We planted fennel this year to attract bees and butterflies. We never saw the butterflies, but we spotted the caterpillars and later on the bees.
August 22, 2014…we started seeing caterpillars on the fennel.
Caterpillars are voracious eaters. Michael Marlow has an up close video of one eating a stem. It doesn’t waste any time. I started noticing my fennel branches were getting bare, then I saw the caterpillars.
This is could be one of the earlier stages of growth. The life cycle of the Black Swallowtail Butterflies can be found here.
Fennel can grow quite tall. This one is at least 7 ft. tall. I wonder if the chrysalis will be hidden in the undergrowth.
The honeybees have been visiting the fennel since early September. I don’t know what the insect at the top is, but it’s very colorful. My wife thinks its a Great Golden Digger Wasp.
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.
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.
July 18, 2014…Although I walk past this New Zealand Flax just about every day, I never took notice of it until it started blooming about a week ago. I became curious whether bees would be attracted to it. Yes, they were…even as early as 8:30 am..
July 17, 2014…bee going deep for nectar. I recently read a website that stated honeybees can’t get the nectar from New Zealand Flax, and yet I saw many honeybees attending these blossoms.
July 12, 2014…Hummingbirds also visited, but were often chased away by rivals. Why is that? There is plenty to go around. “Why can’t they cooperate for the common good,” my wife wonders? I have no idea…Why can’t humans cooperate for the common good? Looking at our blue planet from space, seeing nothing around that’s habitable for light year distances, you’d think we’d want to work together for our mutual survival. Just some random thoughts in light of the disturbing current world affairs.
July 14, 2014…When I saw reddish orange pollen coming into my Bee-atrice Log Hive, I wondered where it was coming from.
Reddish orange pollen, coming from the New Zealand Flax.
Ants like it too. When I was shooting the video I waited and waited until this ant emerged, then another came up, and another.
June 8, 2014…Bee-atrice has BEES. It’s been a rough time for her, but I think this one will take.
June 16, 2014…10th day of bees in Bee-atrice Log Hive. I think they will stay this time.
While I was out of town, a huge prime swarm chose Bee-atrice Log Hive for a home. I knew if we waited long enough, we’d get lucky…I just wish I could have witnessed the swarm moving in. Bee-atrice was happy. She had been rejected twice. I had tried to console her after she had been rejected by two small swarms that I had given her. I told her that “rejection” might more appropriately be referred to as “redirection.” Those small swarms would not have made it anyway. I told her that she just had to be patient until the right swarm came along.
April 27, 2014…I drop the little cast swarm into Bee-atrice log hive. They stay a total of two days, then take off for parts unknown.
May 25, 2014…A second chance presents itself, in the form of a swarm in the apple tree. I bag it and drop it into Bee-atrice. I thought for sure it would stay, but after 8 days, it took off for the Asian Pear tree. I started thinking something was wrong with Bee-atrice…then it dawned on me…maybe I was the problem. Maybe I should just back off and let nature take it’s course…thirteen days later (while I’m away), a huge swarm picks out Bee-atrice. She later tells me, SHE rejected those little swarms, not the other way around. I guess she didn’t want to hurt my feelings.
June 9. 2014…lots of bee traffic at the entrance.
June 10, 2014…This is the first time I’ve ever seen 94F degrees (34C) register on the thermometer. This is the optimal temperature for brood. Three days ago it read 60 degrees (the ambient temperature)
June 9, 2014…the bees can be seen through the observation window. If they stay, we’ll be able to watch the comb building process.
June 16, 2014…10th day, natural comb can be seen already, through the top side entrance.
June 19, 2014…Day 13, this is where the bees hang out at night while they are waiting for the comb to be built.
June 19, 2014…Day 13, in this slightly out of focus shot, you can see how far the bees have built the natural comb…almost to the top of the observation window…a length of about 14 inches (35 cm).
Drones dropping down every time I uncover the observation window…
May 29, 2014…My wife said there were five bees on this earlier, but when I grabbed the camera, I only caught one bee.
May 28, 2014…My neighbor’s New Zealand Cabbage trees are blooming. I’m glad it’s on someone else’s property because there is a strong odor associated with it. Our bees love it.
May 28, 2014…New Zealand Cabbage has been blooming awhile. Our bees are all over it, all day.
