tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49399537678966547832024-02-18T21:27:26.993-05:00For The Time BeeingTreatment-free, Urban Beekeeping in Philadelphia, the City of Bee-rotherly LoveAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-14535879147484540812016-06-07T11:08:00.000-04:002016-06-07T11:09:56.055-04:00Swarm Season ContinuesI got a call from Rob on a Monday afternoon about a swarm that had landed in his tree earlier that day. After confirming that it was honey bees and that they were still there, I headed out to grab them. Rob and his family were eager onlookers and helpers (thanks for the camera work Cameron!). A few pics of the swarm in the tree...<br />
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It was a relatively easy capture and went perfectly. My usual swarm-catching helper Jonah was with me but he got distracted by his new friend Nate, a big backyard and a cool swing set! Here's a video.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-5155920265796782082016-06-04T20:10:00.000-04:002016-06-04T20:12:16.362-04:00Rooftop RevivalAt the end of last summer we had some work done our roof and I had to move the one remaining rooftop hive elsewhere. I really missed being able to look out of the window every day and watch the bees. But, we are back in business on the roof. It has become my nuc yard where, at the moment, I have 4 nucs growing up. If you have seen old pictures of the roof, you'll notice that we used to have it white-coated. For now it is black, which makes it REALLY hot up there on a sunny day. I'll have it white coated again, but probably not until next year.<br />
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Two of the nucs were made from some of my multi-year survivor stock. I let the queens mate locally and they are both laying well. The other two nucs were made with queen cells from <a href="http://www.instarapiaries.com/" target="_blank">Jeff Eckel of Instar Apiaries</a>. Jeff has been raising queens in Philly for the past few years. I got two queen cells from him and installed them in queenless nucs that I had prepared. These queen cells were special - they were from a <a href="https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/beehive/pdf/2016_BC_Article.pdf" target="_blank">"Purdue ankle-biter" breeder queen</a>. These bees have been bred with a special hygienic behavior, they bite the legs of varroa mites off, which kills the mites (click the Purdue link to see pictures of the mites with their itty bitty legs bitten off). Both queens mated despite our wet and cool May and they are both laying strong. Here are a couple of different views of the nuc yard, including into Center City.<br />
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Climbing out of the window to get to my rooftop hives is a bit of a pain (actually more of a pain every year!), but having these mini hives out there is relatively manageable because at least I didn't have to haul full size boxes out of the window. I plan on moving these to my other yards when it is time to put them in full size hives (well, maybe I will keep one out there for my viewing pleasure!).</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-16489870134240381362016-04-26T21:40:00.000-04:002016-04-27T08:31:44.234-04:00Swarmus InterruptusWell, sometimes you get to a swarm removal only to find <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2016/04/swarm-2016and-away-we-go-for-another.html" target="_blank">the bees have already left</a>. And sometimes you get to a swarm and you watch the bees leave! I got a phone call earlier today about a swarm in Center City and after confirming that the bees were still there, I headed over. When I arrived there they were, clinging to a wall. I saw a fair amount of activity but nothing crazy, I figured it was scout bees coming and going. Within about 3 minutes of arriving, it became abundantly clear that it was more than just ordinary scout bee traffic - they were taking off. Here is what it looked like (sorry the Blogspot video quality is so bad, some day I'll transfer to Wordpress!) -<br />
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It's always great to see a swarm in flight, but not as great as catching one! Oh well, easy come, easy go! Jonah enjoyed watching it! We watched the bees as they settled in the tall cypress(?) tree. I guess they didn't like their spot on the wall.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-7078008889973383422016-04-20T08:01:00.000-04:002016-05-02T17:47:26.724-04:00Swarm 2016...and away we go for another season!Hi all, hope you had a great winter! We had a mild one in Philadelphia. I went into winter with 7 hives and 5 of them survived. Now they are all building up as the weather has really warmed up in the past week and there are tons of flowers in bloom.<br />
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The other day there was a post on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/98656063471/" target="_blank">Philly Bee Keepers Facebook</a> page about a swarm in Northeast Philly. I jumped at the chance to grab it. The car was packed with swarm catchin' gear and I headed up to my old stomping grounds to go capture the swarm. But, I broke one of the cardinal rules of swarm catching - I didn't get last minute confirmation that the swarm was still there (I tried but couldn't get a hold of anyone). Lo and behold, got there and the bees had left already! Damn - no free bees today! Fortunately, I got a call from the same guy the next day and there was another swarm in the same exact place! I had told him they might throw a secondary swarm and if they did to call me. The parent colony is living in the building not 25 feet from where the swarms landed.<br />
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So I headed out again, this time with my trusty assistant Jonah and we captured that swarm! And we even saw the queen. Here are some pics and video.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A lovely little swarm!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My assistant saying hi to the girls!</td></tr>
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In this video you can see when I found the queen. After removing a small branch, there she was - right in front of my face. I managed to get her on my pruners.<br />
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What was that I said about queens being unlikely to fly away???<br />
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Fortunately she didn't get away. She went back into the swarm to the safety of her daughters! It is nice to be able to contain the queen, because that really ensures that the swarm won't go anywhere once you set them up in a new hive. Sometimes a swarm will leave a new hive once it is set up and opened. I have had that happen only once. If you keep the queen contained for a day or two while the bees get settled in, it greatly improves the chances that they will stay.<br />
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We got all of the bees into the box and sealed them up. All in all it was a very easy swarm capture and the bees were super gentle. It was great to have Jonah there helping, he was into it. According to the guy who called me, the bees have been living there at least 4 years, so it seems like they will be good genetic stock. We'll see how they do!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girls are all sealed up ready to go home</td></tr>
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<br /><span style="color: red;">Update</span> - Here they are settling in to their new home at Woodford Mansion...<div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><b>And one final update </b></span></span>- I checked on them one week after installing them at Woodford. Saw the queen and she is laying eggs nicely. So far so, good...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-91871782626926718462015-04-20T21:26:00.000-04:002015-04-21T08:36:47.190-04:00A New Season Bee-gins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Wow, it's been almost <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2014/05/winter-recap-and-swarm.html" target="_blank">a year since I last wrote</a>. Life is busy and between the family, running a business, writing a book and of course, tending the bees, there isn't much time for me to keep this blog updated. Anyway, another winter is in the books and it was not a kind one! Sustained cold temps were very hard on the bees (and the people!). We didn't get a ton of snow here in Philly, but it was below freezing for much of the winter and the bees didn't have many chances to come out and relieve themselves. Bottom line for me was that I went into winter with 7 hives and only 3 survived. Not very good odds. One hive disappeared, gone without a trace. The other deceased hives died from a combination of varroa problems, small populations and some nosema.</div>
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One of the hives that survived this past winter and looks amazing right now is a swarm that was given to me last May. A beekeeper friend called me one day (thanks Stuart A.) and asked if I wanted to capture a swarm. I said "Of course, I'll be there ASAP." By the time I had mobilized myself, he called back and asked me if I wanted him to bring the bees to me. "Uh, yes please!" He showed up at my door with a box 'o bees. One swarm delivered, no extra charge!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This hive is now known affectionately known as "WB Mason"</td></tr>
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I moved the bees into my handy dandy <a href="http://beevac.com/" target="_blank">Bushkill bee vac</a> setup so that I could easily leave them confined in there for a day or two. This confinement decreases the likelihood that they will swarm again and it also allows the queen to start laying eggs immediately in the empty comb I provided.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dumping bees into bee vac box</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sealed up and ready for transport</td></tr>
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I installed this hive at my Francisville apiary and they made it through winter in great shape. The queen is now laying strong, they have plenty of honey and already have begun to store fresh nectar.<br />
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I once again broke my resolution not to buy any bees this season and I purchased a package from <a href="http://anarchyapiaries.org/" target="_blank">Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiaries</a>. Sam is a great guy and a great beekeeper, known for his <a href="https://youtu.be/c2jcZr4HfTU" target="_blank">singing</a> and for his natural approach to keeping bees by getting out of the way and letting them do what they do best, be bees! Sam stopped in Philly during his wanderings and brought some packages for me and another beekeeper. I met him in a parking lot and there he was standing at the back of his little hatchback Honda with about 15 bees buzzing around his head. In a lovable and most admirable way, Sam reminds me a bit of <a href="http://www.peanuts.com/characters/pigpen/#.VTWkbEKueQw" target="_blank">Pigpen from the Peanuts</a>, but instead of being trailed by a cloud of dirt and dust, Sam's constantly surrounded by a cloud of bees! Last year's bees from Sam didn't make it, they were the hive that totally disappeared without a trace some time between October and February. But I will try again and see how it goes. Below is a video of installing the bees at my <a href="http://www.woodfordmansion.org/" target="_blank">Woodford Mansion</a> apiary (video by my 6 year-old son and assistant, Jonah). Nothing too exciting in this video, although for me, it reminds me of how much anxiety I used to feel when installing a package of bees like this, but these days, it ain't no big deal at all.
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That's the latest and greatest from Philly. See you soon and may the Force Bee with you!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com2Woodford Mansion, 2300 North 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA39.9931992 -75.187844314.4711647 -116.4964383 65.5152337 -33.879250299999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-18856054239081234622014-05-13T22:03:00.000-04:002014-05-13T22:14:52.216-04:00Winter Recap and SWARM!Well, it's been almost a year since I wrote, wow! I wrote lots of posts in my head, but they never quite made it to the screen! 2013 was a good year for the bees, until winter hit! I went into winter with 9 hives, most of them looking pretty strong. We had a brutal winter, with lots of snow (3rd snowiest ever I believe) and sustained cold temperatures. It was really hard on the bees (and on most people I know!) and I ended up losing 6/9 hives! One hive just up and left in the fall, a couple of others had a population crash and were too small to survive the cold. One hive died in late winter/early spring due to a cold snap that lasted almost a week. The <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-swarm-of-year-north-philly.html" target="_blank">Birthday Swarm hive</a> didn't survive, but the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-love-trash.html" target="_blank">Oscar the Grouch hive</a> did! All-in-all it wasn't quite as disheartening as <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2013/04/oh-doom-and-disaster-what-absence-of.html" target="_blank">last winter's mouse debacle</a>, but still pretty upsetting. The silver lining was that all of those dead hives left me LOTS of honey!<br />
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I had resolved not to purchase any bees in 2014 and I was doing alright until I learned that <a href="http://anarchyapiaries.org/hivetools/" target="_blank">Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiaries</a> was bringing a load of his bees to Philly. I have always wanted some of Sam's bees but had never made the drive to his place in the Hudson Valley to pick some up. But now that he was bringing bees to us, well, I decided to buy one little ol' package of bees. This brought my total going into this spring to 4 hives. I had also resolved to consolidate my apiaries because having 5 sites was too much for me. So, I am no longer keeping bees at The Spring Gardens or at Strawberry Mansion. Now I have one hive at my house, 2 at Field Street and 2 at Woodford Mansion.<br />
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That brings us to the first swarm of 2014. I got a call at 5pm on May 12th about a swarm in South Philadelphia (thanks to Lynn for calling!). I loaded up the V-dub and arrived to see this -<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarm hanging out, nice and low!</td></tr>
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This was a pretty large swarm. The bees were super calm and content just hanging out there. They had just arrived a few hours earlier. I had a big crowd of people watching me, cause hey, it's not every night that you see such a crazy sight on the streets of South Philly! One guy Robert, took a bunch of video (thanks Robert). Here I am shaking the bees into my swarm catching box -<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Get in the box already girls!!</td></tr>
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And one other video from Robert - this is after closing everything up and then discovering a large bunch of stragglers clinging to the underside of my swarm box that I needed to get <i>inside</i> the box; you'll see me dumping them in. As I mentioned before, this was a large swarm -<br />
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I got 99% of the bees into the box and drove them home (<a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/10/busy-summer-part-2-swarms.html" target="_blank">no, they didn't get out this time!</a>). They spent the night in the swarm box in my yard and in the morning I took them to my <a href="http://www.woodfordmansion.org/" target="_blank">Woodford Mansion</a> apiary and set them up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All sealed up, ready for placement</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Removed bottom of swarm box and placed on hive stand</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of swarm box is off</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting comfy in the new digs</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sittin' on the stoop, just like in Southie!</td></tr>
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So there you have it - a recap and a new start. Looking forward to a great year in 2014 - I'm actually happy to have fewer hives to manage, it feels more relaxed to me and I can take my sweet old time with the bees.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com2Philadelphia, PA 19130, USA39.9682609 -75.174967139.9439219 -75.2153076 39.992599899999995 -75.1346266tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-77338715883512260692013-06-07T12:01:00.000-04:002013-08-13T09:10:00.175-04:00"I Love Trash..."<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I think that most of us probably remember this...</span></h3>
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Well, this past week I met some bees who also love trash. Got a call from a woman who had been away for 2 weeks and returned home to find some bees living in her trash can. This is what I found when I arrived...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bees attached comb to trash can lid</td></tr>
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Well, I'll be! I guess the bees don't care too much about where they make their home! You can see the trash bag in the can, the can was practically full of trash and the bees had very little space. But that didn't stop them from settling in. Makes me laugh when I think about how people will argue over which kind of bee hive is best for the bees - Langstroth hive, Top Bar hive, Warre hive, Golden Mean hive - well, I think I'm gonna start marketing the "Rubbermaid Trash Can Hive" (comes with trash)!</div>
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I decided that instead of doing the removal in this little courtyard, I would take the entire trash can lid, comb and all, and bring it to one of my apiaries so that I could relax and take my time and set the hive up immediately. Here's how I transported the lid (what else would I use in this case, but a trash bag)...<br />
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The second part of the video shows me placing a nuc on top of the trash can in order to collect all of the foragers that were out working when I relocated their home. I went back the following night and collected the nuc. It worked beautifully.</div>
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I brought the bees to my apiary in Francisville where I had an empty hive looking for some new bees. I turned the lid upside down and started to gently remove the fragile comb.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most of the comb removed</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My work station, on top of an empty top bar hive</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Placing comb in the hive</td></tr>
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My queen luck has been very good lately and that trend continued. I was able to find and cage the queen in this hair clip style queen cage. There are a few workers in with her. Caging the queen helps to ensure that the bees won't up and leave their new home. I will leave her in the cage for a day or two and then let her out so she can get to work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbkgL0vvN3HI0hgQ9mmsGWr1zynsy6jiv_sG9cga2P1AOT42VNpRv7uXaANKstY1Tw415dJr-3mHtwXUsmt_CFxBeB1SvNOsG408MtQlccoiwKDkZrj0_iMAwTiIni3Ss0enQVLXYRdmC/s1600/2013-06-05+13.02.38-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbkgL0vvN3HI0hgQ9mmsGWr1zynsy6jiv_sG9cga2P1AOT42VNpRv7uXaANKstY1Tw415dJr-3mHtwXUsmt_CFxBeB1SvNOsG408MtQlccoiwKDkZrj0_iMAwTiIni3Ss0enQVLXYRdmC/s320/2013-06-05+13.02.38-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen at the bottom, the one with long slender abdomen</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen cage is under that mass of bees</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KCeCHzvDZorRso1WkMAFhgXJsOT4mRWgVvs5PQd6MhArkxGwH3nmHhhFSB23IMDguTLD85HEaTILcaP4EXlZtraerrd0g2CX-Pk6SxUVnEYbFzDZjmWfhdWnJgITJ2FpQ1A0U97A6Ct8/s1600/2013-06-05+13.24.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KCeCHzvDZorRso1WkMAFhgXJsOT4mRWgVvs5PQd6MhArkxGwH3nmHhhFSB23IMDguTLD85HEaTILcaP4EXlZtraerrd0g2CX-Pk6SxUVnEYbFzDZjmWfhdWnJgITJ2FpQ1A0U97A6Ct8/s320/2013-06-05+13.24.44.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here I moved the queen cage down in between the frames</td></tr>
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So that was basically it. I closed up the bees and left them alone. That was the quickest and easiest removal job I have ever done! I'm lovin' it!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com4Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA39.9559288 -75.15745670000001239.8585748 -75.31881820000001 40.053282800000005 -74.996095200000013tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-88043820424217202962013-05-19T20:57:00.000-04:002013-05-20T22:00:39.625-04:00First Swarm of the Year, North PhillyI got an early birthday gift (the day before my bday) from the Queen Bee Goddess. She sent me a beautiful swarm. Thanks to Alison for reaching out to the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild about the swarm in her yard (and for taking video). And thanks to Russ for helping me catch the swarm. I was able to find and cage the queen, which helped make the swarm capture very easy because the workers all followed the scent of the queen whom was placed in the swarm box. After catching the swarm I took it home and set it up on the roof.
