(DF) HONEYBEES IN THE HOUSE WALL (PART 4) Disaster!

By the time the bees were settled in their new home, it was Memorial day weekend.  All seemed well, so I left the bees to themselves during this busy time.  I did not have plans to be away for the weekend, but others did which added to my workload somewhat (taking care of my daughter's critters while she was gone), and there was some catching up here before the middle of the following week when I knew I would be away a lot.

Wednesday morning was finally warmer and almost sunny.  My first thought was to check the bees, but my sister had an appointment in Tulsa that morning so I drover her.  What I found on Thursday, when I opened the hive to try and locate the queen, was devastating to me.  There were hardly any live bees, lots of dead bees and the brood comb, which should have supplied replacements, was completely taken over by some type of maggots.  All the brood was dead, most of the adult bees were dead and the rest, including the queen, were dying.

Devastation, sadness and discouragement were the order of the day (and for several days to come).  It is hard to imagine being so broken up over a bunch of insects, but I am still sad when I think of it.  Life goes on, but for several days I replayed in my mind the procedures of capturing the bees, searching for anything I might have done differently that could have had a better result.  There may have been something, but I was unable to find it in my mind or in my reference books.  It seems that I handled it correctly, based on my personal experience and the information I had available (though under other circumstances, I would have chosen to do it a bit later in the season).

Sometimes a captured colony just doesn't survive, whether something is done a little wrong, the colony just isn't strong enough for the stress, or for any of countless reasons that we may not even understand.  Of course, on the flip side of that coin, sometimes they do survive and thrive.  It is this thought that will not let me give up.  The number of honeybees pollinating flowers here and the lack of local bee keepers, tells me that there is a bee tree nearby.  You can bet I will be looking for it.  If I don't find the bee tree, early spring will find me looking for bees to purchase.

Working with bees again, even for such a short time, reminded me how much I have missed it the past several years.  Beekeeping is a part of me that I lost but certainly intend to have back.  As an added bonus, it is a SWEET addition to the quest for self-sufficiency here at TwoFarmsOne. 

(DF) HONEYBEES IN THE HOUSE WALL (PART 3) Removal

Wednesday morning, having found the entrance the previous day, I put on my protective gear and fired up the bee smoker. then began removing a few pieces of siding from the wall to reveal the underlying boards where the bees were entering.  Within a few minutes, boards were revealed and the first board was removed.  Between the wall studs, there was honeycomb, but the bees were not on it at that location.  Removing boards and occasionally pumping smoke into the hive to keep the bees calm, I worked my way down to the bottom end of the honeycomb which ended within inches of the bottom plate..  There were no bees, brood or honey in these honey combs, so I would have to work upward to find the colony.

Moving higher and higher on the ladder, I slowly removed the outside wall all the way to the top plate.  Yes, the honeycomb reached all the way up the wall, from the bottom of the first floor to the top of the second (sorry I forgot to take pictures of the higher levels).  In the upper half of the comb is where the bees, brood and honey were.  There were far fewer bees than I had expected and much less brood and honey, though I hadn't expected lots of honey this early in the season.

By now, it was mid-day and time to start removing the bees.  Piece by piece, I removed honeycomb, carefully searching each piece for the queen, then placing it in a flat pan.  The pan would only hold a few pieces so it was down the ladder to put brood comb (some were partly filled with honey) into the hive body I had brought for this purpose.  The bees from the non-brood comb were gently brushed into the hive with a soft brush, all the while searching a second time for the queen.  This process was repeated over and over again until all the comb with honey or brood were out of the wall space.  One of the last few pieces of comb was where the queen and her entourage were finally located and were introduced to the hive.  When this was finished, I removed the empty comb from the wall.  All of the honeycomb which was not placed in the hive had been placed in containers with lids so the bees would not attempt to salvage the honey and wax and be more likely to work in the new hive.

As you can imagine, there were bees flying everywhere.  They were now entering and leaving the new hive and defending it, but there were still a good number of bees in the wall space gathering any honey that had been spilled or missed in their old location.  As expected, they could be seen gathering this honey and returning to the hive.  This process would continue for a while.

