Wild and crazy bees

Came home to bees swirling all around Destin....hope they are not about to swarm. Maybe new brood is orienting to the hive - I hope so! I also could hear a moaning sound on my deck. The moaning came from a young squirrel sitting under the window of my sunporch - wonder if the girls had stung him?

Since the bees were extremely active, I posted the message below on the Beemaster forum:

I work all day every day and am home to wave good-bye to the bees as they begin their foraging for the day and then in the evening as they are gathering back at the hive.

Today I came home at 4 PM and there is crazy activity at one of my hives. Many bees are swirling in and out of the hive and buzzing loudly.

Perhaps this is new brood orienting to the hive - they seem to be flying up, turning around and looking at the hive and making huge circles.

Am I in for a swarm or is it something that probably happens every day and I'm just not here for it.

BTW, it isn't happening at my other less vigorous (more peaceful) hive.

Obvious pollen on bees

April 25, 2006: The syrup jar is empty on Destin. When I added to it, I had a bee adventure.

An angry bee came into my hair buzzing like crazy. I shook my head to get her off, but that made her angrier, evidenced by her buzzing. After a while, and not wanting to be stung, I went inside with her in my hair and got the bee brush. I then proceeded to try to brush her out of my hair. Eventually it worked, but I spent about 10 minutes at this endeavor!

One reason the syrup jar on Destin empties so fast is that it appears to be leaking – there is a dark area on the cinder block below the jar, below the hive that appears to be soaked with sugar syrup. I’ll take it off and tighten the lid, but I will be relieved when I don’t need to keep feeding. I’ve ordered an interior feeder.

Bermuda doesn’t seem to be as active this morning as Destin – hope the queen is still there.

While I watched I saw several bees flying into Destin with obvious pollen collected on their legs!!!! See the bee with orange pollen on her legs at the right of the picture.

April 18, 2006

Becky said I should name the hives so I named the salmon colored one Bermuda for the sands of Bermuda and the yellow one Destin. I hope the bees from Destin don’t want to move to Bermuda. The bees in Bermuda are eating their sugar syrup. The bees in Destin are not.