Acclimation

I'm a bad blogger. Either that or I've become use to being stung, I believe it's the later. I bring this up because I have totally forgotten to update my sting counter to 4. It happened back when my parents were out and we were harvesting my 2 frames of honey. After I had completed everything I was standing around waiting as my Dad discussed beekeeping with Mario, apparently one of my girls had gotten up my pant leg and gave up trying to find a way out. She stung me on my calf much to my surprise, and the irony lies in the fact that I had specifically changed out of my shorts and into pants for harvesting because I thought it would be better. Had I stuck with my shorts I most likely would have been fine.

Yesterday I went out to setup my fall feeder. It's a really simple setup, much like a hamster water bottle. You fill up a 2L jar or ice cream pail, punch a few holes in the lid, then invert it. Eventually the vacuum that forms because of the air pocket will keep the syrup from completely flowing out and the bees can then take it at their leisure. The syrup that drips out during the process also lets the bees know there is a food supply nearby. Around the feeder you put an empty super and seal it off, this prevents bees from other hives from coming and robbing the feeder. In really bad situations, after they are done with the feeder they will start stealing honey stores if the hive is too weak to defend itself.

I'm getting more comfortable with my bees so I'm working without gear.


How the feeder is setup inside.


The third super provides the empty sheltered space for the feeder.

This is also the most satisfying time of year for all the female beekeepers out there. As my readers know, all the worker bees are female and do all the work in the hive. All the drones are male and do absolutely nothing in the hive except go out to mate. If they aren't out flying they're getting fed and groomed by the workers. As winter approaches though winter supplies becomes an issue and having a bunch of freeloaders hanging around doesn't help. There's only one solution, the freeloaders have to go except they don't really want to. This leads to the worker bees literally dragging and attacking drones out of the hive. The front entrance of my hive was full of drones trying to get back inside.

You can handle drones because they don't have a stinger. You can identify drones by their very large, fly like, eyes. They also have a very blocky abdomen with a squared off bum.

Now that you know what a drone looks like it's CONTEST TIME! I have one mason jar of honey left and due to my small harvest I don't have enough for everyone who wants some. So if you want a shot at my last jar you need to tell me how many drones are in the picture below. (The picture below is a full resolution shot, so it may take time to load the larger version when you click on it.) You can submit your guess in the comments below or by emailing newbees@telus.net