BizzyBuzzin' Honeybeezness

Sunken Dreams But Happy Endings

2012-04-04T19:07:00.012-07:00

Those of you that follow my blog will remember that we rescued a hive living in a hollow tree that was scheduled to be cut down. It was a dream of mine, to one day, be able to "drum" the bees out and into a hive where we could "watch" over them, (so to speak). Drumming is a technique used many years ago to get honeybees out of tree logs and into man-made hives. I've seen this done on videos but I can't seem to find them again :/
From the pictures I've taken at the entrance of the log hive, the girls seem to be doing fine, with the exception of the varrora mite I see on one of them in the photo above :/ (on the left) can you see it?
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were inspecting some of our yard hives and decided to take a peek in the log hive to see how they were doing.....

Anticipation was mounting for us both! But we were a bit suprised they didn't boil out from the opening.........
Nothing! Just a few bees meandering around! What could be wrong? When we sealed them up last summer this hive was overflowing with bees!
Hmmmmm.........

This is so disappointing! I knew at this point there would be no drumming at all for this log hive! :( Pesky wax moths!
I started taking out the comb to see how many bees were still here and hopefully *bee* able to save the ones that are left.

The farther inside I went the more bees I saw, but it was a good way inside :/
My husband cut away the log so I could get farther inside. The more comb I pulled out and the closer into the bees I got, I started vacuuming them up with the bee vac. Notice I had to remove my veil, it was in my way, but I did cover my head and hair ;)

It was nice to start getting brood, eggs and a little pollen and honey. This will go into frames in their new home.
I noticed the bees seemed to be going into a different part of the log, but I couldn't figure out where......then I remembered! Duh, they were going to the very end of the trunk! My husband helped me move the vac to the other end and I finished vacuuming the rest of the girls up, hoping and praying I had gotten the queen and she was alright!

Back into my veil/hat (it's dark and I didn't want them crawling on me)I brushed the girls from the vac into their new home. They were closed up til the next morning when I'll check to see if I got the queen.

And I am SO thankful, I did! She is healthy and BeeUtiful!!!!
Can you see her? Isn't she lovely??? Honeybee Queens are the sweetest things ever!!!! ;)I hope you enjoy your beekeeping experiences as much as we do!

Until Next Time!

BEE JOYFUL!!!

Julie ;)

Swarm Season......It's Here!

2012-02-22T19:50:00.009-08:00

Late yesterday afternoon we were called for a swarm. When we got there we were told that they had been here for two days and that it had originally covered from the corner to the end of the top of that door below. A couple of people said they flew off and someone else said, "someone sprayed them with WD-40". The poor girls on the outside suffered and died :( I do wish people would have some compassion on living things! I'm guilty of not educating myself on things and being critical of things I don't know about or understand. I'm working on that and I hope others will join me :)
PLEASE....PLEASE don't spray honeybees with ANYTHING, (unless you are trying to catch them, then spray them with warm honey or sugar water). Have a heart people! This pic below broke mine! These bees were doing nothing but stopping over to rest before moving on to a new home. They harmed no one and never intended too.
While the bee vac was being set up for me (the electric outlet was a mile away) ;) I had the bright idea that maybe if I sprayed some sugar water on the frames and up inside the box that maybe...just maybe they would march in eazy peazy style for me ;) I even tried laying down a white sheet for them (so they wouldn't go underneath the box really) ;) But the wind was so bad and boy was it getting cold!

WOW! I was getting really excited by now!

But, it didn't work....the other girls couldn't hear because of all the wind ;) Anyway......the vac came up and on, so I started vacuuming those sweet babies up. The suction is so low it took forever to get them through the hose. It sure would've been so much easier on them if they had've marched on into the box, but they wouldn't listen to me ;)

Boy! They were packed in there!
More vacuuming
And finally my co-workers ;) said it was time to shut the vac off and head home. We left the box hoping they would go inside before dark then we could seal them up before daybreak and join them with the ones we took home. (I hope that made sense)Well, this morning once I got the stragglers home, I joined them with the rest of the girls and figured while I had them open I would take a quick peek to see if I could find the little queen. Can you see her?
She's a young queen and from the looks of her (to me) this will be her first colony. I feel (and this is just my opinion) that the hive they came from, split once already....she doesn't look like the mother queen to me....what do you think????
She is bee-u-ti-ful in every way!

Until next time.....

BEE ON GUARD! ;)

Julie

The Log Hive

2012-02-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

I suppose a woodpecker is responsible for this, after all, what other explanation could there *bee*? ;/ I wonder what happened when it kept on knocking? Did the bees come out to defend their home?
We'll have to coax them out and into a new home soon........

Here below is the entrance to the hive......
Bizzy girls!

Bringing in pollen......

My husband got a package today and Honeybee decided she liked the way the box fit.....after all there's a bee suit inside ;)
Until Next Time....
BEE COMFORTABLE!

Julie

Update On Hive Split

2012-02-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

I checked in on the Nuc that me and my husband split five days ago. The girls have pulled out queen cells galore! Some of them are already sealed. They have been *bizzy* ;)

They are in a super/nuc. This is one my Niece Hannah painted two years ago! My goodness! Time has flown!

The girls are in a wonderful area! Some of the trees have already bloomed and sprouting out with seeds! There's still a lot more waiting to bloom!
We were hoping that we'd be able to get more splits, but things don't always happen the way we want them to. Some of our hives, we had to put back into nucs from their larger boxes due to decreased size of the hive.
It's good to keep the girls tight so they can fight off the hive beetles, wax moths, wasps, etc. Poor girls, they have so much to do and worry about!

Until Next Time.......
BEE BIZZY!
Julie

A Warm Winter

2012-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Honeybees need water to make comb, propolis and honey. I love watching the girls collecting water from my small ponds.

A beekeeper in the making! ;)

His Sweet wife, my Awesome cousin and her Adorable husband! ;)

We graduated two of our Nucs today. This one was the first.....the girls are checking out their new home.

The hive was full, healthy and the queen was and has been laying like crazy!

This was the second Nuc. It was just as full and healthy!
We also split one of our large hives, I didn't get the chance to take pics :(
They had already started pulling queen cells, getting ready to swarm. We will definitely have to *bee* on our toes this year! Last year we let quite a number of swarms go to the wild.

