Double Deeps

The bees are now moving into their second deep, bustling about, building new comb. I know this without looking. I trust my girls. We learned at the Buncombe County Bee Chapter meeting tonight that the reason they've quit hitting the sugar water is because the nectar is flowing and they are finding superior stuff outside the hive. If you click on this picture and make it larger, you'll note one bee in yellow leg warmers....pollen that she is delivering for food for the babies in the hive. I believe that bee at the very front edge of the hive bottom with its rear end up in the air is sending out a homing pheromone...the smell of home to help guide the workers home.

Aren't they tall and pretty? Later this week I'll go out and take the feeders off the top, since they are no longer needed. The bees are bringing home their own groceries.

Stress Postscript

After we came inside, the smoker, sitting out on the back patio, began smoking in earnest. Smoke galore, beautiful, thick, cool smoke. My mudporch, next to said patio, smells like it smoked a pack of Marlboros.

This evening, while I worked in the garden, the bees came peacefully home from their day. I find that watching them come home and looking at the two pictures we got today are very relaxing. I remember now that beekeeping is incredibly stress reducing most of the time...just lost it for about an hour in the heat of the afternoon.

And now I have stress

I woke up at six this morning after dreaming about going into the hives and doing some work. I practiced in my sleep. I thought about it on my way home from church. I worked it all out in my head, step by step. I thought I would first move a hive, reaarange the concrete blocks and then put it back. We ditched that plan almost immediately after discovering how HEAVY the hives were. Huge concerns about the plan for double deeps, since they are so hard to heft. But...save that for later worry. For now, the hives sit right where they sat this morning, unbudged.

Went to step two, opening the hives, one at a time, cleaning off the tops of the frames and then taking the frames out, one by one to examine them. Did manage to get some of the bee goo off the top of the frames in each hive. Did manage to get some frames out and sort of look at them. The bees had moved onto the last frame in this first hive body (they started on only four or five of the nine frames). The picture below shows them building their comb on the last frame.

So here is where all planning went to hell. The smoker went out. The bees started flying about, whizzing around my head. The frames were covered in bees, and I squished some with the frame holders when pulling the frames out. I got a little panicked. The bees got a little cranky. I looked at frames in the right hive (the Sylvia hive) first....and got through about three frames before putting everything back and closing it up. In the second hive (the left, or Rachel hive) I moved more frames, got further into the hive....and then, in a cloud of cranky bees, put everything back and came inside.

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Took a cold shower. Feel exhausted, but a little better. NO STINGS. There is always that.

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(1)....need to practice with the smoker. Need to just get good at reliable smoke, when not in a hurry to get in the hive.

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(2)....we put the next box of frames up. Bees now have room to expand, and if there is one thing I determined for sure, they are ready to expand the hive.

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(3)...they still had sugar water left in their baggies. There was definitely a ring of honey around the tops of the frames that I looked at before losing my cool. Left the sugar water on top of the queen excluder on top of the upper deck, just in case they need a little extra boost while pulling out comb on this next level.

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(4)....did not even pretend to look for the queen. We determined that there were a heck of a lot more bees in the hives, so somebody has been laying eggs.

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(5)....did not determine if there were new eggs in the comb. I peeked at a couple frames pretty closely. I saw a billion bees, a lot of capped brood, and that nice ring of honey.

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(6)....and then I just saw bees. Maybe that was perfectly normal bee activity and I just need further desensitization. Maybe when I get my technique down and feel less clumsy, all will go more smoothly and quietly. Maybe, as a new beekeeper, I need to just mark it as a success, take a breath, let the bees and myself regroup, and try again another day.

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(7).....tomorrow night is a monthly bee class/club meeting. I'm definitely showing up. Need some coaching and moral support.

Early Morning Glow

I love looking out the kitchen window in the morning and seeing the bee hives glow white and shiny as the first morning sunshine hits them. The dogwood is glowing white this week, too. Of course, bees could care less about dogwood blooms, I've discovered. Fortunately, they are currently grooving on the huge hedge (burning bush) along the driveway, which is covered with tiny blooms and happy bees. Eight feet tall, eight feet across, and the full length of the driveway long....lots of blooms right here at home. But for now, the girls are in their hive, letting the morning sun warm them while they wait for outside temperatures to rise to a bee friendly zone.

Second Story Construction

Last time I checked on the girls, they had built comb on the majority of their frames in the first deep hive body. This means that soon they will feel crowded unless given room to expand. If they get too crowded, they will swarm, which would mean "run away from home and make honey in someone's attic rather than in my hives."

So...this weekend I went to the bee supply store in Saluda and bought frames and foundation for a second deep on each hive. I already had the deep boxes, bought in Florida, put together by a friend and painted a lovely light teal.


