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Spring Rush and Traveling Bees
Last weekend I performed the first in-depth inspections of hives in the apiary. Thanks to cold weather and a spring vacation I'm about a month behind where I should be in hive maintenance. The big leaf maple is in full bloom–about three weeks later than when it started last year. I also moved two hives [...]
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Field Notes
Weather: Overcast, showers, 46 degrees, steady southerly breeze Sunday I got out to take a few pictures around the beeyard: the skunk cabbage, the blooming cherries, and the buds of the big leaf maples. If last year seemed unseasonably cool, this year seems even more so. And judging from the progress of maple bloom, spring [...]
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An Early Sign of Spring
My chickens produced the first egg of the year yesterday–a sure sign that spring is on its way. Chickens, not unlike queen bees, stop laying in the fall. But as spring approaches and the days get longer the hens start laying again. These first eggs are always pretty small and often misshaped. Fortunately in a [...]
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Why Is Bob Newhart Dressed as a Beekeeper?
The January issue of Esquire interviews Bob Newhart dressed in a bee suit. There’s no mention of beekeeping in the interview and the bee suit and gloves look too clean and brand new. Also going veilless in the beeyard with gloves on strikes me as a little odd.
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Bees in Winter: Part 2
A two-day blast of snow completely changed the complexion of the beeyard. And yesterday’s sun breaks brought dozens of bees out of the hive as temperatures rose into the mid-thirties. Unfortunately most of the bees that got airborne quickly succumbed to the cold air and fell to the ground—the warmth from their tiny bodies melted [...]
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Bees in Winter
Here in Seattle, on the first day of winter, we’re in the midst of the coldest stretch of weather in nearly 20 years–and by far the coldest since I’ve been keeping bees. It looks to me like the hives are doing OK, judging the top covers and the amount of snow that’s melted from the [...]
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Field Notes
A common misperception about bees is that they hibernate during winter. While activity in the hive slows during the shorter fall and winter days, the hive is very much alive, which is evident on just about any sunny day when the temperature gets near 50, such as what happened today. This time of year the [...]
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Art of the Hive
The October 20th issue of New York includes a two-page spread on the work of Hilary Berseth and his bees. Berseth has figured out how to manipulate the bee space inside a hive so that the bees construct comb in overlapping spirals and other complex shapes and forms. His hive shapes are on display at [...]
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Here This Morning, Gone Tonight
The swarm I observed Friday was still hanging around on the same branch this Monday morning. They apparently found someplace else to go this afternoon, as I can’t find any sign of them in the neighborhood this evening. Yesterday I checked out Hives 1 & 2 to follow up a couple of tasks from Friday. [...]
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A New Year