My bees issue a declaration of swarm

6 Jul

Swarm cell, reabsorbedFor the past month or so, my girls have flirted with the event that drives despair into many a beekeeper’s heart — swarming.

According to this bee expert, bees swarm for two reasons:

  • Overcrowding
  • Overpopulation

Though Queen Natasha has been quite prolific, the hive is not yet full. My girls are most certainly antsy due to the overcrowding resulting from recent nectar flows in town.

I’ve tried everything I can think of to keep them happily hived including the introduction of empty top bars into the brood nest. So far, they haven’t hived, but the youngsters keep building swarm cells.

Could it be an emergency preparedness tactic more than a full-on declaration of swarm?

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What does Albuquerque taste like?

6 Jul

Tasting honey from my backyard

To some it’s a chili-laden hot dog from The Dog House. To others, it’s anything covered in chopped green from Frontier or a bowl of posole on Christmas Eve (Ay dios mio, even Rachael Ray has a posole recipe).

To the 30,000 honeybees living in my backyard, Albuquerque quite literally tastes like flowers. Continue reading →

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The Great Lavender Gorge

27 Jun

Lavender bee

The lavender bloom is on in Albuquerque and my girls are feasting.

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The Vanishing of the Bees

26 Jun

Vanishing of the Bees
I just learned about this powerful bit o work: The Vanishing of the Bees

The trailer includes footage from a Malaysian honey hunt described in Stephen Buchmann’s Letters from the Hive as well as interviews with beekeepers from all over the country.

To be honest, the trailer is so compelling that my sappy little Mama cortex is having a full-on emotional crisis.

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Work it, girls! How to manage a top bar hive

8 Jun

This is one of the best folksy walk-throughs I’ve read yet describing the process of inspecting a top bar hive. For newbeeks, it’s like that doddering professor who actually knows what he’s talking about:

If the entrance holes are at one end, I puff a small amount of smoke at the entrance, and wait perhaps a minute. If a good honeyflow is on and the weather is good, smoke probably would not be necessary with my Italian bees but I use a little anyhow. Some smoke is puffed underneath the arching top covers in case paper wasps have started a nest under the tin. Next I remove the covers and the strip that covers the rear half of the notches in my tb’s which lets me see how far the bees have drawn out comb. If the bees seemed to be alarmed because of inclement conditions in which I might need to work or some other factor, most of the notches can be kept covered . Continue reading →

Will my bees (and I) hallucinate on datura?

7 Jun

Jimsonweed/datura in my backyard

My jimsonweed is 1 day away from blooming. What will this mean for my bees?

According to some sources:

Bee nectar collection from Datura plants in Mexico and Hungary, belladonna flowers, henbane (Hyoscamus niger) plants from Hungary, Serjania lethalis from Brazil and Gelsemium sempervirens from the American Southwest can all result in toxic honey.

Should I dig up my datura?

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Bee Debris

30 May

In Atlanta (or “Hotlanta” as Linda’s Bees calls it), screened bottom boards are more than a good idea. They’re life jackets for your hot summer hive.

In the dry heat of Albuquerque, I’m still unsure if it’s part of my vital support systems.

Currently, I’ve got a screened bottom board and then below that a solid board. I’m still unclear whether I should remove the solid board during our dry summers, but until then I enjoy pulling it out once a week to explore the bee debris.

Bee Debris

There’s a jumble of yellow, green, and orange pollen in addition to an assortment of wax flakes, bee wings, propolis, and unidentifiable gunk. It’s so pretty I might just use it to decorate holiday cookies 😉

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Bee Lessons: Larvae

27 May

HOw to identify grubs

Moist little larvae are pure eye-candy for the springtime beekeeper. When opening up your hives each week, you want to see plenty of larvae as evidence of your queen’s fertility.

This image shows larval stage bees (“grubs”) nestled in the comb. In a top bar hive like mine, the larvae are frequently mixed with honey and pollen on the comb.

Also, now that I look at this photo more closely, I notice a drone bee just to the left of the human finger. See it there, slightly larger with wider bands of black and oversized eyes on the top of its head?

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Bee porn (and a story too)

20 May

by Chris from Beautiful BokehSplendid shots by a photographer whose friend invited her to snap away at his hive. Incidental eyebrow stinging optional.

Splitting the Hive

Our friend Jason has a beekeeping hobby. Yesterday he invited us to come watch him “split the hive” and even though we weren’t 100% sure what that meant, we were pretty sure we’d get to see a beehive up close. We couldn’t resist. When we got there, he and the rest of the hive team (his mom and a cool bee guru friend of theirs) were all decked out in serious bee-garb which was a little off-putting. We were told we’d be ok as long as we didn’t wear black (which for us is actually really hard, but we found some white shirts and were feeling pretty brave). We got briefed that the way to survive being around a hive without protection is to wear white and move very slowly, and remain calm even when they come buzzing around you. No sweat.

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Indispensible.

19 May

Got me bees. Got me a queen. But I’m a little short on information since much of America focuses on beekeeping with commercial-style Langstroth hives. Thus, I do hereby highly recommend the following website:

With delectable bee porn and homey misspellings, it’s a website rich with information for hungry newbeeks like me. Dive in and enjoy!

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