Update on bees and other stuff...

[Gooserider]

Wierdness... I was trying to post on This Thread but kept getting a message "Can't accept your submission at this time" even though other posts of mine were going up? So I'm starting a new thread instead.

Further update on the bees - the news is not good I'm afraid :-/ My bee supply lady said I had done all the right things, but the colony didn't make it. I may not have gotten them closed up into the hive box soon enough and they got robbed out by other hives, or the queen didn't make it, or something, but I saw less and less activity in the hive over the last few days, until I was watching it Wednesday, and didn't see any honeybees coming or going, but lots of ants and yellow jackets - a normal hive would never let them in... So I suited up and went into the hive, and found NO signs of live honeybees, just lots of bodies on the bottom board. It was a gamble trying to salvage the hive, and I lost out. However it was an interesting experience. I have melted down the combs for the wax, but that isn't much to get out of the deal.

Even worse, one of my other hives, that I knew wasn't doing well, totally died off on me, and when I opened it up, discovered that it had no honey, about a dozen workers, and a major wax moth infestation. I've sealed it up with some mothballs to kill the moths, and will go back in shortly to see what I can salvage - possibly some of the comb, certainly the wooden ware parts. I need to check the other hive (which does look like it's doing better) to see what it's status is, but may end up having to clean it out as well.

On other fronts though, the news isn't completely bad... Some of you may remember the big pile of wood that I got in for the Hearth Party - including those really big logs. (pictures below) I had been worried about how I was going to get them cut up into rounds with my little saw, especially now that I've gone to a 12" bar on it (and glad that I did, with the short bar it's turned into a really nice cutting machine) However I have a fellow that I know through town gov't, who is a "wood guy" among many other things. He came by with his collection of Stihls (I think he has about 10 w/ bars from 18-48") and helped me cut all the remaining big logs into rounds. I think I have two or three fairly small logs left out of the pile to cut up, and I've gotten about half the pile split. Today I went over to his place with my little saw and helped him chop up a big pile (1-2 cords I'd guess) of small 2-10" stuff that he had acquired, and he taught me a lot about hand sharpening a chain (instead of using the grinder) and helped me dress my old 16" bar so that it is useable again. He might even be willing to let me borrow one of his gas splitters once he gets them fixed... Glad to have been able to help him out, as he's been teaching me a great deal.

Gooserider

 

[begreen]

Sorry about the loss. I couldn't take it after several years of losing hives. You kind of get attached to the little ladies.

 

[Gooserider]

Sorry about the loss. I couldn't take it after several years of losing hives. You kind of get attached to the little ladies.

I agree, but I find it's easiest if I start over with a new package - it just gets so expensive after a while. Plus getting packages is really a PITA the way the terrorists in DC have made it so difficult to ship them - my bee lady used to get them flown in via Fedex, but can't do that any more after 9/11. The Post Office has imposed all sorts of new restrictions that effectively makes them useless, and truck shipping generally causes the bees a great deal of stress and decreases your package survival odds.

Gooserider

 

[Harley]

Sorry to hear about the loss of the hives

my bee lady used to get them flown in via Fedex, but can't do that any more after 9/11. The Post Office has imposed all sorts of new restrictions that effectively makes them useless, and truck shipping generally causes the bees a great deal of stress and decreases your package survival odds.
Gooserider

Don't the bees get kind of P.O'd when you try to put a stamp on them and send them by mail?

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't the bees get kind of P.O'd when you try to put a stamp on them and send them by mail?

Yeah but you can stick like a hundred of them on the back of a UPS label.

 

[begreen]

Yes, especially air mail stamps. I think it's an insult to them.

My last packages came via mail. It was funny. They left them on the back loading dock. No one wanted them inside in case they escaped.

 

[Gooserider]

Sorry to hear about the loss of the hives

my bee lady used to get them flown in via Fedex, but can't do that any more after 9/11. The Post Office has imposed all sorts of new restrictions that effectively makes them useless, and truck shipping generally causes the bees a great deal of stress and decreases your package survival odds.
Gooserider

Don't the bees get kind of P.O'd when you try to put a stamp on them and send them by mail?

Somewhat, though it used to be more amusing to watch the postal workers dealing with them - a package of bees is rather an intimidating sight to the uninitiated... Imagine a box about 2' long 8" wide and 12" high, made from ply on the top, bottom and ends, but with the sides made from window screening. Inside the box is a can of sugar syrup, the queen (in a queen cage with 3-4 attendant bees) and about 3lbs of workers, or 30-40 THOUSAND bees, mostly hanging in a "beard" off the sugar syrup can and the queen cage. - mostly what you see through the screen is a big "stalactite" of bees hanging from the top of the box and quietly humming. If you disturb them or even come up and breath hard on them, (most people have "carnivore breath") they get irritated and the pitch & volume goes up...

To make life even more interesting, the queen's attraction pheromes spread beyond the area of the package and will tend to attract any other honeybees that are in the area to come check out the action - as a consequence you will usually find a small handful of bees (usually less than a dozen) crawling around on the OUTSIDE of the package. These "refubees" are normally quite docile and will pretty much avoid you - unless you put your hand on top of one, it almost certainly won't sting.

All the bee books say about the same thing concerning the Post Office - first they advise against getting them through the mail because the PO has never done a good job of handling them, but if you must, your supplier will give you a ship date and the estimated arrival date. You then call the PO, explain that you have a package of bees coming in, and give them EVERY phone number they can reach you at, along with a request to call you as soon as the package arrives. This is one of the few times the PO will actually be quite cooperative :lol: Typically the truck with the mail from the central office arrives at the local PO about five minutes before opening time for the local office. Approximately two minutes after the mail truck arrives, you will get a call from the PO, saying your bees have arrived, please come pick them up, RIGHT NOW! When you arrive at the PO, they will send you arround back to the loading dock, where you will find your package sitting at one end, and a bunch of nervous looking PO workers standing at the other end watching it :coolhmm:

Now the PO will only accept bees for short distance mailings, won't insure them, and explicitly warns you that your package is likely to be irradiated along with all the other mail. (Even though honeybees don't carry anthrax)

The TSA has prohibited bees from being shipped via air freight, even though there has never been a recorded instance of a bee carrying a bomb or committing other terrorist acts - let alone causing a problem in flight.

This causes problems for northern bee keepers as we normally want to get our bees from southern apiaries as they can give us packages earlier in the year - but it is hard to get them up to us.

Gooserider