The Tale of Two Toes

Happy September! I'll begin with a story: on Saturday, I walked onto the grass in the backyard with bare feet very briefly (something I never do), and stepped on a bee. I didn't even see the bee, just the stinger on the bottom of my big toe, and it felt decidedly uncomfortable. Okay, it hurt. On Monday morning, I was back to walking around the yard with flip flops on (something I always do), and a bee stung my OTHER big toe! Any more of this foolishness, and I'd become a bad country song..."I got no honey, my smoker went out, and bees have stung me on both my big toes..."

The good news is Erin had a strong feeling that we needed to put the bottom boards back into the hives on Sunday. We were able to slide them into place (underneath the hives) without much trouble, and also check on the honey supers. We found no honey whatsoever, which is about what we expected. I spent some time scraping off the sticky propolis around the edges of the top supers, and it gave me the opportunity to observe the distinct behavior of each hive. The bees in Hive 1 will come right to the hive tool to see what's going on, and they seem aggressive about it. One bee went after my veil. But the bees in Hive 2 go about their business, are much gentler, and really don't seem to mind me at all. We've read that each hive develops into its own personality, and it's also interesting to note Erin and I both received our earlier stings from Hive 1. It's difficult not to see them as winged rascals.

The very next day the weather turned much cooler, and I know the bees don't have to work as hard at staying warm with the bottom boards--hooray for good timing! It seems the cool weather will arrive earlier this year, and many are expecting a heavier winter with more snow. Erin went to Frankfort recently to pick up bee medication from Dadant and Sons, and one of the expert beekeepers showed her their observation hive. We've mentioned before that the drones (male bees) are kicked out of the hives in preparation for winter....Erin saw this first hand in the observation hive. A worker bee was chewing off the wings of a drone as she escorted him toward the entrance while the others moved out of the way. Poor fellow. But I understand that the only known purpose of drones is to mate with queens of other hives for the sake of continuing the species....beyond that, they don't work or even sting, and become a dangerous drain on the hives' resources during winter. Chances are they would ALL starve if drones were allowed to stay. One morning a couple weeks ago, I distinctly saw 3 drones who had been pushed out of Hive 1. The expert at Dadant said it's a bit earlier than usual for the bees to be starting the ritual, but I know they must have incredible attunement with the change of seasons. After all, their survival depends on it.

We have also noticed foraging bees arriving near the hives, their wings in absolute tatters....a big garden spider who attached her web to the backside of Hive 2 for a month or so....and days where we see a continuous flow of pollen being brought into the hives.

Below, we have some photos Erin took of me checking the hives.

















Do you see the honey on this frame? We don't either:) Ah, well--maybe next year!!