Bee Inspection 7-20-2010

Inspected all the hives today. Added back the top feeder to the Brown hive and filled it to the top with three gallons of 1:1.5 sugar water. Cleared the tall grass from in front of mine and Bill's hive with Clarence’s weed whacker. Smoked my hive before doing so and should have smoked Bill's as well as I got stung from one of his bees. Also added a medium super to the Brown hive.
Added a super to hive one at my place because the top supper was full of capped honey and they have been bearding the front of the hive so they need the room. Added more sugar water to hives two and four. Hive four goes through 2 quarts in a 24 hour period. I am going to put the top feeders back on as we are leaving for Idaho on Wednesday. Hive three still has not drawn out the top super but I elected to leave it on for a while, at least till we get back.
I have also been feeding the bees sugar water on top of the compost bin lid, there are 100s of bees taking the feed and it goes very fast. I make a simple home made solar wax melter, it works very well in the hot summer sun. The bees also enjoy cleaning the honey from last winter harvested comb.

Bernie and Doug's Excellant Adventure

Terry's dad and I made a trip to the bee yard yesterday. Bernie had a great time. I was able to show him quite a bit about beekeeping. My main objective was to add two quarts of feed to hives two and four.
I even showed him how the bees sting but could not talk him into experiencing it for himself. It has been good to have him with us for a while.

Bee Inspection 7-5-2010

Bill and I visited our hives yesterday. The Brown hive had scores of new bees doing orienteering flights. Popped the lid on this hive and saw that the bees and queen had moved up to four frames in the top brood box. That was all that I needed to see so we put the hive back together. This is a very good hive and should be quite strong going into the fall. Inspection at the home hives yield similar results for hives 1 and 3. Might get some honey off of these two hives. Hive two and four are still a little on the weak side but saw good queen activity and laying patterns in both hives.
Will add feed to hives two and four later in the week. Decided that the top feeders are not the way to go for me. I will be switching back to mason jars. This is my favorite method of feeding as the feed stays fresh and does not drown any bees , something the top feeders are prone to do. The feed tends to go bad as well. So I end up dumping a lot of it out.
Next inspection will be in two weeks to see if the honey supers are fully capped and ready to harvest.

Bee Stings

I am running a little experiment. My left fore finger at the joint closest to the palm of the hand has been sore off and on for a long time. Think it is related an arthritic condition. It flared up again today so I decide to try a little bee sting therapy. I caught one of the biggest female worker bees from hive 3 and made her sting me in between the third and second joint of the finger. Did not remove the stinger right away so as to get a maximum dose of venom into the site. Seems to have had an effect but it too early to be sure. Since I have been stung dozens of times now the reaction to the stings are minimal.

Grapes

Looks like a bumper crop this year. Only had to water once so far this year as the heavens have provided the rest.

Argos at Six Months

Argos continues to grow. Now 55 pounds. Looks bigger with Terry than with Eric who towers over us all at 6'4". 

Had him fixed a couple of weeks ago. He recovered with flying colors. He continues to be a very good dog and is very obedient. We are scouting the local lakes so we can start his retrieving from the water training.

He has discovered the raspberries and eats the low hanging ones. We keep trying to get to them before he does. So far the blackberries seem to have escaped his attention, but am sure it is only a matter of time till he discovers them as well.

Tomatoes to the Roof

Tomatoes plants are up to the ceiling of the hoop house, so it would seem they love this environment. Lots of blossoms and set fruit on all six plants. Plants look very healthy.