May 27, 2014…A skipper is probing the depths of this Pink Chintz Thyme for nectar. In the video, you can see it try several spots before finally succeeding. The bees love this plant as well.
May 11, 2014…This little nuc hive survived the winter in a tree without any help from me. No sugar feeding or pollen paddies supplied. (Tough love) No honey was taken. It came from a swarm on April 18, 2013. Now it’s ready to swarm.
Bees revving it up to make their move
Ten minutes later, the bees appear to be headed back into the hive. Later in the day, all was quiet.
May 19, 2014 (8 days later)…A swarm starts to form in the bamboo. Could this be two swarms from the same hive?
May 19, 2014…While the swarm is forming on the bamboo, bees are fanning at the entrance to the tree hive.
By late afternoon, all the bees returned to the tree hive.
May 20, 2014 (next day)…A small swarm in the blackberries…
…and a small swarm in the bamboo.
Again, a small group of bees are fanning at the entrance to the tree hive, while other bees are flying around the two swarms.
Could it be that the queen can’t/won’t fly? It came from a swarm, so I know it’s wings haven’t been clipped. I guess I’ll find out in the next few days what is going on, but if a more experienced beekeeper wants to hazard a guess, I’d be curious.
In looking back at where this swarm originated from…from my log hive, on April 18, 2013. The swarm picked this patch of bamboo to settle in.
May 21…I checked to see if the swarm was still in the bamboo this morning. It was.
A closer look reveals that while small, this swarm might be big enough to make it. I called Bob to see if he still was interested in getting swarms for his Kenyan Top Bar Hives. He was.
Bob bags his first swarm. Bee Beard Log Hive looks on, as patient and quiet as ever.
Bob said he was interested in getting the blackberry swarm too. It went very well. Here the bees are fanning to indicate the queen is within.
Bob gets his second swarm. “Two in one day,” not bad for a new beekeeper!
May 1, 2014 mid afternoon…Photo by Mary Schamehorn. I’m glad Mary got a shot of this. When I got there, they were relatively peaceful.
4:38 pm…By the time I got there, the bees had settled within the birdhouse. I looked at it, determined I could remove it from the post, and got my tools together. Ha ha, the screws were rusty I couldn’t get them to budge before stripping them out. I had to remove the post too.
I placed it next to the newly assembled and baited Warre hive in my bee garden. I was hoping the bees would recognize a 4 star lodging with ample room to grow…they didn’t. I gave them plenty of time to reconsider, but they weren’t having it. I couldn’t leave them there, like that. I didn’t want to grind the brackets off or pry the birdhouse floor off because it would have been too stressful. “Dramatic and traumatic” are words I like to avoid in beekeeping.
Okay, I’ve got to move the birdhouse out of the bee garden because, well, we’ve got to be able to weed and water without the bees buzzing us. After two days, I pre-dug a post hole, waited til night and ‘posted’ the birdhouse among the ferns about 20 feet away. (Something most beekeepers would tell you NOT to do because the bees might not be able to find their way back to the hive.) I stuffed tissue paper into the entrance hole so the bees would notice something was different. They would have to make orientation flights all over again. I’m thinking that maybe the Warre was too close to the birdhouse…if I move it away, maybe they will want it more. My wife said I was crazy to think that. I says, ‘maybe,’ but we’ve got to get it out of the way.
Next day, the birdhouse/hive is in it’s new location. The bees are aware something is different because of the tissue paper stuffed in the entrance hole.
As my wife bicycled to town, I noticed a bunch of activity between the birdhouse and the Warre hive. I got my camera to document my findings…I was going to have it on camera so I could show her I knew what I was doing. They are fanning from the nasonov gland to indicate the queen is within. Wow, that didn’t take long. My wife is going to have to admit I was right, but I’ll be humble and admit it’s just a stroke of luck. But it was too good to be true. By the time she returned the crowd at the entrance was thinning and the bees rejected this hive once again.
Here is where they will stay. It’s the house they chose and while the location has changed a few times, the house is the same. I just wish I could have fastened it to a taller post.
Mary’s bees have settled in now. They have discovered the Poached egg meadowfoam.
Mary’s bee cleaning off her antennae. How do I know they are Mary’s bees? The abdomen colors are different. I’m happy to get new genetics in my bee yard.
May 10, 2014…as I was driving to Eugene, Oregon, we spotted fields of this beautiful plant. I asked about it and was referred to Heiko Koester, a garden consultant who specializes in edible, medicinal, and native plants.