Have a look...<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5u-Rv58nG5Q" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<b><u><span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span></u></b> I released the queen today (May 20th) and the worker bees quickly proceeded to kill her! I believe that she was the old queen and she was probably well past her prime. I was able to find another queen in the hive and she appeared to be younger and maybe even a virgin. I will give them a few weeks and check for signs of a laying queen. It is not that unusual for a swarm to have more than one queen, like an insurance policy until they get settled into a new home.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com3Philadelphia, PA 19133, USA39.9938284 -75.13994430000002539.9694984 -75.180284800000024 40.0181584 -75.099603800000025tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-34864179143385320392013-04-10T17:10:00.001-04:002013-05-14T09:02:29.956-04:00My 15 Minutes of FameLast month I was interviewed and photographed by the awesome folks at <a href="http://www.gridphilly.com/" target="_blank">Grid Magazine</a>. Well, here's the fruits of their (and my) labor. Click the picture below to enlarge it. And check out the rest of the magazine while you're lookin'. If it doesn't open directly on the page, navigate to page 14 to see the article.<br />
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<iframe width="525" height="351" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.html#0/2191765" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-78014968021897728462013-04-02T21:26:00.000-04:002013-04-10T17:28:31.983-04:00"Oh Doom and Disaster, What Absence of Mind!"The title of this post is taken from a favorite children's book that we read in our house, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Schnitzel-Krumm-Forget-Me-Not-Maclary-Friends/dp/0140562354/ref=pd_sim_b_1" target="_blank">Schnitzel Von Krumm - Forget Me Not</a> and it succinctly sums up how I felt when I discovered the disaster in my bee yards this winter. In the story, a family is packing their car to go on vacation while their little weiner dog, Schnitzel Von Krumm, excitedly runs around getting in the way of everything as they continually shoo him out of the way, too busy to mind him. Turns out that the family is so busy getting ready to leave that when they actually do leave, they forget to bring the dog with them. The following is the story of how I was so busy that I forgot some very basic beekeeping rules. I have been putting off writing this post because it still hurts when I think about what happened this winter with some of my bees; something that could have been prevented with a little less "Absence of Mind". If you are a beekeeper, please learn from my mistake! Well, here goes nothing...<br />
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On one of the warmish days in late February, I took the opportunity to make a quick check on my hives. I went to Woodford House first to check on the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/10/busy-summer-part-2-swarms.html" target="_blank">Honda swarm</a> hive and the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2012/04/first-honey-bee-swarm-of-year.html" target="_blank">Conshy swarm</a> hive. I pulled up and saw that the Conshy hive was flying but the Honda hive was not, which was a little strange because Honda had been the stronger hive and was heading into its 3rd summer. As I inspected the Honda hive, I didn't see any bees until I got to the 2nd to last box and I came upon a small cluster of dead bees. Hmm, OK, not the first hive of bees to have died under my watch, let's take it apart and see what happened this time. I go into the bottom box and I see an absolute mess. I see the rest of the cluster of dead bees, many of them decapitated. And I see comb that has been destroyed and chewed up, small wax flakes all over the place.<br />
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I'm thinking, what the hell could have done this? I have never seen this kind of destruction in a hive. Takes me a minute to realize the answer - Ohhh, I know, this must be what mouse damage looks like! Upon closer inspection, the tell-tale sign of mouse poop confirms my suspicion. I look down at the entrance to the hive and the entrance reducer, the little piece of wood that limits the size of the entrance, is not set on the smallest setting, which is what I usually do heading into winter to keep the mice out. A big mistake! Do I know for sure that the mouse was the reason this hive died? No, and it is even possible that the bees were already dead when the mouse moved in. But in this case I am going to assume that the mouse was at least part of the problem, if not all of the problem. There was plenty of honey in the hive, so that wasn't an issue. If a mouse takes up residence in a hive when the weather is still pretty cold, the bees won't break their cluster to try to drive the mouse out or kill it. So as long as the mouse stays away from the cluster of bees, it can have its way in the rest of the hive. DAMN, very stupid mistake!<br />
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I took a box of honey from this dead hive and put it on top of the hive next door, which was doing just fine (no mouse problem because the entrance was reduced to the smallest possible size - about the width of a few bees). So the tiny silver lining is that I have plenty of honey to donate to the remaining bees and maybe even enough for a small spring harvest. Here are some pictures...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dead cluster of bees around the middle frame</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damaged frames, comb is chewed out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP-Hm_fhxBRoO5EGE7FQ3VR3A0BYCDk9CqEyP0aIZbDTAXw2QGuvJ5xBH6AaIiPYDKvrOcDid0WYjLZ2MvFYS8gGPHmDIKjIai166Kw87VRyO_n79JVLP2vksIUDMmLXApEd4ZQEqAhM3/s1600/ZtqFggy9iFgwdpmXFNf2fvMclddyrwmanivC7aZ465M,xywI5bjt1RHgGTV5cs1PbccuduKaRWFJOFR3Lne4r4g.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOP-Hm_fhxBRoO5EGE7FQ3VR3A0BYCDk9CqEyP0aIZbDTAXw2QGuvJ5xBH6AaIiPYDKvrOcDid0WYjLZ2MvFYS8gGPHmDIKjIai166Kw87VRyO_n79JVLP2vksIUDMmLXApEd4ZQEqAhM3/s400/ZtqFggy9iFgwdpmXFNf2fvMclddyrwmanivC7aZ465M,xywI5bjt1RHgGTV5cs1PbccuduKaRWFJOFR3Lne4r4g.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top frame has wood damage in bottom left corner. Bottom frame has no comb left at all.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bottom Board full of debris, dead bees and wax</td></tr>
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Still kicking and cursing myself, I left Woodford and figured I should go check on my other Francisville hives just to take a quick look. Both of the hives in Francisville have been strong and healthy for the past few years. One of them was from a <a href="http://www.wolfcreekbees.com/" target="_blank">Wolf Creek Apiaries</a> package and the other was from the removal job at <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/04/bee-removal-at-oakland-cemetery.html" target="_blank">Oakland Cemetery</a>.<br />
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When I get to the apiary, I don't see any bees flying - not a good sign. I quickly open up one hive, taking off box by box and I am not finding a single bee inside the hive! Nothing, nada, zilch, zip, totally empty! As I get to the bottom two boxes, I see the same type of mouse damage I saw at Woodford, double DAMN! Now I am really upset. I move over to the next hive and repeat the same woeful experience - zero bees to be found, mouse damage for a third time! I am beside myself. My guess is that the mouse moved in and was somehow disturbing the bees so much that they said "We're outta here" and they just up and left, in the middle of winter, leaving behind pounds and pounds of honey!<br />
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Oh doom and disaster! A perfectly preventable disaster, assuming the mice were the cause. This was my worst day of beekeeping since I started this whole endeavor. The thought occurs to me that I am going to quit this beekeeping thing and the thought stays with me until I get home and pick up the phone to order some new bees for the summer. Is that a sure indicator that I am a full-fledged bee junkie? Wait, don't answer that...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-55614780579614858142013-02-21T15:21:00.000-05:002013-02-21T15:21:01.580-05:00Keeping Busy and Waiting for SpringIt's that time of year, when all of the beekeepers (and let's be real, everyone else too) are getting antsy for spring. It's been a few months since we had the chance to really look in our hives and we need to know what is going on in there. Yes, there have been a few warmish days when we've had the chance to see the bees flying (or not, as is the case with some of my dead hives - more on that later) but no chance for full inspections.<br />
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After 2 years as president of the <a href="http://www.phillybeekeepers.org/" target="_blank">Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild</a>, I have stepped aside to let someone else take the reins (Suzanne Matlock is now Pres, along with a great group of other officers). Even though I am no longer president, I have been keeping busy this winter with Guild events. We had our big symposium a few weeks ago and by most accounts, it went really well. And we have our beginners beekeeping course coming up this weekend, which I will be helping to teach. <br />
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I have volunteered to videotape the Guild's Natural Beekeeping Symposium events for the past 2 years and I have finally uploaded those videos to YouTube. You can view footage of John Seaborn and Sam Comfort from last year and Michael Bush from this year on my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/PhiladelphiaBees?feature=mhee" target="_blank">YouTube Channel</a>. Below is the first part of Michael Bush's talk from this year. I'll be back soon with another blog post. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oXBTmHNd_so" width="420"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0Philadelphia, PA, USA39.952335 -75.16378900000000839.5631045 -75.809236000000013 40.341565499999994 -74.518342tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-23550760796947432102013-02-01T15:39:00.000-05:002013-02-21T15:42:25.999-05:00Treatment-Free Conference - Leominster, MA<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Photos from the Northeast Treatment-Free Beekeeping Conference in Leominster, MA </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>July 27-29, 2012</b></span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">(Hey, better late than never!)</span> </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dean Stiglitz out in the apiary</u></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></td></tr>
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<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption"><u>Michael Bush Speaking</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dee Lusby Waiting to Speak</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Comfort Releasing a Queen </u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Closing Up the Package He Made</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sam Looking at a Top Bar </u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Erik Osterlund speaking, all the way from Sweden</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kirk Webster Checking Out Some Top Bar Bees</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Les Crowder Talking Bees</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Treatment Free Mascot</u></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0Leominster, MA, USA42.5250906 -71.75979442.4314716 -71.9211555 42.618709599999995 -71.5984325tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-15771460178634169862012-12-15T11:54:00.000-05:002012-12-15T12:06:58.967-05:00Fun With Hot Wax.......No, not that kind of fun! I'm talking about making beeswax candles! Needing my honeybee "fix" during the cold winter weather and needing some holiday gifts to give, I decided that I would make candles this year. It was fun and it went well. I have been collecting and saving wax for the past 3 years and it was time to put it to use. Here are some photos to help tell the story and learn you how we did it...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPdLhhTjAEGEB0Is0b0KzzGzJdPOea22kq5ACwkPnHaEAToqgI-7jjcQrTJn-6OutkNJOvtWu9uMqBH8buf_rm-R-DAnIACIy7pk19UBsWqk95tR1EMEplW3YZB6RjR-uSQvsr-Vf19luX/s1600/20121208_141330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPdLhhTjAEGEB0Is0b0KzzGzJdPOea22kq5ACwkPnHaEAToqgI-7jjcQrTJn-6OutkNJOvtWu9uMqBH8buf_rm-R-DAnIACIy7pk19UBsWqk95tR1EMEplW3YZB6RjR-uSQvsr-Vf19luX/s320/20121208_141330.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First step in cleaning old comb, melt in water bath</td></tr>
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After melting the wax in a water bath, I let the wax cool and harden. The debris will settle to the bottom of the wax "cake". You can scrape off the large pieces of debris. Then melt the wax again and pour the liquid wax through a fine strainer to get the small pieces of debris out. You may need to strain it a few times. When it looks really clean, pour it into a mold (Tupperware container, Trader Joe's cookie container - see wax below). If your wax is too hot when you pour it, you will melt your plastic containers (I speak from experience on this one!). And oh yeah, don't use your cooking pots for doing this stuff, they will get ruined.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleaned Wax</td></tr>
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Above you can see the cleaned wax. Notice the different colors. This is mainly determined by the age of the comb - the older the comb, the darker the wax. Some people use chemicals to lighten the wax and some say leaving it in the sun can lighten it. I kind of like the variety of colors. The lightest wax is obtained from the wax cappings you get during honey extraction.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Melting Clean Wax Before Pouring in Molds</td></tr>
