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Carl Chesick sent in these photos of an interesting feral colony found in Ontario Canada. Carl found the photos on the web and they are at Haldimand Bird Observatory which operates three stations: Selkirk Provincial Park, Rock Point Banding Station (both on the north shore of Lake Erie) and Ruthven Park near Cayuga, Ontario. These are in Ruthven Park. Carl termed the colony to be a "Really Raw Hive". Click on the photos to go to the web link.
Very interesting to find a colony out in the open like this, especially in the cold climate of Ontario.
Thanks to Carl for sharing this interesting find with the bonus page!
Brett Butler shared these photos from his summer working with Chis Mathis at The Spicewood Farm.
A swarm we caught this summer at an industrial complex in Asheville NC. They had alighted on a stack of pallets.
Another bee suffering from k-wing and wrinkled wing virus, both are vectored by the varroa mites. Taken at EAS in Young Harris Ga
A pupa that was covered in varroa mites. Its no trick of the camera, he is really that yellow and sickly looking. Taken at EAS in Young Harris Ga
A Thanksgiving Beetree Story
Jason from Appalachian Arborists called me with a bit of concern about a future job at a residence near T.C. Roberson High School. Jason explained a very large oak tree had died in someone's yard and could become a hazard and must come down. To complicate this problem, the property owner had shown Jason a cavity which was filled with honeybees and the cavity was about 20 feet up the tree. Jason was not even sure they were honeybees and wondered how he could safely bring this tree down without someone getting attacked by these
bees. He asked me if he should just spray them? "NO NO!" was my reply. Let me meet you out there so we may assess the situation and come up with a plan. I explained to Jason about the shortage of honeybees as well as my particular interest in feral bees and saving their genetics. Jason became very interested in the honeybee part of the equation and quickly agreed to assist me in saving these bees if possible.
On November 10th, I met Jason at the property and eventhough it was only about 9:00 am, I saw quite a "buzz" of activity coming from the hole way up in the tree. Jason said here are some binoculars, are these honeybees? I said I don't need the binoculars, yes they are. First of all, it is too late in the season for other type bees to have this type of activity and being as warm as it is, this is the kind of activity I would expect from a healthy colony. Besides that, I can tell from here they look like honeybees.
Jason and I then began to look at the situation and plan on how to get the tree down safely, not get stung by the bees and save the colony to boot. I asked Jason when he wanted to bring the tree down and he said the Monday before Thanksgiving. I said perfect! I had already taken that week off from work and the weather was supposed to be cool enough to cause the bees to be less active. (I explained to him that honeybees became more active after about 50 degress F) I quickly saw the entrance hole to the cavity was large enough for me to reach my arm into and was facing Southeast. This meant that the bees would probably "wake up" early and be active earlier than one may anticipate. I told Jason I would meet him there as early as he wanted and we would start to work. I told him to bring some screen like is used in a screen door and something to attach the screen over all holes the bees may use to escape. I also told Jason to bring enough screen to quickly cover up the hollow cavity when we reached that area with the saw. I explained that we would protect everyone by sealing the bees up in the tree for the day. I also said when we actually open up the cavity I thought we would face minimal bee activity if we quickly covered them with screen due to their confusion and the cool temperatures. Jason explained he could tie off all parts and lower them gently to the ground and the section with bees could be done that way and placed on my trailor without much of an effort.
I arrived early on the appointed day towing a trailer which I hoped would not go home empty. Jason was already doing his Spider Man act high up in the huge tree. Ropes and pullies were everywhere and Jason had snuggly stapled screen over all possible exits the honeybees could find. Jason had 3 very experienced and interesting young men on the ground supporting his high wire act. A large chipper was backed in
behind a shiny new green truck. (I have seen it on the TV commercial)One of the guys on the ground stated they "don't always get this type of work and Jason is in his element". I assessed that Jason probably did not rock climb or do anything with ropes in his spare time because he was getting a full workout in this tree. He hugged up to the tree and jammed the spikes on his boots into the tree as he squirrelled around the tree checking the screened up bees and the knots on all the pullies. He then tied off the first limb high in the crown and swung down to the base of the limb. With one pull the chain saw growled to life and in no time the first limb broke free as Jason swung away at the end of the rope. As the limb slowed its desent at the end of a rope carefully managed by the ground crew, Jason was already swinging back to tie off another limb. I watched this in amazement as the tree came safely down piece by piece. The
bees were beginning to buzz up against the screen as the chipper started chomping away at the limbs stacked up in front of the mouth.
The high wire act went on for about 2 hours as I handled various beekeeping questions from the ground crew and the home owner who were all very excited to be assisting in saving these bees. (I have two more people signed up for the bee school by the way) The home owner explained how the bees showed up last spring as a loud hovering cloud of winged buzzing. She and her children watched from inside as the
bees gradually began entering the hole and made their home. I explained to her how scout bees seek out such a home for the swarm and bring the whole swarm to the location with the first bees entering and fanning the pheremone to welcome the straglers to the new home. This scent will gradually direct all the rest to the hole. She exclaimed "that is what they were doing"! I thanked her for her cooperation and promised her a jar of honey.
