Somebody's Watching Me

These days are too hot for a bee suit. The last couple times I used one, the heat was unbearable. Today, I decided the heat outweighed the stings. I went out in a t-shirt and veil. It was still too hot for comfort.

It has been in the 90's for more than a week with little or no precipitation. Everything is beginning to dry out. This happens every year here. This year it is drying out much later than usual. I have never kept bees before so I am not sure how these weather patterns affect the bees differently. Doris' colony sure seems to love the warm weather.

I changed up my procedure slightly today. I took more time between steps. I went much more slowly. I have said it seemed important to work quickly these days. Turns out that may not be right. Or at least, not the only answer.

Working without a helper, I smoked the hive from the bottom. Slowly, I removed the top and inner covers. I used a little more smoke in the top super. There are hundreds of bees hanging around in the top today. It may be the heat, or that they are beginning work on the frames. There was not enough wax built out to tell for sure. I set the super aside.

I pulled a few frames from the main brood box to have a look. They seem to be drawing honey down the frames and moving the brood pattern slightly lower. Without a helper, I did not get a pic, but it seems they are trying to build both levels as one. They definitely have a large store of nectar started.

Here I got a pic of a couple bees lapping up nectar. They have long pink tongues they use for a lot of different purposes. This burr comb gets built up each week between the upper and lower frames. I have tried to collect all the burr comb I can, whenever I find it.

Sometimes I look back at the boxes and I see dozens of eyes watching me. I think its funny when they do that.

The bottom brood box now has comb working on all frames. The two outermost frames have a very small amount of wax on them but they are being worked. I switched the two outermost frames in one position as I had done with the top brood box. This thing will be full in just a few weeks. There wont be much else to do but build out the comb in the top super.

The bottom box got a heavy dusting of powdered sugar, and a pollen patty. I reset the main brood box and heavily dusted it as well. This is the third week of powdered sugar treatments. I have not been using the bottom board because the weather is so hot, so I am honestly not sure if these treatments are as effective as they have been. I will need to treat, one more time, next week. I can install the bottom board for that day. I will get a good idea of the efficacy at that point.

The brood boxes are full, and bustling with activity. It is going to be difficult to get all the mites out.  I did not have any signs of a mite problem before I began this treatment. I did find some mites inside a brood cell but I did not see any number of them on the bees or on the bottom of the hive. We have been fortunate to not have to resort to using chemicals up to this point. This treatment was primarily preemptive, based on seasonal recommendations I found listed on scientificbeekeeping.com . They also list recommendations for which chemicals to use at different times of the year. That may be helpful later on when our apiary gets harder to manage.

Finally, I buttoned everything up, and gave the bees ample time to settle back into the hive. I used a little more smoke around the busy entrance, and refilled the feeders. Again, working around the entrance got a lot more buzz than the work inside the hive. A couple of guards got loud around my veil. I finished up and left them to their wares.