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To prepare the wax for pouring into molds, you want to melt it using a double-boiler, water bath method. Don't melt the wax directly in a pot over fire, wax is flammable and no one wants a fire in their kitchen!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQqYlCLnWvYQpNEZkAFg-gNItTm7_YLoZ8wAxV3jTJtoAv8RagDj-biV7HNtmP4pB9KyI73UK7wYyoDGXFtvSz_a90ZlSqYGdX4xsJHuD7YsDwpUaUCBfytT96vmxVA3Du1vVUgWOh1LW/s1600/20121208_145703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQqYlCLnWvYQpNEZkAFg-gNItTm7_YLoZ8wAxV3jTJtoAv8RagDj-biV7HNtmP4pB9KyI73UK7wYyoDGXFtvSz_a90ZlSqYGdX4xsJHuD7YsDwpUaUCBfytT96vmxVA3Du1vVUgWOh1LW/s320/20121208_145703.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT6rnBhT_7VZOoJUizvsgISMe-jNFAYg-YFMRykYSu2sGyS8I33nKiql2qAXhEKj2w_GhBXJgUr8JLYikjrbdQMJvGYcy0j_FjyErjMBCRFhudjlltisw2cUAwPQf8jokw1eeSQFAL1op4/s1600/20121208_145614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT6rnBhT_7VZOoJUizvsgISMe-jNFAYg-YFMRykYSu2sGyS8I33nKiql2qAXhEKj2w_GhBXJgUr8JLYikjrbdQMJvGYcy0j_FjyErjMBCRFhudjlltisw2cUAwPQf8jokw1eeSQFAL1op4/s320/20121208_145614.jpg" width="240" /></a> </div>
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Here you can see me helping the kids pour the hot wax into the votive molds. Notice the beehive skep mold also, it is filled with hot wax. Rubbing some vegetable oil inside of the molds helps the finished candles to release from the molds more easily (they also sell silicone sprays for this). I bought preassembled wicks for the votives (see below). I had to install the wick in the beehive skep mold. The wick comes through a tiny hole in the bottom of the mold and then must be secured at the top so the wick stays straight. I tied the wick to a small piece of wood on top (piece of shish-kabob skewer).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKQRRLppUj-1zGv514NC8hSYRZY3PAgS6JJ__WvbT_ccV0TdSqOParBKx13kvgTijbp-94QPwD0g_riE-rPLikcin4My9G6QdgSONEVLHljRy8tFAnCXqOlKoypMbHasQ3Rhf4gVTnr3E/s1600/20121208_145850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKQRRLppUj-1zGv514NC8hSYRZY3PAgS6JJ__WvbT_ccV0TdSqOParBKx13kvgTijbp-94QPwD0g_riE-rPLikcin4My9G6QdgSONEVLHljRy8tFAnCXqOlKoypMbHasQ3Rhf4gVTnr3E/s320/20121208_145850.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXV8W60hy_FenlM4NGZNzxQ3hvDP3VKCCAfXWZoz5tlWbU3mlstT0JaWMo07O8XZFOAR4zN0cDykr_WGELtuj6j5azdLxlmy7ipsXdid-SJvnNZogpRd7oJcmrdzed10IGD5WAMcV8Z8lW/s1600/20121208_145911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXV8W60hy_FenlM4NGZNzxQ3hvDP3VKCCAfXWZoz5tlWbU3mlstT0JaWMo07O8XZFOAR4zN0cDykr_WGELtuj6j5azdLxlmy7ipsXdid-SJvnNZogpRd7oJcmrdzed10IGD5WAMcV8Z8lW/s320/20121208_145911.jpg" width="240" /></a> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">P</span>utting the wicks in the votives. You must wait until the wax cools a bit, or else the wicks will wilt and won't be straight. Once you see a little cooled wax around the rim of the mold, you can gently insert the wick. The kids did a great job. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooled and Ready to Remove</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUW7BHUSyrNRC9s_7L66HD8iYY5Ytk9dfxwSFi2DQeyPZIWvt-u9ZfrsFTLXnXrByPbFn-i1I56jXpVnPigjGgHud8anAajFNkI_s7n4GTCl7QQE4rPbmkojEL9WZGYm56LV6umVQYg4xd/s1600/20121208_170208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUW7BHUSyrNRC9s_7L66HD8iYY5Ytk9dfxwSFi2DQeyPZIWvt-u9ZfrsFTLXnXrByPbFn-i1I56jXpVnPigjGgHud8anAajFNkI_s7n4GTCl7QQE4rPbmkojEL9WZGYm56LV6umVQYg4xd/s320/20121208_170208.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous!</td></tr>
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We also poured some tapers. These were the most challenging, mainly because of installing the wicks. The wick had to be threaded through a small hole in the bottom and then secured on top, just like the beehive mold (except 10 inches long!). With some creative threading, I finally got the hang of it (used the shish-kabob skewers again). They do sell wicking needles for this, but I didn't buy one. When pouring these, one must not forget to plug the wick hole in the bottom of the mold, lest hot wax comes oozing out all over your kitchen table (yes, speaking from experience again!). You can use a small bit of hard beeswax to plug the holes and it works just peachy.</div>
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The tapers were also a little tougher to get out of the molds. After they had hardened and cooled down, I placed the entire mold in the freezer, which caused the wax to contract and made it much easier to get the candles out. </div>
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The fruits of our labor. Not bad for our first attempt. I have a bit more wax left for some more candles and we're also going to try to make some lip balm. Fun fun fun... </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-31904008611968947982012-10-02T13:01:00.000-04:002016-06-01T13:14:39.972-04:00Honey Bees, Wasps and Hornets - Oh My! Or, What kind of "bees" are these?Since I started doing bee removal jobs in the Philadelphia region, I have fielded tons of calls that end up being about stinging insects other than honey bees. I don't deal with these other insects, I refer them out to someone else. I wanted to create a quick guide that will help people to learn about whether their bees are honey bees or not, because even though we like to call everything that flies and stings a "bee", that is surely not the truth.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">
Is it a Honey Bee Hive?</span></h2>
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Is it hanging from a tree or from the eaves of your house or your window? <a href="https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&authuser=0&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1525&bih=725&q=wasp+nest&oq=wasp+nest&gs_l=img.3..0l10.3844.6205.0.6933.9.8.0.1.1.0.167.939.2j6.8.0...0.0...1ac.1.jaY0CmD-IG8" target="_blank">Does it look grayish and kind of papery? Does it look like clay or mud? Does it look like any of these?</a> Did you just notice it in July as it started to grow larger?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCM7LvCFzmUVo21cHdBviFXsdNddQptcnTayw_aq5g3XpjEt5zSsPWA-u-JLs-I8KEE3LXYDsYR_FIVen4EYvgHcOfRSx4iRWBkMCdpwYxNV0LeeZ5RsIvorCKB-Ed5c-G82FG99ARBRH/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-10-02+at+11.42.45+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCM7LvCFzmUVo21cHdBviFXsdNddQptcnTayw_aq5g3XpjEt5zSsPWA-u-JLs-I8KEE3LXYDsYR_FIVen4EYvgHcOfRSx4iRWBkMCdpwYxNV0LeeZ5RsIvorCKB-Ed5c-G82FG99ARBRH/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-10-02+at+11.42.45+AM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images from Google Search for "Wasp Nest"</td></tr>
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If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes", then we are <b><u>not</u></b> dealing with honey bees. In fact, chances are, if the hive is out in the open and you can see it, they are <b>not</b> honey bees.</div>
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Honey bees usually build their colonies <b>inside</b> of structures (whether those "structures" are walls, eaves, roofs, trees, planters, birdhouses, fire hydrants, etc - doesn't matter too much to the bees). And remember that honeycomb is made out of <b>beeswax,</b> not mud or twigs or papery substances. There are <i><u>rare</u></i> occasions when honey bees will start building their hive from a tree limb out in the open, but that doesn't happen too often in our climate (Philadelphia, PA, USA). And if it did, the comb would look white and waxy, not gray and papery or muddy and you would see many, many bees on the comb. Here is what honeycomb looks like...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhypheno8QbcE_EQC-bJ-mcagXn4Pz5_bprTTpqKV175G4QlqyrP1MrhnuZFNhs7KbHJ1TlJaqTxriSY4d2zqamn-ssAwDU7Gf-kne6SxK6SLT7FVQtiEF3gLvYVJJgAMfxMjRWJLKjBE055wq/s1600/IMG_2052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhypheno8QbcE_EQC-bJ-mcagXn4Pz5_bprTTpqKV175G4QlqyrP1MrhnuZFNhs7KbHJ1TlJaqTxriSY4d2zqamn-ssAwDU7Gf-kne6SxK6SLT7FVQtiEF3gLvYVJJgAMfxMjRWJLKjBE055wq/s320/IMG_2052.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Large sheets of honeycomb</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJsbKjtVbOYJkr5jBKJ4FFA-F3C69LmQK3wP2Xb3ZnW-C626dL_6DkDCKpWxXLCvB6rk4G1mVBOMNEQ47gzDyHaxNSDsIuC_C-m25uLSBTnmrJbuBAHG_9nMlResMoIyTxw7rwsq96DmT/s1600/P1010286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJsbKjtVbOYJkr5jBKJ4FFA-F3C69LmQK3wP2Xb3ZnW-C626dL_6DkDCKpWxXLCvB6rk4G1mVBOMNEQ47gzDyHaxNSDsIuC_C-m25uLSBTnmrJbuBAHG_9nMlResMoIyTxw7rwsq96DmT/s320/P1010286.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comb in a wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRSK9vLUR2T16W_QD5jWGlnwUZknsOZj6KMZz93r0Usr9QSrhRD5hFziuVB_lt2iuLCpuKF4wiM9qyhhmyvJ8xIiaDOxZa8GFxz88fn0Du03lfki89gs9HZRujm2uxNW4NtMO1ipZ3JdV/s1600/IMG_1057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRSK9vLUR2T16W_QD5jWGlnwUZknsOZj6KMZz93r0Usr9QSrhRD5hFziuVB_lt2iuLCpuKF4wiM9qyhhmyvJ8xIiaDOxZa8GFxz88fn0Du03lfki89gs9HZRujm2uxNW4NtMO1ipZ3JdV/s320/IMG_1057.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wavy comb in the ceiling</td></tr>
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One other important point is that a honey bee hive will have LOTS of activity and traffic on a nice summer day. You will see tens, if not hundreds, of bees coming and going every minute. If it is a nice warm summer day and you are only seeing a few insects here and there every few minutes, chances are they are not honey bees. A mature honey bee colony will have <b>tens of thousands</b> of bees in it, while most social wasp and hornet colonies will have hundreds (or less) to maybe a few thousand.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">
Is it a Honey Bee Swarm?</span></h2>
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I also get calls about a "humungous swarm of bees" flying all over our yard and attacking our children - only to find out that its 10 yellow-jackets eating a lollipop that one of the kids threw on the ground. A swarm of Honeybees has THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of bees in it. If they are flying, they will fill the air like a scene from a hollywood movie. If the swarm has landed, it will be in a cluster the size of a grapefruit at the minimum and a beachball or larger at the maximum. No other stinging insect swarms and clusters like this, so if you are seeing this phenomenon, it is most assuredly honey bees that you are seeing. Swarming is the natural way that honey bee colonies reproduce and it is a totally normal and typical event for honey bees.<br />
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One other important thing to remember is that <u><b>honey bees that are in swarm mode are</b> <b>very</b> <b>docile</b></u>. So even though it looks scary, there is nothing to worry about. Before leaving their previous home, they all gorged on honey in order to have some resources on hand when they set up their new home, so all of the bees have that post-Thanksgiving dinner tryptophan feeling. If they could be sitting on the couch watching football, they would be! While the swarm is gathered on the tree/fence post/fire hydrant/wherever, they are scouting for a new home (hopefully not in the walls of your house) and most swarms will move on in a day or two if left alone. But, <b>if you see a swarm, definitely call or email me. </b>Beekeepers love to catch swarms and it is pretty cool to watch. If you can't get a hold of me, try this <a href="http://www.phillybeekeepers.org/swarms-and-removals/" target="_blank">list of beekeepers willing to pick up swarms</a>. Here are some photos of honey bee swarms to help...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD011Gyy91F-h_85q6K_k1XBAg65z_zTedlKhfxGPz075yww5n_n4mB6-amvj_6kz6tfjFB2QKNTM4-juR0DJSy7T-b4yEtGJtjiB5Jqv7_Wj_IPhbHEkCE-M9BpbeHnN_Lz8Voi2iNCcF/s1600/IMG_1643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD011Gyy91F-h_85q6K_k1XBAg65z_zTedlKhfxGPz075yww5n_n4mB6-amvj_6kz6tfjFB2QKNTM4-juR0DJSy7T-b4yEtGJtjiB5Jqv7_Wj_IPhbHEkCE-M9BpbeHnN_Lz8Voi2iNCcF/s320/IMG_1643.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarm on bleachers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarm on tree limb</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarm on ground in bush</td></tr>
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And a (grainy!) video of a swarm in progress (turn up the volume!)...</div>
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And finally, I know it can be tough to differentiate between a honey bee and a yellow-jacket and a bumblebee and a hornet or one of the many other flying, stinging insects. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and_bees" target="_blank">Here is a decent guide.</a> And here is an adorable picture of a honey bee, notice the fuzzy mid-section, which wasps and hornets do not have (photo courtesy of Amy Hsu)...<br />
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You can always call me to help you identify the insect, but hopefully this little guide has helped!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-8630965862185771852012-10-02T10:07:00.000-04:002012-10-02T11:17:36.646-04:00A Bevy of Bumbles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Well, we here a lot of news these days about bee die-offs, pollinator shortages, pesticide poisonings and other doomsday proclamations but things are looking just peachy in our little neighborhood. I went out in the yard about 10 days ago and what I saw made my jaw drop open. I saw a bumblebee bacchanalia on the sedum that has rapidly spread in our yard from one plant that I inherited from my dad's container garden collection. </div>
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You can see a few honeybees on the sedum too in the video. Bees always love this plant and its nice because it is a late season bloomer. But I have never seen anything like this. The kids and I were petting the bumblebees and they were so nectar-drunk that they didn't care a wink. Here are a few stills - you can even see pollen grains on their fuzzy little backs (click on the photos to enlarge them).<br />
