Caught in action

Goodbye Dr. Drone, Hello responsibility.

Well, Dr. Drone is off on his way to Costa Rica until September. He left me with a list of common bee paracites and the phone number for his mom in case of emergency. It’s very comforting to have someone’s mom’s phone number for emergencies.

Now the responsibility of the hive is totally on myself and Mr. Holt. I couldn’t promise not to kill the hive in his absence, but Mr. Holt and I did swear to have an equal biomass waiting upon his return- 2 pounds of bees could be exchanged for 2 pounds of, say, kitten. Or clams. We'll just see how I feel.

Dr. Drone shows off in full regalia by our hive.

A reassuring pile of body parts

Some dry days in a row, seems to have dried out the bee yard and the earwigs are moving on. I shook a few out of the lid, but the pile of earwig heads, bodies, and legs by the front entrance seems to indicate that the bees took care of them pretty easily.

Another minor crisis averted- bees really do take care of themselves. In this particular case, I’m thrilled. Those earwigs were totally gross.

Earwigs are Icky

EARWIGS! The plague of the day.

I hate earwigs. I think they’re one rung above ticks on the entomology ladder to hell. Probably due to the rain, the upper box of the hive, empy save the jar of bee food, has become shelter for TON of earwigs. Well, when I pulled off the lid and they scatted, it seemed like a ton. Hard to tell.

I was just stopping by to check on things. All these serious thunderstorms have knocked down a lot of branches at my house, and I wanted to make sure the hive was intact. I didn’t have my smoker or anything needed to open the hive, so I couldn’t see if the earwigs were ingratiating themselves.

My research (google) says earwigs can cause serious problems in wood and plants. I wonder if they are having an epic battle with the inhabitants of the hive or just eating their home out from beneath them? Either way- gross.

Family Photo

The neighbor colony holds still for pictures, mine does not.

FINALLY got out to the bee yard to check on the brood. All that worry for naught, no more dead babies by the door and the hive seems busy busy busy. It was hot today, and I was in the way of their gathering. They were not impressed with my attempts to take pictures. Dr. Drone tells me that bees don’t like dark colors, and my black camera, shoved close to the door, threateningly and out of place, was not well received. Also, bees move fast and do not seem to like close up portraits. I left without opening the hive.

Prospect of Precipitation

And more rain.
I'm considering building an ark. They have iced tea and the internet on arks these days right?

Dr. Drone checked on the bees and discovered they have been dragging dead brood out the front door. This is worrying, because it's too rainy and cold to get inside and see why they're eliminating eggs. Could be, according to Dr. Drone, nothing serious- just a shortage of pollen and nectar resulting from the decreased foraging in the rain. Or, it could be something called chalky brood. Sounds insidious no?

So we added some bee food (simple sugar syrup) to give them a little help through this extraordinarily stormy season. Hopefully this will let them feed the brood and they'll stop culling the eggs.



I'm going to try to get into the hive as soon as it clears a bit, but it may not be for days, so fingers crossed they're alright in there.

Domestic animals on the lawn

Is there anything sadder than a cat on a leash in a yard in the city?

He doesn't think so.
I did get some reading done though.