Our winter has been unusually warm here this year. Some days it still feels like summer!
I hope the weather has been good to all of the honeybees and all of the other pollinators every where.

Until next time!
Bee Bizzy!
Julie

Open Air Feeding and Our Log Hive

2011-09-28T05:19:00.000-07:00

We have had a dry summer this year and as a result, some of our hives are very low on honey stores. I don't like to feed them unless it's really necessary OR when they start robbing my neighbors hummingbird feeders ;0). I've tried all sorts of ways to open feed and this is the best one I've tried. All the others tend to kill more bees by drowning and that breaks my heart! SO, I bought some sponges of different sizes, rinsed them really good, mixed up my sugar syrup water and soaked the sponges in the syrup. I then placed the sponges in various containers, the top of my birdbath, saucers, etc. It needs to be shallow so the bees can get out safely. I don't fill the containers up because if too many bees come in for a drink they'll get stuck in the syrup and drown, that's another reason for the sponge, it gives them better footing, so to speak. These also need to be placed out of the way of human/animal traffic, because it can get very "bizzy" with "beez buzzin" every which way! They won't set out to sting you, they'll just bump into you because they're so "bizzy" ;)

All it takes is for one little bee to find it and then the "wiggle dance" tells them all. I'm sure that today there will be so many bees on these sponges I won't be able to see it! I'll post more pics.....

Before long they are happy with their find.......well, until the blooms start again. I'm sure they would much prefer Natures nectar over this.....but sometimes when you're hungry.....
I want to add that we left a super of honey plus what they had in the deep brood boxes, on our hives this spring. I don't/won't pull all of their honey because our summers here are just as bad on them as the winters are. If we don't get honey, well, we just don't get any! The health and strength of our hives is more important to us than getting honey. I know so many keepers that have lost hives because they pull to much honey from their bees then the weather changes and the bees suffer. That's just sad to me!

These girls are our newest addition. A nearby city was going to cut down the tree this limb was attached to. The entire tree was hollowing out and honeybees had taken up refuge in this part. A fellow beek was called out for the job, but he didn't want to over winter them. My husband told him we'd take them so they wouldn't be killed. We sealed the cut end (containing the most bees) with a board.

The pic above is the top, it still has enough rotting insides to naturally seal this end. We will close it up before the coldness of winter arrives. They have two entrances/exits in the knots. I was really worried about them and was contemplating on removing them from the log and into a bee box. It was late when we got them home and had to seal them, and at the time we didn't notice (or couldn't remember) how their comb was facing. I was worried that the comb was laying on it's side and all of the brood, eggs, honey, etc. would fall out.....or the bees couldn't get in between to care for things.....and then an even bigger worry (which I'm still worried about) the Queen! So we went back out and opened them up and they are fine, the comb was a little off so we straightened them up...but about the queen issue, I can't get inside so I still don't know how she is, I'm just hoping they had enough eggs that if they need(ed) a new queen they can draw one out.

This last pic is of their main entrance, they are doing really well and bringing in lots of pollen. They are a very strong and sweet colony, a wonderful addition to our bee yard!

Until next time....
BEE HEALTHY!!!
Julie

Hitching a Ride

2011-07-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

My husband and I were leaving a friends place where we have a couple of hives, on our way to another lot to do more inspections. I felt something crawling on the back of my arm......and there she was, a little nurse bee. I could tell she was a *newbee* a nurse bee because she still had fuzz all over and she didn't try to fly. Her wings were folded one under the other.

When we finished up at the next stop and powdered the hive with sugar (for varroa control) she was excepted into the hive.

I love these little creatures! They're the sweetest things!

Until next time.

BEE KIND!

Julie

Saving The Nurse Bees

2011-05-04T19:09:00.001-07:00

This is where we bumped/brushed the nurse bees off yesterday, some of them could fly a little, but not very far.

I glanced out of the window today and saw more flights going on, but I didn't go out to see. I was afraid of what I might see and I didn't want to face it.

The ground was empty of them this afternoon.

Before I go any further, I want to say that I have the sweetest and most kind hearted husband ever! I Love him more than words could ever say! It's awesome being able to share a passion about something with someone you Love!

He came up with the sweetest idea when he saw the bees clinging to life... huddled together in a ball under this old boat trailer.

He came in and talked to me about seeing if we could maybe start them over in a nuc box of their own, putting in a frame of eggs or brood and a queen cell from my queen hive. An amazing idea to me! IF the little worker layer is still in there maybe she will have halted her production and will let one of my new little queens hatch.

We sprayed them with a little sugar water and brushed them in with some soft dog fennel.

You can see them with their little hinnies in the air fanning to let the others know they now have a safe new home.....I reached across the box to brush the rest of them in and I couldn't believe the air that I felt coming from those little wings! It was like there was a tiny fan inside of that box! Bless their little hearts they are so amazing!

All tucked in for the night....I had to agree with my husband...they sounded so happy!

I was thinking a lot about that little layer today....she had leadership qualities. She saw that the hive was in danger and even though she couldn't keep them alive...by george, she was going to give it a try! She wanted the hive to think they had a queen so they would keep the colony alive;) She had hope!

I think next time (if we ever have to do this again), we'll just brush them off in a box from the start. But we'll see if this one works out first...and I'm hoping we won't go through this again, but at least we know how to deal with it if we do.

Until next time.....

BEE HOPEFUL!

Julie

Worker layer

2011-05-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

April 9th 2011, I posted about losing part of one of our hives to a swarm. When we went in- to inspect the hive we found a new little virgin queen. So we left them to grow with her.

Sometimes things happen to the queens. Year before last it seemed we lost a lot of our queens, while last year wasn't so bad. This year it seems we're losing them once again. I've checked for asian wasps and hornets, but can't be sure if they are around as I haven't seen any, but the bees have so many enemies that anything could have happened. Something could have gotten this particular queen during her nuptual flight. At any rate...she's gone.

When a hive is without a queen or eggs and brood the workers or "nurse" bees panic. A nurse/worker assumes the role of "Queen". All workers are females and they can all lay eggs, the only problem is the eggs aren't fertile and can only produce drones (males). Allowing this to continue in the hive will cause the death of them. Certain steps have to be made in order to keep the hive from dying.

one- You have to take all of the frames at least 30-50 feet away from the hive and bump ALL of the bees off.....this part to me is the saddest of all things for a beekeeper to have to do. You see, most of the bees that are on the frames are nurse bees, they either don't know how to fly yet or they haven't ever been out of the hive to know where to go back to, this is including the "worker layer". Unfortunately, they all have to suffer because you can't tell which one she is. IF, you don't do this and you leave her in the hive no matter how many queens or queen cells you put into the hive she will kill them because she is convinced she is the queen and the other bees are too! Even if they want to replace her they can't...they have no eggs! She will lay them some but they are no good! We learned this the hard way when we first started with bees, we ended up losing the hive completely.

