Removing the Queen Excluder

[multipurposegoddess]

I should've done that a long time ago, it had quite a bit of wax built up on it. Oh well. The bees look healthy and they've got a nice store of what looks like lovely honey. I maybe could have harvested, but I feel good about my decision to let them keep it all for the hive's first winter. It's all mild and eucalyptus reaping time now, but who knows what January will bring. I can always harvest in the spring if there's a lot of capped honey.

I need to remember two things for next time that I am doing something more major than checking frames . First, make sure Walter is not curled up in the grass a few feet from the hive. Once I get the bees all riled up they are apt to go after him, poor puppy. He may have been stung today, it's hard to tell, but I couldn't find any swelling or tender spots. Hopefully his fur stymied them. Gave him a Benedryl just in case, and I'll give him another in a bit. Second, remember to use the smoker, that is what it's for and it really does make a difference. Dumbass.

Comments

[meara]

I totally forgot you had bees! yay.

[multipurposegoddess]

Hee, I guess i Haven't mentioned them in a while. They've just been doing their bee thing without much interference from me...

[fatoudust]

Yay yay! Poor Walter. Hope he's okay. We had to give the Biscuit a Benadryl this trip because whatever it is he's allergic to in Indiana was driving him bonkers. He spent that day totally conked out. But after that he's been much happier. Right now he's curled up asleep on my foot.

I'm excited about bees because I'm finally going to visit my friend in Kansas who has them, and I hope to be able to look at her operation and figure out if we can do it. I think we may not be able to, but I really want to. We had a ton of bees in the flower garden all summer, and they just make me happy to hear them buzzing around. The SO just wants to put up a mason bee house. But I kinda want to go whole hog on it. It's just that we travel so much I think it's impractical. I mean, I have someone cross-country skiing to the house right now to water the plants. I kinda can't imagine asking a random person to look in on my bees.

Anyway, I'm glad yours are doing well.

[multipurposegoddess]

He seems to be okay, he may not have been stung at all. He's curled up sleeping right now, like he usually is this time of night. I got stung after I posted - I was done messing with the bees and went out with out the veil and all that to stand at a respectful distance and just observe the hive and I guess they were still a little angried up and one of 'em got trapped by my hair. Poor thing couldn't get free and I couldn't see it to help it out and it stung me on the back of my head. But it didn't hurt badly for very long, so I'm hoping that if W did get stung he is similarly no longer hurting.

Bees are actually surprisingly low maintenance, they'd probably be okay being left for a few weeks at a time. You have more actual winter to contend with than I do, which I understand can be challenging bee-wise, so you'd have to figure that out. But if you were to join a beekeepers association (like I really ought to do) you'd meet people who would be willing to drop by and check on your bees while you were out of town.

Mason bees need love, too, though!