^This is what I just dumped off the bottom board. Oh, the carnage. ^
I took an 8 week bee class over the winter, 6 of which I attended. I didn't learn TOO much, but it was worth it. I learned enough to make it worth the $25 I had to pay to attend, plus it was local which was nice. (Local meaning I only had to drive 15 miles to get there!) I'm going to be volunteering at a class Mar. 27th and Apr. 3 about 1 1/2 hr away, so hopefully I'll learn more there too. I attended the last 1/2 of this same class last year when I was just getting started, but missed the first 1/2, so I'm looking forward to hearing more of it this time.
^Every last one of these bees are dead and I had four frames, front and back that looked like this. This was part of the "cluster"; if you look very closely in all the bees, every cell has a bee in it with just their little butts sticking out. That's the classic sign of starvation, despite the fact that I fed them throughout the winter a 2:1 sugar water ratio syrup.
^See? There's still some activity though the majority of them died.^
I have a 3# package of bees coming on April 19th so I can get back up to 2 hives again. I also need to purchase some more wood ware and paint it "just in case" I need to split a hive or catch a swarm. I hope this year is a really good year!
5 comments:
Oh cool! I didn't realize you guys had bees! That's awesome :) Some day, if the Lord gives a home in the country, I'd love to have bees!
Good luck :)
Last year was our first year for keeping bees, so I still consider myself to be a "novice". I love it. I could get into SO many hobbies like this (cows, chickens, pigs, etc.) but I just haven't figured out how to manage it time wise! :(
We still haven't looked in ours. I wonder what we'll find. I've definitely seen lots of activity, so I know they aren't dead. I'm glad now Joe convinced me to leave them that extra honey super. It was a tough winter!!
I wonder whether you shouldn't ask an experienced beekeeper about this. It's wierd that so many died and that you see so many bees outside.
Appalachian Lady, I took the bees to the meeting and they agreed that it was starvation, but that some survived. I described the whole scenario to Jerry, Jack, Mark, and others and they all agreed that some starved, some survived. It is strange though.
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