New babies at Bermuda

Every hot night my two hives have bees hanging out on the front porch, but tonight finally Bermuda looks like there's a much bigger group than in the past. Probably this means that the amount of brood hatching is finally catching up to Destin (the hive on the right)...

Here's an up-close look at Bermuda with the thick group of bees gathering on the porch at the end of the day.

Tonight I'll need to build a couple of extra supers to have on hand - I'll bet these girls are working hard to fill the current honey supers and that when I inspect this weekend, I'll need to add a new one.

Comparing the beards

I'm concerned about the huge beard on my Destin hive to the right. Are they crowded? Ready to swarm?

The bee-beard on this hive grows every night - in one way this is a good sign because it means that there are more and more bees being born in my hive. I wonder what it will look like in August in Atlanta when it is REALLY hot? Earlier in this blog
(a little less than a week ago at about the same time at night) you can see the hive with smaller bee-beard.
I took this picture at 11:40 PM in Atlanta and by morning the beard is reduced by about half and gradually is replaced by bees who are foraging. They still congregate all day on the front porch where they "dance" until the beard builds up again at night.









PS I added a super to Destin on Friday, giving the bees more room and the possibility for more ventilation. They look just like this picture even after supering...this must be what beekeeping looks like at night in the deep south.

It's Saturday night and the bees are bearding!

I just drove in from the mountains of North Georgia to find the bees at Destin bearding across the front of the hive. The day here in Atlanta has apparently been hot and dry. Although the picture shows bees standing still, in fact they are each moving and dancing and having a real good time!













Here they are up close and personal.



What more can you expect from bees on a Saturday night?

Clustering bees at night

April 26, 2006: Opened the hives to check on the overcrowding because in spite of ventilation and SBB (screened bottom board), they are clustering (bearding) outside the hives in the evening – lots of them.

Inspection on each hive: I pulled up the frame 2 and 9 on each hive – Destin beginning barely to draw them out. I need a definition of what “drawn out” looks like. Bermuda is completely not touching 2 or 9. In general seems to be a weaker hive.

Successes: I managed to light the smoker and keep it lit. I upset the bees in spite of being as quiet as I could but I didn’t get stung. I was a little awkward with the hive tool, but I’ll get better. Also refilled both syrup jars. Forum discussions indicate to remove the syrup jars when the super is added so as not to contaminate the honey produced with syrup.

It’s raining tonight and the bees are still outside the hive. These pictures were taken at 10:45 PM - and many are outside the hive.

The medium super arrives tomorrow. I’ll paint it and get it up and running as quickly as possible – maybe add it on Saturday. These pictures were taken at 10:45 PM - and many are outside the hive.