You can click on the pics to enlarge.....

In this picture above you can really see where she is laying sometimes close to ten eggs per cell. Some of the eggs have hatched (they look like little c's inside the cell) and she's laying eggs in with them.
She even laid on top of the pollen.

two- You should always have more than one hive...even if it's a small one. When we have lots of extra sealed queen cells I carefully cut them off of the frames....
then I take them to my "Queen" hive and select a frame to put them on.

We have a very special hive I like to get the queens from because they are excellent producers of honey and sweet queens that make very calm bees.
I then scrape a small area of the comb away to very gently place the queen cell into it. No need to press her in there too hard....... and make sure you don't cover the slender tip up with comb. Once she's in there the bees will secure her in. It fascinates me how ingenious these creatures are!

Anyway, as I was saying...once you bump/brush ALL of the bees off and I mean all of them (even if you leave one on, it could be the layer) take them back to the box and put them back together, with your frame of queen cells OR a frame of brood and eggs. If you don't have queen cells they will make their own queen with new eggs from another hive.

Most beekeepers would just buy a queen, but the way I see it, is there is a 100% chance that the hive will except the queen that hatches in their hive (provided the worker layer is gone) verses a bought queen.

Nothing but a little time...and NO money spent, verses time in finding a queen...going to get her or waiting for her to arrive....plus money.....and did I mention time...in waiting for the hive to except her...and if they don't....more time....and money.....

I do hope this post made sense to you. I tend to get ahead of (sometimes behind) myself trying to explain things. ;0)

I welcome questions and/or suggestions.....

SO......

Until next time....

BEE ALERT!

Julie

It's Just Natural

2011-04-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

No matter how hard you look, this time of year you're bound to miss a queen cell and the hive will swarm :(The hives are busting with 'newbees' and newbees are the new nurse bees. They don't leave the hive to forage for nectar or pollen, their job is to tend the eggs and brood. They do an excellent job of it too! Sometimes they will cover up the queen cells and you just overlook them.....anyway, when that happens and the queen hatches, the older queen, even if she's less than a week old will take half the hive with her to some place new, hence a swarm.Less than five days ago we checked our home hives and culled lots of queen cells... apparently we overlooked a couple :( We were out checking hives in other locations and came home to this.

A swarm.......really, really high in the tree. A wooded area that can't be gotten to easily at all. If we were tree climbers and could shimmy up that tree, I think we would have at least tried, but we're not, so here's one for nature ;)

We had to go back through the hives to see which one swarmed because if (and they did) they have any more queen cells ready to hatch it will decimate the hive.....leaving the last few with nothing.

While going through a song came to me LOL, I hope you enjoy it or at least can appreciate it ;)

sung to the tune of "Up on the rooftop"

Up in the tree tops, Oh, so high

there is a swarm hive saying goodbye;

Oh, no, no, Where will they go?

Oh, no, no, I'd like to know!

Up in the tree tops come back home...

People will hurt you, please don't roam!

Oh, no ,no, Where will You go?

Oh, no, no, Please let me know!

Up in the tree tops saying goodbye,

hanging on a large limb, WAY too high!

I hope they make it okay.......

Until next time!

BEE looking!

Julie

Singing Queens And Pure Comb Honey

2011-04-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

When we first started keeping honeybees, I would notice, every once in a while, a sweet high pitched singing sound in our hives. It made me happy and I would tell my husband I would get this over whelming feeling that the Queen was alive and well in that particular hive. At the time I thought it was a worker bee singing to her Queen, but just last week while watching a documentary about bees, I discovered that this sound comes from the queen herself. In the documentary it shows a moth mimicking a queen bee so it can go undetected through the hive to drink honey. We found this to be true ourselves while doing a hive inspection this weekend. We had lost a queen and the hive had produced a new queen. There were no eggs in the hive and we had to look for her. My husband gets antsy with me because I don't work as fast as he does ;) He had given me a frame to look over because I can see eggs in the cells where he can't.

As I was looking I heard her! I was so excited I kept asking him if he can hear her and he said "no, give me the frame and look through this other one!" I started to get angry because I wanted to see if I was right, but I reluctantly gave in. A few minutes later he called me by my full name! And said, "you're NOT going to believe this, but here she is!" I was amazed! And so relieved that I had let him have that frame because he never would've believed me! ;) We didn't have time or the extra hand to take a picture and I would have given anything to get it on video! Now that I know for sure it's the queen I will try to get at least the sound on video to post!
I'm trying to get comb honey this year and they are doing pretty good on this frame. The brown on here is bees.

I don't have the heart to kill our queens when they just happen to hatch out before our eyes during inspections so my husband bought me a queen hive. Naturally, during assembly something went awry ;)
Over the weekend during our inspections as usual we had to cull lots of queen cells. I put them in with the burr comb we collect. Monday when I went to my mom's to inspect the hive at her house, I was getting ready, and pulled out my container and couldn't believe what I was seeing. My mom came over and we watched as this little queen hatched.

I'm not happy with my camera because it doesn't seem to let me take focused pictures or I haven't learned how to use it yet. ;) This clump looks funny and not at all like a queen cell, because it was molded in with another q-cell and burr comb. So tell me, after going through all that.......could you just kill her???
After she hatched I put her into a queen catcher and got a drop of honey from my mom to feed her. When I got back home I put her into a queen cage and put a candy end on it.

Can you see her?
I went into one of my little Nuc's and got a frame of eggs, brood and nurse bees and a frame of honey for them. I took them to my new queen box and put the new queen in with them. I'll let them *bee* for a few days then have a check on them. I hope things go well for them. I'll keep you posted.
This is the nuc I got the frames from.

Until next time!

Bee Bizzy! ;0)

Julie
**************UPDATE!!!!!!

Here's a picture of the inside of the Queen Hive. It's in sections to hold two frames each. There are four sections.

