So the title of this post sounds like a breakfast dive off I-80 in either Wyoming or Nebraska. No hard feelings toward Wyoming or Nebraska, but the I-80 country of those two states should be driven through at high speed at night.
Today was the second time that I've lit my smoker. I've got a Dadant smoker. It's a pretty nice one, cost me about $45. It's a bit larger so I've found it much easier to stay lit than the one that my dad has. This time, instead of packing the smoker full and then lighting it, I put a couple things in, lit it and then packed it up with smoker fuel. I've just been using sticks, those long bean-like pods that fall from some trees out here, and pine cones and needles. Apparently sumac bobs are good smoker fuel. I've got to find a spot where some sumac grows out here so I can collect bobs for smoker fuel.
Today, my wife and I took the kids to the Children's Festival at Playhouse Square. That took up most of the day, that and cleaning the fridge for the Mrs. So, even though the weather was nice, I didn't get out to the bees until around 6:30. Normally, this is pushing it as far as the best time to work your bees. I've read that from 10 to 4 is generally the best as this is the warmest time and many of the foragers are out foraging so you're disturbing less bees. So, I put on my veil, grabbed my hive tool, my burr comb jar, my propolis jar, frame perch, and frame grabber and headed out to the bees. Oh, and I grabbed a gallon of sugar syrup that I'd made on Friday. I'd kept the syrup in the fridge, and then let it sit out today so that it'd be room temperature by the time I put it in the hive. I've got to make a handy carrier for all this stuff. I know I could buy something similar like this from Mann Lake or Brushy Mountain for $40, but I'm nearly certain I could customize one for myself for less money. It would take more time, but I might even be able to make it perfect for my things. This is something I want to do, but who knows if it will be something that I'll make time to do. I still want to take more time to just sit down and watch the bees.
I've taken a few minutes here and there to see what the bees are bringing in. I've noticed that the majority of pollen packers (I'm assuming it's pollen and not propolis) that the bees are bringing in is a waxy light yellow-green. Propolis is a antifungal, antimicrobial waxy substance that is eluted by the buds and wounds on plants and trees. The bees collect this material to block out small gaps that are smaller than the size of a bee. This helps to protect the hive from parasites and other critters/insects that like to prey on bees. When warm propolis is very sticky. Beekeepers need to be diligent in scraping the propolis from the tops/bottoms/sides of the frames so that when removing them there isn't a load of suction-like propolis glueing the frame to the hive.
I gave the hive a couple puffs of smoke. There are several theories as to why smoke seems to calm bees. Most likely, ages ago someone noticed that having a burning torch while robbing bees of honey kept the bees from attacking as much. I guess the knowledge got passed down. Anyway, the theory is that the smoke alarms the bees and they think that perhaps there is a forest fire and they'll have to move from their home soon, so they quickly go into the hive and fill their stomachs with honey. A bee with a full stomach is a happy, friendly bee. The full stomach gives the bees a more, "Hakuna matata" outlook on life and the current-situation. (I'm not a smoker, and don't ever plan on becoming one, but it makes me wonder if human smokers undergo a similar attitude shift when they smoke. Anyway, back to bees. . . .) I then removed the outer cover and removed the hive top feeder. Unfortunately, there were some bees on the bottom of the hive top feeder that got squished when I set the hive top feeder down on the ground. I felt bad about that. I quickly smoked the bees (so as to disguise the alarm pheromone. This reminds me, that the second theory as to why smoke seems to calm bees is that it disguises the communication routes/signals that run the hive. In a beehive, it's pitch dark. Bees don't see each other because there's no light. So, they use touch, hearing, and smell. Pheromones are the main communication tool in the hive. When bees sting or are threatened, they'll release an alarm pheromone that alerts the rest of the hive that something is wrong, there's danger, or an intruder. The smoke tends to disrupt/block out temporarily some of this communication and keeps the alarm pheromone from spreading throughout the hive and recruiting more angry bees.
I took a look at how the frames are going, as far as being drawn out with wax is concerned. The central 3-5 frames are mostly drawn out. Most likely 4 frames both sides are drawn out. Maybe 2 with only one side drawn out. Once I've got 7 frames with both sides drawn out and being used, then it's time to add an upper deep. But that's not for a while yet, I think. I did remove the removable insert on my screened bottom board.
In my inspection, without gloves and in short sleeves (not nearly as hot that way), I was able to see larvae and eggs. The black pierco plastic foundation is nice. The white eggs tend to just pop out and say, "Here I am!" I was somewhat surprised, though, in that it seemed like the larvae weren't floating in much royal jelly. Perhaps the bees are being stingy with the royal jelly? Royal jelly is the highly nutritious diet that all larvae get for the first 3 days or so. A larvae that is being raised to become a queen will always get royal jelly, while an egg that will become a drone or a worker will have their diet changed to a less nutritious diet of bee-bread (pollen and honey). I also was able to spot the queen. I watched her for 30 seconds or so to see if I could see her lay any eggs. I didn't, but she's obviously laying. It does make it much easier to spot the queen if she's marked. Though, with her larger abdomen, she is hard to miss. The times when it is difficult, is when she's covered with her retinue of bees grooming her. The colony will groom the queen and pick up the pheromones that the queen releases. The queen pheromone is what prevents the other worker bees (all female) from having their ovaries develop to lay eggs. It also is what unites the hive and lets the hive know that they have a working, laying queen. A hive can know that it is missing it's queen in about 1-2 hours. This is because the queen's pheromone is passed from bee to bee and is absorbed in the wax and everything else.
I then closed up the hive and put back the hive top feeder. I cleaned out the bees that had drown in the syrup (another sad occurrence.) Bees never seem to stop drowning, even when there are nice floater boards in the hive top feeder that are supposed to give the bees something to stand on while licking up the sugar syrup. The only method I know of that avoids bees drowning is the cut ziplock bag feeding method. However, this sounds like a wasteful method that would require many bags and many more trips to replace bags. The bees had happened to drink up one side of the top feeder, so they've obviously been using the syrup during some of these rainy days.
If anyone has some bee questions, feel free to ask, and I'll see if I can't answer them as best I can (also with the occasional glance at my bee books/magazines.) Thanks for reading! Don't worry, BEE happy!
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