Kirk checks in on an Eagle Rock hive, and gives us some bonus tips of what to watch out for now that the weather's been hot and the wild bee forage is dwindling.
Want to know how to make a baggie feeder for your bees? Here are instructions.
Showing posts with label hot weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot weather. Show all posts
10/1/10
Kirk looks in on some slow-growing bees
Kirk checks in on an Eagle Rock hive, and gives us some bonus tips of what to watch out for now that the weather's been hot and the wild bee forage is dwindling.
Want to know how to make a baggie feeder for your bees? Here are instructions.
9/25/10
Unexpected honey harvest
Today Amy and I headed up to see how our hives (three mature, one new) are doing.
The first thing we noticed was how this hot weather makes the hives amazingly easy to take apart—all the propolis is softened, so you don't even need a hive tool to get the frames out. Plus, the bees are way too busy working and trying to stay cool to care about you taking their home apart a bit.
In the first two mature hives we were happy to find pretty much what we expected: lots and lots of brood surrounded by honey, and a few frames of mostly uncapped honey at the top.
In the third mature hive we found way more than we expected: plenty of brood surrounded by honey, and lots more honey to spare! This hive has been exceptionally busy over the last couple of months.
We took just a couple of frames, which we'll leave in the comb. It'll be showing up in small pieces on the cheese plate at Bar Covell in Los Feliz starting tonight.
The first thing we noticed was how this hot weather makes the hives amazingly easy to take apart—all the propolis is softened, so you don't even need a hive tool to get the frames out. Plus, the bees are way too busy working and trying to stay cool to care about you taking their home apart a bit.
In the first two mature hives we were happy to find pretty much what we expected: lots and lots of brood surrounded by honey, and a few frames of mostly uncapped honey at the top.
In the third mature hive we found way more than we expected: plenty of brood surrounded by honey, and lots more honey to spare! This hive has been exceptionally busy over the last couple of months.
We took just a couple of frames, which we'll leave in the comb. It'll be showing up in small pieces on the cheese plate at Bar Covell in Los Feliz starting tonight.
8/27/09
Who needs a thermometer when you've got bees?
Though I had read that bees will sometimes "beard" on the outside of their hive in hot weather, I'd never seen it in person.
But it was well into the 90s in L.A. today, and when I got home (after 6pm), I found that our super-achiever hive was in full-on bearding mode.
I hope this doesn't mean they're getting ready to swarm. They still have lots of room in the top box, and we even removed a couple of frames of brood over the last few weeks. We shall see.
UPDATE (the next day):
On Kirk's advice, we opened up more room in the hive by moving some honey frames upwards and adding a fourth box. There's plenty of brood, so it looks like the queen is happily working away.
This afternoon there was far less bearding, despite the day being hotter. Thanks, Kirk!
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