Bee Fanning Behavior: A honey-soaked evening

7 May

At night, because the bees are fanning, my whole yard smells of honey.

It’s a monster hive, 6 deeps and 1 medium, and full of ripening honey. Despite our drought, my city bees have access to the well-watered trees of the neighborhood and the University of New Mexico and it’s clear they’re taking full advantage of their good fortune.

bee hive at night

The monster hive at night

Why do bees fan?

Honey bees fan the hive for several reasons. Knowing what they’re up to depends on the location of their bums:

  • Bums facing out with the tip exposed, the girls are typically sending a “homing signal” by revealing their Nasonov glands. This is done during swarming or orientation flights at a new hive. Here’s what Nasonov fanning looks like.
  • Bums facing in or out with no tip exposed, the girls are fanning to:
    1. create ventilation inside a busy hive
    2. evaporate water from nectar until it contains less than 18% water and can be safely stored forever as honey
    3. both of the above

What does fanning behavior look like?

John Pluta from Georgia captures the stance of a fanning bee on video.

Dancing Neil: Photo essay on installing a package of bees

20 Apr

Dancing Neil installs a package

If you’re looking for a little guidance on installing your first package of bees, this is a great annotation of the process:

Installing a Package of Russian Bees

Hive splitting = Lazy girl’s swarm prevention

17 Apr

The Great Split of 2011

Last year, one of our hives swarmed 6 times. Each swarm involves dropping everything to capture and rehouse the wayward dames, none of which is easy to do with a full-time job.

So this year, we split our hives the minute the nectar started flowing and they began to look crowded. This year, we hope to be sipping wine after work instead of chasing swarms all over Albuquerque’s SE Heights.

Hives are ready to be split when:

  • The hive is strong.
  • Nectar is flowing.
  • You see drones in the hive (not capped, but actually walking around).
  • And definitely if you see swarm cells. But splitting before you see swarm cells is OK too if you’re a risky sort of beekeeper.

How to make a split:

About two weeks ago, we followed the Bush Bees process for a walk-away split which involves far more wine-sipping then it does bee-checking, so I’m a hopeful believer.  Only time will tell though, and we’re still a couple weeks away from knowing whether there’s a laying queen in both hives.
UPDATE 5/20/2011: So it looks like 2 of our 3 “walkaway splits” were a success this year! Score one for lazy beekeeping.

Day of the Dead Beekeepers

16 Mar

Photo by Karl Arcuri

Karl from Austin is the coolest damn beekeeper I know.  Not only does he examine his hives in a baby blue sweatband, but he paints his hives day-glo yellow.

And this, his latest inspired move, is beyond rad — a Day of the Dead beekeeper he commissioned from Austin artist, Cindy Raschke.

See the full piece at Karl’s place

3 Deeps = Overwintering Success?

8 Mar

She's heavy up top.

Despite being one of the coldest winters on record in Albuquerque (20° below, anyone?), we had our best beekeeping winter yet. 3 out of our 5 hives survived and those that survived all shared a single characteristic: We left 3 deep boxes full of honey and pollen for the girls.

Commercial beeks would likely gasp at our profligacy — how wanton! how wasteful! Why not dose up the hives with chemicals and sugar water and get that honey on the market? Giddyup.

But those who’ve read the studies coming out of University of Minnesota for the past 20 years are probably nodding their heads already. In a 1988 study, researchers Sugden at al.,came to the following conclusion:

Highest winter survival occured in colonies wintered in three brood chambers. There were no significant differences found between [the various types of insulation studied.]

p. 844 in The Hive and The Honey Bee

Thusly our girls survived Albuquerque’s Coldmageddon and we’re hoping it hints at a honey-filled summer ahead.

Bees need water too

3 Mar

"Bees Need Water Too" by Sasha, age 7

You’d be thirsty too if you’d just hibernated for 4 months.

Now that we’re consistently touching 60° in Albuquerque, my bees are out foraging and not just for pollen. The hunt for water is on! Though it’s only March, they’ve started to mob our water source, in this case a pet waterer (photos below), as they begin raising brood for the season.

How to provide water for bees in the city:

  1. Fill a pet waterer, pond, bucket, or bird bath (as illustrated by my niece Sasha) with fresh clean water.
  2. Provide rocks or floating mulch chips for the bees to land on, so they don’t drown.
  3. Be diligent about keeping the water source replenished, lest the bees move on to another source.

For urban beeks, providing a clean water source for your bees is the best way to ensure they don’t take a fatal dip in your neighbor’s pool or flash mob the dog bowl. Continue reading →

“Aunt Coco’s Bees” by Nina, age 7

28 Feb

Dreaming and drawing bees is the only solace left a beekeeper during the cold quiet winter months.

When she was 5, Nina visited me in Albuquerque and held a boy bee in her hand for the very first time. It’s the only thing she remembers from her trip and still she dreams of bees.



Drawings by Nina, age 7.

Honey Cookies for Christmas

18 Dec

With the girls all tucked away for winter, visions of sugarplums dance in my head. And these sugarplums will be made with honey. Do you have any favorite holiday honey recipes?

Almond & Honey-Butter Cookies

Beautiful thumbprint cookies that highlight the perfect marriage of almonds and honey. Definitely a “save the honeybee” cookie as almonds are utterly dependent on pollination by honeybees.

http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2009/04/almond-and-honey-butter-cookies.html

by Culinary in the Country

Sunflower Honey Chocolate Truffles

Sumptuous truffles made with neighborhood honey by Sweet Hive Chicago. Use a distinctive honey to highlight the flavor even more.
http://sweethivechicago.com/2010/12/13/honey-for-the-holidays-chocolate-truffles/

by Bob Vivant

Sesame Honey Cookies

Nutty like halva but soft like a cookie, these anchor a cookie plate on the savory end of sweet.

http://www.nanokatz.com/2010/09/04/sesame-honey-cookies-2/

Photo by Nano Katz

Melomakarona

A slightly soft but spicy Greek cookie dipped in honey.

http://ellysaysopa.com/2007/12/15/melomakarona/

Photo by Elly

Bear Destroys Bee Hive

29 Oct

It was a rough week for these East Mountain honeybees. Located in bear country, their stores of sweet honey turned out to be irresistible Wednesday night.

Photos sent by TJ Carr.

How to Bear-Proof Your Apiary

Get more detailed photos and instructions at http://www.beebehavior.com/bee_yard_protection.php

When Honey Bees Kiss

11 Oct

Each year, a giant pair of honey bee balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta take off and kiss in the sky.  At this year’s fiesta, the consequences became clear as a new purple baby bee ascended at dawn and floated up in triad over the Rio Grande.

And then there were three

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