Adventure : C & O Canal

Six straight days of beautiful weather warranted an adventure - not that I don't love yardwork - but all work and no play makes Carlee a dull girl.  I've been dying to get out to the C&O Canal for a while, it's not too far a drive and it's somewhere I can take the dogs.

Today was Lady's turn to get out for some exercise.  Taking the dogs out for their exercise means I'm also getting mine, and Cancun is right around the corner.

The trailhead where I parked was being worked on and I took the path to the left of the construction area.  Not having visited this trail before I didn't know how close I would get to the Potomac - which wasn't all that close.  (Granted we only did a 15 minute run and turned around).  Stagnant water was abundant so whenever I stopped to let the dog rest we were dive bombed by mosquitos.  I forgot bug spray.  Again. 

There was a port-a-potty on the trail near a camping area, the first hiker-biker campsites begin in this section and the area is first come, first served.  Each camping area also his a water pump.  Although I didn't see anyone but another jogger, it seems that this trail is popular.

On our way back to the car, I found a very large feather. When I was a kid I remember that I used to collect feathers at my grandparent's property in Salem, Oregon, and was quite proud of my stash. I had to resist the urge to pick this one up and carry it like a child would carry cotton candy.

The path was not all that exciting or challenging and given I only did a short run here I know I missed some things, a ton of things actually.  There is quite a bit to see and quite a bit of history.  I am considering going to the Monocacy Aqueduct tomorrow. 

Something else that has me intrigued and interested is riding the entire 184 miles.  On a bike.  There are several options for those ambitious enough to do this trip.  I doubt Jamie would be too keen on me doing something like this, but I have to admit there is a small twinge of excitement just considering the idea.

I love the look of sheer bliss on Lady's face.

The swarm

So, I'm pretty sure that the bees we saw yesterday were a swarm that didn't originate from my apiary.  At 6:30 this morning when I left to go do my grocery shopping the bees were still there.  By 8am when I returned they were gone.  Looking into the hive they perched on overnight I saw that my hive was still full of bees, a much appreciated sight.  I added a third 8 frame medium super to it so they would have more room to expand.  This discourages swarming but we all know that Mother Nature rules and if they bees are going to swarm there is little, if anything, I can do about it.  Checking in on the other hive yielded similar results, they were doing fine as well. 

Both hives showed larvae at different stages and both capped and uncapped brood were present.  I did not hunt through all the frames in each hive for the Queen.  I am still gunshy from losing my Queens last year to do a lot of investigative work. 

I am going to be ordering more equipment for the two existing hives - more supers for honey, foundation for comb and frames to lay the foundation.  Additionally I will be ordering some equipment to have on hand in case I get a swarm fly by again this year.  I'd rather have to catch one just becuase it's there as opposed to having to catch one because one of my hives died.

Swarm of bees : #2 of the season

I haven't posted here this year because I haven't been in my hives that much.  I just know from last year that I was in the hives too often and probably messed things up by being so "proactive".  So I've been decidedly hands off this season, probably to the detriment of my hives.

Today one of two things happened.  1) My bees did a dry run swarm to the top of a 60 foot tree and then back to the hive.  2) A rogue swarm found my hive and decided to rest there while looking for a new palace for their queen.  After 12 hours, the bees are still there, and if they're still there in the morning I'm going to move them into a nuc until I can get more 8 frame mediums.

I have more pictures and video to post at a later time.  Right now I need to get to sleep so I can get up early and deal with this turn of events.

Hive Check : Crystallized fondant and angry bees

Yesterday it was so warm that the bees were out in force, but I wasn't able to get into the hive because I was out running errands.

It was warm today, although not as warm as yesterday, and I decided to check on my bees.  These bees have never seen me and my guess was they were going to be pretty fierce.  My smoker was at the ready in case I needed it.

The winter cluster is definitely in the top box.  The "fondant" I tried to make has crystallized.  And the bees were angry!

When I removed the fondant off the top of the box I was attacked by about 20 bees.  I didn't get stung, but it wasn't because they didn't try.  I had a puffy coat on underneath my bee jacket which probably really helped save me.  Those little buggers were really aggressive and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they get more relaxed as Springtime arrives/

I took the frames out of the freezer last night and put them on the hive today.  I have three frames of capped honey in the middle and two frames that are almost empty aside from some pollen.  I'm hoping the pollen that in the box is enough to stimulate the Queen to start laying when the time comes.  I'm told that she won't lay eggs if all there is to feed the bees is honey.  I'll keep you posted!

