Category Archives: Nature

First swarm of the season

Bees, Nature, WV, , ,

We had just finished Easter lunupper (brunch sounds so nice…what do you call it between lunch and supper? Lunupper?).  We rolled into the house and had a message.  The caller reported a swarm of bees near a popular chain restaurant attached to the big mall in the city.  The swarm was at the top of a cedar tree and was “the biggest swarm ever seen” by the manager of the restaurant.  I was pretty skeptical about the size as most people have never seen a swarm of bees so big could mean anything.  Still, I decided to roll down with Abigail and my father-in-law to find out.

As soon as we pulled in, a crowd gathered and watched us do our normal routine of surveying the swarm.  It wasn’t the biggest swarm I had ever seen but the manager had picked out the fact that it was a big swarm.  It was in the very top of a cedar tree.  Cedar trees are sort of flimsy at the top.  Unlike an oak or maple, the cedar doesn’t really have big branches against which one can lean a ladder.  It has been my foolish tendency to just go for it when it comes to swarms.  I just threw the ladder up against the green of the tree and climbed my way up.  I always carry loppers (is that a local term or what they are called?  Long handled tree pruners, anyhow) to cut branches.  The funny thing is that when you cut a swarm out of a tree, you need to hold onto the branch with the bees on it.  Of course, it also takes two hands to run the loppers.  I learned the first time I did this that I can hold onto the swarm with one hand and brace one handle of the pruners against my neck.  I use my other hand to close the loppers and cut the branch.  Now let me tell you, doing that leaning into the greenery at the top of this flimsy tree with a swarm of bees was interesting!

marching into the hive...

So the crowd continued to watch as the three of us did our thing.  We transferred the bees from the branch to the hive I brought along.  I gave the branch a good shake and the bees mostly fell into the box, but some fell onto the sheet I had under the box (another lesson I learned…put down a sheet first.  It looks more impressive and help me keep better track of the bees as they walk into the hive).  In a few minutes, it was clear I had the queen as the bees on the sheet and from the tree ended up working their way right into the hive.  We packaged up the hive and hauled it off in the van (much to the dismay/excitement of our audience).  I really like the “performer” part of catching swarms.  Hauling bees in the van is sort of the grand finale!

safe as can be!

Two things sort of struck me about this capture.  First, people were amazed that I let Abigail be so close to the swarm.  She was a great helper and loved every second.  The funny thing is, she had on a full bee suit so was at lower risk than the people around us who were concerned for her safety.  Silly people!  On the way home, she asked me over and over, “Why were those people looking at us?”  I explained that people were surprised at a kid working with bees, and even more so a girl kid working with bees.  I told her they were probably seeing a swarm of bees for the first time ever, and so on.  She talked about it all night long.  I think she was sort of proud more than anything.  I am still smiling about it…

fascinated!

The second striking thing was a man who walked up as we were doing our thing.  It was clear he was drunk.  He walked right up to us and began to talk to us far closer to the bees than I really liked but he was so curious about the whole deal.  He ended up sitting right beside our area and asked all sorts of questions.  He asked about the queen and I said she was bigger than the rest.  He said, “Bees have three parts, right?  The abdomen, thorax and head, right?”  He must have sensed my surprise because, with a smile on his face, he added, “I may be homeless but I’m not stupid.”  “No sir, you are not.”  That brief conversation really turned my prejudice on its head.  I shook his hand (which I think surprised him) and we parted ways.  I think we both ended up with a pretty cool story to tell, though they are undoubtedly quite different.

Anyhow, I had a really great time catching this swarm.  The audience was fun, having my family along was great, and the homeless man was sort of good to remind me to listen to people before deciding that I know their circumstances.  Bees always teach me something…

Here are some more of my bee adventures and here are pictures of many of the swarms I have captured.

Honeybees – splitting a colony

Awesome, Bees, Nature, ,

The number of bees in a honeybee colony ranges depending on the season.  Sometime in the middle of the honey flow (April-July or so here in WV) a good colony will have somewhere around 60,000-80,000 bees in it.  In the middle of winter, the colony will only have 20,000 or so bees.  Typically, the more bees there are in a colony, the more honey they can make.  So, sometime around the end of January or the beginning of February, the queen starts to ramp up her egg production and the colony starts to grow in number to get ready for Spring.

My helper

Most queens are egg-laying machines, capable of laying up to 2000 eggs per day.  When a hive gets too full of bees, spring fever hits and the colony makes preparation to swarm.  Swarming is a natural reaction to over-crowding and is the typical way the species propagates.  The old queen and a bunch of workers (half give or take) will leave the hive and find a new location.  Prior to leaving, the workers make several queen cells (they feed fertilized eggs/larvae the proper amount of royal jelly and the larvae will turn into a queen) so the remaining colony will still have a queen after the swarm leaves.