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Oh, and here's another picture from earlier in the summer. I put out one of the filters I use for cleaning beeswax and it's lovely smell attracted a plethora of pollinators. Here you can see some honey bees, a red wasp, some yellow-jackets and a teensy wittle itty bitty fly in the upper left all happily co-existing (well, there was a little jousting, but they were hanging out on this together all morning that day).<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-11715610998185632302012-08-20T08:18:00.000-04:002016-08-20T08:20:03.366-04:00<h2>
Attendees of Guild Meeting on Thurs, Aug 18, 2016 can download Adam's Powerpoint <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2Fms_Sbh9GVMHRCYXUxU0NRRXc" target="_blank">"3 Steps to Healthier Bees" here</a>. In order for the links to be active, you will need to download it and not just view it in Google Drive.</h2>
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<br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">Adam can be reached at phillybees at gmail dot com if you have any questions. Thanks!</span></h3>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-58906866844014684242012-08-20T08:13:00.000-04:002016-08-20T08:38:01.723-04:00Three Steps to Healthier Bees<h2>
Attendees of Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild Meeting on Thurs, Aug 18, 2016 can download Adam's Powerpoint presentation <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2Fms_Sbh9GVdUdDbFlQelFXYjA" target="_blank">"3 Steps to Healthier Bees" here. </a></h2>
<h3>
<br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">Adam can be reached at phillybees at gmail dot com if you have any questions. Thanks!</span></h3>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-32653865229251793492012-08-14T20:48:00.001-04:002012-08-15T16:38:19.690-04:00Strange Removals Part III know you have been waiting with bated breath, so here is the rest of the story of my <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-summer-of-strange-removal-jobs-part-i.html" target="_blank">Summer of Strange Removals</a>. After the Conshohocken job, the next bee removal job was in Northeast Philly at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disston_Saw_Works" target="_blank">Disston Precision</a>, a company that dates back to 1850 and is still functioning as a manufacturer of custom steel supplies, including saw blades. The bees were living in a window cavity, where the window had been removed and the space boarded up. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrj-r3hxQcdccV4ddqGBAGr9aVm7u2li-ka1PTuTZHas1BahmezrVwi7_W3hFsS-lEOE25dhu00VdMlWJx5PeUfk2EhcRjFHYiFURJn-iL7L1B4w6Ev9DhSJmzb7YZalzAQ7oyDbWldjL/s1600/P1010087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrj-r3hxQcdccV4ddqGBAGr9aVm7u2li-ka1PTuTZHas1BahmezrVwi7_W3hFsS-lEOE25dhu00VdMlWJx5PeUfk2EhcRjFHYiFURJn-iL7L1B4w6Ev9DhSJmzb7YZalzAQ7oyDbWldjL/s320/P1010087.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View From Outside</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2EJLUywUb7xuMWkAwiECnYeMMKSFfpbPZh3Cw0YHeEpNeT9bUSMZLgZ2plr8foxW_swKO4h_yx7iZ_KMJUr0EYL2jSvq3NVebSqVSvg4AWVhqtXjUy3GomKUdBO2cw9t-zybLU4I1Sq5/s1600/P1010090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG2EJLUywUb7xuMWkAwiECnYeMMKSFfpbPZh3Cw0YHeEpNeT9bUSMZLgZ2plr8foxW_swKO4h_yx7iZ_KMJUr0EYL2jSvq3NVebSqVSvg4AWVhqtXjUy3GomKUdBO2cw9t-zybLU4I1Sq5/s320/P1010090.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View From Inside</td></tr>
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We felt that this would be a fairly straightforward job - we'd just remove the large piece of plywood on the inside of the window, expose the hive and remove the bees and comb. And this is pretty much how things went. Although, when we opened the cavity, once again we saw very few bees in the hive. But have a look at these huge, gorgeous sheets of comb.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQsm1qWjuDNDa1WLg8XVyzRjshUyA8EifvC7GZHZQ76V3EwoN3vEPu31KoM4qgMzetzMSPLYv1t8CskpNlC5PGq_5GRFlu9OCNx-iTkqHC3tJbIe2iZGb3jdGPSvruy98M_gQdFLAC9Uv/s1600/IMG_2052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQsm1qWjuDNDa1WLg8XVyzRjshUyA8EifvC7GZHZQ76V3EwoN3vEPu31KoM4qgMzetzMSPLYv1t8CskpNlC5PGq_5GRFlu9OCNx-iTkqHC3tJbIe2iZGb3jdGPSvruy98M_gQdFLAC9Uv/s640/IMG_2052.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the bottom of the comb</td></tr>
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We gradually removed sheet after sheet of comb and while we were seeing some bees, we were only seeing honey comb and no signs of any brood.<br />
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We got through the entire hive and there was absolutely no brood at all. No eggs, larvae or capped brood, no queen either. With no brood comb to worry about and not too many bees, this was a quick and easy job. Because there were some bees in the hive, still working and gathering nectar, the honey was clean and there were no wax moths like there were at the job in Conshohocken. Joel saved the honey to use for making mead. We vacuumed up the bees that were there and Joel just set them free near his hives so they could join another colony.<br />
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So for the third time this summer, there were basically no new bees to add to my apiaries. Because there was no queen and no brood, the genetics of this hive would not be passed on and couldn't be preserved. My guess about this hive is that they swarmed some time in the early summer and were unsuccessful at making a new queen. They probably tried to make a new queen but if the new queen somehow got damaged or killed (eaten by a bird on her mating flight?) and there were no more eggs left in the hive, this hive would eventually die out because they wouldn't be able to make a new queen. Once all of the brood were hatched and there were no more young to care for, the remaining bees are left only to
gather bunches and bunches of nectar and turn it into honey. And that's what they do, because
that's what they know how to do!<br />
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Sometimes in this queenless situation, you will get what is called a <a href="http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm" target="_blank">"laying worker"</a>. This is when, in the absence of a viable queen and with no resources to make a new queen, one or more worker bees start to lay eggs. Problem is that the workers can only lay unfertilized eggs, which become male bees or drones. This is a last ditch effort to try to perpetuate the genetics of the hive, hoping that one of the drones will be able to mate with a queen somewhere and thus carry on the genes. There is a possible exception to this hopeless drone-laying worker situation called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelytoky" target="_blank">"thelytoky"</a>. Thelytoky is when a <i>female</i> is produced from an unfertilized egg. If the laying workers can create females bees, then the colony would be able to make a new queen with one of the female eggs that the laying worker lays. Confused yet? Dee Lusby, of <a href="http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/" target="_blank">Organic Beekeepers Yahoo Group</a> fame, regularly insists that thelytoky is not as rare in honey bees as some would lead us to believe.<br />
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Ok, sorry for the biology lesson digression - back to the removal jobs. The final job of the summer was in West Philadelphia at a beautiful old Dominican Convent that is now an apartment building. The bees were entering the house through a third floor dormer and lots of bees were getting into other parts of the house via the attic and ductwork. The bees apparently had been there for several years and the owner had them sprayed earlier this summer. An unscrupulous exterminator told the homeowner that these were not honey bees so that he could spray them and make some money off of the job. Boo!!<br />
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Here we are getting things set up. The bees were entering the house near the little window to the left of the vacuum set-up. Little did we realize at this point that once again, we would not be needing the bee vac! <br />
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Finding the hive in the walls was challenging as the exterior and interior of the building were a mess of angles and weird compartments. We made a few holes in the walls and didn't find anything until our fourth attempt, the one that Jeff is working on in the picture below. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJO3ErtMLmpPMfQGQv01NvVsrQHdbzeuX5nHvk3qb68R_1XOSx08a6ZdGIlwUZhyphenhyphencMtbhxxZOjQ0UYEAbWdUFCUYc4OSRF6aLINPTWOrMPCFOIQJR-cdDLgUNqfsPo7QsIZcM7D-lgPKak/s1600/P1010282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJO3ErtMLmpPMfQGQv01NvVsrQHdbzeuX5nHvk3qb68R_1XOSx08a6ZdGIlwUZhyphenhyphencMtbhxxZOjQ0UYEAbWdUFCUYc4OSRF6aLINPTWOrMPCFOIQJR-cdDLgUNqfsPo7QsIZcM7D-lgPKak/s400/P1010282.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here is what the inside of the wall looked like. But notice, once again, NO BEES!</div>
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Looking down into the cavity, some big sheets of comb...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjlOdKjw8C_RWgMcAUBLi2Wl5byAzMRb24ww89FTf6XvEpQ9uNCc-IcWzHpn8ZcyHnNcgTnDfa0I0kpxsZgpqCxaT07N3VwQ_P5S-gHAElUaeJvJ4dGplBaHPZsgc5YZmvKC1B8Dk9fDL/s1600/P1010286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjlOdKjw8C_RWgMcAUBLi2Wl5byAzMRb24ww89FTf6XvEpQ9uNCc-IcWzHpn8ZcyHnNcgTnDfa0I0kpxsZgpqCxaT07N3VwQ_P5S-gHAElUaeJvJ4dGplBaHPZsgc5YZmvKC1B8Dk9fDL/s400/P1010286.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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There were a few bees coming and going, but we quickly realized that these were robber bees from another hive stealing the honey and that there were actually no bees living in this hive. One way to tell that the hive was being robbed was that the comb was all chewed up and raggedy with lots of capping wax on the floor.<br />
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As we proceeded to remove comb. At first all we were seeing was new, white honey comb and no brood comb. After we removed most of the honey comb, we saw that the comb kind of went around the corner down towards the bottom of the picture above. The rest of the hive ended up being under the little window. Here we found more honey and the dark brood comb and a bunch of wax moths, but still no bees, dead or alive.<br />
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We also soon realized that the few robber bees that were coming inside were quickly dying. It is normal for the bees to gather at a window during a removal job, going toward the light to try to get outside. But it is not normal for them to die within minutes. We figured that whatever had been sprayed in this hive was still killing the bees as they stole the honey. The bees that had been living here must have absconded once the insecticide was sprayed because there was no huge pile of dead bees inside the hive as one might expect when a hive is poisoned.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwo1kCIG0Bgw3xP7m3hxCwf9vROT3qLg7uQPVDPqT3yn71bsh_fOYi8KWJ0aDuNpzEQHc84jeg7uK1UwxCoxBBzdTx6vHQyz8h54KNmhSY87LpjhNjbZOLl_vOSYieRrD3eUBoKtHC8SEM/s1600/P1010291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwo1kCIG0Bgw3xP7m3hxCwf9vROT3qLg7uQPVDPqT3yn71bsh_fOYi8KWJ0aDuNpzEQHc84jeg7uK1UwxCoxBBzdTx6vHQyz8h54KNmhSY87LpjhNjbZOLl_vOSYieRrD3eUBoKtHC8SEM/s400/P1010291.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor dying bees on the window</td></tr>
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Here is a big ol' bag of contaminated honey and comb, it weighed at least 40 pounds. Because it had been sprayed, neither of us wanted anything to do with this mess so we trashed it all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhluO0qNBLF0hhk5isM_PZJbE-2W8_Mqi9kgUr_FiwgNwlEI_0OEYdyJuQfhYcIZ7HgIxr_SIRNrKpTGYOEt3xt9sAreVCAWURVQyOQWBh7gUz8yiLE12fdoUAAz4U2IaFS-HlQZH00m3Ei/s1600/P1010290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhluO0qNBLF0hhk5isM_PZJbE-2W8_Mqi9kgUr_FiwgNwlEI_0OEYdyJuQfhYcIZ7HgIxr_SIRNrKpTGYOEt3xt9sAreVCAWURVQyOQWBh7gUz8yiLE12fdoUAAz4U2IaFS-HlQZH00m3Ei/s400/P1010290.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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At the end of the day and for the 4th time this summer, I did a removal job and didn't have any bees to show for it. But the summer wasn't a total loss - it is always great to see the feral hives and how the bees organize things. And all of the homeowners were happy to have the hives and comb out of their walls. And I also made a few bucks to help support this addictive hobby of mine. My next post will be about the <a href="http://www.beeuntoothers.com/index.php/events/2012-netfb-conference" target="_blank">Treatment Free Beekeeping Conference</a> that I attended in Leominster, MA a few weeks ago. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-4934989746772805692012-07-19T18:57:00.005-04:002012-07-19T18:58:08.114-04:00A Summer of Strange Removal Jobs - Part II have done 4 honey bee removal jobs this summer and they have all been unusual in their own way. I worked with Joel and Jeff Eckel, of <a href="http://www.webeebrothers.com/" target="_blank">We Bee Brothers</a> fame, on each of the jobs (though that's not the unusual part!). Maybe this wacky hot weather is causing some of this weird stuff, who knows. Let's have ourselves a looksie...<br />
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The first removal of the summer was at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in an old abandoned Navy theater that is being renovated into medical offices. The foreman of the demolition team called me in an effort to remove and save the bees before they needed to destroy and redo the roof. The bees were entering the building in the gaping hole in the top right corner of the building. <br />
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The inside of the building was totally bombed out, there were no stairs to get up to the 2nd floor, so we had to haul our stuff up a ladder...<br />