I couldn't stand it any longer.....we had a bad storm come through early Tuesday morning and the outside of the box looked a little messy and I got worried. There were no dead bees outside so that was a good sign.
A look inside, all seems well. There's a lot of space between the frames because I had the queen cage between them.
I pulled it out and she is gone! They ate the candy and released her. ;)

Can you see her? She's so Bee-u-ti-ful!!! I am SO thankful they excepted her.
I have found that a brand new hatched out queen will be excepted way quicker than a purchased queen. I'm not saying you should never purchase a Queen, to each his own. But I know that our bees know what's best for them and I would rather let them take care of things instead of me interfering.....too much ;)

Until next time!
BEE THANKFUL!

Julie ;0)

Look Ma, No Gloves!

2011-03-10T17:48:00.002-08:00

Spring is here!!!

At least the plants and bees/pollinators think so ;) I'm still cold....but thankful that I live in the South ;) I love springtime!!! Everything blooming and buzzing....

I have reached a goal!!! Well....kind of, I mean, I was so excited that this is the second "Nuc" that I've been into without gloves!!! YAY!! I was so happy! ;)

Some times happiness doesn't last too long! LOL
Look Ma, No gloves!!! ;)

After I finished up with the Nuc... I went into the larger hive, still gloveless and confident....

Then out of no where, one of the girls got angry and flew right onto my thumb and stung the fire out of me!!! Needless to say, when the throbbing stopped, I put my gloves back on! I don't know what made her mad, I hadn't squished any of them....oh, well, gloves it is, on the large hives!

I totally admire anyone that can get into a full hive of bees without hand protection! The small hives I have no problem with, I've even gone into them without head veil and gloves and they are awesome....but I just can't make it through the large hives.....
"Welcome home honey".....one of my nucs. This one houses the sweet girls I had my pic with....no gloves. I love small hives!!

Until next time!!!

BEE HAPPY!!!

Julie

Bee Fundamentals at Oatland Island

2011-03-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

Keepers of the gate ;)Preparing for lunch! Low Country boil and fresh fried catfish! yum!
Bee friends sharing stories ;)

Just a few of the many animals out at Oatland Island.
A newly donated calf, his mom refused to feed him and the owners (members of our bee club) donated him to Oatland Island. He's being taken very good care of by the sweet caregivers that work there!
A message and blessing, from our "Newbee" bee club president, Faith Jaudon and Oatland Islands best, Annie Quinting!
Time to eat!!!!
How adorable!!! I couldn't resist!
We had an awesome turn out for our third year running!! Thanks to everyone that came out!!! We look forward to seeing everyone plus more next year!!!
One of the last classes that started after lunch...the bee yard.

There were classes going on all morning long but we (my husband and I) were floating as were other beekeepers helping out where needed, but this was our main post.

We had an awesome day and we're looking forward to an even bigger turnout next year!!!

Until next time!

BEE INVOLVED!! ;0)

Julie

Cleansing Flights/Fly Overs, Moles and Minerals

2011-01-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Cleansing flights.....

When we first got our bees a few years ago we were told about cleansing flights and how the bees would "drop" on our cars. Yes, they did back then and still do it now. I have always meant to take pictures of it but never had my camera with me when I passed by my car, so this year I made it a point to take a picture or two. Mind you it had rained earlier so it's not as bad in the pics as it is most days.;) I always say if I went out and buffed my car I'd have a really good wax shine ;) I also call these "fly overs"

I didn't notice these scratches until I uploaded this photo...neighbors cats again...grrrr, but oh, well nothing a little bit of wax poo won't wipe out, huh? ;)
We have moles... aggravating, tunneling moles....they tear up the yard something awful. Here one tunneled under my Nuc stand and I actually straightened it up before I took this picture! The poor girls were nearly entrance down in the ground!
These last pitures are of our honeybees gathering minerals out of a tray that I have on our patio that I started seeds in last year. I couldn't get close ups of them but I could see them licking the soil, it was so neat to watch them. Butterflies gather nutrients from the soil like this too.

My camera died the other day and I am SO lost without it :( I'm on the look for another one so wish me luck! I needed it desperately this weekend when we got into some of our hives. We ran into some very unusual things that we've never seen or even read about in any of our magazines or books. I told my husband no one would ever believe me if I just wrote about it with no pics to back it up.......That's what I love about bees, they are part of nature, something that's part of our lives and something we will never "bee" able to figure out. They are amazing creatures and I know most people that know me (even the ones that don't) ;) think I'm the absolute weirdest person in the world but I have such a passion for them! I wish everyone could feel what I feel about them sometimes...geez let me stop, the men in the "other" white suits might "bee" at my door in a bit ;) LOL

Joking aside though......I do Love my honeybees!

Until next time!

BEE COMPASSIONATE!!

Julie

Honeybee projects

2011-01-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

Winter for beekeepers is a time to prepare for the spring...for the start of a very "bizzy" and sweet season. I volunteered to help out with a project that will help young students learn about honeybees. My part was to help out with the making of the bees. Knee high panty hose were used by being stuffed with batting (pillow) stuffing then painted a honey yellow.

Drying in the warmth of the wood stove.
Next the stripes, eyes and back have to bee painted on.
Then comes the wings and pipe cleaner legs and antennae.Isn't she cute! She will hang on a comb made from a large white sheet made to look like a honey comb along with all the others that I made. When you walk into the building (that's shaped like a giant bee skep by the way) you will feel like a tiny ant that wondered into a giant bee hive. I am looking forward to seeing it when it's finished. I'll post pics when we get there!

Not sure when we'll "bee" finished but I'll get the chance to check up on it next month! So, stay tuned! I'll keep ya posted!

Until next time,

BEE Bee-u-ti-fully Sweet!!!

Julie

There's Really Nothing To Fear!

2010-12-17T15:29:00.000-08:00

This is my sweet neighbor, during the summer she came over and we went into a couple of hives. She's a natural! I think the only thing that bothered her was the biting knats!

This was a small hive we went into that I had split a couple of days earlier and bad weather set in, during that time robbing happened. The hive was destroyed :(
Once a hive is destroyed or weakened it becomes open for attack on so many levels. Here wax moths moved in and within a day they can consume and destroy!
Here you can see the trails from the moth larvae tunneling through the cells eating the bee larva.

