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Bombus mixtus enjoying the sage blossoms and snowberry in our front yard Honeybee collecting nectar=Sage Honey this fall ©Tracey Byrne 2017 Did you know that almost 90% of all flowering plants rely on animals, rather than the wind, for pollination? Over 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators. The vast majority of animal pollinators are insects such as beetles, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies and moths; of these, bees pollinate the largest number of plant species. About 1,000 species of pollinators are hummingbirds, bats and other small mammals (Pollinator Partnership, 2017). Visit Pollinator Partnership and bee inspired with ways to support all our pollinators
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Our Flow Hive has an observation window, which is SO cool. I tried something new this year: I put TWO upper entrances on the Flow hive; this gives the girls two separate pathways straight into the Flow deep with their nectar and pollen and seems to be more efficient for everyone. We are just running one hive this year, as we lost a queen in early June and decided to just combine them rather than re-queen so late. They are going strong! Looking forward to our first Flow Hive harvest this summer. Best review of the Flow Hive: by Hillary of Girl Next Door Honey
Hello beekeepers, I wanted to share with you the gentlest and most elegant way to install a package of bees into your beehive. If you have ever shaken honeybees out of their box, you know it is both exciting and a bit frightening, but it also is a little rough on the bees. We have been employing this new, improved strategy for the last several years, and hope you will give it a try. First, we readied each hive by putting two frames of honey into each deep, along with the already built-out frames in our two empty hives. Then we just removed the can of syrup (no longer needed) and carefully placed the queen in her little cage and the open box of bees into each hive (having first removed the cork on the queen cage and replaced it with a bit of marshmallow). We then put the lid on and give the bee-girls a couple days to release the queen, and Voila! Happy Bees. What a lazy way to load the hives. We loved it. Package of bees, waiting to be installed Package on its side; queen cage and syrup removed Ready for the cover: let rest for two days
I am excited to report that we have our FLOW hive up and running. As you can see in the photo above, the bees are checking out the new system. We have four FLOW frames in the middle of the deep, with two cut-comb honey deeps on each side. Right on schedule, the bees are beginning to wax up the cracks and we look forward to seeing them fill the frames with honey. We are trying out a couple new things this year: in addition to running one FLOW hive, we have purchased deeps from Denmark; our goal is to keep our bees more cozy through the damp winter.
Meanwhile, looking in the side peek-a-boo window, the bees are busy drawing out traditional comb, and loading it up with nectar. An unexpected perk: we now have an observation hive, and can watch the bees in action with minimal disturbance. In just two days the workers drew out the second comb and have almost filled both with nectar. We are simply entranced with the show.
The Difference Between Honeybees and Bumblebees Did you know that there are more than 4500 species of bees that live in the US and Canada, and worldwide over 20,000 species have been identified? Many urban dwellers have not had enough experience with backyard pollinators to easily tell the difference between bees and wasps. For me, it is similar to how you can tell a cat from a dog, or robin from a spotted towhee–not only do they look different, but their movements and habits are unique. You can often ID your backyard bugs by where you find them and what activity they are engaged in. You will find medium-sized golden-brown to black honeybees (photos right) busy flying back and forth between flowers, loading up on pollen and nectar, and zipping back to their hive. Bumblebees (photos left) are generally larger and fuzzier that the honeybee, many with black, orange, or yellow stripes. I consider bumblebees to be the “teddy-bear” of bees, and the most photogenic. Honeybees tend to be sleeker and less hairy than the bumblebees, but both carry pollen on their back legs. Honeybee Swarm Swarming honeybees are docile; they have nothing to protect–as they are merely scoping out the real estate in your neighborhood. The honeybee swarm consists of a healthy queen and upwards of about 10,000 of her workers. Call your local poison-free bee-guy to come collect them, and they will be relocated to a good home. Of all the bees, we know the most about our domesticated