Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, bees and poppies, bees on Oregon Coast, macro nature video, natural beekeeping, pollinators, poppy pollination, Sanyo Xacti, Wild pollinators on June 20, 2015| 6 Comments »
A frame from the video shows the bee covered with purple pollen.
This bee fell from the poppy which was wet from the sprinkler. I spotted it here before it took off.
June 19…Unidentified street performers provide the perfect background music for the bee gathering poppy pollen video.
Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Steinkraus-Morse Swarm Catcher, Swarms, Videos, tagged Capturing a swarm, Home made bee vac, honey bees, natural beekeeping, Steinkraus-Morse Swarm catcher on June 18, 2015| 6 Comments »
Big Swarm in Escallonia hedge.
Another look at the swarm after removing some branches.
Using a stick of bamboo, I positioned the Steinkraus-Morse Swarm Catcher as close as I could. Steve slowly lifted the branch and yanked it down hard. Most of the bees fell into the sack, some missed and landed on the white sheet below.
That sack was heavy, heavier than any other swarm I’ve ever caught. I had to be careful not to crush any bees when I flipped it over into the bucket.
First bucket is full.
After another catch in the sack, this second bucket was full. The rest of the bees were clinging to the branch, so I tried out my homemade bee vac for the first time…
…which I recently built using a vacuum made for a 5 gallon bucket lid. I used a dimmer switch (as seen to the right of the bucket) so I could adjust the suction to avoid harming the bees. I’m happy to report that no dead bees were found. The dimmer switch worked perfectly. Plans were found at beesource.com .
Judging from the bees gathered on the outside of this bucket, I think it’s safe to say, the queen is within.
Big Swarm has a new home.
June 18, 2015…Steve writes, “Just an update, “girls” doing well. Happy pollinators week!
The above swarm worked out well, but it was only after we abandoned our efforts to try to bag the swarm below.
This was a ‘pancake’ swarm,’ lying on the ground in front of a recently occupied Warre hive.
Are they going in? It looks like it…but they decided against it.
I replaced the bait hive with Steve’s Langstroth hive, then tried sweeping them into a dust pan and dropping it into the Lang…not so fast, they break for the Warre hive.
I figured, “okay, they made their choice,” but a couple of hours later, I found them going back to the Lang.
…eventually grouping up on the SIDE of the hive.
Since the swarm had been without water or sustenance for a few days, I provided some sugar water to try to entice them into the Lang. They would have to go into the hive to access the sugar water. That ought to work…it didn’t.
A day later, the bees moved over here about 5 feet away. I set up some moss water…
…and an inverted swarm catcher. I called Steve saying I didn’t think he would want this little swarm. It’s possible that it’s a cast swarm with a virgin queen that can’t fly.
Four days later we get the swarm call for the one in the escallonia hedge. We both agree we’re glad we waited.
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Gardening, Hives, Natural Beekeeping, tagged Bee Garden, Birdhouse bees, California poppies, natural beekeeping, Salvia on June 1, 2015| 5 Comments »
May 31…The Bee Garden is shaping up after Sue added her brick work. We like it so much we’re going to add more on the other side.
The photo shows just some of the bee-loving plants we’re growing…some from seed, some from our favorite nursery.
I just noticed these ferns practically overgrowing the little Birdhouse Bee hive.
I successfully trimmed the ferns without getting stung. The bees probably don’t care one way or the other, but it gives me a clear shot with the camera.
Are these drones? It almost looks like it. Drones sometimes mean swarms (before or after)…I’m hoping this is before so I can encourage them into an empty Warre hive with their name on it. 🙂
May 31…The hugelkulture bed needs a little more work for sure. This is a ‘before’ picture. I’d like to make a little path going past the hive and circling back past the sunflowers I just planted (if the slugs don’t eat them first.
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Swarms, Videos, tagged 1x12" log hive, attracting a swarm, Hal Strain, log hive, natural beekeeping, Patti Strain, swarm, Wannebee log hive on May 25, 2015| 6 Comments »
May 21, 2015…..Hal stands proudly next to his log hive #4. Bees voted his hive as their top favorite place and moved in about two weeks ago. How tall is it…? Eight feet tall (2.4 meters) Bee hive capacity is 7524 cubic inches (123 liters)
Frames are cut away to be able to see the comb being built through the observation window.
Looking inside the hive during the construction phase, you can see the screen Hal nailed in to let the mites fall through.
Bottom board holder slot
Hal explains the construction of it.
May 18…Comb length after about two weeks. Note the mid entrance hole.
May 21…Three days later, the comb is even with the mid entrance hole.
Log hive #5? Hal already has the wood for it. He will be using cedar this time.
Solarbeez might have to build one too. 🙂
It’s Garden Time…and time for Patti to show it to us.
Patti, a young 80 year-old, built this fountain and did all the landscaping for the garden. The surface she’s standing on are old recycled roofing tiles.
Lobelia grows between the steps that lead to the deck.
Cosmos are blooming already.
Sedum will provide much needed nectar during August and September. I’m very grateful to Hal and Patti for alerting me to this wonderful nectar source for my bees.