Hive Check : cleaning the dead out and freezing frames

Today is pretty cold so I couldn't do much with the surviving bees.  I did check to see if they were still alive, they are.  They had eaten some of the sugary-substance-that-should-have-been-fonant but not a lot.  I'm sure this has to do with the fondant being on top of the parchment instead of the other way around.  There were two dead bees on the fondant.  I didn't see any standing water but I am pretty sure that there is moisture being generated because some of the sugar was soft.  Another potential issue/problem is that the shim on the nuc doesn't fit flush with the box and I'm concerned about winds getting into the hive so I'm going to also have to check around to see what I can use to stop the gap between the shim and the top box. 

I inspected the dead out frames again and looked for, but didn't find, the queen. 

Finding frames with pollen turned out to be harder than I thought.  (the queen will only lay if there is natural pollen, sugar alone is not sufficient)  The two frames that I found with the most pollen were abesnt of any honey stores, capped or uncapped, and contained maybe 50 cells of pollen.  I put those two frames on the outside of my empty 5 frame nuc box and put three full frames of honey in the middle.  I'll have to check with my mentors to see if that's the right set up before I put this box on the nuc. 

It's recommended that beekeepers freeze frames for three to four days before putting them on a different hive.  I definitely don't want to set this hive back by putting on frames with any existing issues.  Sunday is supposed to be a nice day with temperatures in the 50's and that's the day I'll be putting on this "new" box. 

While the 5 frames are freezing I'm going to be making, or trying to make, more fondant.  At the meeting this past Monday it was suggested to me that after boiling the sugar to the right temperature that I use an ice bath, stir vigorously and then pour into molds.  Which reminds me, I am going to have to find molds around here somewhere. 

Hive Check : The dead out

The top box filled with 8 frames of nothing but honey

Part of the winter cluster

More dead bees

A great deal of bees were found with their entire bodies inserted into cells in the comb.

More dead bees.

The view inside the hive, this is the middle box looking down into the bottom box.

Bees in the comb.

All of the comb in the bottom box was empty of honey and pollen.

Comb from the bottom box

A bottom screen full of my dead bees.

A smidgen of pollen

A tragedy.

Hive Check : Feeding my winter bees

I made some fondant yesterday to feed my surviving hive.  It's a combination of suger, water, cream of tarter, Karo syrup and lemon juice.  I did everything like I was supposed to; measure, mix, boil, pour.  What I didn't do was spray the parchment paper with Pam (that's not in the directions, by the way).  This meant that the cooling fondant stuck to the parchment paper.  When I went to take the fondant off the parchment paper it stuck because it was sticky.  Everything I'd read about fondant said that it shouldn't be sticky.  I set the parchment on some tinfoil so it wouldn't stick to the counter.  It stuck to the tinfoil.  I snip snapped around the kitchen and got frustrated and .

Since it didn't turn out the way I thought it was supposed to turn out (see the first two photos below), I threw a tantrum, rolled up the gooey sticky fondant and tossed it in the trash.  To hell with bees, and feeding bees, and winter.

A little more than two hours after the tantrum, and after I'd gotten some helpful words from a fellow beekeeper, I retrieved my fondant from the trash and let it sit overnight on the counter.  I sprayed a piece of parchment paper with Pam to prevent it sticking again, set the other paper with the fondant and the shim on that, picked out bits of tinfoil left over from the tantrum and waited.

Jamie called me today from work and told me that he would put the fondant on the hive.  He thought I was silly for wanting to put on my jacket and gloves and veil to do it, plus as he says he has "boy skills".  I say preparation is the key to success (and not getting stung), we agree to disagree here.  I let him think he was going to be the one to put the fondant on the hive then I suited up and tromped through the snow and opened up the hive.

Success.  I saw my winter cluster of live bees.  Nearly getting stung I placed the fondant on the top of the frames and adjusted it so that there weren't big gaps between the shim with the candy and the top box.  I truly hope that the bee that made, uh a beeline for me, finds his way to the entrance else he's going to be pretty cold tonight.  Which reminds me I need to get some of the Denver Sting Stop.  Oh, and figure out what I need to buy for this coming spring.  And I need to send off the check I owe for yet another hive of bees.

So much to do...so much to do.