Pretty pose ;)
My poor girls :( I wanted to cry!
This is one of our Nucs that has grown really well!My sister wanted to go into the hives so we did. I love showing how the bees are to anyone interested! Everyone I talk to is intrigued by them, wanting deep down to see what they're all about but they are still a bit afraid. Really there is no reason to be afraid! They are sweet creatures and give so much to us. The main thing to always remember if you ever come to our apiary.......don't wear cologne or perfume......and if you happen to be visited by a girl or two, just feel privileged ;) They like to see who has come for a visit....just don't swat or wave them away;)
Me and my sister
Her first time holding a frame of bees ;)

Two more sweet people interested in bees! They'll make fine beekeepers! And parents ;)

They both were naturals at looking for eggs and the queen!

I love letting people know how sweet beekeeping really is. I do hope if you are the slightest bit interested in honeybees that you will look up a local bee keeper and ask to visit their apiary and maybe get into a hive or two....you'll bee glad you did.

Until next time.......

Bee curious!

Julie

My Sadness As A Beekeeper/Drone Laying Queens

2010-10-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

I noticed something wasn't quite right with my two Nucleus (Nuc) hives that I had started a while back, so I went in for a check. At first glance I could see that there was WAY too many drones. I found the queen in each hive and she looked fine and I saw eggs, but what I found next was very disturbing. All of the brood was drone brood. Male honeybees.......this is NOT good in a hive. I had queens that had not been mated. Their eggs were not fertile and they could only produce male offspring. I had to make a very difficult decision. The queen had to be replaced :( I love my queens and I love seeing the new little hatchlings scurrying around on the comb looking in the cells to lay eggs. They are so sweet.Can you see that there are more drones than workers? The drones(males) are much larger and have bigger eyes than the workers (females)
In this picture below you can see the drone cells, there isn't any worker cells at all. Drone cells are bullet shaped and protrude up higher from the comb. Worker cells are even with the comb. If not caught the hive will perish, the males will eat them out of house and home, so to speak. Drones do not forage and they bring nothing to the hive to eat. They are just there to mate with queen bees. This was my dilemma, I had thought that if the hive had drones that a queen would mate. Please don't make that thoughtful mistake, a queen has to be in flight in order to mate.
This brings me to the reason "why" I had two drone laying queens. Those that follow this blog, will remember that I had a queen that had her right wings chewed from her sister that hatched before her. I called her my "Wingless" Queen, I thought I would be able to keep her and she would have her very own hive, that was not a good thing. Her fate had been sealed when she lost her wings before hatching.
The only reason I can think of that the second hive had a drone queen was because during her hatch we had some bad weather at that time, a lot of wind and rain and she wasn't able to fly during the night to mate. Or, if she did mate there wasn't enough drones in the mix. A queen needs to mate with at least 20 drones in order to have enough sperm to be fertile. This, I have read, is enough to last, she won't mate again.

I had to remove the queens, I pulled frames of fresh eggs from one of my favorite hives and placed them in each Nuc. They pulled out queen cells and now have new baby queens.....I do hope they mated. I'm thankful that the warmth has stayed here on us, even though the nights are cooling off, hopefully the queens have made their nuptial flight and will be able to produce big strong hives this coming spring.......only time will tell.

Until next time.......

BEE ALERT

BEE INFORMED

Julie

A Sweet Excuse!

2010-09-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have a sweet excuse not to cut grass today....well, even this week ;)

It's funny how before we got bees to live in our yard, I never noticed the many things that bloom. Would this mean that I took things for granted? I have always loved the outdoors and nature and thought I had always noticed it before, but it's all different now. It's not just with me but my husband notices things too, and he has never been a "nut for nature" like me. I've noticed him when we're out riding or walking now, how he points out things that are blooming, I love it ;)

You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

I've heard of phrases like "One man's trash is another man's treasure" but one of my favorites is "One man's weed becomes another man's flower" and in this case, One man's weed becomes a pollinators' food.

I knew that grass goes to seed but I didn't think that in order for it to seed it has to flower....it has to bloom. (Duh);) That is until I found our bees on it. I noticed this last fall, but as far as I remember I didn't post on it ;)

You can see that not only the honeybees are enjoying the grass nectar and pollen but so are the bumble bees.

The flowers are so minuscule you wouldn't think they harvest much but their little pollen baskets were getting full.

When you're out and about, take time to notice the "little things" around you.....GOD has put so much joy around us, it's up to us took stop and take a peek at "Nature".

It's up to us to teach our children, we have so much confusion and sadness in our lives daily, take time out....MAKE time to sit and watch the wonders that are all around you......you'll bee glad you did;)

Until next time.....

BEE OBSERVANT ;0)

Julie

Queen Successes and Accomplished Goals!

2010-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Back in April of this year one of our large hives decided to swarm days before they were "technically" supposed to. If I've learned but one thing being a beekeeper, it would have to be, never, ever assume anything, especially about honeybees! They are on their schedule not ours and I don't care what the books say....our girls have NOT read any of them!LOL I have seen them pull and cap a queen cell within three days! I have pictures of one below. No....I did not over look it, they needed a queen and they were going to have a queen! Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

This first picture is the swarm hive we caught back in April. It is ready to split, these girls are remarkable! Even with them splitting themselves in April, we have harvested honey from them!
Unfortunately this little hive below, which was the remains of the swarm, struggled. They tried to raise their own queens but kept losing them. They were robbed several times, so I moved them into a nuc box and my husband helped me relocate them. So far they have done very well.
In my post "Expectations and Surprises" (July 21,2010) I talked about a different hive that has three queens. Well, I was excited to know that I had "stand by" queens. I went into the hive and not really wanting to "choose" which queen of the two daughters I wanted to place in the small, queenless hive we just moved.....I decided that, other than the Queen Mother, the first Queen Daughter, that I came to first, would be the queen of the nuc hive. (I hope that made sense to you).....I found the Mother Queen first, but I didn't want to take her from the hive. Even though I love all of our Queen Bees...I have to say I was a little delighted that this one was was the first one I found.....the "Wingless" Queen!! Well, actually she has one side of her wings, she's a lefty, her right side was chewed off before she hatched, but she made it! And I've been rooting for her ever since! She's a strong queen, she's already proven that by beating the odds of survival.
Here she is....this is what she was doing when I found her...she was on the frame next to the Mother Queen....the next two pictures below you can see her with her abdomen down inside a cell, she was busy laying eggs. Can you pick her out?....She's the one towards the right side of the picture with "Nurse bees" all around her.

