hive

pollination: meet the new queen /  by kelly heaton

See into a young beehive. This video was shot with an inspector's videoscope, so the frame rate is low and makes it look choppy. Nonetheless, the videoscope allowed me to record activity inside of one of my new hives - and by chance, I caught footage of their new queen only two days after installation from a package that shipped in from Georgia. You can recognize her because her abdomen is larger, more of a pale yellow and her wings are set out to the side instead of folded onto her back. My apologies that she is not marked, this would make it much easier to recognize her ... and I need to take care of this before the hive population increases. Notice areas in which the honeycomb is shallow and others where it is fully formed. This is because I gave the bees some frames with new foundation mixed with frames that already had drawn comb with honey. If possible, I try to feed my bees with honey instead of sugar water because it's better for them; and I have many frames with honey from my hives that sadly died in late winter of this year.

Below are images from the package installation, two days before this video was taken.  
Photos by Sarah Loy, 2015.

pollinators: death to drones /  by kelly heaton

As cold weather approaches, the worker bees (female) expel the drones (male) in preparation for winter.  Drones can be identified by their larger eyes that meet in the center, as well as their larger black abdomen.  The smaller, active bees are the females working to remove the dead.  Bees in this role are known as "undertakers" for the hive.  Nearly all of the bees in this video are dead or dying drones on the ground in front of their once nurturing hive.  In another month or two, the remaining worker bees will form a tight cluster around the queen, vibrating their wings to keep the colony warm (a remarkable 94 - 98 degrees F in the center); and rationing their honey supply until Spring.  

This video also shows signs of hygienic behavior - notice the drone larvae which appear affected by Varroa mites.  I am doing a mite count to see if I need to treat this hive.
September 2014 / Clarke County, Virginia

pollinators: welcome, my darling new bees /  by kelly heaton

First video of my newly installed nuc (one of two). The bees have settled right in to their new home in the upper Shenandoah Valley, a 10 frame hive with deeps for brood. After losing my two hives last Fall, I am thrilled to have new bees and will treat mites more aggressively this year. Powdered sugar treatments did not work last year, I am sorry to report, and both colonies suffered from deformed wing disease by mid-August (one colony died; the other disappeared).

My new honey bees have arrived!  After losing two hives last Fall (both packages from Georgia that succumbed to varroa mites and small hive beetles), I purchased locally raised nucs in hopes that they will be stronger and better adapted to my environment.  They moved right in to their fancy 10 frame hives (thanks Dad!) and are not bothered by photography.  This unedited video was shot with an iPhone 4S balanced at the entrance to their hive.  They are so cool.  I love my new bees and hope that they thrive.  Kelly Heaton, 2014