The House Hive and The Woods Hive

(This just in; Beacon Bee now has it's own email address, beaconbee@optonline.net)

As you can see from the above photo, I currently have two (very different) hives. The hives are named "The House Hive" and "The Woods Hive", the former being closest to the house and the later closest to the woods. The naming process was similar to the process I go through when titling a drawing or sculpture, I listen to what I am calling it in my mind.

Last year, the pissy hive was called Thor, due to its temperament, but after re-queening itself (I may have accidentally killed the pissy queen during the last inspection,) they no longer live up to the name. (Hurray!) I have learned that the temperament of the hive can change over the course of a season, depending on how well they are being treated by their care taker (removal of moldy equipment, providing adequate growing room etc.) and on the mood of their queen.

So far, The House Hive is performing above and beyond anything that I could have imagined. On May 31, I gave them a second super to fill, with frames containing undrawn foundation. I did this as a preemptive measure, thinking that they may need the space in a few weeks. In the following days, I noticed a whole lot of clumping going on in the front of the hive, even on cool days. I went back in six days later to see what might be going on and what I found was a "honey bound hive" which means that every cell of every frame was full of goods. In just FIVE DAYS these girls drew all the comb on the eight frames, filled them with honey, and capped them off with beeswax. I could not believe what I was seeing!! I put the bee excluder on between the two supers so that the bees would leave the top one, (the excluder has a special triangular exit that somehow allows the bees to leave a hive box, but not to reenter it.) Two days later I returned to find it nearly empty of bees and very much full of honey and I literally staggered back to the house with it. They continue to flourish. In the evenings, bees spill out of every entrance of the hive.

The Woods Hive however, which arrived in mid May, got off to a weak start. They arrived with a lot of mites, and I became concerned that robbing might be going on from The House Hive. In the same five days that the House Hive filled their second super with honey, The Woods Hive did not even draw any comb on their new frames. In response, I put an empty hive box above the inner cover and gave them a full frame of capped honey. To protect them from robbing, I closed down their entrance to about 1 and a half inches so that the guard bees could better protect the hive, and plugged up all of the ventilation holes. I also gave them a treatment of Oxalic acid (the same toxic compound that is naturally found in rhubarb). Three weeks later, they seem to be in better shape. Lots of pollen going in, no bees with withered wings visible, a more robust group of girls hanging around.



A frame from The House Hive, with a lozenge of fresh comb built hanging off of the bottom. This was due to my putting a medium sized frame in a deep box. An experiment that I won't repeat because it makes the frames harder to handle.


Due to the seemingly never ending rain that we are currently having, I have not been able to get back into the hive the past few weeks. My guess is that they are both in need of another super, which means that I have more frames to make. It is a repetitive and somewhat pleasant activity. (In case you were wondering, each frame uses a total of 15 nails of varying lengths.) I am not sure what affect the constant rain is having on the bees, but up until that, it had been a super spring for them. Reports of swarms were coming in fast and furious from friends, bee teachers and even co-workers. It's enough to give one a ray of hope about it all.

Beacon Bee Balm is now available at both DIA Beacon and Homespun Foods. I am really happy about my new fragrance, Rose Geranium, which not only smells lovely, but is also a natural tick repellent. (What more could you ask for really.)

In general, I am having trouble keeping up with everything, (parenting, job, art, garden, bees and more), but don't want to (or am not allowed to) give any of it up. Hopefully the summer will give me a chance to catch up, or at least catch my breath.


A shot from below of a super healthy and vibrant hive box.

Season Three, From Egg, to Honey

Picture of the day: this photo shows the wide range of activity that goes on inside the hive. (You may want to click on the image so that you can actually see anything). Ready? The center cells with the curled up white wormy looking things are larvae, which is the second stage of brood development. To the right of these cells are several cells containing eggs, (the first stage, and very hard to spot) which look like really small grains of rice. On the upper left edge of the photo you see capped brood, (the third stage). Just above the larvae, you can see two girls as they are popping their heads out of their cells for the first time. On the right edge you see capped honey, and just to the left of that, uncapped honey. Finally, between the uncapped honey and the larvae, you can see many cells stuffed full of pollen, in all of its glorious colors (this will be fed to the brood).

