September 02, 2005
Bee E.R.
A bear smashed the bee hive to pieces. She (or he, but I'm trying to convince myself it was a pregnant mom just trying to get enough calories to make it through the winter) came in Monday night and ate all the brood and all the honey. Luckily, Peter and the crew found the disaster Tuesday. I say luckily because even after they'd cleaned it up, and even after I'd been warned, to see the devastation still was heartbreaking for me. The bees had been doing so well, no evidence of mites, tons of honey, and, as bees go, a pretty happy and gentle hive.
Also, finding the devastation quickly allowed us to save at least a few of the bees. Many thanks to our friend and neighbor Libby who came and did some bee emergency rescue Tuesday afternoon. She ventured in among some VERY perturbed bees to put a box back together for them to try to regather in.
Then Libby and I went up this morning to give the bees some sugar syrup, so they'd have something to eat for now at least, and then to try to close down the entrance to make it easier for the bees to defend their hives from robbing yellow jackets and bumblebees.
This hive, with no brood, no honey, and few bees, will not be able to get through the winter. So one evening this weekend, Libby is going to come take the hive and combine it with hers. If the queen is still alive, we'll have to kill the queen (only one queen per hive), but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
It's a bummer, but it's hard to fault any creature for taking the food it needs to survive the long, cold winter ahead.
Posted by maryellen at September 2, 2005 10:20 AMWhat a heartbreaker. Hang in there.
Posted by: JDAZ at September 2, 2005 11:17 AMThat is so sad. Poor Maryellen, what a disappointment. The woodchuck got into Mike's garden. Wildlife!
Posted by: GOM at September 2, 2005 05:54 PMOh, Maryellen! I feel so sad. You have worked so hard on the bees and invested so much time and energy and love in them.
Posted by: Mike, PGG's dad at September 4, 2005 05:16 PMI just found your blog by googling "bee fiasco" and finding your honey comb removal from two years ago. :-) I just harvested honey for the first time (after three years now of having the bees!) and had two to four frame space in one super that was filled with free comb (I know it is burr comb, but it was beautiful capped honey - I'm going to figur out a way to package it and send it out as gifts!) in one super, and then *One Whole Deep* filled with honey and comb and no frames. I put that one on to give the bees a little extra space for something last summer (as in 2004), and by the time I had the frames, the overacheiving girls had already delt with that silly open space themselves.
I'm thinking I probably should requeen (now, but I don't think I can, so next spring) with that same sort of bee, since they have been so hardy and productive. I think that was my one hive of Italians. (I have five now. Two carinoleans (sp?) and two wild hives that I removed from a barn and a garage for people this spring.
Today's project will be getting a bee escape, and figureing out a way to encourage the bees to leave the deep, which we managed to remove, but do nothing with, so I can sort out the wax and honey. My bee quick and vapor board did nothing yesterday even on the supers, so we brushed. And brushed. And brushed.
I'm so sorry about your bees. I've had night mares about that sort of thing, but haven't had a bear venture in to our yard, fortionately.
Eventually I'll post about my honey harvest, if you're interested in looking. Today if I'm lucky, but I don't know.
Posted by: penelope at September 19, 2005 12:46 PM