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We would access the bees from a little bathroom and when I opened the door, my mouth dropped open. On the floor of this room was a tremendous pile of dead bees, 2 inches deep in places. I had never seen anything like it. I think that all that it meant was that this colony had been here a long time and this was just the accumulation of years of dead bees. I wish I could share the funky smell with you... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn_3wJnEwhkJW5jAwg2-AGS5DA5fCTQGsocDRK1SGBVWNJcunikeIw7r9T_clkLJqhtU37oHuHwnp3c4J_Ty4PzbJODdwxc-yFZTe2W3RMACBHxBGf95Gr1d8sci59JdGIC0CC_3nOd2H/s1600/2012-05-25+10.00.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqn_3wJnEwhkJW5jAwg2-AGS5DA5fCTQGsocDRK1SGBVWNJcunikeIw7r9T_clkLJqhtU37oHuHwnp3c4J_Ty4PzbJODdwxc-yFZTe2W3RMACBHxBGf95Gr1d8sci59JdGIC0CC_3nOd2H/s320/2012-05-25+10.00.26.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXk7XN-O8ICH1Ey_wb3rMjZdftsJEoZ-5KtwYuqqLuLpDouu_cVJge7zNwFpO7DnCNhoa4VPnjmRVpGoaPdZ2BN5A_41cseO5j-DP9kKNuCz5HTeFiqpE_x2jfsPpcSMUEThCqnl7PxW0g/s1600/2012-05-25+10.00.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXk7XN-O8ICH1Ey_wb3rMjZdftsJEoZ-5KtwYuqqLuLpDouu_cVJge7zNwFpO7DnCNhoa4VPnjmRVpGoaPdZ2BN5A_41cseO5j-DP9kKNuCz5HTeFiqpE_x2jfsPpcSMUEThCqnl7PxW0g/s320/2012-05-25+10.00.34.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Anyway, we set up some scaffolding and Jeff got to work and opened the ceiling to reveal the hive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjvAoA9HbzadMy5pWxc0mtUHOFmzm69kb9Jbm19YLxJWCJw0zqPOfNevL84hgYYsziIyOXSsb8rPdlbFDZt5l9iwuhhMjAj8T4p_esUUSo9lFPQEUMAtl5TXyYCh6BdFhskUuw1Zk4KC03/s1600/IMG_2034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjvAoA9HbzadMy5pWxc0mtUHOFmzm69kb9Jbm19YLxJWCJw0zqPOfNevL84hgYYsziIyOXSsb8rPdlbFDZt5l9iwuhhMjAj8T4p_esUUSo9lFPQEUMAtl5TXyYCh6BdFhskUuw1Zk4KC03/s320/IMG_2034.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a> We vacuumed bees and removed comb. Jeff spotted a bunch of swarm cells as he was vacuuming bees and we quickly realized that we got this hive just as they were preparing to swarm. Lucky us! We got to see 6 or 7 virgin queens hatching out of their cells, a couple of them came out right into my hands (sorry no pictures)! When a hive is getting ready to swarm the workers will keep the queens in their cells until the colony decides that it is time to swarm. The workers will feed the queens through a small hole in the queen cell and they will keep adding wax to the cell as the queen tries to emerge, effectively keeping her confined until they are ready to let her out. Once we disturbed the hive, the workers could no longer attend to the queen cells and the queens were able to leave their cells. Pretty awesome! We caught 3 of the virgin queens and put them in queen cages with a few worker bees to attend to them. We would try, unsuccessfully, to get those virgin queens mated in our beeyards.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwp8I-WT8rU40HvbskhyphenhyphenJvb4vpii_B-DLzQK24Brcqnem17v_TlTphIJHKRcX3R9sU_S7dEQlxNzosU58PxZASlr0hubOtHzt98Pq9mdeFLKs9l9QVjYDJAv8pgR8NmcG-ek2sgEvpKFwy/s1600/IMG_2032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwp8I-WT8rU40HvbskhyphenhyphenJvb4vpii_B-DLzQK24Brcqnem17v_TlTphIJHKRcX3R9sU_S7dEQlxNzosU58PxZASlr0hubOtHzt98Pq9mdeFLKs9l9QVjYDJAv8pgR8NmcG-ek2sgEvpKFwy/s320/IMG_2032.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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There were some parts of the hive that were tucked up in the rafters and we really couldn't access them without causing major structural damage to the building. I worked on tying the comb into frames in my little blue workshop (picture below) across the hall, nice ehh?<br />
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We removed as many bees and as much comb as possible and I think the demolition team just killed the remaining bees a few days later. I set these bees up in my Francisville apiary and when I went to check on them 10 days later - the hive was totally empty of bees! They left me! I think they were still in swarm mode and they just took off to who knows where. So, unfortunately, when it was all said and done I didn't get to keep the genetics and add this colony to my apiary. This is the first time I have ever had a colony abscond on me, drats!<br />
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The second removal job of the summer was in Conshohocken. Remember the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2012/04/first-honey-bee-swarm-of-year.html" target="_blank">swarm I caught earlier</a> in the summer out in Conshy? Well, a few weeks after that one, I got a call from the same homeowner telling me there was ANOTHER swarm in his yard. Here's a quick video from that second swarm in Conshy, I caught the swarm actually happening and stood in the middle of it as I took the video. It was quite an exhilarating experience to stand in the middle of these bees! Turn up the volume so you can hear them! <br />
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<iframe height="385" src="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2Fms_Sbh9GVM2N6WXFoNjF5Vms/preview" width="640">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;kjbhjkb&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe>
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I knew that both of these swarms came from a house nearby where bees were living in the walls and this was the second removal job of the summer. Joel and I did it a month after I had captured the second swarm. Fellow Guild member Amy Hsu watched us and took some great photos - all of the photos below were taken by Amy. When I got to the house and took a look at the spot where the bees had been entering the house, I saw something odd - there was no traffic going in and out. It was a warm summer day and the hive should have been busy working. I stood there for a few minutes and saw only one or two bees go in. Hmmm...<br />
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We got to work. We opened the ceiling and this is what we saw... <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pqkr10J3lDhrjfChmHX0wCkCUyWP30VGgT2zOBWTXVecUuUso6Tc91sldeLM5NcBDCYCB2RjCk8lrRky80QclHbhv3ewld16NaHBuhPNi-7C5z0QPdRtS86_EVL9kKYRIKLIeclorVPp/s1600/IMG_1057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pqkr10J3lDhrjfChmHX0wCkCUyWP30VGgT2zOBWTXVecUuUso6Tc91sldeLM5NcBDCYCB2RjCk8lrRky80QclHbhv3ewld16NaHBuhPNi-7C5z0QPdRtS86_EVL9kKYRIKLIeclorVPp/s640/IMG_1057.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wavy Honey Comb </td></tr>
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Beautiful, no? Only problem is, this comb should have been crawling with bees! But there was barely a bee to be found, what gives? My only theory is that this hive swarmed twice and then for some reason they completely abandoned this space. They had been here at least a month ago, because I saw them swarm on that day. Between then and the day that we did this job, the bees decided to skedaddle. We did come across a handful of bees, but these were just some poor, lost stragglers. There was still a decent amount of honey in the hive, and there were some other friends dining on the delectable delight...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wax Moth Larvae - Yum!</td></tr>
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When a hive is uninhabited, it doesn't take long for wax moths to move in. In the photo above you can see the larvae that have infested the honey comb. They eat the honey, beeswax and pollen that is stored in the comb. They are basically the clean up crew for empty hives. Normally the bees keep them at bay but once the bees are gone, the wax moths take over and completely destroy/clean up the comb.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bxkEJCgX8DTqLAJjpSBZKxP_EE-LWrK-nQedVbDqszR___FalpEDB6xQbS35rF4n1EHd5ttd3vrMawcKTdpNJxqYxbxwUxaBGA_nJ_QoeffcuzG9ToLajui5RrwWMvZTJxVnNsZlKHNa/s1600/IMG_1083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bxkEJCgX8DTqLAJjpSBZKxP_EE-LWrK-nQedVbDqszR___FalpEDB6xQbS35rF4n1EHd5ttd3vrMawcKTdpNJxqYxbxwUxaBGA_nJ_QoeffcuzG9ToLajui5RrwWMvZTJxVnNsZlKHNa/s400/IMG_1083.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wax Moth Cocoons </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br 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This is what the ceiling looked like. The first hole revealed nothing so we had to move the second hole over to the next joist space to find the hive. Sometimes locating the precise location of the hive is the toughest part of the job.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbObd8WsE3H7kRjwPvlnUboyo882Kr53y_RNDpnFR_RGgN1OmgtS6aUn1q_OlymAVe9cLfRNiBOgLif4igGJoh-JRWSWLBaHFVldKTxhX6WUVq3yCpzz1QzG1iTfUoIIojqToRtV6SsOD/s1600/IMG_1056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbObd8WsE3H7kRjwPvlnUboyo882Kr53y_RNDpnFR_RGgN1OmgtS6aUn1q_OlymAVe9cLfRNiBOgLif4igGJoh-JRWSWLBaHFVldKTxhX6WUVq3yCpzz1QzG1iTfUoIIojqToRtV6SsOD/s400/IMG_1056.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We cleaned out the ceiling cavity pretty well and wrapped up the job. Joel took the wax moth-laden comb to feed to his chickens, who I am sure very much appreciated the gesture!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleaned Out Ceiling Cavity</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One Lonely Little Lady</td></tr>
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So, two removal jobs and no bees to show for it (unless we count the two swarms from the Conshohocken hive, both of which are doing quite well so far). I did get some nice drawn comb from the Navy Yard bees, which I have already put into use in other hives. And I managed to salvage some other wax that I'll make into candles in the fall. I'll write about the other 2 removal jobs in my next post...<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-79305384422654246742012-07-09T21:11:00.000-04:002012-07-09T21:11:11.127-04:00Damn, It's Hot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Ridiculously hot weather so far this summer. Here in Philly we recently
had 10 consecutive days of 90+ weather. The bees seem OK with it, they
have made a lot of honey. One thing they do when it is this hot out is
called "bearding", they remove themselves from the inside of the hive at night in order to help cool it off, here's a look...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcMqRMiB3Z3dlPJ0U8JoVzrVGkZHk1SfhHMH62wsPvaNtPT8gU2QQCQX6nzWGQM4beE4nQ4WPnpZHdghEhQMJCglKrEz0QPw0ED_LYiLhwrbkgvaZ-xtT0b1Sts0OBXpjgsOapIZzjRcD/s1600/P1010272.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcMqRMiB3Z3dlPJ0U8JoVzrVGkZHk1SfhHMH62wsPvaNtPT8gU2QQCQX6nzWGQM4beE4nQ4WPnpZHdghEhQMJCglKrEz0QPw0ED_LYiLhwrbkgvaZ-xtT0b1Sts0OBXpjgsOapIZzjRcD/s320/P1010272.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey Sis, Pass Me a Beer and a Slice of Pizza</td></tr>
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<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Given that I am an urban beekeeper, I like to call this "Sittin' on the Stoop" </span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Stay Cool, y'all...</span></h3>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-68426429191086515282012-04-27T15:19:00.000-04:002012-04-27T15:19:07.564-04:00A New (Old) ApiarySo I set those <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2012/04/first-honey-bee-swarm-of-year.html" target="_blank">Conshy</a> bees up in a new apiary, a location where I have kept bees in the past - The <a href="http://www.thespringgardens.org/home.html" target="_blank">Spring Gardens Community Garden</a>. Just in case you haven't read all of the posts on my blog (!), here are some stories from the good ol' days when I kept bees in the Spring Gardens way, way back in 2009: <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2009/06/bees-in-my-britches.html" target="_blank">Bees in My Britches</a> (a must read!) and <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2009/06/waitingparts-2-and-3.html" target="_blank">The Waiting.</a><br />
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Those original Spring Garden bees didn't survive their first winter and I wasn't a hearty enough soul to continue climbing up on top of that shipping container to put more bees up there, so I focused on my other apiaries. Time passed and a few months ago I got wind that a new beekeeper and Garden member (Karen) was planning to keep bees in the garden this year. And then, knowing that I had kept bees there in the past, Karen contacted me to ask for my advice and help. So I gladly offered my input, not expecting to actually have any bees there myself. Karen had planned on keeping one hive at the garden but the beekeeping committee got the OK to place two hives there, so Karen asked if anyone else wanted to set up a hive. I jumped at the opportunity because I think its a great place for bees and I really enjoy being in there myself AND the bees would have a nice, new home in a cozy evergreen corner of the garden. Thanks Karen, for all of your work in getting this set up! <br />