I have never caught a queen to put into a different hive before......we've just always let them raise their own queen, but hey! WE have a hive with three and the "Little hive" needed a queen fast.

We had an old queen box, that we got a couple of years ago when (the first and last time) we bought a queen. My husband came up with the bright idea of using a funnel of some sort to get the queen and a few nurse bees into the tiny hole in the candy queen box. It worked really good! I was also thankful that it was the "wingless" queen I was working with, because she would have flown away during this process....it was NOT as easy as it seemed!

She's in!

The anticipation was driving me crazy! I did wait for two days then I just had to see if they accepted her.......they did!!!! Can you see her? Her abdomen is larger and she's up at the top
Here she is again, you can see her left wing.......I'm so happy she's doing so well...even our Griff is happy!!
Now..see this picture below?? See that lump??? It's a queen cell, now when we moved the little nuc to their new location, I took two frames of eggs and c-cells from the hive I got the queen from.....I brushed all of the bees off and there was NO queen cell anywhere on those frames! This is three days later when I checked on the "wingless" queen. Three days! The books say 14-16 days! This just goes to show you determination.....So, that's okay, we have two hives that need to be split and we can use this queen to put in one of them! I love how this works ;)

Waiting on a meal......(thank you Ms. Nature Nut!)
On guard!

This is a very small split that I started for a friend. He makes us boxes and such and we trade him bees.....I placed a few frames of eggs, queen cells and nurse bees in a nuc, I made a "spacer" to block off the rest of the box so they wouldn't have to much to defend.....I new their queen had hatched and wanted to check them out. I also wanted to check my courage out....a goal I've been wanting to make for myself...going into the bees without any "protection". No veil, no gloves, no bee suit.....I did it!!!!!

I did it!! I was nervous, and I'm not sure I could have done it, if it hadn't have been a small hive, but I accomplished a goal that I wasn't so sure I would ever do! I now have a little more confidence to do it again, BUT I do know I would NOT ever go into our large hives with this confidence and without protection! LOL....Well.........;)

Until next time....

BEE....GOAL ORIENTED!

Julie

The Sweet Taste of Honeybees

2010-08-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

This hive is the remnants of a swarm. The old queen left with the majority of the workers this spring and it's been struggling ever since.

When a hive swarms they take most of the honey stores with them. They gorge themselves to the point that their stomachs are so full it's almost impossible for them to sting. That's why it's so easy to catch a swarm, that's why and when they are at their calmest.......well, unless you have girls like ours ;) NOT saying they don't get testy but they are pretty sweet girls.....

I know that I've mentioned this before but I want to say it again. Becoming a beekeeper was not my idea....my husband had been wanting to have bees for quite sometime, when out of the blue a swarm appeared in my mothers grape arbor. Now, how strange is that? We caught them but had NO clue what so ever about honeybees! There wasn't information even on the web as far as we could find. I do have a cousin however, that had had bees so I called her......she was a wonderful help but when you live so far from each other things get distorted over the phone...especially with an imagination like mine! LOL I mean a bee box was like a huge chicken coop to me! LOL I had never seen a bee hive or box!When you don't "know" something and you're interested....it's best to study up on the subject before diving in ;) But to our defense we didn't have time....we had a swarm....ready for capture! That day was such a hoot! Another story for another time ;) Not only that sighting but I was at work and someone said there was bees hanging from a new building down the road and no one could find a beekeeper to get them. That started me on an investigation....I needed to find a beekeeper. This was about four years ago. We found a beekeeper and after some time passed and getting things ready, studying up on them,buying suits and equipment, etc., we decided to buy a hive of bees from him. We were hooked! I remember the first time I went into the hive with my husband......I was totally mesmerized! The awesomeness of how calm they were......they carried on with their business like we weren't even there! My husband has gotten used to me being slow and looking over every detail when I go into them and I have gotten quicker but still I work slow. Well, getting back to the story......

Ever since these girls split they have been getting robbed of their honey and they keep losing their queen. Just last week they had a new queen, but something didn't seem right with them over the last couple of days so I went into them yesterday and the new queen was gone....all of their honey was gone, they did have pollen but I could see where they had been robbed again. So I took them apart and put them into a nuc and me and my husband moved them (hopefully) to a more secure spot last night when it got dark.

Once I placed them in the nuc box, I kept going back out there to check on them to see if they were going to except the smaller home...they were but some were still hanging out on the old home box ;) ...now something I had been suspecting around here but hadn't actually caught gulping the evidence......that is until now! Caught on camera! Look closely at the pictures below....
Do you see what I see??
Yep, a toad frog! Can you believe it??? And to think that "Ms. Nature Nut" herself rescued those amphibians from a drying ditch!

It just goes to show you....someone...or something...is always out to get you...no matter how sweet you are!!!!

Until next time...

BEE SWEET! ;)

Julie

Expectations And Surprises

2010-07-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

When I go into a hive there are a few things I expect to see. One is the small hive beetle, usually the girls have them corralled and proplised in somewhere. On top I can expect to see them in a corner but mostly at the end of a frame or two. The picture below shows the ends of the frame proplised and the beetles are corralled in the middle with a few bees standing guard over them. Now something unusual I have recently discovered and other beekeepers have noticed it as well, is the bees will feed the beetles while in this area. It has been said that the beetles have learned the "hunger cry" of the bee and instinctively the bee responds with feeding. It's amazing to watch, the beetle will put up it's front legs, almost like a puppy or dog begging for food, and the bee will feed it. I've seen this a couple of times and wish I could get in to photograph it happening. The thing is once the bees move away from the guard barrier the beetles escape and go ramped through the hive and will destroy it if the bees don't gain back control. Before I move ANYTHING in the hive I take my hive tool and go between the hive box and the frame where the beetles are and squish them, I also catch them with my tweezers and kill them, a frame doesn't go back into the hives if I see a beetle on it! (I can't help it) ;)

Other things I expect to see is queen cells. Here in the south we don't have a long winter and our bees start hive building and swarming sometimes in January right up to the first frost. I try to go into our hives at least every 14 to 16 days....however this past week I let it go by and now I have to pay for it. Regular routine maintenance is very important for "backyard", "Hobby", "Weekend", etc. beekeepers. Or I should say, if you don't want your hives to swarm or to lose them entirely. The picture above is of a queen cell that has been chewed from the side, which can mean two things....1. The old queen found it and chewed it open to kill the queen inside before she could hatch, or....2. A new queen hatched and she chewed it open.....usually if there is one queen cell there is more! This particular hive had five on this frame alone! All chewed out except for one. But, if you will look closely at this particular cell.....see how the bottom is chewed out as well? Hmmm...that means she didn't die before she hatched! She's also in here somewhere. When a queen hatches successfully she chews her way out through the bottom, if it's chewed from the side....something else did it.

