The bees have been busy and so have we. Gerard Van Duinen of La Tabú (The Hague) graciously let us use his Tango music.
Posts Tagged ‘California Poppy pollination’
Bees, Flowers, and Tango
Posted in Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Butterflies, Crab spider, Macro bee video, Music video, Warre Hive, Wasps, tagged African Blue Basil, Bee Speckled dahlia, Bees in squash blossom, Bees on hypericum, Bees on Walker's Low, Bombus vosnesenskii, California Poppy pollination, crab spider, Gazania, Gerard Van Duinen, German Wasp, Greenworks garden cultivator, Honeycomb, La Tabú, Methley Plums, Mignon dahlia, Nepeta, Phacelia, Pole beans, Red Poppy bee, Salvia Nemarosa, Swallowtail butterfly, Verbascum, Vespula Germanica, Warré Bee hive, Winter lettuce on August 27, 2016| 7 Comments »
A Busy Bee Song
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Log hives, Music video, Videos, tagged A Busy Bee Song, bee and allium, bees and Camassia quamash, bees and Cotoneaster, bees and fennel, Bees and Hidcote Hypericum, bees and kale flowers, bees and Limnathis Douglasii, Bees and Meadowfoam, Bees and New Zealand Cabbage blossoms, bees and Phacelia, bees and Sedum, Bees and St. John's Wort, Bees and Twister poppy, bees on gorse, Bees pollinating poppies, California Poppy pollination, Carved log hive, Chuck Barrett, Flowering cherry tree with bees, Honeybee video, log hive, natural swarm, Sunflowers and bees, vertical log hive, waggle dance on March 14, 2015| 11 Comments »
Chuck Barrett is pictured here with his signature orange cake. Made from scratch, his secret ingredient is Triple sec. Whenever he is invited to a gathering, he brings his cake and garners rave reviews. The ladies in the group are are always impressed with his baking skills.
Inspired by my bee stories, my ninety-one year old father-in-law took pen in hand and wrote “A Busy Bee Song.” Setting the words to a simple tune he composed, he hoped to inspire children to learn about and respect the honeybees.
Judy Rhodes
He asked Judy Rhodes, a local singer in his home town of Phoenix, Arizona, to sing his song. Judy performs with a small group, “Up the Road and Around the Bend,” who sing for folks in retirement homes around the Phoenix area. He copyrighted his words and music to make it officially his own.
Chuck Barrett is truly an inspiration. He leads an exercise group three days a week at his local YW. His enthusiasm is contagious and people join in, some in wheelchairs, some with walkers with bingo in the next room as his fierce competition.
I set videos and photos of my bees to Chuck’s song, and we hope you will enjoy our efforts to bring awareness to the honeybees story.
Bee Beard Log Hive, Alive and Well
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, tagged ANAP (as natural as possible, beekeeping, bees on Oregon Coast, Blackberry pollination, California Poppy pollination, dandelion pollination, Deformed Wing virus video, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, macro nature video, natural beekeeping, St. John's Wort pollination, Verticle log hive, wood carving on August 11, 2013| 4 Comments »
Bee Beard…August 1, 2013. The bees always fly around at the entrance between 1:30 and 3:30. I’m not sure why, the outside temperature is only 68 F (15C)
After it threw six swarms, I wondered if Bee Beard had anything left. Yes, there were bees but was there a laying queen? Then in the beginning of April, I started watching in horror as drones were being tossed out of the entrance. Drones with reddish colored eyes and ‘chewed up’ wings. I checked the bee literature and learned that I was looking at a good example of “Deformed Wing Virus,” thought to be caused by the dreaded varroa mite.
April 1, 2013…I was filming the bees at the entrance when I heard a thump on the landscape cloth. Two bees were evicting one with Deformed Wing Virus
It started in the beginning of April and continued through the end of the month. Then came Drone Awareness Month. I thought for sure, this would be the end of the hive because I had a “laying worker.”
April 25, 2013…SIX DRONES visible. I have never seen so many drones at the entrance.
You can notice these bees because of their eyes. The tops of their eyes meet in the middle. Also drones are big. In the video you’ll notice how much bigger they are then the worker bees. I wasn’t worried about their size however, I was worried there was no queen. For this many drones in one place, it meant (to me) only one thing…a laying worker. If there’s no fertilized queen (possibly because of all the swarms) then sometimes a worker bee will start to lay. If you inspect the combs, you’ll see the eggs laid on the side of the cell or multiple eggs in an individual cell…the sign of a laying worker (or more than one) Workers are not fertile and can only lay drones. If they are only laying drones, the colony will die out, because drones don’t work. Since I didn’t want to open the hive and intervene, I was going have to sweat it out.
August 4, 2013…I see lots of bee activity and pollen going in. Is it possible my fears were unfounded?
Bee Beard Log Hive is an experiment in what happens with no intervention. I don’t medicate, miticide, or treat the bees with anything. That includes essential oils and powdered sugar. I don’t take any honey. These bees came from a myrtlewood tree last June. They’ve never even been smoked. We grow many bee-loving flowers, but I know that bees also go elsewhere for foraging. Is it possible the Varroa mite and deformed wing virus are still around? Of course…but as long as the bees can adapt, that’s as much as anyone can want. I guess I’ll know more by next spring, but right now they look good.
Bee Beard looked a little sharper last year when it finally got some bees.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 