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Setting up the Conshy swarm in a new hive was a breeze thanks to the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/04/bee-removal-at-oakland-cemetery.html" target="_blank">bee vac set-up</a> I used for catching the swarm. Basically I just needed to plop the box with the bees (frames already in there) onto a bottom board and voila - instant hive! We had a few onlookers and helpers, which is always fun. I set the bees up around 5:00pm and by 1:00pm the next day, they were already bringing in beautiful yellow pollen. Thanks to Karen's hubby for taking pictures!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiS63_8XbYyF83CJhGak3W4zjAnBvDCdUH4TJzB8H8A9rNAr58T6hyna3GnvqdPgROlxZDcxwqDQ5jFfh5ywGTFu-hHUMutl1H07Kr4DhHG_IlOxifbUeH0HnSBISF5eKMeAkfY9ycfJHv/s1600/P1010002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiS63_8XbYyF83CJhGak3W4zjAnBvDCdUH4TJzB8H8A9rNAr58T6hyna3GnvqdPgROlxZDcxwqDQ5jFfh5ywGTFu-hHUMutl1H07Kr4DhHG_IlOxifbUeH0HnSBISF5eKMeAkfY9ycfJHv/s320/P1010002.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting Things Ready</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ay4p9pMNuUp1lszZY86Uld-ByqIZHwBZNNfiTNigQILO6VuAjBQmwxQv_F2J-u3x9034DijcAtASvxsNsLs-45b4uqkevELv24CmOpAuWnUSYv5KJCTZX_I0DksHBt7gmlqiYpxhAlm8/s1600/P1010007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ay4p9pMNuUp1lszZY86Uld-ByqIZHwBZNNfiTNigQILO6VuAjBQmwxQv_F2J-u3x9034DijcAtASvxsNsLs-45b4uqkevELv24CmOpAuWnUSYv5KJCTZX_I0DksHBt7gmlqiYpxhAlm8/s320/P1010007.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leveling the Bottom Board of the Hive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXa0X7BrzVpBhzzGgSIymZNf4Z4lZGKzlwcz2DHaUrU36JHZ2Ww6bGamL3EHyIMlQONZESWAp87rewXRXXaYeI8ms3W7cvpcc5g9Yd4RPSZV3OVjkyp2tGFJ5BhVwHdjk5L1g52a6axt-/s1600/P1010035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXa0X7BrzVpBhzzGgSIymZNf4Z4lZGKzlwcz2DHaUrU36JHZ2Ww6bGamL3EHyIMlQONZESWAp87rewXRXXaYeI8ms3W7cvpcc5g9Yd4RPSZV3OVjkyp2tGFJ5BhVwHdjk5L1g52a6axt-/s320/P1010035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Placing Hive on Bottom Board and Removing Top of Bee Vac</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8esQzCCATwT3qlbWxEnO3tnkvZsp2SSo6zFuupbnZQe0sBbYgXz8BYPk6jJB46Qth41AiZggJLQcP-ZzZ75BDSfX8E3feI_t7Fx2EB16r-qGXM5mMryCv8fBnnXkKTpki_Kr9RB7fCNu5/s1600/P1010041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8esQzCCATwT3qlbWxEnO3tnkvZsp2SSo6zFuupbnZQe0sBbYgXz8BYPk6jJB46Qth41AiZggJLQcP-ZzZ75BDSfX8E3feI_t7Fx2EB16r-qGXM5mMryCv8fBnnXkKTpki_Kr9RB7fCNu5/s320/P1010041.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apprentice Beekeeper</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_BgYTBeceHlErfRQqv14btVgLAZNVGU05UDDKL-8R2-QR7WI9_XT9ZlAah_UFbqhWLesOmJngIHog_1LO5WsNaCTmADlPkt2UxPzkT95UtVe9abAxj08YAUE5nT9u5VzgDAvMoaOQ0Z4/s1600/P1010046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_BgYTBeceHlErfRQqv14btVgLAZNVGU05UDDKL-8R2-QR7WI9_XT9ZlAah_UFbqhWLesOmJngIHog_1LO5WsNaCTmADlPkt2UxPzkT95UtVe9abAxj08YAUE5nT9u5VzgDAvMoaOQ0Z4/s320/P1010046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a Quick Look at the Bees</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeding the Bees Some Crystallized Honey</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Center City From Behind the Hive</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bee Corral!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com0607-627 N 19th St, Philadelphia, PA 19130, USA39.9656683 -75.168789239.9595833 -75.178659700000011 39.971753299999996 -75.1589187tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-18680215519324183972012-04-25T15:27:00.000-04:002012-04-25T18:28:52.085-04:00First Honey Bee Swarm of the Year!As usual, it's been months since I wrote but I'll spare you the typical lame excuses. It was an incredibly mild winter in Philly and the bees barely stopped working all winter. They have built up quickly and some of my hives are booming already, looking like they usually do in summer. I went into the winter with 8 hives and I lost 2, both of which were weak and small at the end of last fall. I should have combined those two into one hive, which would have given them a better chance to survive the winter.<br />
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I am guessing it will be a busy year for swarming as hives build up quickly and take beekeepers by surprise (hopefully not my hives, but I wouldn't be shocked!). I had my first swarm call last week and I successfully captured and re-homed the bees. The bees swarmed from a colony living in the walls of a house in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conshohocken,_Pennsylvania" target="_blank">Conshohocken</a>. I am scheduled to remove the colony from the house in early June. The swarm settled in the neighbor's yard on a peach tree. The day they swarmed was a gorgeous sunny day, but I didn't get there until the next day, which was cold and rainy. I think there is a good chance these girls would not have made it if I didn't grab them because the next two days were nasty.<br />
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The swarm was clustered on a two fairly thick branches, about 7 feet up in the tree, so I wouldn't be able to cut these branches off. I set up a ladder so I could get closer to the swarm. I would have to quickly shake/jar the branches to get the swarm to fall off.</div>
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When I shook the tree, about half of the bees went into the box (not shown in picture), a quarter of the bees ended up on the lawn and another quarter were still in the tree. At first I wasn't sure if the queen ended up in the box, but within 5 minutes or so, I saw bees fanning and spreading <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasonov_pheromone" target="_blank">Nasonov pheromone</a> at the entrance, which is a sure sign that the queen was in da' house. I moved the box to the ground to get the bees from the lawn. If you look at this crappy video, you can see a bunch of bees flying into the hole and also some bees marching on the grass towards the entrance as they pick up the scent of the Nasonov pheromone and reunite themselves with the colony.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyw4l8IgibhKy5IUgYS11vdXN9areXrs64mq76dNsgERvBTUwZI_fgu9TLaQB3qGBnB6f78Qd7llZ9D1rHwjQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Once most of the bees from the ground were in the hive, I moved the box back up to the ladder to get the bees that had reclustered on the tree. As a side note, I used the box from the <a href="http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/bee-vac/" target="_blank">Bushkill bee vac</a> setup, which I find awesome for catching swarms.<br />
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I strapped the box on the ladder to secure it and I left it there for a few hours to give the bees a chance to rejoin their sisters and queen mama inside of the box. When I returned later in the afternoon, 99% of the bees had moved into the box, with just a small handful of stragglers holding out. I left them there, hoping that they would rejoin their parent colony back in the walls of the house. It was a successful and relatively easy swarm capture. I gave the homeowners, Danny and Abey, a small jar of honey and thanked them for helping me (and the bees!). I kept the bees in the box in my basement for two days until I had clearance to set them up at my newest apiary (story to come soon)...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com2Conshohocken, PA, USA40.0792766 -75.301571440.0671271 -75.3213124 40.0914261 -75.2818304tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-70882378996634631692011-10-04T23:04:00.000-04:002011-10-04T23:08:54.298-04:00A Busy Summer Part 2 - Swarms!This is the continuation of my <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-summer.html">Summer of Fun</a> post... <br />
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Honey bee swarms are a colony's way of reproducing and perpetuating their genetics. While there are multiple possible triggers for the swarming instinct, one of the major causes of swarming is overcrowded conditions in a hive. Preparations for swarming begin several weeks before the swarm actually happens. Because the current queen of the colony will leave with the swarm, the workers must make a new queen in order to replace the queen that leaves. The workers will produce multiple queen cells and they will prohibit the current queen from killing off the developing queens in those cells. Additionally, the workers will stop feeding the current queen in order to get her to slim down for her flight with the swarm (she hasn't flown since her mating flight which may have been a year or more ago). The entire process of swarming is a finely tuned dance that shows us the incredible decision-making process that honey bees are capable of.<br />
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Around the time when the new queens hatch, the old queen and 50-65% of the workers leave the hive in a massive cloud of bees - they are leaving the parent colony behind and will search for a new home. They gorge on honey so that they have energy for the next few days, when they will not have access to food like they would in their old home. After leaving the hive, they gather in a large cluster on a tree limb or fencepost or some other convenient spot not too far from the original hive. While they are stationed at this temporary "home", they will send out scout bees to look for the best possible cavity to make their new home in. The decision of where to make their new home is another amazing example of democratic decision-making (<a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9267.html">Honeybee Democracy</a> is a book about this process). Once they have decided on the place, the entire cluster will fly to the new spot and begin to make their new home. Now, if the beekeeper can get to the swarm while they are clustered at their temporary home (they may stay clustered like this for a few days), it is relatively easy to catch the entire swarm, queen and all, and place them in a hive. Because they don't really have a home to defend and they are honey-drunk, swarm bees are generally very docile (see this video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmLo2D9LFGs">here</a>).<br />
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Meanwhile, back at the parent colony, the new queens are hatching and killing each other, its survival of the fittest. The most bad-ass queen wins! (Although sometimes a hive will "throw multiple swarms" and a few bad-ass queens can win.)<br />
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In general, if a swarm leaves from one of your hives and you don't catch it, you are a sad beekeeper - you just lost a bunch of bees and a lot of honey! But, if you catch a swarm from a wild hive or someone else's hive - FREE BEES!<br />
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Alright alright, on to the story of my swarm captures this summer...<b><br /> </b><br />
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<b>The Bleacher Swarm</b><br />
I got a call one afternoon about a swarm near a church on Cheltenham Avenue not too far off of Route 611. I packed my car, hopped in and drove to the scene. I arrived to see this, pretty freakin' cool...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just hanging out!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from below</td></tr>
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I brought the bee-vac setup (without the vacuum) because its a good way to transport bees, it offers good ventilation and an easy setup once you get the bees to the apiary. It worked out really well. I basically put the box under the cluster and gently dislodged the cluster, they fell into the box.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stragglers making their way into the box to be with queenie</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few bees with their butts sticking up in the air, spreading pheromones to let the others know the queen is in the house</td></tr>
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This capture went super smoothly, very easy. I closed up the box and drove them home. I set this swarm up in a hive on my roof. They are doing great.<br />
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<b>The Honda Swarm </b><br />
This swarm call didn't go so smoothly because I was unprepared and rushed. I will let the pictures get the story rolling...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarm is near the ground under this bush</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozoO1wGawXqIpOEy11WAoNg8nrFHf80L50sFOBjX88wtW5lUkQ4Beyu0cKAF3GIUdDwdjDcQOLpYZFWMN5AEvL6P0Om2LRAIc8zwS9QZt1kORC_o5omkuRPUnsCZedAYQhvQ7cFEyd6X2/s1600/IMG_1395.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozoO1wGawXqIpOEy11WAoNg8nrFHf80L50sFOBjX88wtW5lUkQ4Beyu0cKAF3GIUdDwdjDcQOLpYZFWMN5AEvL6P0Om2LRAIc8zwS9QZt1kORC_o5omkuRPUnsCZedAYQhvQ7cFEyd6X2/s400/IMG_1395.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I clipped off the branch into this nuc box, about half of the bees went into the box</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My first mistake was closing this box. You can see the bees gathering on it because the queen is inside with the other half of the bees. I closed it because I was in a rush and I didn't want the bees inside to fly away. I also think it was a mistake to use this box because it is screened, and therefore open to the light, on the top and the bottom. At this point I figured well OK, I will place this entire box into my large Rubbermaid container and I'll put it all in my trunk and drive home. Problem was that the nuc box didn't fit into my other container (and the Rubbermaid didn't fit into the trunk!). So I decided, my second mistake, to place this box on my passenger seat and drive home this way. The worst that could happen is that the bees on the outside of the box would fly around a bit, but at least I had the queen locked up in the box. Besides, I had to get back to work!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0o7A-om840gTVzx7nQXvmGVcUas-ShSOP4o9fqT_4CAh12ytugR2BxghCWBosjXNathJwS2_6nyqxLlbd3QyT9IMzt2FLyX9elbLRvUV8INmhKDxLrfQDCIhoPOudUA1PYz_v7H_jTYu/s1600/IMG_1396.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0o7A-om840gTVzx7nQXvmGVcUas-ShSOP4o9fqT_4CAh12ytugR2BxghCWBosjXNathJwS2_6nyqxLlbd3QyT9IMzt2FLyX9elbLRvUV8INmhKDxLrfQDCIhoPOudUA1PYz_v7H_jTYu/s400/IMG_1396.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, you can see that the bees didn't stay in place!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwABUBktWbGL3VETp9M_Mk2AwMu29TbmmKO1LzV4l_ND1ycQzPHNf-sJjIody2BhRuG-BUo7c6MEKqcv1-ZfXTW5iDACXxxz5ba-9bI4AeuejDYASTsCVT1mpH7o5xVyrdECRwbPv_GVwI/s1600/IMG_1397.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwABUBktWbGL3VETp9M_Mk2AwMu29TbmmKO1LzV4l_ND1ycQzPHNf-sJjIody2BhRuG-BUo7c6MEKqcv1-ZfXTW5iDACXxxz5ba-9bI4AeuejDYASTsCVT1mpH7o5xVyrdECRwbPv_GVwI/s400/IMG_1397.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying all over the place! I kept my protective gear on while driving</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRBlS5Tkqa22lDoIb8gd1SRCV3hCBIHewePbSCYX8THOjOIMx5GFlw8Dc98Phh1AvyFhGwYbRWHsInKJ_EoeyqDnJnp8gYprqJ94wQfsFnCBehIGQKz7WADg6EhiKVEXHGS9CoyJHh58w/s1600/IMG_1398.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRBlS5Tkqa22lDoIb8gd1SRCV3hCBIHewePbSCYX8THOjOIMx5GFlw8Dc98Phh1AvyFhGwYbRWHsInKJ_EoeyqDnJnp8gYprqJ94wQfsFnCBehIGQKz7WADg6EhiKVEXHGS9CoyJHh58w/s400/IMG_1398.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rear window</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What a sight I must have been! Driving down Kelly Drive with my veil on and 20,000 bees flying around my car! As I was driving I reminded myself that at least the queen was in the box and when I got to the apiary I could set her up in a hive and all of these loose bees will find her and move into the box with her and the rest of the bees. Don't know if you have guessed by now, but I was wrong again! It turns out the the nuc box wasn't closed tightly and the bees that had been in there were also out, the entire swarm was flying free in my car!! I didn't figure out that ALL of the bees were free until I got to my apiary.<br />
