Posted in Hives, Log hives, tagged Brian Vorwaller, Brian Vorwaller video, Grand kid log hive, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, natural beekeeping, Verticle log hive, wood carving on March 18, 2015| 6 Comments »
March 17th…Since it was my birthday, I skipped work to see how Brian was progressing on the faces.
The ‘quilt box’ has been added on top and Brian is figuring out what kind of carving he will add to the very top for the purpose of shedding rainwater and to add another uniqueness to my already different looking hive.
Here he describes what he has done and what is remaining to be done. He plans to be done in a week and that means I better get prepared for it…SOON!
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Videos, tagged carved verticle log hive, Grand kid log hive, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, natural beekeeping, Verticle log hive, wood carving on March 16, 2015| 11 Comments »
March 10, 2015…Here’s the roughing out of the faces for the Grand Kid Log hive.
Images of grand kids for Brian Vorwaller, the wood carver.
March 16…The sun came out so I was able to get some time outside. The pencil lines line up with the top bars on the top of the log hive.
This shows the first few cuts in the quilt box. I’m using an electric chain saw plugged into my solar system with canola oil to lubricate the chain. (I don’t want any hydrocarbons in my hive)
This was so easy I made a bunch of cuts…
…and then pushed them out.
Then I enlarged it outwards towards the pencil line.
I cleaned up the insides with the “Sa-burr” wheel on a handheld grinder.
The #8 screen will hold the quilt and the sawdust at the top of the hive. This will enable the bees to regulate the temperature and ventilation of the hive by plugging up or eating through sections of the cloth.
I took a photo of this old ‘quilt’ taken from a Warré hive. You can see where the bees have chewed spaces (I assume) for ventilation into the box above that’s full of sawdust to hold the hive scent. The upper box has another ‘quilt’ to keep the sawdust from falling into the interior of the hive.
I’ll take the quilt box to the wood carver so he can shape up the structure on top of it. I think he’s going to carve a type of birdhouse top that will shed water.
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, tagged Brian Vorwaller, Carved log hive, natural beekeeping, vertical log hive, wood carving on February 14, 2015| 15 Comments »
Jan. 3…Progress so far on log
Jan. 3…See the big rotten spot in the middle? All that brown wood is rotten. I removed a huge section of rot already and there’s still some left. I believe it might have been started by nails driven into the tree many years ago. See the next photo.
Three brown streaks are from three old nails. The next time you’re tempted to drive a nail into a tree, think about this photo. I believe these nails started the rot in the tree which resulted in a big rotten spot in the trunk…not visible on the outside of the tree.
Jan. 13…The start of the ‘bowl.’ I want to have a little cavity on the bottom of the hive. I’ll place a pile of sawdust and maybe some leaves to create habitat for sow bugs, earwigs, pseudoscorpions, and whatever else should be living in a tree. When mites fall down, they can get devoured.
Drilling more holes for the ‘bowl.’
Let’s grind it down
Not deep enough yet.
Hope this is deep enough
We’re going to call it good. I’ve got to get the observation window built.
Hal said to drill the corners, then saw up to them. I’m starting my first corners, but I changed my mind after I saw where they broke through didn’t leave much ‘observing’ space.
Jan. 15…After waffling several times over the window, I finally jelled on where it should go. This is it!!!
I’ve been thinking about getting one of these saws for years, finally I have an excuse. Using it, I cut out a place for the glass.
I cut the plexiglass, pushed it down into a curve, and promptly broke it.
I cut a new piece, carved some wooden ‘wedges’ to make the glass lay flat, and fastened it in place.
February 4…The log is almost ready for Brian Vorwaller, but I’ve still got to get the top bars fitted.
Using my new multi-tool saw, I cut a rabbet for the bars to sit on.
My neighbor donated some cedar he didn’t need. I cut my top bars.
Check out this custom-cut top bar. 🙂
Custom fitted top bars in place. Zada just called to say they are coming tomorrow to pick up the log. I’m glad I’m ready.
Well, almost ready. I’ve still got to hollow out this top slab to use as a quilt box. I’m thinking about adding this old birdhouse on the very top. My wife is not 100% on board with that idea, so it’s iffy. As it turns out, Brian Vorwaller didn’t like idea either. He didn’t say it, but I knew it when he says, “Give me another chunk of wood to work with.”
February 14…Brian works the hoist while his Valentine makes sure he’s observing proper safety protocols.
Brian will need about a month or so to carve the three grand kids’ faces onto the log. Zada will videotape the progress. So while I bid adiós to my log for awhile, I know it’s in good hands.