By late afternoon, with the work done, it was time to let the bees settle into their new home, so I left the hive where it was and made arrangements to come back after dark when the bees would be in for the night.  Sure enough, with darkness, the bees had settled and the vast majority of them were in the hive.  There were a few holdouts who stayed with the remnants of the old comb, but most had accepted their new home.  With a ratchet strap across the top to keep the hive parts from shifting and releasing bees into my Jeep Cherokee during transit and a small wad of green grass in the entrance to keep them from crawling out, I loaded the hive and started the 40 mile trip home.

I had hurriedly cleared out a place for the hive and set up a stand the day before, so upon arrival the hive was placed on the stand, the grass and strap removed and now it was up to the bees.

The next few days were cool and rainy, and with not much in the way of flowers for the bees to feed on, and with them needing to produce honey and wax quickly, I fed them so they could save flight time until they were well established.  As you can see from this photo taken a couple of days later, they were entering and leaving the hive, even though it was cool and damp (when it warmed up, there was more activity but I didn't have the camera with me).  Nothing to do now but wait for the bees to do their work, and to make a decision before the following Friday whether to re-queen. 

(DF) HONEYBEES IN THE HOUSE WALL (PART 2) assessment

Tuesday came and I went to look at the bees.  The house is an old two storied house, in need of repairs and with plenty of small openings for bees and other such creatures to make themselves at home.  I was led to a point on the outside wall where the bees had been seen.  Sure enough, there they were, lovely creatures, flying in and out between bricks nrar a corner.  The bricks in question covered the outside of the wall on one side of the corner, the other side, a narrow wall outside the star well, was covered with siding.

Where the bees were entering through a hole in the brick mortar, made it appear that they were going straight into the wider wall behind the bricks.  With bricks in the way, we went inside, where I listened to the wall with a stethascope.  Turns out that the walls were plaster and lath, covered with a layer of drywall.  No sound a colony of bees could make would penetrate that wall.  Next, we drilled small holes through the plaster so sounds could get through.  Still no sound, not in the wall or the floor, not upstairs or downstairs.  Could they be between the bricks and the wall?  Maybe there would be room 

there 

After a few minutes on the ladder, removing a few bricks, it became obvious that they were turning behind the bricks and making their way into the narrow wall of the stair well.  At least the bricks would not all have to be removed, though those at the corner would have to be pulled out to allow the siding and underlying boards to be removed.

By the time we had found the entrance, it was late afternoon so we decided to wait until the next morning to start ripping out walls.  We were all hoping I could get to the bees by removing boards from the outside of the house.  The alternative would be opening the wall inside the star well which would let the house fill up with unhappy bees.  I don't have to explain the drawbacks involved with this method.  In short, it is always better to keep stinging insects (no matter how beneficial) on the outside of the house.

During the drive home, my thoughts were filled with visualizations of how much of the space inside the wall might be filled with honeycomb and bees, what removing the boards might entail and hopes of a good night sleep.  Tomorrow would not be an easy day.

(DF) HONEYBEES IN THE HOUSE WALLS (PART 1) preparation

First, in answer to the obvious question, no the bees were not in mine or Anna's walls.  This story started last Friday when Anna called me, all excited at the prospect of bees.  But wait, there is a bit of history/background before I start.

Several years ago (actually more than several), I started beekeeping.  My first bees were captured from a bee tree in my woods.  After several years of successful beekeeping, disease wiped out my bees and life and finances got in the way of starting back up.  That was almost 20 years ago.  About four years ago, I decided to make new hives in my workshop and get bees.  Delays and priorities worked their magic but I managed to get most of the woodwork finished for one hive.  By "most of the woodwork" I mean everything wooden except the bottom board.  These hive parts have been sitting on my workbench waiting for me to finish.

Now, forward to last Friday.  I had taken time in the middle of my work day to pick up parts for the truck so I could fix it over the weekend, and was on my way back to work when the phone rang.  It was Anna, sounding excited so I pulled to the side of the road to talk.  The excitement was because of a post on a facebook page she had set up for garden discussion.  Someone had posted that there were honeybees in their wall and they needed someone to remove them.  Anna had told them she would ask me if I was interested, and promptly called me.