Lots of worker brood in the pupal stage...changing from larvae into bee. The flat cardboard-colored covering gives it away
Note the white larvae. Once the eggs hatch, the resulting larvae eat and eat and grow into pretty large "worms". They eventually are capped over (see above picture) and pupate. This stage is the conversion from "worm" into bee.

An observant beekeeper will watch for the Spring build-up and may consider splitting a colony that grows too big.  Swarms are a lot of fun to watch and to catch, but a beekeeper runs the risk of irritating his neighbors or losing the colony to the wilds.  I prefer to split a colony before it gets the urge to swarm so I can retain all of my bees.  So, last night I split a few of my “booming” colonies.  I simply take 3-5 frames with a mixture of bees, brood, eggs, pollen and honey and move them to a different hive box.  I make sure to leave the queen in the original location.  The original colony will remain strong as the queen finds she has lots of room to lay more eggs (in the empty frames I put in place of the ones I removed) and the colony will make lots of honey.

Notice the different bands...the outer bad has a somewhat wet looking yellow cap over the honeycomb. That is capped honey. Inside of that is a yellow paste down inside the cells. That is stored pollen. Inside of that band is more capped brood. The "nest" always has these bands of honey, pollen and brood.

The new colony will feed royal jelly to a number of eggs (in essence, making their own little swarm condition without actually flying off) and end up with a queen in 3 weeks (if all goes well).  The split probably won’t make honey this season as they have to hatch a queen and wait for her to get to full egg-laying capacity, but they should be strong going into the Fall.

Lots of pollen stored by the hive. This is protein for the bees and essential for raising new bees

I was able to find a few queen cells in the original hives so I took them and put them in the splits so I know there is a queen already pretty far along in the development process.  These splits have an even better chance of having a good queen and growing rapidly since they won’t suffer the 3 week delay to make a new queen from scratch.

Too bad it is blurry but this is one of the queen cells I found...a new queen in the making!

I make splits every year and have great luck at it.  I will probably re-queen these splits later this season or maybe next spring as I want to maintain genetic diversity, but in the short term, I now have more colonies than I did 2 days ago and I will almost assuredly make more honey than I otherwise would have made.  Honeybees are so cool!

Holy hail!

Nature, WV,

It has been pretty nice the last few days, and now, with the weekend approaching, it turns to junk.  Last night, just as I was driving home, it decided to come a gully washer (for you Yankees, that means it rained like crazy).  As I walked to the car, it poured and I got wet clear inside my skin.  About half way home, the rain turned to hail and all hail broke loose.  It quickly turned to hail-so-loud-I-coudn’t-hear-myself-yell-in-the-car hail.  I mean it put down hail and meant it.

A friend suggested the hail had challenged her car to a MMA fight and the winner was not clear.  That pretty well sums it up.  I am sure that if we see the sun again, I will have dents all over my car.  Poor Steve…

Of course, hail is really ice and it became abundantly clear that I needed to be careful on the hail.  I slid at one stop sign which was an attention grabber.  Anyhow, I slowed down and got home just in time for it all to stop as fast as it started.

There were tons of blooms out and the bees had been busy on them.  It remains to be seen how the hail might affect the build-up of bees.  This is a critical time for them to be making more bees and collecting pollen and nectar.

I love spring for all of the new life that comes and the rain that sparks the world to green up again.  I might be able to do with out the hail though…just spring please!

Sore legs are nice sometimes

Adventure, Family, Nature, WV, ,

I had an itch.  I simply needed to walk in the woods.  This weekend was all sorts of busy but I was determined to get outside some and enjoy the sun.  Sure enough, the sun was out .  The wind couldn’t miss the fun though.  Honest to goodness, there were times when I thought I was going to blow away.

Anyhow, we wandered around in the hay field on our property for a little bit but the wind made it impossible to stay upright.  My parents tell a tale about taking my brother and me on a walk into the woods.  As the story goes, we started complaining while the house was still in sight.  Of course, as parents some times do, I think they embellished the tale a bit.  Still, we apparently were not good wilderness travelers.  My kids were flat out awesome and never complained once on our hike though.  We walked around for about 2 hours and the kids were awesome to watch.  Isaac plowed through the woods like a bull at first, but that slowed pretty quickly as he got into some serious thorns…Brer Rabbit he ain’t.  After he got some proper respect, it was pure delight to watch them as they wandered around and checked things out.

Isaac discovered the fun of crawling around in the stream that runs through the property.  I have a stream!  And a spring!  Somehow through the magic of the wood sprites, he did not get covered in mud.  Abigail, on the other hand was covered head to toe!  Anyhow, they were like  couple of…well, like a couple of kids in the woods!  Abigail found a bird’s nest that she wanted to put somewhere safe  She found a cool rock on which she could leave it. ( I have a rock!  And a stream!)  As she placed it just perfectly so the wind wouldn’t get ahold of it, she discovered a small snake.  I was sure she would freak but she was really cool and calm about it.  She wanted to touch it so I touched first so she would see that I am super cool and brave.  Both kids ended up touching the little snake and I figure he liked it too.