Posted in Bee Video, Hives, Log hives, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged Bee-atrice Log Hive, log hive video, natural beekeeping, natural honeycomb on January 18, 2015| 21 Comments »
Or maybe it’s MY math that’s wrong. Back in September I was worried about Bee-atrice Log hive.
She had swarmed the month before and then the bee numbers were down and more importantly,
the temperature had dropped to 62F (16C). It’s January now and there are loads of bees, so we might be out of the woods.
January 5…Bee-atrice has bees on her face. Lots of bees!
The temperature is fluctuating a lot though.
January 10…temp at 88˙F
January 12…..Temp drops to 70F (21C) 18 degrees in two days? What’s going on?
January 14….Temp is back up to 90F
January 18 (today)…Temperature is holding at about 90F.
I shot some video just because I was happy to see numbers of bees. About a week later they were bringing some pollen. Just to finish off the song by Steve Montana, I added some video of the birdhouse bees. Despite being a small hive in the shade of pine trees for a good three months, they are still holding on, treatment-free. Hold on bees, the pussy willows will be flowering in February.
Posted in Bee Video, Hives, Natural Beekeeping, Perone Hive, tagged abandoned comb, absconding, Colony Collapse Disorder, honey bees, natural beekeeping, Perone hive, Perone hive failure in Northern CA on January 9, 2015| 10 Comments »
Back in May 2013, I had an extra swarm to give away and Vernon was in need of a swarm for his self-built Perone hive. We gave him our Mother’s Day Swarm which went into his Perone hive #1. Through Vernon’s updates we’ve learned that the Perone hive that our swarm inhabited, made it through the 2013-2014 winter treatment-free. Vernon built a second Perone hive which he populated with some packaged bees. The following is the story of the second Perone hive…
In Vernon’s words from January 5, 2015…For almost a month the activity at the entry of my newer hive has been near zero. At first I thought the colony was settled in for the Winter, but the weather has been mild and the older hive was still somewhat active. So today I opened the shutters and found that my colony had failed. Although there were a few dead bees left in the hive, it appears that the majority absconded. It’s a clear case of Colony Collapse Disorder. My heart is broken, but I decided to take some pictures to document the failure, in hopes of helping other beekeepers.
2015-01-05…It’s difficult to remove the comb from a Perone brood box. I broke two combs, which isn’t too bad.
Here’s a view from the other side.
Maybe some of the local beekeepers will be able to help me do a post mortem. Some of the comb is very dark, almost black. Is that mold or mildew I’m seeing?
The spaces between the combs appears generally uniform.
This close-up shows that most of the cells were empty, and the black substance was pervasive.
Although this comb measures an impressive 19.5 inches in width, it was, in the end, non-functional. Most of the cells are empty, and those that are capped are covered with that black substance.
It appears that brood was developing when the colony absconded.
A few dead bees remain, but the most concerning thing about the floor is the black mold (or whatever it is).
Close-up of the Black Death and some of its victims. The hive was always very moist inside. Maybe next time I’ll slant the floor, or drill some holes, or make some other provision for drainage.
A solitary worker clings in death to the comb she helped build and fill. You and your mates worked tirelessly, little friend, and I’m sure you’re all in bee heaven now. Hail and farewell!
Vernon wrote yesterday his recent thoughts…”I’ve got a plausible hypothesis for the cause of this hive failure. Some beekeepers equalize the populations of adjacent hives by trading frames. This is supposed to discourage robbing. Early this Spring my Hive #1 probably had close to 100,000 bees. I located Hive #2 adjacent to it, populated with at most 12,000 bees from a 3 pound package. Not smart. Bees from Hive #1 were probably robbing Hive #2 from the start.
Going back over my old photos it’s clear that the new bees built a lot of comb that never got filled, even though they brought back a lot of food and produced a lot of brood. Wouldn’t that indicate robbery from their stores?
Stocking the hive with package bees may have made robbing more likely. The queen was a Carniolan type and the workers were Italians, derived from a number of hives. The brood was Carniolan, so the Italian workers were nursing juvenile bees with a different pheromone signature. That may have desensitized the colony to the unfamiliar pheromones of bees from outside the colony.
What do you think?”
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, tagged building a log hive, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, natural beekeeping, Sa-burr, Verticle log hive, wood carving on January 3, 2015| 17 Comments »
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, Tower of Jewels, Tree hive, Warre Hive, tagged beekeeping, honey bees, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, Michael Bush, natural beekeeping, non-treatment of bees, The Practical Beekeeper, Varroa mites, Verticle log hive, Warre hive, Wild pollinators, wood carving on January 1, 2015| 12 Comments »
Bee-atrice log hive is on the left. The inner tube is a draft reducer, not what it looks like, so no snide remarks!
