No Bees at Home, No Homeless Bees - Blue Heron Update

I have been concerned about the fact that the bees I saw on Thursday night looked like robbers rather than homeless bees. They were approaching the hive in the frantic way that robbers do. But still, if there were still homeless bees in the vicinity of the Blue Heron hives, now gone, I'd want to try to make them a home.

Today it is pouring rain in Atlanta. But it is still daylight. I decided to drive over to Blue Heron in the pouring rain and look at the hives. If any bees are taking shelter in their old home box, they should be there now, taking shelter from the rain.

I arrived in the rain at Blue Heron, put on my muddy tennis shoes and rain jacket and sloshed through the mud over to the hives. No bees were anywhere. I opened the nuc box - no bees. I opened the yellow hive - no bees. I opened Julia's hive - no bees. Her hive had six dead bees on the top of it.

We can now definitely toll the bells for the Blue Heron bees, rest their little souls. All of them are no more.

The bees eating the honey must have been neighborhood robbers or bees who survived the flood but were so worn out that they have died this week.

I didn't move our equipment in the pouring rain - but I'll go get it in the next day or two.

And we'll try again next year.