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
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