Here’s a better shot of Bee-atrice log hive. The blue tarp in the background is protecting my Tower of Jewels echium plants and artichokes. I’m hoping they will bloom this year because the nectar is so good for the bees and they’ll bloom all summer.
The outside temperature is a frosty 34˙F. Barely above freezing. It’s no wonder the bees aren’t flying today.
While the outside temperature is 34˙F (1˙C), the inside is 50˙F (10˙C), which means there is something warm inside. Someone should have cleaned off the cob webs before he shot the photo. 🙂
Looking through the observation window of Bee-atrice Log Hive reveals lots of honey. It’s such an improvement over last year’s status of ‘no bees.’
Bee Beard Log hive is doing well with the August 9th swarm that chose to move in.
This hive in the tree swarmed three times during summer. Two went to Bob and one we transferred into Del’s Warre hive below.
Del’s Warre hive…the bees came from the green hive in the tree. After hanging on the pine tree for about three days, I tried to get them to crawl into an inverted swarm catcher scented with lemon grass oil. No luck. They finally disappeared. I thought, “Good, I’ve got enough hives,” only to find them on a branch of this spruce tree. After they had hung out for a total of 6 days, I dropped them into this hive that I had planned to donate to the bee club. Lost it…see below.
Del’s hive catches the afternoon sun. Some bees responded to the warmth and gathered outside.
12-31-14…Birdhouse bees. These bees came from Mayor Mary’s backyard birdhouse swarm. When I couldn’t get them to move into my new Warre, I ‘posted’ them here. Today they are not flying. Too cold. You can see frost on the ground in front. They are in the shade possibly until March.
A closer look at the birdhouse bees still shows no bee activity. Guess I’ll have to wait til it warms up. This hive is in the coldest part of the property. If they make it, it’ll be because they are strong bees, not because I treated them.
Warre 3…These bees came from Warre 2, May 10, 2014. They built up fast but only in the top box. This ‘shelter’ leaves something to be desired because every time we get a stiff wind, the sheets of fiberglass blow off, thus the reason for the tie down. Lost it…see below.
So there it is…from three hives a year ago to eight hives this year. As a third year natural beekeeper, I believe in letting my bees swarm. I like the article written by British beekeeper John Haverson that “Swarming Bees are Healthy Bees,” so I don’t destroy the queen cells or otherwise try to thwart their natural tendency to swarm.
I go against the recommendations of my local bee association which advises to kill the varroa mites. I know there are beneficial mites in the hive. According to long time beekeeper Michael Bush, who wrote “The Practical Beekeeper,” there are over 30 kinds of mites in a typical hive. If you are killing varroa mites, you are upsetting the ecology of the hive. I think we should let the bees adapt to living with mites. Conversely, if we poison the mites, they will eventually build up a resistance at the expense of the bees.
Since we have just started winter, I know that it’s possible that some hives won’t make it, especially if I choose not to feed them. Those would be the weak hives. As a fairly new beekeeper I’m constantly questioning whether I’m doing the right thing. Right now, I am of the mindset that we should not be propping up weak hives because we will be passing on weak genetics. In my humble opinion when you capture a swarm, you should not kill that queen, but keep her with the swarm. She has survived the winter and proven herself. All my bees have come from swarms.
If my bees can make it to early February, the pussy willows will bloom and weather permitting, nectar and pollen will be available in a critical stage of winter.
Yesterday I noticed honeybees on the gorse blossoms down the road from me. This was a happy surprise because I don’t usually see bees on gorse blossoms possibly because gorse is harder to work (or so I’m told), but if there’s nothing else available, the bees will be able to get nourishment. Some individuals around here hate the gorse. It’s spiny thorns make it impossible to walk near, it grows prolifically, and it’s blamed for burning the town in the big 1936 fire.
March 4th note… We lost Del’s hive. It’s not a surprise because it never really built up any ‘honey weight’ pre-winter. I haven’t taken it apart yet, but when I do, I’ll clean it out, put in observation windows, and donate it back to the bee club.
We lost #3 Warré too. I took it down last week after I saw robber bees visiting it. There was still some capped honey in the combs. About 125 bees were dead on the bottom. Some of the combs were moldy, so I’m guessing it’s been dead for awhile. Both hives were weak hives. While I’m upset at having lost them, I’m thinking that maybe it’s for the best because if the bees can’t survive in our relatively mild winter, maybe they shouldn’t be in the gene pool. I’m down to six hives now, but the willow tree has been blooming for about three weeks and I can see the bees bringing in orange pollen and that means nectar too!