So, by the end of the day, we were all pretty tired and had sore legs from walking through the woods.  It’s one of those sore feelings though, that’s pretty nice when it comes down to it….plus, I have a stream!

Maple blooms

Bees, Nature, Thoughts, ,

Last weekend when we had our first false spring, the maples really showed their stuff and bloomed beautifully.  The bees were out and about and desperate for an opportunity to stretch their wings and look for a bit of fresh nectar to eat.  Many folks fon’t know that maples have floral blooms (I guess as opposed to fungal blooms?)  Blooms on a maple are super tiny and most people  just think they are the beginnings of leaves on the trees.  Anyhow, with the warm weather and blooming maples, the bees were out in full force.  Tons of bees were dragging back all sorts of pollen also.  Pollen is the protein source for bees and early protein usually means that the queen can start ramping up egg production as soon as the weather stays warm enough, long enough.

Some beekeepers find it necessary to add pollen patties about this time of year to prime the queen for early egg production.  Of course, early eggs mean early bees which usually makes for a strong colony when the honey flow begins in a few weeks.  With so many maples so close, we do not need to put pollen into the hives.  I have been into the hives this time of year and sometimes there is so much pollen that I worry the queen won’t have room to lay.

Look closely at all of these pics…the yellow stuff on the bees’ back legs is pollen!

Anyhow, the bees were out and doing their thing and I, as always, decided to hang out near the hives and stick my nose into the doorways so I could smell the smells of the hive.  Unlike a few weeks ago, I managed to avoid being stung.  I love summer plenty but I think I might just like this time of year more than any other time.  This is the time of year when stuff starts to come alive again…including me!

I thought the pics were especially nice so I hope you enjoy my bees (from afar) as much as I do!

Boots!

Adventure, Nature, WV, ,

We are soon to be country folk.  We’ll retain our city-slicker-ness during the week as we both work in the city.  But come the weekend, we are putting on our boots and headed to the woods!  Being city-slickers, we didn’t have proper boots.  How can we be country folk without boots?

Oh no, that cannot abide!  I got new boots last week so we would not be wet-footed-greenhorns!  I was a bit torn about what style of boot I needed.  I have steel-toed rubber boots and I have cowboy-esqe boots.  I have boots with fluffy insides and I have boots with sparkles.  Well, no I don’t.  Anyhow, I figure that running shoes would not work in the woods and I plan to be in the woods and in the fields and generally outside on this property!

Emily actually got her boots at the beginning of winter.  I think she looks hot in her boots.  They are water-proof and snake-proof and termite-proof.  The are so-many-things-proof that I decided to get an identical pair…only mine were half off!  Anyhow, our boots are identical…even in size!

We are ready now.  I got my boots and I got my canvas coat and I got an itchin’ to get outside and enjoy…being outside!  My boots have much work to do in the coming few months!  I have high hopes for these boots.  I am offering up a challenge to my boots.  They gotta be tough.  They gotta be rough.  They gotta be awesome!  Don’t make me break out my sparkley boots!

Right in the eyeball

Bees, Nature, ,

Sunday was absolutely beautiful here so we all enjoyed being out in the sun.  The kids and dog got super muddy and Emily washed the cars.  Being useless, I sat in front of the beehives as the bees dodged in and out, mainly pooping, but also enjoying the sun (I think).  Of course, I absolutely love the smells that come from an active beehive.  If you sit close enough, you can smell the wax and the honey.  It’s not like sniffing a jar of honey from the grocery store.  Oh no, it’s quite different and really incredible.  You’ll have to trust me on that one until they invent “Sniff-o-web”.

Bee poop

So, there I was watching Emily work, just minding my own business when a bee reached out, butt first, and stung me right in the eyelid.  She stuck there for a few seconds, buzzing and trying to fly away.  Though it would have made for a cool picture, having a bee attached to my eye, my first reaction was to get her off before any more venom got injected.  As you might guess, a sting in the eyelid swells up pretty quickly.  I guess I have developed a bit of an immunity because my eye did not swell like it did the first few times I was stung in the eyelid (yes, it’s happened many times).  Still, I looked a bit freaky for a few hours.

A little puffy under my eye
Swelling is spreading out...ugly pic though

Well, spring is my favorite season so a little taste of it makes my day.  Seeing the kids all muddy and the wife washing the cars…it just feels right.  If only my bees had a better sense of humor about my sticking my nose in their business.  Maybe this spring I will try to train them better…I’ll keep my eye on that…

Let’s see if the banker sees his shadow

Nature, Thoughts, WV

And now, ladies and gentlemen, is the time you have all been waiting for…the announcement of my big surprise.  Well, let me preface this by saying this is undoubtedly more exciting for me than for you.  But humor me, ok?