What do you do with a log hive that has rotted out? If you’re Hal and Patti Strain, you’ll make a pretty flower bed out of it. They’ve already had requests to make more.
Posted in Bee Video, Hives, Log hives, Swarms, Videos, tagged carved verticle log hive, natural beekeeping, vertical log hive on May 15, 2015| 10 Comments »
I was beginning to think the swarms were not going to materialize. I thought maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough to entice a swarm to look over the log hive. I decided to step up my game plan. Kids like honeycomb and I know bees like honeycomb. I cut off a small piece for each kid (after sampling it myself first, of course).
My wife was busy working in the greenhouse. She could hear the swarm coming from over the trees. She ran into the print shop to alert me. I grabbed my camera while they were descending in the area by the log hive. I groaned…”not another little swarm” as that’s exactly what it looked like. But that was only the advance party. As they started landing on the log, more and more of them floated down, landing on the log hive, but waiting to enter. My wife wondered if the honeycomb was in the way. Ha ha, I agreed and popped it into my mouth. 🙂
5-13-15…I don’t know if it was because of the honeycomb or the spacious accommodations, but this swarm came to stay.
It was unclear exactly when this second swarm came along, but it wasn’t much later, probably less than half an hour. It was another big one. At first I wondered if the first one had decided to back out, but I checked the probe thermometer which showed 76F.
Internal temp at 76F at 5:20 pm. That means the original swarm is still in there.
The next day, the second swarm is still ‘hanging out.’ They hung around until about 3:15 pm when I was collecting ANOTHER big swarm, this time from Bee-atrice log hive. (When you’re hot, you’re hot!)
Temperature at 80F (26C). After the swarm left at about 3:15 pm, you can see wax flakes. (The bees were all ready to build comb in this hive, I felt bad for them)
Brian Vorwaller, you did an beautiful job sculpting my grand kids faces on the log.
This video shows the play-by-play of the Grand Entrance of the swarm into the Grand Kids Log Hive
Posted in Follow a tree, Log hives, Swarms, tagged Birch, Grand kid log hive, natural beekeeping, swarm on May 13, 2015| 13 Comments »
Many thanks to Jeff Ollerton and HB for giving me the identity of this tree.
It just so happened that at the same time I was trying to identify the tree, we walked by Barbara’s house. She grows many bonsai trees. “Clearly it’s a River Birch,” she says, “compare it to my little River Birch on the left.”
This leaf shows a wedge-shaped base typical of the River Birch.
The weird thing about the leaf is that there are two different shapes. This one shows a more squarish base. That really threw me when trying to identify the type of tree. Both leaves are from the same tree. Does the age of the leaf determine the shape?
May 13, 2015…Looking at a bunch of leaves together, we can see various wedge shaped bases…some more acute than others.
May 13, 2015…Looking upward into the umbrella, you can see the white bark limbs…
…but looking at the trunk, you’ll see cinnamon colored bark.
According to Wikipedia, “Betula nigra (black birch, river birch, water birch) is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas.”
It grows in the East, not the West. I guess the jury is still out on the type of birch it is.
5-13-15…Big news today: A ginormous swarm is moving INTO my Grand Kids Log hive today! Detailed post to follow.
Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged Bee Video, bee-loving flowers, Bees intimate relationship with flowers, bees on Scotch Broom, bees pollinating scotch broom, Canon SX-50, Cytisus scoparius, honey bees, natural beekeeping, Sanyo Xacti, Scotch Broom pollen shower on May 10, 2015| 13 Comments »
This is far from National Geographic video quality, but it does show the intimate relationship between the bee and the flower. The bee lands on the flower petals, spreads out the lower ones, then triggers the pollen release possibly by pushing something with it’s head…I couldn’t see that part, but when it happens, it’s sudden and strong, like an explosion.
May 3…Here’s a pretty variegated Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius). You can tell that a bee has been there , because the stamen have already popped up.
Pollen Alert…bee has triggered a pollen shower, stamen pop up and rub anthers on her back.
This bee has learned well how to trigger the pollen release as can be seen by the amount of pollen on herself.
I shot this video to show what our bees are doing when they leave the hive. It may surprise you. 🙂
Posted in Hives, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, tagged Brian Vorwaller, Carved log hive, carved verticle log hive, carved wood hive, natural beekeeping, Steve Montana, Top Bar Log Hive on April 22, 2015| 25 Comments »
April 19, 2015…I wonder if I should hang a sign declaring, “Top Bar Log Hive Ready for Immediate Occupancy.”
March 30, 2015…Brian Vorwaller, the wood carver is on the right. We’re both happy the log hive is on site in time for swarm season.
The very beginning of the Log Hive or when I was still calling it The Three Kid Log Hive.
January Progress Report Not being an expert on the chainsaw, I had been worrying about how I would be able to make the vertical cut. I wanted it to be straight. I didn’t want the cut to widen out in places while being narrow in others. I used the weather for an excuse, but eventually I had to face up to the challenge so I could get the log back by April. It worked out well.
Brian Vorwaller talks about sculpting the grand kids faces
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.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 