Heiko Koester says, “The plant you saw was either Camassia leichtlinii or Camassia quamash. If it was knee-high or taller it was probably the former, if shorter probably the latter. Ethnobotanically speaking they are both fairly interchangeable.”
May 10, 2014…a honeybee can be seen looking for the perfect pollen source. In the video you can see the bee using her mandibles to pull the pollen off.
May 10, 2014…bee in flight over Camas. The flower-bee relationship can be seen when the flower opens a petal so the bee can get to the pollen. I missed it the first few times, so I marked it in the video.
April 28, 2014…Vernon’s first Perone hive is on the left. The colony in the older hive was started from a swarm 11 months ago. Clearly it over-wintered successfully under the Perone system.
In Vernon’s words…”This winter I built a second Perone hive. This version includes 16 ½ x 11 ¼ inch observation windows in the front and back of the brood box. The windows are 1/8 inch plexiglas that my local hardware store cut to size. The plexiglas was so easy to work I bought two additional pieces to cover the roof and another to serve as a lid over the brood box grid bars. The roof covers were adhered to the wooden roof and sealed on all sides with beads of aquarium-safe silicone cement. The window covers were made of knotty pine. Otherwise the design of my two hives is the same.
A better view of plexiglass on roof of new hive on right
Lacking a swarm, I decided to stock the new hive with purchased bees. A 3 pound package arrived April 15. After a night in my garage, the package was placed unopened within the Perone hive brood box for 40 hours to allow the bees to acclimate. Then I opened the package, removed the queen’s cage, and suspended the queen’s cage under a centrally located top bar using masking tape.
April 18, 2014…The queen in her hanging cage was immediately surrounded by a mass of attendants.
The next day I let the queen out of her cage. After a few hours the queen and her attendants had moved in a mass to the north-west corner of the brood box grid, where they seemed content to settle. Hopefully I won’t use the observation windows so often that I (negatively) impact the success of the colony.
The bees had been packaged with enough syrup to feed them for a week, and I’d been warned that they might need that much time to accept their new queen. However, when I opened the package the feeder was empty. Probably the syrup had leaked out.
Feeling guilty that I should have released the bees from the package sooner, I made a very simple jar-lid-and-rocks syrup feeder and refilled it occasionally for four days. The bees fed from it, but not very much, and after four days I removed it.
A lot of dead bees were observed inside and outside the new hive during the first six days after freeing the queen. Since then I’ve found very few dead bees and the overall foraging behavior of the colony has become more purposeful and successful. About 10% of the foragers are returning with bright yellow pollen.
A week after the new bees were introduced, the two colonies display similar behaviors at their hive entryways.
Early in June the physical appearance of the foragers should change a bit. The queen of the new hive is a Carniolan variety, but the bees shipped with her in the package are all Italians.
Hive Inspection the Perone Way
When it isn’t too cold outside I find it restful to sit on a lawn chair about two feet in front of my hives and watch the foragers come and go. It’s a form of meditation. That’s what passes for hive inspection at my apiary. The foragers never sting me. When it’s cold the bees stay inside and no inspection is possible.
I’ve been told that my bees have mites because all hives in the USA have mites. Perhaps that’s true, but I’ve never observed any sign of any disease. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough. But if mites are present they don’t seem to be a threat to the survival of my colony, at least not yet.
Some of my friends are trying to combat mites by keeping “hygienic” bees that are naturally vigilant in removing mites. The Russian honeybee strain is supposed to be hygienic, but I don’t know anyone who is raising them. Instead, several are going to “requeen” their hives by introducing queens from hives that are certified never to have been treated for mites. The fact that the queens are still alive without treatments makes them “hygienic.” To me this sounds like circular logic. An equally valid conclusion is that mite treatments reduce the capacity of a colony to fight infestation through normal comb maintenance. In other words, all bees are hygienic until poisoned.
Going into Winter, the comb occupied only a small fraction of the big Perone hive. It’s likely that the over-Winter population was quite small. Now the colony is a year old and business is booming at the entryway. The yellow pollen is almost certainly myrtle and the bees have been collecting it for months. The orange pollen is of unknown origin and sticky. Some foragers are returning smeared with it.
