Bee Fundamentals at Oatland Island

Keepers of the gate ;)Preparing for lunch! Low Country boil and fresh fried catfish! yum!
Bee friends sharing stories ;)


Just a few of the many animals out at Oatland Island.
A newly donated calf, his mom refused to feed him and the owners (members of our bee club) donated him to Oatland Island. He's being taken very good care of by the sweet caregivers that work there!
A message and blessing, from our "Newbee" bee club president, Faith Jaudon and Oatland Islands best, Annie Quinting!
Time to eat!!!!
How adorable!!! I couldn't resist!
We had an awesome turn out for our third year running!! Thanks to everyone that came out!!! We look forward to seeing everyone plus more next year!!!
One of the last classes that started after lunch...the bee yard.

There were classes going on all morning long but we (my husband and I) were floating as were other beekeepers helping out where needed, but this was our main post.

We had an awesome day and we're looking forward to an even bigger turnout next year!!!

Until next time!

BEE INVOLVED!! ;0)

Julie

Cleansing Flights/Fly Overs, Moles and Minerals

Cleansing flights.....

When we first got our bees a few years ago we were told about cleansing flights and how the bees would "drop" on our cars. Yes, they did back then and still do it now. I have always meant to take pictures of it but never had my camera with me when I passed by my car, so this year I made it a point to take a picture or two. Mind you it had rained earlier so it's not as bad in the pics as it is most days.;) I always say if I went out and buffed my car I'd have a really good wax shine ;) I also call these "fly overs"



I didn't notice these scratches until I uploaded this photo...neighbors cats again...grrrr, but oh, well nothing a little bit of wax poo won't wipe out, huh? ;)
We have moles... aggravating, tunneling moles....they tear up the yard something awful. Here one tunneled under my Nuc stand and I actually straightened it up before I took this picture! The poor girls were nearly entrance down in the ground!
These last pitures are of our honeybees gathering minerals out of a tray that I have on our patio that I started seeds in last year. I couldn't get close ups of them but I could see them licking the soil, it was so neat to watch them. Butterflies gather nutrients from the soil like this too.






My camera died the other day and I am SO lost without it :( I'm on the look for another one so wish me luck! I needed it desperately this weekend when we got into some of our hives. We ran into some very unusual things that we've never seen or even read about in any of our magazines or books. I told my husband no one would ever believe me if I just wrote about it with no pics to back it up.......That's what I love about bees, they are part of nature, something that's part of our lives and something we will never "bee" able to figure out. They are amazing creatures and I know most people that know me (even the ones that don't) ;) think I'm the absolute weirdest person in the world but I have such a passion for them! I wish everyone could feel what I feel about them sometimes...geez let me stop, the men in the "other" white suits might "bee" at my door in a bit ;) LOL

Joking aside though......I do Love my honeybees!

Until next time!

BEE COMPASSIONATE!!

Julie

Honeybee projects

Winter for beekeepers is a time to prepare for the spring...for the start of a very "bizzy" and sweet season. I volunteered to help out with a project that will help young students learn about honeybees. My part was to help out with the making of the bees. Knee high panty hose were used by being stuffed with batting (pillow) stuffing then painted a honey yellow.

Drying in the warmth of the wood stove.
Next the stripes, eyes and back have to bee painted on.
Then comes the wings and pipe cleaner legs and antennae.Isn't she cute! She will hang on a comb made from a large white sheet made to look like a honey comb along with all the others that I made. When you walk into the building (that's shaped like a giant bee skep by the way) you will feel like a tiny ant that wondered into a giant bee hive. I am looking forward to seeing it when it's finished. I'll post pics when we get there!

Not sure when we'll "bee" finished but I'll get the chance to check up on it next month! So, stay tuned! I'll keep ya posted!

Until next time,

BEE Bee-u-ti-fully Sweet!!!

Julie

There's Really Nothing To Fear!

This is my sweet neighbor, during the summer she came over and we went into a couple of hives. She's a natural! I think the only thing that bothered her was the biting knats!

This was a small hive we went into that I had split a couple of days earlier and bad weather set in, during that time robbing happened. The hive was destroyed :(
Once a hive is destroyed or weakened it becomes open for attack on so many levels. Here wax moths moved in and within a day they can consume and destroy!
Here you can see the trails from the moth larvae tunneling through the cells eating the bee larva.

Pretty pose ;)
My poor girls :( I wanted to cry!
This is one of our Nucs that has grown really well!My sister wanted to go into the hives so we did. I love showing how the bees are to anyone interested! Everyone I talk to is intrigued by them, wanting deep down to see what they're all about but they are still a bit afraid. Really there is no reason to be afraid! They are sweet creatures and give so much to us. The main thing to always remember if you ever come to our apiary.......don't wear cologne or perfume......and if you happen to be visited by a girl or two, just feel privileged ;) They like to see who has come for a visit....just don't swat or wave them away;)
Me and my sister
Her first time holding a frame of bees ;)

Two more sweet people interested in bees! They'll make fine beekeepers! And parents ;)

They both were naturals at looking for eggs and the queen!



I love letting people know how sweet beekeeping really is. I do hope if you are the slightest bit interested in honeybees that you will look up a local bee keeper and ask to visit their apiary and maybe get into a hive or two....you'll bee glad you did.

Until next time.......

Bee curious!

Julie

My Sadness As A Beekeeper/Drone Laying Queens

I noticed something wasn't quite right with my two Nucleus (Nuc) hives that I had started a while back, so I went in for a check. At first glance I could see that there was WAY too many drones. I found the queen in each hive and she looked fine and I saw eggs, but what I found next was very disturbing. All of the brood was drone brood. Male honeybees.......this is NOT good in a hive. I had queens that had not been mated. Their eggs were not fertile and they could only produce male offspring. I had to make a very difficult decision. The queen had to be replaced :( I love my queens and I love seeing the new little hatchlings scurrying around on the comb looking in the cells to lay eggs. They are so sweet.Can you see that there are more drones than workers? The drones(males) are much larger and have bigger eyes than the workers (females)
In this picture below you can see the drone cells, there isn't any worker cells at all. Drone cells are bullet shaped and protrude up higher from the comb. Worker cells are even with the comb. If not caught the hive will perish, the males will eat them out of house and home, so to speak. Drones do not forage and they bring nothing to the hive to eat. They are just there to mate with queen bees. This was my dilemma, I had thought that if the hive had drones that a queen would mate. Please don't make that thoughtful mistake, a queen has to be in flight in order to mate.
This brings me to the reason "why" I had two drone laying queens. Those that follow this blog, will remember that I had a queen that had her right wings chewed from her sister that hatched before her. I called her my "Wingless" Queen, I thought I would be able to keep her and she would have her very own hive, that was not a good thing. Her fate had been sealed when she lost her wings before hatching.
The only reason I can think of that the second hive had a drone queen was because during her hatch we had some bad weather at that time, a lot of wind and rain and she wasn't able to fly during the night to mate. Or, if she did mate there wasn't enough drones in the mix. A queen needs to mate with at least 20 drones in order to have enough sperm to be fertile. This, I have read, is enough to last, she won't mate again.

I had to remove the queens, I pulled frames of fresh eggs from one of my favorite hives and placed them in each Nuc. They pulled out queen cells and now have new baby queens.....I do hope they mated. I'm thankful that the warmth has stayed here on us, even though the nights are cooling off, hopefully the queens have made their nuptial flight and will be able to produce big strong hives this coming spring.......only time will tell.

Until next time.......

BEE ALERT

BEE INFORMED

Julie