As a beekeeper, I am glad I live somewhere with four true seasons. By the end of the fall, I am ready for a rest from the hive, but by April I am missing the bees, and eager to see how they have fared over the winter. I must admit that before the first inspection of the season however, I find myself wondering just how it is that I plan on going into a wooden box housing several thousand bees and coexisting with them, if even for just a short time.
This morning, donning my new and official feeling bee jacket, I reassured myself by singing my little bee song and telling myself "Because this is what a beekeeper does, that's why."
It was a flower day, the smoker caught and stayed lit. And then the cover was off and there they were, my beautiful bees. I have seen them around a lot with the warmer days. I have tasted the pollen that they have dropped on the tray that sits under the hive, but until I saw them crawling over the frames in their vast numbers, I did not know for sure that they had made it through the long and cold winter. This hives temperament had not mellowed with the winter, and within a few minutes, they were really agitated, buzzing me and landing on my clothing and veil. I slowly relaxed as I saw the merits of my jacket and gloves. I may not look as dare-devily or as "at one with nature" as that guy who goes into his hives shirtless, but I felt calm (relatively) and remained sting free throughout.

It was a mother of an inspection, with all sorts of unexpected situations thrown my way. Here is a synopsis of what I found: The top super was still full of capped honey. I set this box on the ground without inspecting it. The top deep was loaded with capped honey as well, and also a lot of brood. I recognized the four frames of wacky comb (frames that the bees built so that one frame linked with the one next to it, making it impossible for me to remove the frames without destroying the comb.) I set this box on the ground as well so that I could see what was going on down below. The bottom deep was really light, and I remembered that it felt light in the fall as well, but that I had not been able to go through all of the frames at that time. Today I looked at them all. The first four I pulled out were empty except for brood in the upper left corner, an odd place for brood to be. The fifth frame was a plastic one that came with last year's nuc, and apparently the bees disliked this so much that they never even fully drew the comb on it. The big surprise came with the last three frames, which were covered with a layer of green mold, explaining the complete absence of bees, brood, honey, ANYTHING on them. The inside of the wood was also moldy on this half of the hive box. It's not easy to think on ones feet when surrounded by agitated bees, but I was in fact fairly prepared for the unexpected. I had brought up to the hive with me a bunch of different frames and boxes, and was able to replace both the moldy box and frames, as well as the wacky comb frames that I had to remove from the top deep.

The whole process from lighting the smoker to putting the top back on took an hour. Way longer than an inspection should ideally take, but considering all that was done, I was pretty happy. This was the first time where I felt a certain level of confidence when dealing with new and complicated situations. Instead of running to the phone for advice, I considered what my options were, and what I knew from past experience and books and workshops. Of the frames that I took out, several were loaded with honey, and one was about a quarter full of brood in its various stages. While writing in my bee journal, I noticed two bees just crawling out of their cells. (which brings us back the the first photo in this post.) Poor girls being born on the wrong side of the hive wall. It is true that the hive functions as an organism, but I still wince with the death of each individual. Despite the mass murder of today, (alright, not mass, but a whole bunch did die), I know that my setting things right is what needed to be done. I will try to be more vigilant this year, not letting my fear get in the way of digging deep into the hive and knowing what is going on in there. In the meantime, I have two new deep frames of honey to harvest!

On the Beacon Bee Balm front, interest continues to grow and I plan on hitting the Farmers Markets this summer. I now have three different size tubes; lip balm size, .75oz (a slightly bigger tube that is a great purse size) and 3 ounce (the most Balm for your buck). After a morning of gloveless gardening today, I found the Bee Balm to be soooo comforting to my dirt dry hands. Looks like it is a year round product!

Next month I will get my new nuc to start my second hive with. Until then I will do what Kim Flottum from Bee Culture Magazine always says to do, "Keep my hive tool sharp and my smoker lit."