May 25, 2014 Vernon’s entry…”There’s been a population explosion in the year-old hive. During the warm hours the small entryway seems hardly adequate. To relieve congestion the bees have developed a traffic pattern with exit on the right and entry on the left. The system breaks down a lot but I’m still impressed.
I keep a couple of supers stored away. One of them has an entry, and stacking it on would give the old hive bees two doors. This morning I decided to take off the roof and look down through the bars to see if the hive is ready for the super. A clear plexiglas lid over the bars allows me to look inside the brood box without opening the hive and disturbing the bees too much. The bars are oriented north-south, and the eastern 3/4 of the hive looks full. Four or five bars on the western side aren’t being used yet. The brood box still has room, so I didn’t add the super.
While I was at it I looked into the new hive observation window. I take back all the bad things I said about my package bees, because they’ve been building comb like crazy. Next week I’ll take pictures to record six weeks of progress.”
May 27, 2014 Vernon’s writes…“Okay, I put the super on the year-old Perone hive. With decent honey now selling for $6/lb and up I’m counting on the girls to keep me well-stocked.
The 1/8 inch thick plexiglas lid was warped pretty badly and was letting in some water droplets. I replaced it with an indoor plywood lid over the super bars. Later I’ll replace the plexi lid on the new hive as well. Actually, the thin, construction-grade boards of the hive body are also warping in some places. If spaces open up I’ll probably seal them with fine mud. Maybe I’ll give the hive a fresh coat of linseed oil.
This morning I saw a blackberry flower moving…….A bee was buried in the blossom!…….Submerged in her work! I’m waiting for the blossoms to fall from the berries before I weed-wack them. Maybe I’ll save a few berryweeds for snacks, though they attract bears.”
June 1, 2014
For the last three days foragers from both of my colonies have been bringing back much less pollen. With all the blackberries and assorted wildflowers in bloom nectar should still be plentiful. A large number of drones were observed entering and leaving my older hive, more than ever before, but still no signs of swarming.
New hive six week check-up
Moisture droplets coated both observation windows, making photography difficult. Humidity in the hive must be quite high.
The new colony is building comb from the northeast corner of the hive out.
There are seven combs so far, suspended from the first seven bars numbered from the east wall. The space under the first bar was a solid mass of bees so I couldn’t actually see the comb. The combs are as ruler-straight and parallel as any I’ve seen. My other Perone colony disregards the top bar orientation and builds highly-irregular comb.
The maximum depth of the comb is 28 cm (a little over 11 in.).
This close-up shows the comb attendants are a mix of Italian and Carniolan varieties (Carniolans have darker abdomens). The package used to start the colony was comprised of Italian workers and a Carniolan queen, meaning that all the Carniolan workers in this photo were born in this hive. The package was shipped to me on April 15, so all the Italian bees shown are at least 47 days old.
July 1, 2014…The traffic at the entries of both of my hives seems slightly down from a late May/early June peak. Worried that my hives might be infected or invaded or something, I took the shutters off the new hive for a “10th week check-up.” Everything looked fine inside. Comb building is continuing at a fast clip. There are now eight combs, the largest of them just under 18 inches deep and 19 inches long.
July 1, 2014… A cute little ninth comb is just getting started. Water droplets on the window indicate high humidity, which concerns me, though the bees seem okay with it.
July 4, 2014…Some honey-filled cells are visible in this close-up. The queen of this colony is Carniolan, but the workers seem to include a number of Carniolan/Italian hybrids.
July 4, 2014 – Vernon added…Over 50% of my foragers are bringing back pollen today. That’s a new high. Most of the pollen is yellow, maybe sow thistle, which is growing anywhere in Klamath that isn’t being mowed. That includes my lawn, which I haven’t mowed in months because it’s full of wildflowers and the bees are all over them. Sweat bees and a little black thing (probably a fly) seem to prefer sow thistle, bumble bees like the purple clover, and honey bees go first to blackberries and white clover. There’s also a low-growing purple flowered weed that attracts all the pollinators. I like the idea of providing for the bees passively, by not mowing, rather than actively planting flowers the bees might like. Of course, if I lived in suburbia with neighbors who could see my house I’d probably be getting complaints about my ratty-looking yard.
August 1, 2014 – After much waffling I’ve decided to over-winter my older hive with the super in place. My first honey harvest will be next Spring, when the colony is about 24 months old. That’s in keeping with Perone’s recommendation that the first harvest should come at 18 months or more. Since adding the super May 27 the major nectar flows have been blackberry, clover and thistle. Bees make exceptional honey from all these sources, so it’s hard to resist putting it into bottles. But I’m just not confident the hive has enough stores in the brood box alone to last the winter.