Honeybees are always a good addition to a self-sufficient farm, and of course I was interested.  Only one problem.  Remember the bee hive on my workbench?  That's right, no bottom board.  Limited time and lack of the preferred material (cypress is best for bottom boards) would make timing an issue.  Also, there was the matter of foundations.  Foundations are sheets of wax stamped with honeycomb pattern for the bees to start the comb from.  These attach to frames in the hive, and though the bees are quite capable of designing their own honeycomb, the frames and foundations give guidelines to make working with the hive easier for the beekeeper and safer for the bees.

The only option would be to buy the bottom board and foundations from a bee supply.  Finding bee supplies locally is not an easy thing.  You just can't go down to the corner store and pick up hive parts, so all the suppliers I knew of from my beekeeping past were mail order.  Shipping time would be an issue with ordering by mail or online since the people were in a bit of a hurry due to sting allergies.  Extermination was even mentioned.

Anna went on line in search of bee supplies while I finished my work day.  Searching online led to a small, home based business in Tulsa.  A bit of a drive but worth the time savings, if they had what we needed.  Monday would find me on the phone to Ozark Bee Supply in hopes of finding the needed parts in time to save the bees from extermination.

Bright and early Monday morning found me on the phone.  Of course Ozark Bee Supply had what we needed, but being a small home based business with no set business hours, they would not be there that day.  Disappointment was hard to disguise in my voice I am sure, but in light of the circumstances, arrangements were made for me to pick up the supplies that afternoon.

There are reasons I like small businesses and dealing with real people, accommodation, quality products and reasonable prices are a few of those reasons.  I found all of these with Ozark Bee Supply and an added measure of helpful advice.

By early afternoon I had picked Anna up at her house and we were on our way to Tulsa to pick up bee supplies and do a bit of other shopping.  The other shopping stories will have to wait for another time.  Meanwhile, at the end of the day, though there would be some required assembly the following morning, we were almost ready to attempt the rescue.  With equipment in hand, I called the homeowner to make arrangements to assess the situation.  We agreed on a time for Tuesday. 

Wow! Honey Bees!

I have lived here for 14+ years and have rarely ever seen any honey bees. The past few years I haven't seen any at all. The lack of them even causes problems with pollination of my veggies. I had to hand pollinate my tiny little bit of Fall garden to get anything to produce this year due to lack of the right kind of insects.

But I think I accidentally found what will bring them rolling in here. I have rarely ever planted Pansies here, maybe a few at my front gate, once. I had planted quite a few of them around my shop when I had it located downtown and even the hummingbirds seemed to love them. Then this year I thought I would plant one pot full here to have a good splash of color amongst the dreariness of winter. I never planted them here because the soil was so rocky, but I grew so many things in containers this year that I thought I would try Pansies, too. After that, they went on sale and I got more. I have one basket hanging out in the middle of my front yard where I can enjoy every time I step outside or look out the window.

Today I stepped outside to an unseasonably bright and warm December day. As I walked over to my hanging pot of Pansies to admire them more closely (I love that they are a bouquet that changes daily), I was totally surprised to see them dancing with honey bees! Now, some people may view that as a bad thing, but it is really a wonderful thing! Honey and honey bees are of an enormous value to our overall good health. And in the end, keeping them naturally fed and happy keeps us healthy.

I did a search and learned that Pansies are way up there on the list of flowers that honey bees love. And, because they are single petaled flowers, they are able to get more pollen from them per trip. (Single petaled flowers produce more pollen than multiple petaled flowers) Now, I knew that Pansies were edible flowers (taste is with a hint if wintergreen) and great for adding to salads, sugaring, and sinking into ice cubes for drinks, but today I learned that they are a great natural source of pollen for us, too.

So I will be keeping a close eye on my pansies this season, and if they continue to attract the bees on these beautiful days, I will continue to plant mounds of them every Fall! And as I type this and my mind wanders, I am wondering where those bees came from .... if they are from a close-by neighbor or from one of my many hollow trees. I am allergic to bees, so I probably won't follow them, but I am curious. I did get a little gutsy today and got right up to these. They flew all around me, thoroughly enjoying their Pansy feast, without any indication of trying to harm me. Guess they were really hungry.

 

click on pic to enlarge