What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[Ben Framed]

"And while I am at it I think I would love to find a refrigerated beekeeping jacket and veil, yeah the older I get the more I like my comfort."

On the hot days the venerated Jacket is nice to have, especially if there is a  breeze blowing. When its really hot I will bring a fan along on my inspections...

[FatherMichael]

Drove through the yard to see how the two hives are doing and check on the swarm trap.  All's well.

Mesquite and American Basketflower in bloom.

We stopped to watch a tom Turkey court a hen.  He was puffed up with bright red wattle and tail all spread out.

A Blue Heron flew over.

Saw a deer earlier this week and a beautiful red fox.

[The15thMember]

I inspected 4 colonies today, two of which are very small and struggling.  The one is coming off a supersedure and was starving, so I gave them some honey frames and reduced them down to a single box.  The other is this swarm that didn't have a laying queen.  I didn't see any queen cells in there last inspection, but today I found 2 being torn down on the original donor frame, so maybe I just missed them before.  They still had some open brood so I decided to wait another week and see if they are just waiting for a queen to be mated.  My favorite queen Snow White got an additional box.  For some reason, the brood pattern in her bottom box wasn't very good, but in the second box it was stellar.  I did a sugar roll and their mite counts were low, so it's not that.  They were a little low on honey as well, so maybe that was the culprit.  I put two honey frames in their new box.  I also found eggs and very young larvae in the colony I split her from, so I named that new queen Cinderella.  Unlike everyone else, they have a full honey super.  This colony has always been better at foraging for whatever reason.         

[animal]

made a general check on things today and all looked fine. They're not building comb as fast as I expected them to but they are making progress.
Changed out the oil pan because it had just gotten too nasty looking to tolerate. Found out that I need to change something about it as the wood tray underneath the aluminum insert was full of water... no damage or discoloration though. Lots of dead hive beetles in the garbage now ... fresh oil and new pan for more to die in.

A good hour later, I was on the couch and noticed the cat was staring at me, moving it's head around and acting weirded out. After awhile, felt a little tickle on my shoulder .. a very small worker bee. It walked right onto my hand, so it got delivered back to the hive. They seem to do this kind of thing a lot, hitchhike into the house. Cat doesn't like it. Wife doesn't like it. Might have to get a bee suit after all, to make it easier to shed them. 

[animal]

checked the pan ...  counted 37 in the oil .. over 24 hours.

Cinderella, snow white ... too cute

[Kathyp]

Cat doesn't like it. Wife doesn't like it. Might have to get a bee suit after all, to make it easier to shed them.

Have you tried processing your honey in the kitchen with the windows open?  Check your screen first!!   

[Ben Framed]

checked the pan ...  counted 37 in the oil .. over 24 hours.

Cinderella, snow white ... too cute

Good thing you have your oil pan in place! Sounds like the SHB are Zeroed in and are in hot pursuit of your hive!

[The15thMember]

Cinderella, snow white ... too cute

Yeah, I never planned to have a queenline with names of Disney princesses, but here I am.    I've got 3 right now, which may soon be 4, depending on whether my queenless swarm's Snow White daughter gets successfully mated or not.  I had a queen who I named Ravenna (after the evil queen from Snow White and the Huntsman) whose colony usurped one of mine a few years ago, and she turned out to be the best queen I ever had, so when she was superseded I named her daughter Snow White, and she is now the best queen in the apiary, so that's how I got into this situation.    I also have a queenline with names of Norse goddesses descended from Ravenna (because her sister in the sequel is named Freya.  And neither of these movies are good by the way, in case you are wondering ).  Then I have an unrelated strain descended from one of my first packages with the names of Greek goddesses.  I remember names better than numbers, and I like to keep the names related so I remember who's who for breeding purposes.   

[Terri Yaki]

My morning check revealed some wax debris on the front porch. What does this mean?

[BeeMaster2]

Yellow wax probably means they are cleaning up used comb. White wax means they are building wax comb.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

Thanks, this beeing a first for me, I was worried. If activity looks normal, I?ll just wait until Wednesday to inspect.

[The15thMember]

A normal functioning hive will generate a significant amount of debris and trash.  The bees do their best to remove the big stuff, but there will still be a lot of wax bits, bee parts, dropped pollen grains, etc. on the bottom board.  It's extra noticeable when you have all new equipment. 

[Terri Yaki]

Thanks to all who responded, it does make me feel better. It wasn't a huge amount of debris so I didn't think it was extremely urgent and it happened at night so I didn't think it was robbing by bees. I do have a few ants nosing around and I was worried that they pulled a night shift on me but I'm starting to think not. The hive is working as normal and I'll see what it's like in there on Wednesday when I perform an inspection. They have swept the porch off already.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
If you think you have ants, Carpenter or Bull Ants, go out after dark with a flashlight they will be all over your hive.
If they are there get Terra Ant bate. The one that sits flat to the ground with 4 small stakes in the corners is the best because the bees cannot get to the bate. It is just sugar water and borax.
Which ever one you choose make sure your bees cannot get into it.
Jim Altmiller

[BeeMaster2]

This is the one I like:
https://a.co/d/i06hQ0p
Put it on the ground near the back of the hive preferably on one of the ant trails.
Jim Altmiller

[The15thMember]

As long as they are not carpenter ants, ants shouldn't be any serious trouble.  I do get little black ant nests between my covers sometimes, and I will see trails of tiny sugar ants coming to steal honey in the fall.  A ring of ash from the wood stove is usually enough to deter them.  Mostly ants are just coming to pick through the trash the bees throw off the landing board.  Carpenter ants can be trouble however, so I'd follow Jim's advice in that case.

[Ben Framed]

Thought  have not had it happen, I have been told carpenter ants can overrun a weak nuc or hive and the bees will abscond. 

[Terri Yaki]

Fortunately, carpenter ants are not a problem here and these are tiny ants. We were pretty near inundated with them during the real wet spring. I have placed a trap out a la, Michael Bush's post on it from a while ago that I found. Borax, jelly and water in a container with 1/8" holes drilled into it. So far, there's a few ants in there. I'll check it out after dark and see what gives.

[BeeMaster2]

Bull Ants are worse than Carpenter ants but most people cannot tell the difference between them.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

I went out for a peek and didn't see any ants but the front door is blocked with bees.