Honey Harvest and first Pollen

This past weekend I felt confident enough that the girls had enough stores to last them till spring that I finally harvested the four frames of honey that I pulled last October. My studio is the closest I have to a "honey house", so if you notice flecks of wax or honey on my drawings the next time you see them, you now know why. From the four frames, I bottled a total of twelve pounds of honey! (Honey is measured by weight, not volume, and an 8 ounce glass jar of honey that you buy in the store actually contains 6 fluid ounces of honey.) This batch is very light in color, and has a nice fairly mild flavor. Sam visited me many, many times, as I had told him that he could have a taste each time that he visited. It was interesting to see that as I cut into the frames, I could see the color of the honey change slightly as the crop changed. I hung the rinsed frames out under the front deck and being that it was a pretty warm day (around 55 degrees), they were soon discovered and enjoyed by a few dozen girls. I noticed that most of the girls that I saw had all black abdomens (the hive often times contains multiple breeds since the queen has mated with about a dozen different drones). These are probably Carniolan bees, originally from eastern Europe I think.





Today I went up to check the observation board which sits under the hive, and found.... POLLEN!! This week has been too cold for them to have been out and about, so this must have been from March 7th or 8th when it was warmer. The earliest trees that produce pollen are Willows, and the color I am seeing matches that, but there are NO willow trees in our neighborhood. It was thrilling to see this clear sign of spring. Also on the board was a lot of wax cappings showing that they are still consuming a lot of honey. This makes sense as they are busy raising their brood at this point. My new beekeeper's jacket came in the mail!

help the bees and eat ice cream

The following image shows how high hives can get to be at times. I am planning on making a switch to shallower boxes so that I am better able to move them when needed, and so I asked for advice from the organic beekeeping email chat group that I am part of, and a member sent me this image of his hives. His point was that it is a good idea, but that the hives tend to be taller than ones using deeper boxes. Note the loads of bees on the front of the hive. This must have been taken on a pretty hot day.
These beekeeper people are pretty intense. I could send out a question at 11:00 p.m., and by 8:00 a.m., there might be five or more responses. In July I plan on attending a three day conference where I will finally get a chance to meet some of the big names in the (bee) field.
Maybe we will eat some ice cream.


Speaking of ice cream
Haagen Dazs has been doing sooo much to help the honey bees, that you really ought to suffer through a pint of their new line of honey vanilla ice creams in order to show your support. So far they have given $500,000 to several Universities that are conducting research to solve the mysteries of Colony Collapse Disorder, funded the creation of a honey bee friendly garden and established a web-site that aims to bring awareness to the importance of the honey bee. Check it out at www.helpthehoneybees.com You may even want to send someone a honey bee email, which means that you can build an animated bee and email it to your friends. Oh, and don't forget to try the honey vanilla, or lowfat honey vanilla with granola (the only ones that I have tried so far.) Yum....

February bees

Given the warm weather today, I made my first hive inspection of 2009. Most bees that don't make it through the winter die in March because they have started to raise brood but nothing is blooming yet and they don't have enough food to get them through the last gasp of winter. My goal therefore, was to make sure that they have enough stores left to get them through the next few months. I have four frames of capped honey that I pulled in the fall and have been saving in case they need them. The inspection was short and sweet. It was a fruit day (good news from a planetary perspective), the smoker caught, and the top super was still FULL of honey! The girls were out and about, enjoying the warmth and the sun, clearing out the dead (all those black spots on the snow), and pooping all over the place. They are very hygienic creatures, and will not poop in the hive, so a day like today comes as a welcome relief to them. They were attracted to my white helmet and light colored clothes and I enjoyed watching them as they perched on me and rested.

The image below shows the tray that sits under the hive. I pull this tray out to see what is going on in the hive. On it, I can see if I have any mites (NO!), and in the winter I can see where in the hive they are clustering. The yellow dusty stuff is wax cappings that the girls are chewing off of the frames to get at the honey. Today I can see that they have been clustered to one side of the hive.


I have decided to by a new nuc (box with 5 frames of bees including a queen) this spring rather than try to split this hive and make a second one from it. My primary reason is genetic diversification, meaning that this hive has been what we beekeepers call "a hot hive", (pissy, keen on stinging me, not friendly at all), and I would welcome some new genes in the bee yard.