The foragers have brought back very little pollen this week. Most of the wildflowers in my unmown lawn are shriveling away. There are still some thistle, and plentiful Queen Anne’s lace. My bees don’t seem to like Queen Anne’s lace much, but they are visiting them occasionally, probably because other flowers are getting scarce. Bumble bees have elbowed the other pollinators away from the few patches of red clover that remain. The only pollinators I’ve seen on my pretty-but-intrusive orange freesia weeds are hummingbirds.
Some of my beekeeper friends maintain that the nectar flow is virtually over in my area. They are feeding syrup now. Certainly the number of foragers from my older hive is decreasing, but the new hive is sending out more foragers than ever. I’m trying to learn how to assess nectar collection by comparing the relative abdomen circumferences of the bees entering and leaving the hive.
August 1, 2014 _ New hive fifteenth week check-up
On August 1 the shutters came off my newer hive for a quick assessment. Comb building continues and the colony has no observable disease. The population is quite high for a first-year colony (though several times lower than that of the older hive). The fixed-bar design of the Perone hive doesn’t permit direct observation of honey and pollen stores. However, foraging remains vigorous and comb area is more than sufficient, leading me to conclude that the colony is probably setting up well for the Winter.
Nine functional combs are now adhered to the north wall of the hive, and a tenth “baby comb” is underway. The largest combs have grown to 18.5 inches deep and 22 inches across, only an inch away from spanning the hive interior.
Second Perone hive, August 1, 2014…It was easy to shoot this close-up through the south window because the combs are almost touching it. Does anyone see signs of disease? To me this looks like a big thriving colony of Carniolans doing what bees do best.
August 1, 2014…Only 12 days ago the driveway leading to my house was lined with thistle flowers. Most have gone to seed now.
September 2, 2014
It’s been a dry year in California and my place is parched. The forager numbers are down for both of my hives, especially the older one. I doubt there is much nectar available to them. Last week the foragers brought back a lot of orange pollen and smaller amounts of other types. From a lot of observations I was able to confirm that the orange pollen comes from sow thistle. The newer hive produced a lot of drones this year and the workers are currently doing their best to expel those that remain.
A quick check inside the hive shows no measurable comb building occurred during August. The colony population also appears unchanged.
This view from the other window shows a lot of empty cells. Building additional comb now would probably be wasted effort. Carnies are noted for their early winter preparations, and everyone seems quite busy.
October 2, 2014 Vernon’s update…”Despite my firm resolution to leave my newer hive undisturbed until next Spring I couldn’t resist removing the shutters for a quick check inside. My previous check found no measurable comb added in August. Today I confirmed that none was built in September, either. Still, the hive is full of very busy bees. A moderate number of foragers are out, bringing back a modest amount of orange and yellow pollen. No drones have been seen for the last 2 weeks, which isn’t surprising since they were being mercilessly expelled during the prior 2 weeks.”
October 2, 2014…Comb building has stopped but the worker population remains steady.
October 7, 2014…Yesterday and today the foragers from both my hives have been out in big numbers, and they’ve been bringing back a lot of pollen, mostly orange pollen from sow thistle. When I checked the on-line weather report it said there was very little pollen from trees and none from grass and flowers in my area. So I know not to rely on pollen reports anymore. These little rains we’ve had have put the pollinators back to work.
October 19, 2014…My bees have been foraging in large numbers all week, bringing back lots of yellow pollen with an orange tinge. I’m seeing ivy flowers all over my neighborhood, and that’s probably the pollen source. An on-line article The honey and the ivy: Why gardeners’ foe is the bees’ friend says 80% of the foragers on ivy bring back nectar rather than pollen, meaning that virtually all my bees are probably on the ivy now.
Vernon
October 26, 2014
After the big storm…The runways of both hives were wet. There were 13 waterlogged corpses on the new hive runway, which I removed to get them out of the way. The older hive had only one runway casualty. Foragers were out in modest numbers but they weren’t bringing back pollen. In the 10 minutes or so I was watching one worker was expelled from each hive, a behavior I haven’t seen in months. I fought off the urge to take off the shutters and take a look inside.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 