So, I bought the farm!  Wait, I mean I bought a farm.  Well, technically it’s not a farm…yet.  But I will be moving my bees there and it will be the beginning of a farm.  We are buying 30 acres of raw but beautiful land not too far from Charleston.  We’ve been in this process since the end of September and things are just now beginning to move forward.  Emily says she is curious whether the banker will see his shadow and retreat back into hiding or let us close on this place in 6 weeks!  Phil didn’t let me down this year and I have super high hopes for the banker too.  Actually, he is a great guy and the snafus are not his fault.  Anyhow, we seem to be moving forward very well now and I think we are rounding the corner to the finish.  I am sure that something could still go wrong, so please, find a bit of wood and knock on it for me!

We are actually buying the land from a former blog friend turned real-life friend, Granny Sue.  It turns out, she is cousins with one of the guys I work with. As you might guess, since this is raw land, we will be on it a lot doing whatever we can to make it functional for our use.  I see plenty of projects in the coming months/years.  That means lots of pictures (mainly to show the insurance agent when he asks how I got that car stuck up in that tree.)  So, here are some pics, pre-car-in-the-tree!

These pics don’t really do it justice…It’s WV land so it has hills and hollers and flats and bottoms.  This really is a beautiful state and I am proud to (almost) own some of its best parts!

I am pretty excited!  I suppose I might have hyped my surprise a bit.  No babies or anything like that for us…

Black and white special

Awesome, Nature,

Ah, the old black and white got me again.  It rained just under 2 inches in the last 24 hours.  Sometime last night, the weather further delighted us with a dusting of snow…it’s the first sticking snow we’ve had this year around the house.  I hate snow…have I ever said that before?  Well, I do.

Did I ever mention I hate snow? Well, I do.

Of course, since we got Ginny, she likes to be outside as much as she can.  Two inches of rain plus bare ground = muddy dog so we have been trying to keep her inside as much as possible.  Until I can potty train her though, I will have to keep on going out when nature calls.  Well, nature or the clatter of stray cats that congregate on our patio called a lot last night.  She had to go out last night several times as Mother Nature delighted us.  Did I ever tell you I hate snow?  Well, I do.

Early in the evening, I took Ginny out with fully intact feet.  Isaac and I went to taekwondo last night and did our thing, however.  We practice kicks and forms and the usual stuff at TKD.  At the end though, we get to “free fight”.  As I have said before, it feels like a special sort of crazy to enjoy fighting and watching my kid fight, but it really is thrilling.  Anyhow, we were free fighting and having a good time doing it.  I usually have to fight black belts as they are mostly adults and despite my beginner status, by size alone it would not be fair to pair me with anyone under 16 or so.  I think most of the black belts like it though, because I am able to really fight with them which gives them some semblance of a challenge.

Some friends of mine have mentioned that they could never do TKD because they felt like they would just get mad and go to town.  I am certain that if one got out of control during TKD, the black belts would end it very quickly.  They are good folks and are very skilled.  All that is to say, they like to spar and get a workout and they like control.

Ignore the hairy man-feet

So, I was fighting my favorite guy to fight last night and he told me to feel free to really go for it…so I did.  I did a series of kicks, the last of which was aimed at his head.  For that one, I had no intent of making contact (as that would probably end my evening), but he had to throw the block as if I were.  TKD is done barefoot so his block + my bare foot swinging (at near light speed) ended in my having a black toe this morning.  Have I mentioned I hate snow?  Well, I do.  I also hate black toes.  Black and white are kicking my butt today!

Die mosquito scum!

Nature,

I am a bit behind on posting…well, a lot behind, but there’s another story there that I will tell later.  Anyhow, I think I have mentioned that I hate winter and all things cold (except cold Mt Dew and frozen Snickers bars, and air conditioning), but I do get a special joy when we get our first frost.  Our first good solid frost came Saturday morning.  So, on Saturday morning, when I saw the sparkle of the ice on the leaves, I gave a 21 raspberry salute to all of the dang mosquitoes that died.

I am not exactly sure why, but we seem to have an extra helping of mosquitoes around our place.  We go to other places around Charleston and it doesn’t seem to bad.  I guess there must be swamp land near by…that or else my gutters are jammed up with leaves that hold extra water longer than they should even though I try to keep them clean in spite of the two gigantic trees towering overhead that shed stuff spring, summer, and fall (whew, what a sentence!)  Yeah, probably swamp land.

Anyhow, we’ve had our frost and I got to to see the pretty look of the ice on the grass.  My volunteer tomatoes and herbs are dead.  Now, let’s get back to summer, shall we?