On a business note, Beacon Bee Balm has been a huge success! All over Beacon (and beyond) folks are saying good-bye to their dry skin, chapped lips, damaged cuticles and cracked heels. Currently, I am making the Balm as a Moisturizing Stick, which is like a giant lip balm stick. It rubs on in an even and thin layer and seems to be quite popular.
This 3 ounce stick is $15.00 and comes in Lavender and Naturally Scented. I also have regular size lip balm sticks for $4.00, and 2 ounce jars in both Lavender and Naturally Scented Balm for $10.00.
Interested? Send me an email.
I have received many testimonials regarding the Propolis Tincture and I am currently SOLD OUT!

Beacon Bee products

We are in full production mode here on Sunnyside Road!
I currently have two wonderful products for sale.
Bee Balm, made from beeswax, shea butter, almond oil, propolis and vitamin E oil
This is a wonderful, thick, but not heavy, soothing and healing cream for both your lips and skin. I have found it to work wonders on chapped lips and cracked skin.
Bee Balm is available in both unscented (a lovely aroma of the natural ingredients) and lightly scented lavender.
Once ounce jar $4.00
Three ounce jar $10.00.

I also have Propolis Tincture. Propolis tincture can help to ward off or shorten the length of a cold, sore throat or flu. Propolis contains a high concentration of flavenoids, which have been shown to have antibacterial, antiviral, antioxident and immune stimulation effects. Honeybees collect plant resins and bring them back to the hive. They then add beeswax, honey and enzymes, transforming it into propolis. Bees use propolis like caulking, filling cracks and gaps in their hive in order to protect it from disease.
One ounce bottle: $12.00
Two ounce bottle: $23.00

If you are interested in purchasing something, please send me a comment, or email me directly at ddavidovits@optonline.net

Deb's mom says "Hi Deb, I used your tincture yesterday because I woke up sick. Much better today... It really works!"

October

And now it is fall.
In early September I realized that my first hive was missing a queen. The queen cells that I found in the hive were "superceeding" cells, meaning that they were the workers' attempt to make a queen from one of the eggs in the side cells because their queen was dead or dying, versus the queen cells that were built in May, hanging off of the bottoms of the frames when the girls needed a new queen in order to swarm. I gave the girls a few weeks to sort things out, but when I saw in mid September that not only did they still have no queen, but that their honey stores were being robbed by the other hive, I knew that I had no choice but to merge the two hives. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It will turn the two hives (one weak) into one ultra-strong hive and I can go in and split the hive back into two in the spring. My only reluctance, was a) the process of doing the deed, and b) the knowledge that the new hive that I make next spring will be from the same lineage as this rather feisty (mean) hive.

As expected, it was a grueling, job. It involved

taking out all of the frames from one box and "shaking" all of the bees into the second box in an effort to consolidate the two into one. The girls, queenless and victims of robbing for the past weeks, were understandably really upset. I was working in a literal cloud of bees for way longer than anyone should ever work in a cloud of bees. Added to this was the fact that the girls did not seem to understand that I wanted them to stay in the box, not crawl out of it. 

I had to call Matt over to carry the box of bees and frames over to the host hive and place it on top of it. Believe it or not, this was his first time carrying a box of bees, and boy was he excited! It was shockingly heavy. I winced as I saw how he struggled to carry it the twenty or so feet to the other hive, imagining the chaos that would ensue if it were to be dropped.
The technique of merging is simple. You place a single sheet of newspaper between the two hives and in the amount of time that it take for the bees to chew through the paper, they become accustomed to each others' smell.
This seems to have happened.
I pulled the full super of honey that was on the host hive (now known around here as "Thor") and harvested just a bit. The honey was very thin but has thickened up with the help of a dehumidifier. I am saving the remaining six full frames until I am sure that the girls have enough for the winter. Perhaps the best piece of bee news is that my body (at least for the time being ) seems to have become immune to bee venom!! After a particularly serious reaction in August (at which point my entire torso turned beet red and got covered with hives), each subsequent sting has caused a progressively minor reaction. A solid sting on my index finger last week, which started to swell and send red lines up my arm, went on to deflate and cause nothing but a red dot after I put a baking soda paste on it.
The hive will be wrapped soon for another winter of clustering. I turn now to the stove and my boxes of beautiful blue glass bottles and white containers waiting to be filled with propolis tincture and bee body cream.