Bee Funeral

Warning, graphic photos below of dead bees.  Proceed at your own risk.


Much like my efforts on this blog, my bees did not survive the winter.  Unlike my bees, this blog can be resurrected.  Luckily, my hives really can too with the reintroduction of a new package of bees.

As I've told anyone who has joined me on this journey, I have no idea what I'm doing.  I came into beekeeping with a naive enthusiasm for the idea of protecting our pollinators, a one day crash-course in beekeeping from my local community college, and apiary heritage (thanks Grandpa Carroll!).  I've got the enthusiasm and just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

I was visiting with a local beekeeper on Saturday who strongly encouraged me to get out into my hives.  I've been out of the country for most of February and March and apparently missed quite the warm spell.  I dug out my beekeeping suit, my tools, and headed out to my hives on Sunday.  Much like I feared, I found [nearly] empty hives.

I've heard from local beekeepers that these "clusters" of bees were found in many dead hives after this winter, so my next step is to do some research to figure out what might have happened and what I can or should do differently this year.  I'm still committed to chemical free bees, but I'm sure there is more I can learn to help the hive.  I'll keep posting what I learn here, so you can learn along with me!

My next steps are to figure out how to dispose of the damaged frames and contaminated comb.  I'm assuming I'll need to burn all the old material, but that's on my "to-be-researched" list.  Then I'll clean and sterilize the old hive bodies, build new frames, and get some new packages of bees in.  I'll be starting with the cleaning and sterilizing this weekend, for anyone who may be interested in joining me!

I mentioned above that my hives were [nearly] empty.  I found mice living in both.  Can't say I blame them.  It is a warm place to spend the winter.  I chased a mouse out of the first hive.  I was about to do the same for the second when I noticed she was grabbing her babies to move them too.  I couldn't evict a single mother.  Guess that hive will stay up for a few more days.  It's the circle of life?