knew. Our girls are from Minnesota and are probably expecting massive snowfall and months with temperatures below freezing. Man, are they going to be in for a surprise.

Ahh, sunny Florida. Living here has its perks.

We try to inspect our hive every other week but because the weather had been hot, humid and Hordor! , I mean, wrought with thunderstorms, we missed one. That taught us that our girls aren't to be trusted to stay in line. Since they had an extra week of unsupervised activity, they came up with a few small, but crazy cross comb sections that we had to adjust which they didn't like as much.

Imagine you discovered the mother lode of all thrift stores going out of business and bringing home all kinds of cute side tables, chairs, chests, baskets, etc. only to have a cleaning crew come in and leave with half of it. Without asking.

Not cool.

Despite us rummaging through their stuff, they were still pretty mellow. They grumbled i.e. their buzzing sounded quite a bit louder and urgent than their usual constant hum, but there were no defense flights or straight-out attacks.

We also discovered a few small hive beetles which didn't make us too happy as they can become a real pest, even overrun your hive, but down here in the south it's like termites: the question is not 'if' you will have termites but 'when'.

 Our bees weren't crazy about the little bugs either. We watched them chase them around and even tackle and wrestle with them, so that's good. We'll help them out by installing a beetle trap to manage the numbers.

The coolest thing about Sunday's inspection?

One of the pieces of cross comb we had to cut loose (and shamelessly kept to ourselves) was stuffed with honey. Once we closed up the hive again, the three of us ended up in the backyard again, breaking small pieces of comb running with golden honey over our fingers and getting a first taste of what our bees had produced.

O-MY-GOD! So good! So sweet! So beautiful!
You stick whole chunks of comb into your mouth and chew it like gum and all the honey bursts out (you don't have to eat the wax; you can just spit it out and return it to the bees)
Simply amazing!

Since this is our first year we are not expecting an actual honey harvest; the bees will need pretty much all of it to build up the hive and to last them through the winter so sneaking a bite (or two) is very very precious and a much treasured experience.

Beekeepin' Busy: 4 Weeks

 It's been four weeks since our package of Apis Mellifera Carnica aka Carniolan Honey Bees arrived at our little old house and we have enjoyed every day of our beekeeping adventure. We are madly in love with our fuzzy bugs, their industrious coming and going, their soft buzzing, and the marvelous creation of wax comb.

Yesterday we inspected the hive for the second time in four weeks. One of us usually sneaks at least a peek through the viewing window into the hive but since opening up the hive is a bit stressful for the girls, we opted to give them peace and privacy for two weeks at a time before invading and rifling through their home.

After two weeks, our girls had drawn 3 1/2 good-sized bars of comb, providing enough room for our queen to start laying the moment she saw a ready cell. There were pollen stores and even capped brood!

Another two weeks later, they had expanded the hive to a total of seven combs - an amazing effort when you consider that each pound of wax requires the energy of five pounds of sugar or honey!

 This time we finally caught a glimpse of our hive's queen. She's a lovely jet black and keeping busy laying eggs into comb with her attendants following in her wake.
We knew she was there and healthy by all the capped brood but seeing her was really neat!

Nobody got stung even though we spent almost 45 minutes inspecting the hive, cleaning, replacing the feeder, and inserting a few empty bars. We got a few curious looks - more curious than weeks before when there wasn't a brood nest to defend. - but for the most part they hunkered down and continued their work. Every once in a while a more assertive bees would take a peek at us but was easily discouraged by a little waft of smoke.

They are simply A-mazing, and we're so happy about this addition to our little old house menagerie!

Bee Keepin' Busy

 This little old house has been buzzing with excitement since Saturday almost two weeks ago when we returned from our trip to the Historic Homes Workshop in Tampa to find this on our porch:

  

A box of bees! Our 2lb box of Carniolan Bees had finally arrived! There is something crazy exciting about a meshed box filled to the brim with buzzing bees. I don't know about you but I never really have the opportunity to get that close to almost 10,000 fuzzy insects so needless to say we were thrilled. Following Charles' instruction (he's the guy who sold them to us) we sprayed them periodically with sugar water and fed them bits of pollen patty while we readied the hive for its new tenants. Since these bees have to start from scratch in their new home and don't have any stores, we supplied them with a feeder with sugar syrup and pollen patty inside the hive so they wouldn't starve ...or, you know, up and leave looking for greener shores.

Little Man spent a lot of time with his nose -very- close to the mesh marveling at the little creatures. We had to remind him they were mostly girls when he started naming them Bob 1, Bob 2, Bob 3, and so on. Silly monkey! He couldn't wait to don his beekeeper jacket but since we were so busy getting everything ready and the bees into the hive, we forgot to take pictures.

This picture shows Little Man proudly showing off his beekeeper jacket (and Mio photobombing). It's a size medium so he has time to grow into it and the one or other guest can wear it if they want to sneak a peek.

Here's our topbar hive in situ: 17ft in the air on a small stair case landing with free airspace across the yard. This location is beautifully out of the way, and without taking a closer look the hive looks like a harmless, oversized window box. It's been a week and half since the bees' arrival and we are amazed at how little you notice them. Occasionally we see a bee in the backyard, checking out the spiderwort and spanish needles growing wild where I haven't weeded yet but there is no increased traffic at all.

From their hive, they just go up and away to forage, just like we'd hoped they would. Unless you look up directly at the hive, you won't know they are there. I love it when a plan works out!

We also chose Carniolan Bees for that purpose since they are known as the gentlest of bee breeds hoping to increase our chances of remaining good neighbors. Again, so far they are very laid back and happy to ignore our bumbling beginner beekeeper struggles and clumsy workings.

If I sit on my nightstand and peek out the window I can watch the entrance to the hive. Over the past week and a half we have learned that

• Our bees 'sleep in' - before 8:30am you are hard-pressed to see a bee anywhere outside the hive, and I have checked on the feeder and moved some bars around without any protection at all since the girls were still happily snoozing in their cozy, warm cluster.
•  Watching bees is hypnotic and relaxing - It's hard to explain but we can all sit for hours by the window watching the bees go in and out, sometimes carrying a bright load of yellow or orange pollen in their pollen baskets. Really! I have spent 45 minutes doing nothing but observing their fuzzy butts going about their business. This is also my excuse for the lack of cool projects, no kidding.
• Bees are toasty warm! We noticed that for the first time when they were still in their box. Holding your flat hand against the mesh you could feel the heat the little insect bodies radiate. It was almost hot. Even now that they are in their hive, I can locate the cluster easily by just sliding a hand along the hive body. The spot where they are is warm to the touch compared to the rest of the hive.

This weekend we will try to do a first thorough inspection. Last week the weather was simply too rotten to do so but so far the weather outlook looks promising. Just by tentatively lifting the bars a fraction of an inch (more like millimeters) I know the last  four bars are heavy so I'm pretty sure they've been busy drawing comb. And hopefully we won't forget to snap a few pictures to share with you!