Bee update 4/23/07
 

I opened up the hive on Saturday for the first time. I took out the frames and inspected them for progress, i.e. how much comb has been built, how much honey and pollen stores, if there is any new brood.

I didn't see any capped brood. This is when the larva is done eating and ready to change into an adult bee. The cell is capped. I actually didn't even see any larvae. After getting on the phone and figuring out what eggs look like, I did see a number of those. I also spotted the queen making her rounds.

There are two troubling developments however. Sugar ants are making forays into the hive. They are attracted to the sugar water feeder. They may also be going for the honey. I also saw two small hive beetles. This is a pest new to North American in the past few years.

So I put out some jam mixed with boric acid for the ants to eat.

I found plans to make a trap for the small hive beetles. Some hives can keep them in check without using any man-made measures.

I may end up putting my hive on stilts. And have each stilt sit in a coffee can with either motor oil or diatomaceous earth. This will keep ants out.

It's a wonder bees can make a living at all.

Geez, that sounds an awful lot like work.

Not really. All the work is front-loaded. And even then it's not so bad. Having a cat is 100x the work. And you can't get honey or milk from them. Unless you are Gaylord Focker.

Our cat was no work at all. All I had to do was leave the master bath window open enough for him to come and go as he pleases.

We didn't get any milk or honey, but plenty of dead birds, mice and other small animals were left at the back door.

:D Now that was funny!

Mike...what are you up to with the Honey bees? I actually heard on the radio this morning that there is something going on with honey bees...a massive decrease in numbers on this continent and in S. America.

Could have some very serious consequences if they don't figure out why the bees are decreasing so rapidly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

Why am I keeping bees? Because I've wanted to for a while. It's interesting and low-maintenance. And you get honey at the end.

I think that sounds kinda fun. I might try that. How in the world do you get started...and, could you do that in a rural area? I am thinking you live outside the city limits...where there is a lot of open space and neighbors are not too close?

You can do it just about anywhere. I live in the city. The next house is very close.

You can also do it rurally, but bees will be mroe productive in the city.

You just need 1) equipment (hive, tools, protection) and 2) bees.

Does this upset your neighbors at all?....thinking that their kids might get stung? ...or maybe people that might be allergic to bees (you know how things are these days, got to worry about that kind of thing).