This makes things even more difficult for someone like me because I HAVE to know what's going on! Most people could walk away from this hive after finding one queen and not think twice about it's future or what even happened...not me, I have to find out. I looked even harder for the "old" queen, which she really isn't "old", just a few months old. But, thankfully I marked her when she hatched out back then. Well, to make a long story short, I couldn't find her (not at first). But I did find the other two! These are things that are "surprises"...things I do NOT expect to see in a hive. So in the end I found the older queen and two of her daughters! The thing that was strange to me is, remember the cell that was chewed and left for dead? She was the first one I found and bless her heart, her wings were chewed, she's a beautiful queen, but will not be able to fly. I'm curious, if what the books say is true about a queen, that she flies from the hive to mate, if she will still just mate with the drones in the hive? Most people would have just killed these queens or at least her, but I can't bring myself to do it. I mean, gee wiz, she survived an attack before she ever even hatched, who am I to snuff her out???

This is the older queen, I didn't find her until I was putting the hive back. This picture is out of order....
The wingless queen is in here but I couldn't get a picture of her at the time.
This little queen is the suspect chewer...can you tell which one she is?Once I had found these two, I still hadn't found the older queen. I didn't want to kill them and I wasn't prepared with queen stations to put them so I let the wingless queen go into the brood box, put a queen excluder on, then put the "chewer queen" in the top.

I also have a "compulsive" disorder.....I HAVE to go back over things to make sure everything is okay before I put them back in place. That means the frames get checked AT least twice during my inspections ;) (drives my husband crazy when he works with me) BUT, this time that was a "good thing"....I found the older queen! SO now we have THREE queens in this ONE hive! I got another excluder and put together another box and just put them one on top of the other...until I can put together a queen box.

You see, the amazing thing about honeybees.....if they hatch out their own queen or queens they will take care of them, the queens have the same hive pheromone. The only one you have to keep them protected from is another queen inside the hive. SO, for now we have a three queened hive!
I went back into the top yesterday (two days later) and the top queen is still doing good. Not a good picture but can you see her below?

I caught her under this marking cage, so I can mark her.
There she is in the picture below, marked in blue. Newly hatched queens are usually chunky. Their abdomen hasn't grown out long and slender, but she has her big "queen spot" behind her head that makes her easier to identify.

I want to get a picture of the wingless queen because she has a honey colored abdomen and she is larger than this one. I put her in the bottom first because she had more bees tending to her than this one did.

We have a "cut out" to do next weekend so this is also a good thing, we may need one of these queens. We have a hive that has been without a queen, that I have to check on today to see if she has hatched. If she didn't make it I have one now ;)

The summers here are very hard on honeybees, we lose a lot of queens but thankfully they know how to prepare ;) The thing is the beekeeper also needs to prepare;)

Well, I need to get Bizzy!

Until next time....

BEE PREPARED ;)

Julie

Life Is Amazingly Sweet!

2010-06-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

The hive that we cut from the doublewide a few weeks ago still hadn't hatched a queen and the summer is moving quick, so when I went into one of our strong hives I noticed they had pulled a queen cell down and it was capped......wonderful, just what I needed! I took this frame, minus the bees and placed it into the queenless hive. I wanted to give it a few days before going back in to check.
This is what I found this morning! I love beekeeping! She hatched out....you can see where she chewed her way out on the bottom tip of the cell.
In this pic above you can see two queen cells, the smaller one they had started pulling down then abandoned it.
And there she is! Can you pick her out? She's new and still a little chunky, over the next few days her abdomen will grow longer and you'll be able to distinguish her better from the rest of the girls. She's over on the right side of the picture, she's more solid in color with just the tip of her tail black.....can you see her now?

I love seeing the queen, actually it's very important to always see the queen when you go in for an inspection. The colony can go down rapidly without a queen.

One of the main things I carry to the hives is a queen catcher, I always catch her when I find her, for several reasons.....one.... is to make sure I saw her (after a few hives I start to wonder) ;0)

Two....I always know where she is, with a strong hive you can lose track of your queen and when putting things back together she can get squished or harmed, they are extremely fragile. So whether strong or weak, a large or small hive, I catch the queen. It's just easier for me and once I find her I can move quicker through the hive. I just place the queen on top of the frames and the bees crawl around her, feeding her, keeping her cool/warm. The catcher is small enough to keep her inside but just big enough to let the girls move in and out of it providing her with protection.
I also always carry my hive tool, tweezers, a small paring knife and a plastic container.

The knife is for cutting queen cells out that I don't want to hatch, it's also helpful cutting off burr comb. Tweezers for killing small hive beetles that I find hiding inside cells. And the container for putting burr comb and queen cells in, you want to save this because you can melt it down into wax.
Look at this girl! I have never seen bright red on their pollen legs before! She had both legs packed! Honeybees also carry propolis back to the hive on their pollen legs. I have watched them on many occasions packing propolis onto their legs from empty bee boxes....this amazes me how they do that, they chew it, then it goes from leg to leg and the leg in front of the pollen leg packs it on. If you ever get the chance to watch one do this you've got to watch it! It is awesome! I'd love to video it, but my camcorder is out of commission....maybe one day....in the meantime, seeing it up close and personal....there's nothing better!
Last but not least.....the fruit of our girls labor! Isn't it beautiful? It tastes heavenly! Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd love honey so much! It is definitely different when it comes from your own place! I have so much more respect for our food, nature and life now that I've become a beekeeper!

Life is wonderful

And I am Blessed!

Until next time......

BEE THANKFUL!