non-native European honeybees, not only for their pollination efforts but also for the food, candles, and medicinal products derived from their honey, pollen, wax, propolis, and venom. Honeybees are the outliers in the bee family. They, along with bumblebees, are social insects, which means that they work together in the hive to raise their young and make honey. Most other bees are solitary, do not care for their offspring, and a whopping 70% of all bees live in the ground. Bumblebee nests can be found in the ground, in abandoned birdhouses, or in attics. Their nests are nothing like the honeybee's neat and tidy honeycomb (top); instead, they look really primitive, and a bit cobbled together (below). The bumblebee queen hibernates over the winter, so bumblebees need gather only enough nectar and pollen to raise the brood each season. Honeybees must store enough honey and pollen to allow the workers and queen to survive the winter. Bee or Wasp? Bees: fuzzy, friendly, busy-but not aggressive, flight patterns are direct. Variations in size and color from golden brown to green to black, thick legs with pollen baskets, nectar gatherers; nest in ground, woodpiles, hives, attics, and walls. Wasps and hornets: often aggressive, many carnivorous, striking yellow-black or white-black pattern that shouts CAUTION! Shiny, long thin legs (no fuzz or pollen basket-), wasp-waist, annoying at picnics, zig-zag flight pattern, paper nests found in trees or under eaves. poster by Alex Surcica Want to know more? Check out the book "The Bees in Your Backyard" by Wilson and Carril; for a peek inside my beehives, and more images of the wild things that visit my backyard click here.
Narrated by Cedar Anderson, the inventor of the FLOW hive. Bonus double-feature for you today :^) also from Flow. Enjoy! We had four strong hives all season (though one of our hives swarmed in late summer and left us queenless.) Our bees have plenty of honey to get through the winter, so we have harvested one medium (10 frames) of beautiful cut-comb honey. Thank you bees! The bees and I have been battling yellowjackets, which are invading one hive and eating bees, honey, pollen, and larvae; when large numbers of yellowjackets have stormed the gates it is difficult for even a strong hive to recover. That red stuff in the image below is propolis, which the bees make from tree sap. Honeybees use propolis to seal up the cracks in the hive, and it is an antibacterial. Humans have used propolis to treat infections and wounds since ancient times and recent studies show that it is resistant to MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that has become resistant to many antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections. Honeybees are not only important pollinators of crops–they also supply us with superfoods and medicinals.
What can you do to protect honeybees and all native bees and pollinators?
Do not buy flowering plants that have been treated with neonics Support local & organic beekeepers ::::: Free Posters courtesy of Nora Wildgen at BeeSwell How do you tell the difference between a honey bee and a bumble bee? Two of my favorite children's books will turn you into the neighborhood expert:
The "Bumblebee Queen", by April Sayre, is a simple and elegantly told story of the life cycle of the bumblebee. Patricia Wynne's illustrations are lovely, thoughtful, and accurate. Are you a fan of Ms. Frizzle and her Magic School Bus? If you join Ms. Frizzle and her class to take a trip "Inside a Beehive", you will be amazed at how much information you will learn (and not only about honeybees...) I highly recommend this book to beginning beekeepers of any age. Visit HoneyBee Suite to see some close-up images Honeybee or bumblebee? If you are a beekeeper, this is the time of year to replace lost colonies in your apiary. In 2013, I shared this "Easiest Package Installation Ever" with Rusty over at Honey Bee Suite. That was the last package of bees we ever purchased. Since then, we have been repopulating our hives with local bees who have swarmed. We gather the bees ourselves or get them delivered from our friend Marvin, who also does Poison-free bumble bee, wasp, and hornet removal. There are several reasons why we have chosen to only install local swarms of honeybees in our apiary rather than buying packages of bees; part of this decision has to do with what a "package" of bees actually is, but mostly, it is because a local swarm is made up of a strong and vigorous queen and her followers, who have all made it through a northwest winter. Where do bees go when they swarm? Here is a sample of swarms we have captured in our backyard: Clockwise from top left:
small laurel swarm, double laurel swarm, stairwell swarm, and Argentina/motorcycle swarm |
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