Posted in Bee Video, Hives, Tree hive, Videos, tagged a hive in a tree, honey bees, natural beekeeping, treatment free hive, treatment-free beekeeping on October 11, 2014| 6 Comments »
This hive started out as an emergency backup hive on April 18, 2013. It was the fourth or fifth swarm to come out of my log hive. I fitted it with bars that would fit my Warre hive just in case.
I added a quilt box on top complete with screened air holes and myrtlewood sawdust from my Bee-atrice log hive which was under construction at the time. When I realized I wouldn’t need that backup hive, my wife and I decided to leave it in the tree during winter as a sort of trial to see if bees could come through our mild winter without any intervention. I’m happy to say it came through the many wind and rain storms without me treating or feeding it. It threw three swarms (two at once) that we know about and is still going strong as you can see by the video.
Posted in Hives, Swarms, Videos, tagged bee vac, removing swarm from below ground box, swarm rescue on August 28, 2014| 7 Comments »
August 21, 2014…Bob and Jeff unpack the newly built and untested bee vac.
To the left is the cover which is sporting a spiffy observation window. The screened inside box is lined up with the intake tube. Confidence is high.
Shop vac hooked up and plugged in, bee vac ready to go. Note the the size of the hose at 2 1/4″ or 5.7 cm. The bigger diameter means the bees won’t be tumbled as much.
We didn’t know how big the swarm was. Tim from the City Water Dept. had called to say there was a swarm of bees he had to get rid of. Jeff is taking precautions in approaching the area.
After some preliminary issues, the bee vac performed admirably, gently removing bees from the underside of the meter box lid.
It didn’t take long to suck up these bees, but there were more below ground level.
Getting the bees removed from behind the below-ground water meter box would have been very difficult without the use of Bob’s Bee Vac. You can see more in the video.
How did the bees come through the hose? Apparently very well.
Not a big swarm, but big enough to get a start on Jeff’s farm.
The transfer to Jeff’s hive took place the following day. The screened inner box is lifted out to be placed over Jeff’s open hive. On a quick inspection, no dead bees were found on the bottom of the box.
After removing some frames, the screened inner box is placed over Jeff’s (bee-less) hive.
Jeff pulls the bottom out so the bees can enter the hive.
Grass blocks the entrance for a couple of days to discourage absconding. Note: This hive is still flying in late February 2016.
Posted in Bee Video, Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, Swarms, Videos, tagged attracting a swarm, honey bees, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, natural beekeeping, Swarm relocating into a hive, Verticle log hive, wood carving on August 11, 2014| 19 Comments »
August 9, 2014, 10:34 am…Waggle dancing takes place.
After reading Honeybee Democracy, by Thomas Seeley, I sort of knew what to expect on swarm behavior. The scouts would each go out and report back to the swarm. They would indicate the direction of a possible future hive location by doing a waggle dance in relation to the sun. Straight up meant “in the direction of the sun,” or angled off from straight up meant that angle direction from the sun. If the scout bee thinks she’s got a real good location, she will dance more emphatically. Other scout bees will look the location over, actually measuring the sides, and judging if it’s a good location. They will report back to the swarm. This can take several days. This bee is waggling just a bit. I wouldn’t call it a real hard sell at this point.
11:15 am…I had been seeing some scout bees around Bee Beard log hive. More now.
Since it got robbed out last month, after several weeks in decline, I made the decision to take Bee Beard out of circulation, sort of retire it, let it rest up til March whereupon, I could introduce a new swarm to it. I was in the process of dismantling it, when this August swarm took place. I had to work like a mad man. My printing deadlines were just going to have to wait. I hope my customers understand. (Do I have any left?)
I scorched out the inside of the hive, shortened up the quilt box so it fit looser, and melted small bits of comb to the five top bars. I added new leaves and sawdust to the bottom cavity and new sawdust to the quilt box. This time I drove a fence post into the ground and fastened it to the log hive to keep the winter winds from toppling it.
August 8, 2014…fence post fastened to Bee Beard log hive.
As a natural beekeeper, I was hoping maybe, just maybe, the swarm would choose Bee Beard for their new place. I mean how much more natural is that?
At 70F (20C) it’s a good day for a swarm.
2:20 pm…As luck would have it, (and I do mean luck) the swarm broke up to relocate to Bee Beard. In the video you can feel the power of thousands of bees swirling around. I’m afraid I got a little emotional in talking about it.
2:30 pm…Bee Beard is covered in bees. In the video you can see the bees crawling upward and circling the mouth before entering.
I guess you could say we were ecstatic. We just stood there in the middle of all that bee energy and talked about it what we were witnessing.
August 10, 2014…The next day it was back to business with time out for reconnaissance flights.
August 10, 2014…the day after the swarm, shows the bees on the observation window. They’ve got to build their own comb so they are hanging out here for a while.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 