Feeding bees

On March 7, I checked the hives. Two were almost out of food. The easiest way to feed is to dump sugar on the inner cover and shim up the telescoping cover so the bees have room to walk.

Metal Bee Frames?

Dan told me he had a couple boxes of metal bee frames and if I wanted them, I could have them for free, next time he was driving by. Curious about who manufactured metal frames, I couldn't wait and drove over to pick them up-6 miles. They turned out to be queen excluders, 23 total. The wood framed excluders were used, the metal framed excluders look unused but showing rust. I'll put them in the lumber kiln and cook them at 250 degrees to kill AFB spores and melt the burr comb.

Cell Phones and Collapsing Beekeeper Disorder

Here's my article in the November issue of Bee Culture. It cost money to subscribe, but you get to see it FREE!

Philadelphia Honey Festival

Here's me talking to Lorenzo Langstroth's great great granddaughter at the American Philosophical Society building in Philadelphia. No, I couldn't convince her to take up beekeeping. We missed the plaque dedication, but did manage to drive past Langstroth's house on front street after circling downtown Philadelphia and a brief sojourn into NJ. You can drive into NJ for free, but you pay to exit. Next thing you know, they'll put up an iron curtain to keep them in.

9-1-1

Our local 9-1-1 just called me and asked if I can be their emergency contact for bee swarms. I hope I don't regret this.

Books available online

My how-to books can now be ordered at www.makingbeehives.com.

Sad end of a promising Queen

I volunteered to supply bees for the observation hive at the Steuben County Fair, the oldest continuous fair in the United States (they are very proud of that). I had a little colony in a four frame nuc. No brood at all, but when I looked, the frames were packed with eggs. Apparently a new queen just starting to lay. I put them into the observation hive. There weren't enough bees for the hive so they couldn't maintain proper temperature. They ate the eggs, the glass fogged up, and they wouldn't or couldn't take any sugar syrup for the two weeks they were confined.
   As soon as I brought them home, I opened the entrance. A few tumbled out and the rest of the colony looked damp. I noticed fecal material on the frames and soon around the floor below the observation hive.

I thought the bees were in the process of dying, Then, Suddenly! They were gone! Here's what their domicile for the last 3 weeks looked like after they absconded. You would move out, too. Look at all the brown spots—bee poop.

I found the bees in a nearby plum tree, looking much cleaner and happier:

Anybody want a tiny swarm at the end of August with a brand new and, I think vigorous queen? I'm not going to do anything with them because there's not enough time and it's too much trouble.