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5
May
‘13

May Pollination Report

Beekeeping MastheadBee pollinating Puget Island Plum

Bee pollinating Puget Island Plum.

Within the past three weeks, I’ve seen the bees in all manner of fruit trees — first in the cherry plums, then (to my great surprise) in the Bartlett pear, as well as plums and cherries. The apple trees just started blooming and the bees aren’t interested yet. Honorable mention to the dandelions, which the bees have been absolutely delighted with. Dandelions are a wonderful source of nectar for bees.

Bee in a Dandelion

Honeybee in a dandelion.

Today we observed the bees considering swarming. I’d noticed a month ago that the Carniolan hive had a lot of bees flying out front, but neglected to take any action. After this bout of good weather, they’ve filled up their hive of two boxes and seem to be ready. When I opened them up, I noticed a good population of drones and a number of queen cells — meaning the hive is ready to swarm because it’s too crowded.

Bees returning home after considering swarming.

Bees returning home after considering swarming.

Bees swarm when they’ve run out of space and the hive is healthy. Typically they won’t swarm if the hive is struggling. When they swarm, the old queen leaves with honey-filled workers, leaving a skeleton crew behind.

We noticed the lower box had more free space than the upper box, so we reversed the two boxes — bees like to build upwards. We gave them another empty hive frame above to build into.

Carniolan Queen Bee

The original Carniolan Queen Bee, now presiding over a weak hive after swarming last July.

We inspected all of the bee hives. The bees that swarmed last August are in sorry shape. It looks like the queen stopped laying eggs and their population is quite low. They still have some honey, so we might want to rescue them by donating worker bees and unborn brood from a more robust hive (for instance, the hive that wants to swarm).

The three hives other than the weak hive are all doing extremely well. Perhaps too well! All three have some drones and a very strong worker population. I suspect that the workers are filling their hives with honey, which leaves the queen with nowhere to lay her brood.

5
May
‘13

May Pollination Report

Beekeeping MastheadBee pollinating Puget Island Plum

Bee pollinating Puget Island Plum.

Within the past three weeks, I’ve seen the bees in all manner of fruit trees — first in the cherry plums, then (to my great surprise) in the Bartlett pear, as well as plums and cherries. The apple trees just started blooming and the bees aren’t interested yet. Honorable mention to the dandelions, which the bees have been absolutely delighted with. Dandelions are a wonderful source of nectar for bees.

Bee in a Dandelion

Honeybee in a dandelion.

Today we observed the bees considering swarming. I’d noticed a month ago that the Carniolan hive had a lot of bees flying out front, but neglected to take any action. After this bout of good weather, they’ve filled up their hive of two boxes and seem to be ready. When I opened them up, I noticed a good population of drones and a number of queen cells — meaning the hive is ready to swarm because it’s too crowded.

Bees returning home after considering swarming.

Bees returning home after considering swarming.

Bees swarm when they’ve run out of space and the hive is healthy. Typically they won’t swarm if the hive is struggling. When they swarm, the old queen leaves with honey-filled workers, leaving a skeleton crew behind.

We noticed the lower box had more free space than the upper box, so we reversed the two boxes — bees like to build upwards. We gave them another empty hive frame above to build into.

Carniolan Queen Bee

The original Carniolan Queen Bee, now presiding over a weak hive after swarming last July.

We inspected all of the bee hives. The bees that swarmed last August are in sorry shape. It looks like the queen stopped laying eggs and their population is quite low. They still have some honey, so we might want to rescue them by donating worker bees and unborn brood from a more robust hive (for instance, the hive that wants to swarm).

The three hives other than the weak hive are all doing extremely well. Perhaps too well! All three have some drones and a very strong worker population. I suspect that the workers are filling their hives with honey, which leaves the queen with nowhere to lay her brood.

3
May
‘13

Woodpeckers Amidst the Apples

Red-Breasted Sapsucker

A Red-Breasted Sapsucker enjoys the Yellow Gravenstein tree.

Spring isn't just a great time to grow things — the woodpeckers also seem to enjoy the warm weather. Pileated Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Flickers, and the Red-Breasted Sapsucker pictured above have all made regular appearances in the old orchard and on the black locust trees.

The Sapsuckers drill regular rows of holes, which are then cultivated by all the different woodpeckers as fine bug-hunting territory (as pictured with the Downy Woodpecker in last March's photo below):

Downy Woodpecker excavating Sapsucker drill-holes.

Downy Woodpecker excavating Sapsucker drill-holes.

Pileated Woodpeckers and Flickers are less choosy than their smaller relatives — I've seen both pecking at the corrugated aluminum of our woodshed roof.

3
May
‘13

Woodpeckers Amidst the Apples

Red-Breasted Sapsucker

A Red-Breasted Sapsucker enjoys the Yellow Gravenstein tree.

Spring isn’t just a great time to grow things — the woodpeckers also seem to enjoy the warm weather. Pileated Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Flickers, and the Red-Breasted Sapsucker pictured above have all made regular appearances in the old orchard and on the black locust trees.

The Sapsuckers drill regular rows of holes, which are then cultivated by all the different woodpeckers as fine bug-hunting territory (as pictured with the Downy Woodpecker in last March’s photo below):

Downy Woodpecker excavating Sapsucker drill-holes.

Downy Woodpecker excavating Sapsucker drill-holes.

Pileated Woodpeckers and Flickers are less choosy than their smaller relatives — I’ve seen both pecking at the corrugated aluminum of our woodshed roof.