persephone_kore | (no subject)

You know, you always hear about socks getting eaten in the wash. Well, usually the dryer.

I think my laundry room has eaten a pillowcase. I could probably get it disgorged if I felt like looking hard enough, but for now I'm just using an alternative pillowcase.

I seem to have bees again, and should go visit them. (They live at my parents' yard. I lost my colony over the winter, but was irresponsible and did not get the hive cleared away and stored. Now there is a swarm in it. I'm not quarreling. I just hope the death was a fluke. Still haven't figured it out: it never got THAT cold, I think I'd medicated appropriately, and they had plenty of food.)

I think I might start putting my Neopets stuff over here again. I can always make a filter for interested people. Or just cut it. Except having a separate journal means I can use my Darigan icon. Hmmm.

I should probably go to sleep. The comforter is in the dryer, but it's not like I actually need it. It is June.

I'd like to write tomorrow (er... later today), but am not sure if it will happen. I was doing some cleaning today that resulted in less overall clutter, but some of it is now more in the way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ohh a swarm is good!
I lost a swarm due to inattention, but hey, I was expecting it- life has me going entirely too many different directions right now.

Ilost about half my hives last winter- most for no discernable reason,a nd several of my hives had nasty cases of chalkbrood this spring. I know it's the damp,a nd cold, and it clears up on it's own, but its heartbreaking to see them clearing out dozens and dozens of little corpses every day.

Ah well, I thnk I have them situated for the summer- every hive has a queen, or queen cell- I just have to make sure all goes well with the new queens starting to lay.

Well, I'm glad you have them set now, and I hope all yours behave. :)

I'm sorry to hear several of yours died, but I have to admit it's comforting to be reminded that experienced beekeepers also lose colonies for no apparent reason. I'm still well and truly baffled on this one -- I think they lost their queen first, since the brood comb didn't appear to be so much dead as empty, but that doesn't offhand seem to explain why in a mild winter they would appear to have dropped dead in large numbers all at once, both the cluster and a couple of workers headfirst in honey cells.

Too many directions, huh? I remember you being very busy last time we talked -- I guess it's all still going? I'm glad to hear from you, though; thank you for giving me a few minutes. :)

Pesticide drop?
Was it warm enough for them to get out and forage?
Winter kills are always a guessing game- I lose them ffrom damp and stress as often as from something I can name.
One hive died in march, with honey, *after I had looked in on them and seen that they seemed to be coming along OK.
Sometimes you just can't tell.

There had been a lot of warm days, yes. Mom saw a few bees flying back and forth on warmer days right up until she went out and noticed the hive didn't seem to be humming and didn't smell quite right. (I don't think it smelled bad enough to be foulbrood, from what I've heard described; it just smelled off because... well... the bees were dead.)

I hope, whatever it was, it doesn't kill off the swarm, or affect other local bees. As far as we know the swarm seems pretty happy so far, though.

I should get a honey super ready. There wasn't that much gone from the one we left them for the winter, and while the holly bloom may be over, the clover is definitely in business.

We have already gotten thru dandelion, fruit trees and wild mustard, and I believe the bees are working on flowering trees like Basswood. We usually have alfalfa before we start to get into the clovers, then star thistle, which is the crop I aim to have my bees at peak for.

If it was esticide in stored honey and pollen, the swarm would probably have been affected by it. It *might* have been something fast acting, but it doesn't seem likley.
Foulbrood (Either sort)causes dwindling in the winter- little or no replacement of the adult bees, and that doesn't sound like what you had.
I'd say it was probably queen loss (No checking ofr lack of blood now.) and then damp/cold/ demorilization hit the remaining bees and they just gave up.

I hope you got a 'good' swarm!

When we opened up the hive and found the dead cluster, I didn't see any brood in any condition whatsoever (though I probably should have inspected the cells that were covered by dead bees more thoroughly than I did -- I was kind of rattled at that point). I really appreciate your analysis. *wry grin*

We have clover all over the place right now, and the mint ought to bloom soon... which I suppose isn't going to be a major source of nectar, but it's definitely going to be easy to find since the hive is kind of sitting in it.

Ohhh mint?
In southern Michigan, they *do* get mint honey, in some areas, because there are farms that raise mint by the acre.
The closes I (sometimes) get is what I think is Basswood; it smells minly when being extracted, but the smell is delicate, and not overpowering, and it easily gets lost afterward. (It does not come thru in mead, but you can smell/taste it in the honey while it is fresh.)

Clover is always good! nice and 'clean' tasting.
Here, in late July, after the star thistle, we get Purple Loosestrife. This is a tall plant that likes to invade swampy areas. The honey is slightly greenish colored like Mountain Dew,a nd it has a faintly bitter taste to it. I'm not a big fan of the stuff which is unfortunate becuse the stuff is *everywhere*.

I hope you get some minty honey- if not you might want to try pouring warm honey over a jar full of mint leaves, sitting it in the sun for a day or four, then straining it- it should give the honey a nice minty flavor. You can do the same with rose petals, violets or any other edible flower or herb.

Oh, that's a neat idea! Last summer's had minty-flavored honey in some portions of the comb but not others -- there were areas that could make your tongue tingle and some with no sign at all. (No extractor, I ended up just cutting the combs out, so it didn't all get mixed through except in the drippings.)

Thanks for the tip. :)

So, what do you keep bees for? Pollination? Honey? Rental? All three?

Fun, mostly. I only have one hive and have not acquired a great deal in the way of equipment or easily cleanable space, but last year we got some lovely honeycomb, and they make my parents' gardener neighbors happy.

So the new swarm appears to be staying? Hooray!

Well, they're still there, have settled into the old bees' foraging flight patterns, and are visibly doing housekeeping, so... yup. Maybe I can visit them Thursday after my eye appointment.