<br />
I pulled my car into this little alley near my Francisville beeyard and proceeded to discover that the nuc box was now pretty much empty of bees. After a failed attempt at finding the queen and also trying to lure her into another box, I left my car parked in that alley with the doors open and all of the bees flying around and in my car. I had to go to work for a few hours and I figured I would come back and deal with it later. I came back with a vacuum to suck up the bees and I returned to my car and found a surprise! After vacuuming up a bunch of bees, something caught my eye...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZUbqoZE6tanFotXVCRQjHLyENspc10TN2Sy87_u4y-0QDOOIS2R9uCRHBxuB7VjzSheXmiZ15S7FlrMkKrtfLt7XDMQbN2FdJ_3G3O538we5BiN4XKJu78y5T2o-4PDmwqcgTNTUhCio/s1600/IMG_1400.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZUbqoZE6tanFotXVCRQjHLyENspc10TN2Sy87_u4y-0QDOOIS2R9uCRHBxuB7VjzSheXmiZ15S7FlrMkKrtfLt7XDMQbN2FdJ_3G3O538we5BiN4XKJu78y5T2o-4PDmwqcgTNTUhCio/s400/IMG_1400.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you see the little beady bee eyes peaking out from behind my door handle?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsJ4rAk3fXsLCCEJgHJIQNCM9c9HFlJQU1q8mPnYsJjxMICqywSi6Hd2zteYlUB0oQpBHnvHJSvG-IliyUQl70KZjtxnRMHBQTb0_4TlcK66kabxwYIjvrQBHpbYSJlb1FQFwtulp9ENT/s1600/IMG_1402.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsJ4rAk3fXsLCCEJgHJIQNCM9c9HFlJQU1q8mPnYsJjxMICqywSi6Hd2zteYlUB0oQpBHnvHJSvG-IliyUQl70KZjtxnRMHBQTb0_4TlcK66kabxwYIjvrQBHpbYSJlb1FQFwtulp9ENT/s320/IMG_1402.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you can see them! They moved INTO MY DOOR!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPjD9uvSacJ0FTD2BFJJpNNnYh0gkrARiJPCCqUbXA0OB3q-Tilpcvlpd6p9xNw1FQ3XEVWZOiXoyw0hiGJaxook4zKUgDILm3VgYrdQ2FR9n4xgwHGtjlU5HJiEz_JKg6TSOgzb4JwoP/s1600/IMG_1401.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhPjD9uvSacJ0FTD2BFJJpNNnYh0gkrARiJPCCqUbXA0OB3q-Tilpcvlpd6p9xNw1FQ3XEVWZOiXoyw0hiGJaxook4zKUgDILm3VgYrdQ2FR9n4xgwHGtjlU5HJiEz_JKg6TSOgzb4JwoP/s400/IMG_1401.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX-5r4xPJpXsQDwOYok20eRwFlL6yKa_C34PYhdcc1o2oK747MBE7JdfqLa3BIOacNkall8NgTn9sc-3BeCHyDWGT1xpD8O2kJDrYhVZUv-q5a9TAPpUn3APOLw8l-BloBB2PxLRxZJpr/s1600/IMG_1403.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX-5r4xPJpXsQDwOYok20eRwFlL6yKa_C34PYhdcc1o2oK747MBE7JdfqLa3BIOacNkall8NgTn9sc-3BeCHyDWGT1xpD8O2kJDrYhVZUv-q5a9TAPpUn3APOLw8l-BloBB2PxLRxZJpr/s320/IMG_1403.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, inside the speaker too!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As an aside, while I was home gathering my vacuum and equipment there's a knock on my front door. Its a policeman -<br />
<blockquote>
Cop: "Are you Adam Schreiber?" </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Me: "Yes, that's me."</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Cop: "Do you know your car is sitting on Field St with its doors open?"</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Me: "Yep, I know, with a bunch of bees flying around in it!"</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Cop: "Oh, OK, we just wanted to make sure it wasn't stolen or something." </blockquote>
He didn't really care about the bees! I was impressed with how quickly they responded to the "problem". Actually this wasn't the only police involvement in the story, but I'll get to that in a minute.<br />
<br />
So anyway, I vacuumed what I thought was the majority of the bees and drove the car back to my street so I could deal with the rest the next day. I left the bees in the car overnight, put a box in the car with honey, thinking they might migrate into the box. No such luck - in the morning I saw that none of the bees had taken the honey bait, they were still all in the door peering out at me! I would vacuum them in dribs and drabs as they would come out to investigate. It was a slow process. I tried banging on the door to get them to come out, which only helped a bit. At this point I am thinking that I might have to remove my entire door panel to get to them.<br />
<br />
Then Eureka! - for once in this whole ordeal, I had a good idea! I lit a smoker and proceeded to puff smoke into the door through whatever tiny holes I could find. Aside from having my car smell like a campfire for weeks, this worked well, the bees came pouring out to escape the smoke. As they left the safety of the door, I'd suck them into the vacuum. I even saw the queen pop out a few times and I tried to grab her, unsuccessfully. Here's a good view of how things looked...<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSs1xjshr6qk0VtrDJpi16KiqleWolfK0w6BM7s3Pmw8iURG3RtjyJhNwmEnT6ABJauHUkMHywNEOVtrhJJWx86XHMsC7cjlsxxVy5b0KptsV8B6W6tWMkoQQm5Akrn3bjJ73raocKXU6q/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSs1xjshr6qk0VtrDJpi16KiqleWolfK0w6BM7s3Pmw8iURG3RtjyJhNwmEnT6ABJauHUkMHywNEOVtrhJJWx86XHMsC7cjlsxxVy5b0KptsV8B6W6tWMkoQQm5Akrn3bjJ73raocKXU6q/s200/IMG_1405.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No big deal, so there are some bees in our car.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHjtrXg2InpKeVLB20mlfKnnZMV6YjH93K52XC6_IcZziug0iILdA4jw4fhfpVkK-xQujRiw2lOc3hHcbICS2WWs274gSGWmDrfGqiPU9oBMr-rZrGBlM165Z7HbhO_c0rdWTcnfSwrOJ/s1600/IMG_1404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHjtrXg2InpKeVLB20mlfKnnZMV6YjH93K52XC6_IcZziug0iILdA4jw4fhfpVkK-xQujRiw2lOc3hHcbICS2WWs274gSGWmDrfGqiPU9oBMr-rZrGBlM165Z7HbhO_c0rdWTcnfSwrOJ/s200/IMG_1404.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daddy is crazy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Oh yeah, I almost forgot police involvement #2. I am in front of the house sucking up bees - wearing a veil, vacuum screaming, smoker smoking - when a cop comes up to me. Obviously he can see I am dealing with a "situation", but he is nonplussed. He has come to tell me that I need to move my car forward because it is impinging upon the handicapped space next to my house! I swear, the car was no more than 2 feet into the spot, which is more than big enough to fit a car anyway. My neighbor called the cops on me and this officer didn't care what I was dealing with, he said, with bees buzzing around his noggin, "Just move the car up." So of course, being the law-abiding citizen that I am, I moved it and then renewed my efforts at extracting the rest of the bees. <br />
<br />
Once I finally had removed all of the bees, I saw that they had started building honeycomb inside my door! Incredible! Somehow they thought they were going to set up house in my car! Anyway, a significant number of bees died throughout this whole fiasco, but within a month's time, this hive was back on track and they have done nicely at their new home in Fairmount Park.<br />
<br />
I don't have any pictures from my third swarm, but suffice it to say that with the timely help of fellow beekeeper Daniel Duffy and a maintenance man with a big ladder, things went very well. That third swarm has also built up nicely this summer. Even though one never knows where swarms come from, it is great fun to catch them and also nice to add genetic diversity to your beeyards. There is always a chance that the bees are from feral, survivor stock and this is something that every beekeeper wants. Some beekeepers worry about picking up diseases from swarms but I ain't worried and besides, if I didn't capture swarms I wouldn't have such great stories to tell!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-55284927092317735442011-10-04T15:46:00.000-04:002011-10-04T23:05:02.332-04:00What A Summer!Well it's been a long time since I wrote but that's not because there hasn't been anything interesting going on. Between family, work, being president of the <a href="http://www.phillybeekeepers.org/">Guild</a>, caring for my 9 hives, editing a book and trying to have some fun, I haven't had much time to write. There is so much to tell that I split this entry into two - be sure to see the "<a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/10/busy-summer-part-2-swarms.html">Swarm</a>!" entry for some great pictures and a hilarious story.<br />
<br />
As I mentioned, I have 9 hives this year, the most I have ever had. Here's the breakdown of the hives and then I will update the status of each -<br />
<ol>
<li>Overwintered hive from last year</li>
<li>Hive from Oakland cemetery bees</li>
<li>I ordered 4 packages from the <a href="http://wolfcreekbees.com/">Seaborns</a> this spring - two were placed at Woodford Mansion<br />
and two at Marathon Farm.</li>
<li>I bought one nuc from <a href="http://beenaturalllc.com/beeboxes.htm">Don Sausser</a> in Delaware.</li>
<li>I caught 3 swarms this year. </li>
</ol>
(Yes, I know that adds up to 10 hives, but you'll see what happened!)<br />
<br />
My over-wintered hive from last year did great this summer. They grew to 7 boxes tall and are as healthy as ever. I harvested about 60 pounds of honey from this hive in July. At a recent inspection I saw signs that this hive had swarmed - the population was smaller than usual, there wasn't as much honey in the hive and there were lots of hatched queen cells in the hive. I'm not too worried about them but the swarm and the loss of population and honey could be a potential problem heading into winter. There was a new queen present and she was laying well. And the nuc from Don Sausser has done well too, they are on my roof. I harvested about 35 lbs of honey from them. Although one thing I will say about these bees is that they are a bit feisty and they don't always take kindly to my bumbling inspections! My total honey harvest this summer was about 150 lbs - most of which is already gone (either sold or given away!).<br />
<br />
The last time I wrote was way back in April and I was writing about the <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/04/bee-removal-at-oakland-cemetery.html">removal at Oakland cemetery</a>. The bees from that removal have done quite well for themselves this summer. Unfortunately we did kill the queen in the removal process but the girls quickly made a new queen and therefore perpetuated the genetics of this feral hive. The colony proceeded to settle in to their new home in Francisville and they have built up nicely over the course of the summer. About 6 weeks after this removal job, I got another call from Jackie. It turned out that she hadn't had a chance to fix the window and roof and another swarm of bees moved in to the same exact spot!! So we went back to the cemetery and removed that colony. It was an easy job because the comb was being built right out in the open.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-P5RnW2CJKhDY4jsjh-1K8QWvbLAqzjZDv5DNWjCLiZUnjP1Lr1CbTtQFPHRoae5EMCebxza3cWDtR6yR_vQ0esTr7ovGwJY9NlhyphenhyphenSkbo8wKLMznox02Fwf2T0c939rxuwhbmUN8Lf40/s1600/2011-09-14+15.23.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh-P5RnW2CJKhDY4jsjh-1K8QWvbLAqzjZDv5DNWjCLiZUnjP1Lr1CbTtQFPHRoae5EMCebxza3cWDtR6yR_vQ0esTr7ovGwJY9NlhyphenhyphenSkbo8wKLMznox02Fwf2T0c939rxuwhbmUN8Lf40/s320/2011-09-14+15.23.58.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woodford Hives with some great 'shrooms from all of the rain this summer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Oy7jtyPfkaI0PjP2nV25wWHCd5Hxcq-mnx0-8fTMi6406MZMZsg-QL_Iwpxg1o5PZTSif9ESYQ19C-tFK_cnHMIu4bodW53tlWhIe-mDIMUqMTwW6wNYPlY2B7WaxrDmCSiHFlkqSiDq/s1600/2011-09-14+15.22.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Oy7jtyPfkaI0PjP2nV25wWHCd5Hxcq-mnx0-8fTMi6406MZMZsg-QL_Iwpxg1o5PZTSif9ESYQ19C-tFK_cnHMIu4bodW53tlWhIe-mDIMUqMTwW6wNYPlY2B7WaxrDmCSiHFlkqSiDq/s320/2011-09-14+15.22.41.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view of the 3 Woodford Hives</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In late March when I installed my new packages at <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/03/winter-recap-and-fresh-start.html">Woodford Mansion</a> and <a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/04/bees-at-marathon-farm.html">Marathon Farm</a>, I tried a new queen installation method where I placed the queen in the front door of the hive instead of placing her between frames inside of the hive. Well, that experiment was a TOTAL FAILURE!! I lost 3 out of 4 of those queens!! It turns out that the weather was too cold for that kind of queen introduction and the bees basically abandoned their queens to die on the bottom boards. At Woodford, one of the queens actually survived and the bees from the hive next door (who had lost their queen) all moved into the hive with the healthy queen! When I opened that hive it was bursting with bees (6 lbs worth) and the hive next door was empty! I was going to split this hive back into two hives but when I caught some swarms, I decided to leave this super hive alone. (This is why I only have 9 hives instead of 10.)<br />
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The other 2 hives at Marathon had no eggs to grow themselves a new queen, so this lead to a situation known as having a "<a href="http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm">laying worker</a>". Basically this is when some of the worker bees start laying eggs because of a lack of a queen. Sounds great and pretty amazing, right? But the problem is that laying workers can only lay unfertilized eggs, which produce drones, the male bees. So if you don't remedy the situation, the hive will eventually die out. The solution for both of these hives was to donate frames of worker eggs from my other hives so that the queenless hives could make themselves a proper queen (this is when it really pays to have multiple hives). It took a few weeks but both hives eventually made themselves a new queen. <br />