Julie

I Must Bee A Honey Bear

2010-05-28T17:49:00.001-07:00

I have a confession.....I was a super thief today. I robbed a hive of their luscious golden honey. I also have to admit it wasn't the first time, but this time I acted totally alone. I'm not ashamed...I payed a price for the crime but nothing that was due to me..... Actually I have to set the true record straight, the price I paid did NOT occur doing the robbery...(it seldom does ;0)) It happened after the fact and the cause was due to total stupidity on my part! I KNOW NOT to cut grass around the hives AFTER working in them....while some honeybees don't mind, some of them do. I always cut grass, weedeat, pull weeds, etc. around our hives with NO worry BEFORE working in them! Experience has taught me though NOT to do this AFTER working them. They are hot, aggravated, agitated, and the list can go on....think about it....how would you feel if you (which they do 24/7) cleaned, scrubbed and kept intruders at bay...ex. wax moths/larvae and hive beetles..varroa mites, wasps, and the list goes on and on and on, then to have some human come in to take everything you have worked your little wings off for, not to mention the destruction this human left behind!

Some beekeepers use smoke, some use that smelly stuff to make the bees go below to rob them of their honey....I RARELY use smoke at all, it irritates me and seems to bother the bees as well it's a pain for me to light and by the time I get ready to use the smoker it's out! So, my NEW best thing to use when robbing is wild fennel weed, it's super soft and a wild herb. The bees love herbs and soft gentleness. I gently, slowly sweep the girls off of the capped honey frame and put the frames one by one into a screened empty super box. It worked like a charm with only a sting or two (my fault again) they got caught in between my suit.Sweet fuzzy girls...

Sweet golden honey....

These pictures are not from today, but the honey I got today is from the same hive.

What happened is I cut grass around them this afternoon after I stole their honey, it was extremely hot. I went past them three times before they came after me....I KNEW I was pushing my luck....but I went ahead and they got me. I left the riding lawnmower there and came inside to nurse my wounds. LOL My right hand is swollen really bad and the right side of my face is itchy....but I think I learned my lesson......until next time!

I must be a honey bear!

BEE WISE!

Julie

For The Love Of Honeybees

2010-05-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

My husband got another call this afternoon. It's a phone call that not many like to get and I'm sure one that nobody wants to make. A man had started to renovate his doublewide mobile home that had been vacant for years. Not only did he find water damage but he found honeybees. He and his repairman had tried to spray them last week but wasn't successful in getting rid of them. That's something everyone should be aware of, is when you find a hive please call a beekeeper. If they can't come out they will find a beekeeper that can or will, as in our case this evening. It takes a long time to rescue bees that are established inside of something. Hours and hours of hot tedious work. I had forgotten just how sticky and messy honey can bee! By the time we finally gave up I was covered in honey and my "Honey" had been stung several times :O( Honeybees don't give up their home easily, meaning that spraying them probably won't get rid of them and if it does the home owner will regret it because bugs will come in and ruin the honey and it will be an awful mess.

These two pictures are of the outside

This was after I cut the insulation down.

That's me, I could fit under there better than my husband so he stayed out and vacuumed the comb as I took it down. It was full of brood, pollen and a little bit of honey on the left side, but when I got to the right side it got terribly messy, honey was dripping everywhere.
Capped brood

Look how thick that comb of honey is!
We had two vac boxes that was full of bees.

I need to say that the vacuum is a special vac just for honeybees. It has an extremely low suction that sucks them into a screened in box so they can breathe.

If you ever want directions on how to make one let me know and I'll post them for you or e-mail me.

The honey and comb that can he used will all go back to the bees to help them get back up on their feet in their new home. They are extremely stressed and it will take them a while to recover.

I have to go back first thing in the morning to clean things up and see how many we left behind and try to get them. We worked til we couldn't see and we still had to get them back home and into a bee box for the night.

Until next time....

BEE RESOURCEFUL

Julie

You Can't Stop Nature!

2010-04-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Last year I was ridiculed by many, for being in our bee hives so much. We had several hives and about seven to ten days I would be into them, rotating days, therefore it seemed that I was into them everyday, to some. Well, this year I gave into the ridicule and look what has happened! We have had hives swarm on us at least three times that we know of. SO, to those that think I'm into the bees too much.....

Our bees did exceptionally well with my intrusions, they overwintered wonderfully and we did not lose any. I caught a lot of pests that would have other wise taken over a few hives last year and this year they are busting at the seams with vigor!

We have one hive we call the mega hive.....they had a mega swarm yesterday! Up in our little oak tree. It has been thirteen days since we were in them last and we were a day or two to late! This hive had so many queen cells it was unbelievable. They started hatching out of their cells as we were looking at them. The tree hive that we rescued from my moms hollow tree had lost their queen so I took a frame with two queen cells to their hive and as I was putting it into the hive a queen hatched out and went on into the hive like she had been there all along! It was awesome to watch! I went back later to see if they excepted her and they did! Acceptance must be better at hatching because they don't have the smell of the other bees? Not sure on that one but it happened!

Queens, by the book don't hatch out until the sixteenth day, but as I've said over and over we don't have textbook bees! There has been a few things we can totally rely on the books for but mostly it's hands on experience and knowing what our own bees do. I urge you if you have honeybees to get to know them and their behavior. They in turn will get to know you and yours, you'll bee glad you did. :o) I know I am. I am speaking of course to those that are doing this for enjoyment, weekend beekeeping, backyard beekeeping, hobby beekeeping, etc. Those that do this for a business, well, that's another story. Although if you are any of the mentioned above it can turn into a business very quickly!
Our "mega" swarm, These girls weighed at least six pounds easy!
My hubby to the rescue!
Is that a monkey in our tree?
He handed me the branch
Bump!
They all went in, well the most important part anyway, the queen, the rest followed.

A lot of people ask if they are so calm why do we suit up, well, I have long hair, when the bees are flying they don't distinguish things that they can get caught in, such as spider webs, hair, etc. and like us when they get tangled (have you ever ran into a spiders web)? they panic and when we get something tangled in our hair we panic...get the picture? I admire the beekeepers that go into their hives ungloved and unsuited. That is a goal for me....one day ;o) I have been into swarms unsuited and no gloves several times, yesterday though, we were already suited up into the mega hive when my husband kept saying he thought they must have swarmed already, as we were discussing this I told him the only possibility would have been if they swarmed that morning or the evening before......he then stepped away from the hive and said "well, we haven't looked up in the trees"....then he called my name......"oh"...I said ..."say it ain't so!"

Well, I'm off to look up into the trees LOL

Have a wonderful day!

TTFN!

BEE HAPPY!

Julie