Bee Report – August 5th, 2011

When I arrived at Willow Springs this afternoon, the bees were extremely active, more active than I’ve ever seen them! Once I got myself established and was sadisfied that the bees were doing really well, I got the opportunity to meet Commercial Bee Keeper Barry Tabor, who was able to teach me how to properly use a hive tool and perform a basic hive inspection, to insure that the bees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and to determine the over-all health of the colony.

When I first lifted off the hive cover and exposed the top honey super, I noticed that the bees remained fairly calm, and were extremely tolerant of my inquisitiveness as I inspected the tops of the frames with my hand. Barry showed me how to use the hive tool to break the propolis seal that was securing the frame to the rest of the hive body. Propolis is a sticky, sap-like substance that the bees collect from trees in order to seal up any cracks in the hive. This substance also acts as an anti-bacterial agent and is used to insure that the hive is kept clean and free of mold and mildew that could potentially harm the colony.

I was given an opportunity to hold a frame with bees on it, which was a very enlightening experience for me, as I realized that the bees were so busy working the frame, that my presence didn’t affect them too much. We tried looking for the queen to insure she was laying properly, but unfortunately we had no such luck finding her. However, we did find some eggs that were layed recently, which led us to believe that the queen is alive and well. After our basic hive inspection was concluded, and I put back the frame that I was holding, I noticed that the bees were buzzing vigorously, which made red flags go up in my mind and encouraged me to close up the hive as quickly as possible. We were able to close the hive without killing too many bees and got the job done with Barry receiving only one sting!

To conclude the bees were extremely happy today, and the colony is doing extremely well!

Here are some photos - you can click on them to enlarge them:


"The Watering Hole"




"Bees Coming and Going"




"Paul and the Ladies"




"Getting Down to the Bees"




"Paul Working His Magic"




"Working Hands"




"Taking Out the Frames"




"Looking for the Queen"


~Paul Dosen

Bee Report – July 25th, 2011

When I arrived at Willow Springs this afternoon, it was raining quite a bit. The bees were fairly inactive when I approached the front of the hive. Today was my first day to crack open the hive and see how the bees were progressing! With Ayla’s help, we were able to take off the hive feeder and inner cover in order to get a good look. To our surprise the bees were lethargic and slow moving. The 10 frames of foundation were being built up slowly but due to poor weather conditions the bees weren’t able to get much work done in this area.

Luckily when Joanne came out to Willow Springs she gave the bees some frames of comb that were already drawn out, thereby giving the bees an opportunity to concentrate more on gathering pollen and nectar than constructing wax comb.

~Paul Dosen


Bee Report - July 11th, 2011

It was a nice day today at Willow Springs - the sun was shining, the wind was refreshing and the bees were buzzing!

Using the railing, I was able to navigate to the fence with ease in order to unplug it from its power source. I then was able to proceed, unhooking the electric fence and navigating to the hive on my own with very little difficulty. When I knelt down beside the hive it was a whirl of activity - the bees were coming and going paying little attention to my presence. The activity remained fairly consistent, with an occasional lull in activity every five minutes for a few seconds, then picked up again.

I noticed when I walked in front of the hive entrance, the bees created a ‘mini swarm’ outside the hive, curious as to what was standing in front of their home. Lucky for their sake, it wasn’t a bear! I also noticed a pesky fly trying to get into the hive. the sweet smell no doubt attracted her and she was trying every trick in the book to get inside. However, the guard bees were on full alert, patrolling the landing pad and surrounding area. The fly didn’t succeed but lived to fly another day as the bees did not take defensive action by stinging, but merely head-butting the fly off of the landing pad. It was a site to behold!

~Paul Dosen