The frames came already assembled, which saves me a few steps. But the foundation came separately. The foundation is a sheet of beeswax with little bee comb shapes for the bees to build their comb upon.




I figured that it would be self explanatory, putting the foundation in the frames. But, nope, I had to consult my bee books and the internet. First you have to crack a piece of wood out of the top of the frame, using your handy hive tool. As I worked through this, I discovered that the short end of the hive tool was best for popping out the wood, and then the exposed metal end was best for chipping away any extra slivers of wood left behind.

You then put the end of the foundation with no wires sticking out in between the crack at the bottom of the frame, and put the little 90 degree sticking outish wires in the spot where you just chipped out the piece of wood.

Pop that wedge of wood over the wires and whack it a few times with a nail (staple) gun holding 5/8 inch brads, and TA DA! Finished product. I put five brad nails in each wedge, just to be sure.

Hung the frames in the box, and they are ready to put on top of the hives. While my initial hive bodies have nine carefully spaced frames, I will start with ten frames on this level while they build their comb.

Right now I'm just waiting for the weather to warm up. We're having frost tonight, so the bees are huddled in their hives trying to keep warm. The second deep will go on each hive in a day or two when it feels like spring again.

Today when I mowed I took the bubble balance out to the hives. They are about an inch off bubble, listing to the left. Aren't we all.

Feeding the Girls

Today was cool, so I wasn't sure we would get to visit the bees, but it warmed into a pleasant afternoon. Time to replace the baggies of sugar water. If you click on this picture of the left hive (still no names beyond left and right) you can see the empty baggie we took out. There are now stripes on the baggies where the bees busily glued them to the top of the frames. You can also see burr comb on top of the frames, where the bees tried to fill some of the empty space next to the feeder bags with neat apartment space to lay eggs and store pollen and honey. I didn't scrape the burr comb off the top of the frames (something for next time), but I did scrape some off of the inner cover with my hive tool.

In the second picture, of the right hive, you can see the inner cover on the grass behind the hive, with it's brown spots where I scraped off the beginnings of burr comb. If you blow the picture up, you can also see my girls with their little stripes. You can tell which frames they are living on, and which ones till need occupation. I'm getting ready soon to add another box of empty frames so they don't feel too crowded as they finish filling all these frames.

Having received some tips from Pamela at work, and some equipment from mail order, I tried a new arrangement. Instead of putting the baggies right on top of the frames, I put them on top of my queen excluders. Queen excluders are metal grates that allows worker bees to pass but keeps the queen down below...handy when you want frames of honey with no baby bees in them. Also handy for sitting the baggies on top. I made twice as much sugar water this time. And last but not least, I traded the shallow supers that I had around the baggies for an even shallower feeder box. I painted it a light bluish green, giving the hives racing stripes. You can see the edge of the queen excluder between the hive body and the feeder box.

So...today in a nutshell...1) made sugar water; 2) filled baggies; 3) lit smoker and put on veil and jacket; 4) opened hive (one at a time); 5) took out old baggie (they came out pretty easy, just mild sticky as we pulled them off; 6) put on queen excluder with new baggies on top; 7) poked holes in top of feed bags to allow access to the sweet water; 8) scraped brown sticky off the inner covers; 9) added the blue-green feeder box and put the lid back on.

Oh...and took pictures, right before step #6.

Things we learned:

Don't turn the smoker upside down.

Always be ready to light the smoker again.

There are nine frames in my hives. (Most hives have ten frames. Mine have nine with metal spacers to keep them the right distance apart. They will build deeper combs on these fewer frames.)

I probably learned more than that, but that's what comes to mind.

Time to Mow

Aiiee, look at all the grass. After a couple cold, damp days in which the bees stayed huddled at home, we had a gorgeous afternoon. Sunshine, dancing bees and tall green grass. So I mowed. I mowed with an eye on the hives at all times. The bees, for their part, ignored me completely. I mowed to the rear of them, I mowed to the sides, I mowed all around the yard. Finally nothing was left but a small square area directly in front of the hives. I stopped mowing and just watched the girls fly home. Six or ten of them at a time would land on the front step and stroll into the hive. They did not dally, but marched on in. It was very peaceful, watching them return. Then, when the traffic had slowed a bit, I took my quiet person-powered old-fashioned mower (what we call the click-click) and carefully finished the job. I did put on a hat for the last few licks, lest some homeward bound chicklet get tangled in my hair and sting in a hair-tangled panic. Other than that, just wore my mowin' clothes. So, not so bad, the mowing. More exciting than usual. These bees, they are adding all kinds of spice to my dull little life.