A Successful Split One of our hives swarmed last month. It wasn’t a surprise, but I didn’t expect them to do it this early since the weather has been seesawing with cold temperatures, rain or wind. I put off inspection of the hives because of the weather. I knew from the last inspection that the hive in question came out of the winter with a … Continue reading After the Swarm
Some Colors In The Garden I see the spring light at the end of the tunnel, a little dim but still a cheerful light of hope. Snow still covers the majority of the garden but in the bare specks there are colors. Crocuses in the front yard bloomed nicely this year. Last year they became deer food. At least deer left the bulbs alone so … Continue reading Spring At Last
Just In Case… It’s over 50°F again today and the honeybees came out of their hives even though it’s cloudy. I observed them carrying out their dead and picked up a few for a closer inspection. I found that dead bees from hive #2 have their tongues sticking out, a sign of starvation. So I decided to open the hives for emergency feeding. Even with … Continue reading Winter Emergency Feeding
Cleaning Up Today, January 23, the temperature rose up to 62°F and the rain stopped around noon. Our honeybees from hives #1 and #2 came out to relieve themselves and get some fresh air. Hive #2 went into winter with fewer bees than hive #1, but today, many more bees emerged as the population clearly has grown. It seemed more bees than from Hive#1. With … Continue reading Mid-winter, A Warm Day
They Survived After a week of Arctic blast temperature here, we have a balmy 60°F temperature this morning though raining. The rain will continue for the rest of the day and is expected to stop by Saturday morning. But 60 degrees Fahrenheit is high enough for the honeybees to come out of their hives and start cleaning themselves. This weekend the temperature is predicted to … Continue reading Happy About The Honeybees
I’m Keeping My Fingers Crossed Losing all six hives last winter took the wind out of my sails. I set up three new hives in spring but the weather has been uneven through the whole season. The cold weather had lasted much longer than usual and the temperature has been seesawing from spring into autumn. Some days we had 40°F in summer and 70°F in … Continue reading Beekeeping In The Age Of Climate Change
Starting Over Again After Six Years We still can’t figure out what happened to our honeybees. They were gone, without a trace last winter. There was plenty of honey still stored in each hive but just a few dead bees in there, most of them were young bees. There was no foul smell in any of the hives and the frames looked clean. After six years … Continue reading New Hives
…With A Cold Shoulder I took the day off from work yesterday and the weather was on my side. Still plenty of snow on the ground but the temperature had soared to nearly 60°F. The honeybees should have been out and about now with a temperature this high, but alas, none to be seen. So I decided to inspect one hive. Intrinsically I knew I … Continue reading Spring Has Sprung
And It Will Not Be a Good One We came back from our vacation to a sharp drop in temperature. Our friends told us that while we were gone the temperature had gone up to the 60°F for a couple of days and mostly hovered above 50°F for the rest of that period. I can see the result of warm temperatures in our garden. Roses, … Continue reading Spring Is Coming
Coming And Going Of Seasons Another year just about to end, a new one to start and life will go on. Nothing keeps your perspective on life in check like gardening I believe. I can see the full cycle life, from beginning to end in one season. And, nothing keeps your perspective on society in check like beekeeping. As Marcus Aurelius stated in his Mediations “That … Continue reading Happy Holidays
Petals and Wings 