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Because these hives lost so much time, they didn't grow to be big enough to make it through the winter, so I recently combined the two hives. I removed the queen from one hive and placed her in a nuc with some other bees as an insurance policy just in case something went wrong with the combine (the nuc is in my backyard, not sure what I will do with it). Then I simply stacked all of the boxes from both hives on top of each other with a sheet of newspaper between them. The newspaper helps to temporarily separate the hives from each other so they don't fight. In the time it takes the bees to chew through the newspaper, they will accept each other and not fight. It's a neat little trick. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKjImJY1aKpleUj6upufZFA9mpNjckWAD_dMsft1qsB3ipPXg59IKg86z4aypVSRKaJTWtHf28jxzwyp_2T_dWHvYjBCvT2Mh-4ouAqLKuI0S72pS77RKPBdxSaREnFP_V_RdqWm0Ipq9/s1600/2011-09-19+12.00.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKjImJY1aKpleUj6upufZFA9mpNjckWAD_dMsft1qsB3ipPXg59IKg86z4aypVSRKaJTWtHf28jxzwyp_2T_dWHvYjBCvT2Mh-4ouAqLKuI0S72pS77RKPBdxSaREnFP_V_RdqWm0Ipq9/s400/2011-09-19+12.00.19.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the bees flying around on the left, trying to figure out where their home went!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYEM0yYLbA_BC1Hxn1Y_O0Hq1LZTnbscUVcDBxzW68NbR5P96E1UP8Q_w-zpGMvb-QnpAGyp67oSXssA7mQNMn3zVflHRBL1P1nboQeT7IWvdIr_X0CCmjAyskFbnPOCpVdggLUV9rB9X/s1600/2011-09-20+12.45.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYEM0yYLbA_BC1Hxn1Y_O0Hq1LZTnbscUVcDBxzW68NbR5P96E1UP8Q_w-zpGMvb-QnpAGyp67oSXssA7mQNMn3zVflHRBL1P1nboQeT7IWvdIr_X0CCmjAyskFbnPOCpVdggLUV9rB9X/s400/2011-09-20+12.45.35.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The next day - see the little green fuzzy stuff in the corner of the bottom board?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QhgvCwzMgAZj5KOXH3GIOK_nkTT0g7yBx8tbxVsiSmCLIMJTb02r0aD6zPib2Lhe-BAygmyTZMSSzMpjqFRMGTJJOykQg7iorD6OCQgmjSvv5Hq_cOSlJ_dJrgVsaxqSwK8jAuJmLgAk/s1600/2011-09-20+12.45.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QhgvCwzMgAZj5KOXH3GIOK_nkTT0g7yBx8tbxVsiSmCLIMJTb02r0aD6zPib2Lhe-BAygmyTZMSSzMpjqFRMGTJJOykQg7iorD6OCQgmjSvv5Hq_cOSlJ_dJrgVsaxqSwK8jAuJmLgAk/s400/2011-09-20+12.45.09.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And a big pile of green fuzzy stuff on the ground next to the hive? That's chewed up newspaper!!</td></tr>
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Combining these two hives greatly improves their chances of surviving the winter. We'll see how it goes. If they survive the winter I can split them back into 2 hives in the spring.<br />
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My 3 other new hives are made up of swarms that I caught this summer. In the interest of telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I made a separate blog post about my swarm stories from the summer, including the very funny story of "<a href="http://timebeeing.blogspot.com/2011/10/busy-summer-part-2-swarms.html">The Honda Swarm</a>". Go read it!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4939953767896654783.post-53693844206459797762011-04-20T22:57:00.002-04:002011-04-21T09:41:59.056-04:00Bee Removal at Oakland Cemetery<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=philadelphia+honey+bee+rescue&fb=1&gl=us&hq=honey+bee+rescue&hnear=Philadelphia,+PA&cid=4176145288071159867">Philadelphia Honey Bee Rescue and Removal</a> has done our first bee removal of the year and it went very well. The bees were living in the walls above the window of an old stone house at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=philadelphia+honey+bee+rescue&fb=1&gl=us&hq=honey+bee+rescue&hnear=Philadelphia,+PA&cid=4176145288071159867">Oakland Cemetery</a> in Northeast Philadelphia. Jackie and her family live on the grounds of the cemetery and through a mutual friend she contacted us for help in removing the bees. Jackie was super nice and helpful - she even fed us fresh fruit and awesome homemade carrot cake. One of the coolest things about this job was that many years ago Jackie's father used to keep bees at the cemetery. She showed us and offered to give us an old honey extractor that was being stored in the attic of one of the buildings. The grounds of the cemetery are quite beautiful and Jackie told us it used to be farmland. There are several large greenhouses on the property and the family still uses them to grow and sell some annual flowers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBC-6uw0AxkJnuPa_JL9Ig_fJaVggDMVMYWHJF5U06jF_rZWUEr3BtX7vFfj3hBQv9ZaVIUOuzLvTTWvobWbza27W8TKihImngUhc-N8jqKvqzSoKS6E4SLO1ChVPsenQiupDrZxzbEpYr/s1600/IMG_1351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBC-6uw0AxkJnuPa_JL9Ig_fJaVggDMVMYWHJF5U06jF_rZWUEr3BtX7vFfj3hBQv9ZaVIUOuzLvTTWvobWbza27W8TKihImngUhc-N8jqKvqzSoKS6E4SLO1ChVPsenQiupDrZxzbEpYr/s320/IMG_1351.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance to the cemetery from inside</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JdVc-UEtVYeiBHn2Xv93ZXPYsW46PN0GA34Eo5Ivjjiu5X5tGrjHzEJaNokcYvvKu2PMzSv9FRubxlUHX6IS_By3dOPCCTcr7u-nCAoyBua2IwdljC6X-XSmQoCLJ6PqSYTh103CGKFq/s1600/IMG_1349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1JdVc-UEtVYeiBHn2Xv93ZXPYsW46PN0GA34Eo5Ivjjiu5X5tGrjHzEJaNokcYvvKu2PMzSv9FRubxlUHX6IS_By3dOPCCTcr7u-nCAoyBua2IwdljC6X-XSmQoCLJ6PqSYTh103CGKFq/s320/IMG_1349.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bees living above 3rd floor window on the right</td></tr>
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In addition to the 3 of us (Daniel, Joel and I), we had some help from Jackie's 5 year-old son Aidan. Here he is, ready to go!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUwn4zBFZRCaqMs23lrg728u25dG4ZxhVwt2uwNkdk3zFmm0XK2miCBaCAkX6bDxLfG8T6ob1UNRfSVmcs7qmISXXOuM3Vr2qvVVoZ_v72JPJni2yuriy2sEqEdPq6qzuWOuxz5Sd-RIE/s1600/IMG_1340.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUwn4zBFZRCaqMs23lrg728u25dG4ZxhVwt2uwNkdk3zFmm0XK2miCBaCAkX6bDxLfG8T6ob1UNRfSVmcs7qmISXXOuM3Vr2qvVVoZ_v72JPJni2yuriy2sEqEdPq6qzuWOuxz5Sd-RIE/s320/IMG_1340.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
The bees had been living in this house for at least 3 years and fortunately we were able to do this job from inside of the house - makes our lives a lot easier! I was excited to try my new bee vac, especially because the <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Bee-Vacuum-Beekeeping-Pest-Removal-/120551518734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c116e320e">one we used last year</a> ended up killing more bees than it rescued! With some help from bee mentor and master woodworker <a href="http://www.viccovonvoss.com/">Vicco Von Voss</a>, I built the <a href="http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/bee-vac/">Bushkill Bee Vac. </a>The Bushkill vac was awesome - there were very few dead bees when the job was all said and done. There are a few tweaks I need to make to it, but overall I was really happy with how it worked, thanks Robo.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY1SUh_colFN6RMim-UotMXdqghxBUMIV_uECQWpcYFt_n8LyLZj9olDM2K2udpiD8YHIbNAy-mLZIxJxiuBJmlwU7FWYb5vgFrZ8W8GtfW3xhrX6VVDqYyTjTuwj-GPqocoG4lezHjua/s1600/IMG_1339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzY1SUh_colFN6RMim-UotMXdqghxBUMIV_uECQWpcYFt_n8LyLZj9olDM2K2udpiD8YHIbNAy-mLZIxJxiuBJmlwU7FWYb5vgFrZ8W8GtfW3xhrX6VVDqYyTjTuwj-GPqocoG4lezHjua/s320/IMG_1339.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgqzfsywiFnETDgILuoxOYoHHK-ylXOMwixT99jSS8uIYu87xH7vN5zOq4TdSBdvvlnM8ej0RIKxXDDJ8WaSjtx5XKGPrxBwm_cDubEQeWl3fbXPf2J8ackxbLlT_yjryfZgr6OWnz-mU/s1600/IMG_1348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgqzfsywiFnETDgILuoxOYoHHK-ylXOMwixT99jSS8uIYu87xH7vN5zOq4TdSBdvvlnM8ej0RIKxXDDJ8WaSjtx5XKGPrxBwm_cDubEQeWl3fbXPf2J8ackxbLlT_yjryfZgr6OWnz-mU/s320/IMG_1348.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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The basic idea behind the Bushkill vac is that you have a top and a bottom and in between them you can place as many supers/hive bodies as you would like. You can see in the bottom picture I have two medium supers in between the top and bottom. This set-up allows you to vacuum the bees directly into a hive, which maximizes the space available to them and minimizes the disturbance to the bees when you have to get them into a new hive after removing them. The design allows for plenty of ventilation so the bees don't get overheated (a problem with some other designs). I was even able to put some water inside the vacuum for the bees to drink by filling a few frames of drawn comb with water. The bees get vacuumed into the bottom (see top picture) and then can settle into the supers. The vacuum gets hooked to the top, where there is a screen in order to prevent the bees from getting sucked into the shop vac. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRqhTR3EJwx_DYr2te5h8jcDRmQJnFVEDmnUnt9zHVzADfrRQXMRXBNem4q-8kDc7kwjotlTCooy5QFw_FDRyH4a5K-7l7XPlR5tO3egTJS_s3gjBd9LLaaHUHQVyTWj0yipEWC6JGLVQ/s1600/IMG_1335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRqhTR3EJwx_DYr2te5h8jcDRmQJnFVEDmnUnt9zHVzADfrRQXMRXBNem4q-8kDc7kwjotlTCooy5QFw_FDRyH4a5K-7l7XPlR5tO3egTJS_s3gjBd9LLaaHUHQVyTWj0yipEWC6JGLVQ/s320/IMG_1335.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Here you can see the top of the vac - one hole is where the vacuum hose goes, and the other hole has a small piece of wood covering it that pivots in order to moderate the amount of suction. There's Aidan again, doing quality control supervision!<br />
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We could clearly see where the bees were entering from the outside, but it is always a bit of a mystery knowing exactly where they have built their comb. We had to make a few holes in the walls to help define the boundaries of the hive.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBwECRgilIJPzxHsVTQslGg0BN86B1WWGOB4DwxrFSEOOANUXJIl34XRuBTSULZTcA_LaIlKMEkaDl5qp-4oAXY_4BIZWNUJLKJ168IOI5XotDpP7sBGa-7RnpcXblNRzCej9Z2_XRaM3/s1600/IMG_1341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBwECRgilIJPzxHsVTQslGg0BN86B1WWGOB4DwxrFSEOOANUXJIl34XRuBTSULZTcA_LaIlKMEkaDl5qp-4oAXY_4BIZWNUJLKJ168IOI5XotDpP7sBGa-7RnpcXblNRzCej9Z2_XRaM3/s320/IMG_1341.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtGeRRgVTyHhBIgLKCzUppJar9J9dYFe6l6zamXWjuFkcKPFfHKZ5zmvZBAj_e2YwU_ySt9dizBKXS7QWTOWy_pjNQmahEbKOIdSpaYUxGMtzUazKtvF9hHAGJXtyCc4ZCtpI3BvIRFav/s1600/IMG_1343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtGeRRgVTyHhBIgLKCzUppJar9J9dYFe6l6zamXWjuFkcKPFfHKZ5zmvZBAj_e2YwU_ySt9dizBKXS7QWTOWy_pjNQmahEbKOIdSpaYUxGMtzUazKtvF9hHAGJXtyCc4ZCtpI3BvIRFav/s320/IMG_1343.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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It turned out that the hive was located directly over the window, right above Joel's head in the bottom picture. There was a lot of traffic going in and out of the hive, so we were expecting a large colony. As we removed comb the bees flew towards the light and gathered on the window. The bees will cluster there and stay there, so we left them alone until the end of the job. It's actually better to minimize their time in the vacuum and have them on the window instead. When we were done cutting out comb, we easily vacuumed up the large cluster of bees that had gathered on the window.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2u3fr6-ZpF9U5kSSLCHnVPlIhiSOiEHsmNVUJPreV0DqWxzge4Lo8yn6z-720lfyYA4cmngV8peNflA5VtvYg5ejk0N2wtl2XjyXzQDDzCLFwVFMB7RZqskDKPXtETWBAeKdedD_vcfdB/s1600/IMG_1346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2u3fr6-ZpF9U5kSSLCHnVPlIhiSOiEHsmNVUJPreV0DqWxzge4Lo8yn6z-720lfyYA4cmngV8peNflA5VtvYg5ejk0N2wtl2XjyXzQDDzCLFwVFMB7RZqskDKPXtETWBAeKdedD_vcfdB/s320/IMG_1346.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clustering on the window</td></tr>
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The job took us about 5 hours, including a leisurely lunch (and the delicious carrot cake!). In the end, the space that the colony occupied was fairly small, although it was densely packed with bees. Below is a view looking straight up into the now-empty space that the colony had occupied.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziEg-_9-iCIRmthm_gQFFhReTORKdJuemkWmQ-6ym-gN5f2zt4HO9NshbhiCaxE0gaPpVNwC3BzwVhfOz_wGRnq14qWAuomb-3Cx-OChhs9gPJao0qOZwo436AoxDHj3svaq-iLe8kfVJ/s1600/IMG_1347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziEg-_9-iCIRmthm_gQFFhReTORKdJuemkWmQ-6ym-gN5f2zt4HO9NshbhiCaxE0gaPpVNwC3BzwVhfOz_wGRnq14qWAuomb-3Cx-OChhs9gPJao0qOZwo436AoxDHj3svaq-iLe8kfVJ/s320/IMG_1347.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We ended up with about 7 medium frames of brood comb. There was very little honey in the hive, it looked like they were living hand-to-mouth. Because of the small size of the space, we figured that this colony must have been swarming fairly regularly. Jackie had seen at least one swarm a few years ago.<br />
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I took the bees home and quickly set them up in a new home. Because of the bee vac, setting up the new hive was very easy, with minimal disturbance to the bees. I removed the top and bottom of the vac, placed the supers on a bottom board, filled the supers with frames of honey and drawn comb from my dead hives, placed the super with the brood comb on top and closed them up. <br />
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Here's a little video of the girls as they settle in... <br />
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And here they are all tucked in...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cJERpFoGOucNAhDY4ZTWhaNqHSr8FEi9Fh0NECO9leeDTAyJjN1kTlEH_tXGNRbFMEEKEVdrUukvvsFyaJWMWbZ1kXI94Oh-3a7lqB27DAmyVibLorapDd6g3zuXaBuPGqhvsxF8KBuU/s1600/IMG_1357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cJERpFoGOucNAhDY4ZTWhaNqHSr8FEi9Fh0NECO9leeDTAyJjN1kTlEH_tXGNRbFMEEKEVdrUukvvsFyaJWMWbZ1kXI94Oh-3a7lqB27DAmyVibLorapDd6g3zuXaBuPGqhvsxF8KBuU/s320/IMG_1357.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Given what happens during a bee removal, it amazes me that the bees are as calm as they are. Sure, they fly around in confusion, but they are not aggressive at all. We each got a few stings, but mostly because of our own carelessness. We are not sure if we got the queen alive, but I will give them a week or two to settle in and then check for signs of the queen. I have been watching the activity at the entrance to the hive and the bees are behaving as if they do have a queen but we'll see. If they don't have one, I will give them a frame or two of eggs from the hive next door so that they can make a new queen. All in all it was a great day and things went very smoothly. Thanks Jackie for looking out for the bees and giving us the opportunity to relocate them!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16505263063828022544noreply@blogger.com5