Understudy.net/org Ok you have made it this far. You obviously must be bored and have nothing better to do with your life.

My Archives: January 2006

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Okay it is around 55F here in West Palm Beach. The sun is up and I am checking on my bees. Last night I cleaned everything off the landing pad. No more branches, they should be reorentied by now. No more old comb, they have cleaned it out. No more feeder jar they weren't that interested in it anymore.

But are the bees out flying, hell no. They poke their little heads out and say it's to damn cold, I can't go to work today. As I sit here and get ready to go to work, I look at the little bastards and wonder how come they don't work when it is cold and here I am on my way to work. It's Saturday I don't want to work either.

Damn lazy bees.

Posted by understudy @ 08:31 AM EST [Link]

Friday, January 13, 2006

The landing area of of my hive looks like the waste can at an abortion clinic. The dead Pupae litter the area. It's a high body count, but I am taking it as a good sign. If the cells are being emptied, maybe a queen will go through and fill them.

I went to the South Florida Fair todau. They have a beekeeper display there. They had two volunteers there who really didn't know much about bees. I was given the card of the local beekeeper club. They meet the first friday of every month. I will be working when they have their next meeting. :(

I received my second deep box and frames. This time I had them sent unassembled. Which means I will have to build them. It kind of like assembling a grown up version of lincoln logs.

Posted by understudy @ 10:40 PM EST [Link]

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Well things are starting to get back to normal with my feral beehive.
I still am not certain I have a queen. However I noticed that the bees are running a more normal routine.
One of the things the bees are doing is throwing out the pupae. I am not sure if this is due to the fact that they are defective or because they are making their own queen and those that were fed royal jelly aren't needed as they have already made one or the queen got place in the hive after my return trip to the boat.

I went into the boat last night and vaccummed out a last clump of bees that probably got back in when a section of tarp got loose from the dew on the tape. I resealed the entrance after getting the bees. I know from the bee forums that bee keepers like working with the bees during the day and I can understand that since most of them are out foraging. However when trying to capture and relocate bees, doing it at night works for me. Most of the bees are there and they are far more docile. I suspect that is due to the cooler weather.

Well off to work.

Posted by understudy @ 07:55 AM EST [Link]

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Okay, The aftermath has been interesting. I am certain I have no queen. The bees started gather in a group outside the hive. They went down the barrel and were gathered on the ground. I was nervous as hell that they were either going to die or swarm and leave.I moved the hive off the barrel on the ground next to the bees and knocked the bees off the barrel. Then I placed some newspaper on the ground and leaving it there over night most of the bees stuck to it. I lifted the hive off it's base and shook the bees onto the base. I then put the hive back. I put the newspaper on the ground over the small section of bees that remained on the ground.

I came home after work and there were no bees under the paper. I felt much better. I haven't really gone into the hive yet. I put the hive back up on top of a fish tank.
I put the entrance reducer in the hive and have left things alone for tonight.

You can see the pictures here:
http://www.understudy.net/images/aftermath/index.html

Posted by understudy @ 10:45 PM EST [Link]

Sunday, January 8, 2006

The bees have been moved from my neighbors boat.
It was an ugly job.
It took 6 hours.
A sawzall was involved.
There is now a hole in his boat.
I am not certain if I have a queen.
Most of the bees died.
I have a profound respect for proffesional bee removers.
You can see the pics here:
http://www.understudy.net/images/bees/index.html

Posted by understudy @ 09:09 AM EST [Link]

[Archive Index] [Main Index]