Monday, September 20, 2010

We will fight them. . .

Well, I've remove all of the worm eaten comb and consolidated the girls into one hive. Hopefully the bee population density in one hive body will be large enough that they can control the pests themselves. My biggest concern is that it is late in the year and a lot of honey and pollen was destroyed. I am still feeding them and will continue to do so.

The End of Days?




Wax moth catastrophe. I don't have much to say about this, but it looks pretty grim for the girls. Not sure what happened but here is my supposition: Colony is weak from being queenless and possibly tracheal mites. I was housing the weak colony in two hive bodies. It was too large a space for the girls to patrol and the moths got in, wreaking havoc all the way.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Xerces Society 2011 Bee Calendar


This is a link via a friend of mine. I don't know much about the Xerces Society but the calendars are nice and it looks like a good cause.

Here is their mission statement.
Started feeding the bees again yesterday with a 1 to 1 sugar solution. I guess I keep this up for the rest of the winter but I will double check on that. Only a couple more things in the area left to bloom and the ladies can probably use the extra juice. I think the population, though smaller than it once was, has stabilized. I am still supplying them with grease patties and menthol for tracheal mites. I will remove the menthol in about 2 more weeks.