squidink: (bee by gold_lily)
squidink ([personal profile] squidink) wrote2010-06-11 10:48 am
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HOT HIVE ... or ... THE HIVE FROM HELL

I was helping with some hives at a local arboretum when we came across this:

the dreaded HIVE #3

the Bartlett HIVE FROM HELL

This is ONE HOT HIVE. These bees are CROWDED and ANGRY.

We had finished working with four other hives when we got up to this one. A bee got under my veil and stung me on the cheek, some got in my hair and I got bit through my jeans. The other volunteers all got stung through their sweatshirts and on their heads/faces/arms.

I had never witnessed something like this.

Some 20 year beeks with full suits are coming over the weekend to take a look and maybe do a split, this baby is ready to swarm. Its been a hell of a spring, huge honey flows, and the second+ year hives are in swarming mode (mine are all new hives, I lost all of my bees last year along with many others in the area).

On the upside, it was an eye opener and a bonding experience. Picking stingers off of each others faces and brushing bees out of one another's hair.. that's the sign of true friendship. :)

[identity profile] rhodielady-47.livejournal.com 2010-06-13 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Have there been any more local signs of that collapsing hive syndrome this year?
Surely the swarming indicates healthy hives?
:)

[identity profile] squid-ink.livejournal.com 2010-06-13 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"backyard" hobby beekeepers never had a problem with colony collapse.. that affects beekeepers that pollinate for a living and truck hundreds of hives to locations for brief periods of time.

"non working" bees face an ever changing host of issues, but CCD is not one of them.

[identity profile] rhodielady-47.livejournal.com 2010-06-13 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Non-working" bees?
Now that's an oxymoron if there ever was one.
:]