Meanwhile Jason was nearing the cavity area and asked me where he should make the cut to open up the top of the cavity. I could not be up in the tree, so I asked Jason does it look like the cavity goes up or down from the entrance hole. He answered "down" and I told him where to cut. We readied the extra screen and staple gun in case we
miscalculated. Good plan because we miscalculated. The cavity went up at least as much as it went down and the extra measure of security I allowed in the cut came in handy as we still cut into the top 4 inches of the comb. A few bees escaped, but Jason quickly sealed them up. Only a small amount of comb ended up in the section lowered to the ground with a few cold and disoriented bees. The ground crew all gathered around the comb on the ground as I picked it up and offered some tasty honey to them. They loved the honey and watched amazed as bees were crawling all over my hands. I did mention they needed to be careful as these cold creatures would go up their pants legs. They all backed away as I continued to hand them pieces of honey comb to savor. As we backed away to await the next course of action in the tree. I noticed a sweat drop running UP my leg. Wait a minute, that could not be right, I thought. As I pulled up the leg of my Carharts I flipped the bee away and quickly scrapped the stinger out of my leg. The ground crew asked if I was stung and I said yes. They all began to feel things crawling on them and I just laughed and said I told you to be careful around bees on the ground as that is just what they do.
A plan was made to tie off the large portion of hollow trunk to another tree and lower it to the ground. We took an extra measure so we could assess where to make the final bottom cut on the ground. As Jason sawed into the tree an amazing amount of water came out of the hollow. The section came free and was lowered to the ground. Another cut was made to make the section smaller and it was loaded on the trailer. I covered the top snuggly with plastic to keep the wind out and faced the entrance hole with screen over it to the rear. After it
was snuggly tied down, I headed home with my prize. I set it off the trailer using a tractor with front loader and faced the entrance hole Southeast. I waited until morning the next day to open the screen as I did not want them buzzing out in the cold to die in their disorientation. The next morning I did cut the screen open on the entrance hole and they began to fly. I decided to wait until Friday when it was warmer to finish the job. Friday was a beautiful day and perfect to work in the bees. I got a brood body with drawn comb and
poured sugar syrup over the frames and let it settle into the cells. I placed this brood body over the top of the cavity after removing the top plastic and screen. I sealed it up with plastic and duct tape and am waiting for the bees to move up into the brood body. Then I will have a new hive of bees. Thanks to the great guys at Appalachian Arborists and the cooperation of a wonderful homeowner. It was Thanksgiving indeed for me.
Calvin Robinson
Honeycomb as viewed from the entrance hole on the Bee tree. Notice the dust from all the sawing is covering the comb.
A brood body was attached to the bee tree in hopes they will move up into it and I will have a new hive
The brood body on the section of hollow tree is the easy way to get the bees out of hollow. Notice it is sealed up to protect from the weather and tied to a pole to prevent it from falling over
Honeybees as soldiers in the war on terror?
Click on photo for access to article
Photo courtesy Los Alamos National Laboratory
At Los Alamos National Laboratory, these bees are harnessed and ready to be trained.
With the bees strapped into small tubes, scientists involved in the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project release the smell of chemical components used to make explosives like dynamite, C-4 and liquid bombs. Expecting the sugar water to follow, each trained bee extends its proboscis, which starts waving in the air, searching for nectar. It's this obvious response that makes this particular training method so useful. By containing the bees in an enclosed structure, researchers can use monitoring equipment to alert to the waving of the proboscises. In this case, a digital camera combined with pattern-recognition software can pick up the waving and indicate the presence of explosives in the vicinity. The portable structure makes it ideal for testing in airports, subway stations and at roadside checkpoints in war zones like Iraq. The bees can detect the target chemicals in the air in concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion.
Though they look more like prisoners in the war on terror, Thanks to my wife (Bethany Robinson) for sharing this interesting find.
How are you going to finance your RETIREMENT?
Larry Sebren has not had time to enjoy a rocking chair since he retired earlier in the year. He has been busy as a bee taking bees out of houses. LARRY! Surely there is an easier way for a former civil service employee to finance his retirement! Larry says he has taken about 20 colonies out of houses this year. The one pictured here has about caused him to take up rocking chairs though. The bees are located between the ceiling of the first floor and the flooring of the second floor. "Quite a challenge for me", he says. Larry says,"I have removed approximately 20 this year and this is probably the toughest one." The space size is approximately 6 inches by 7 inches. See the pictures. He has removed approximately 7 feet into the building at the time of the photos and he is open to suggestions.
Notice how the bees built the comb. It would be nice to know why they chose to do it this particular way. Maybe the Master Beekeeper in the sky is smiling as he watches Larry tackle this one. By the way, notice there is something besides the bees that could have given Larry a real BUZZ! Yes that is an electrical wire, the positive hot wire of the circuit and Larry has turned that circuit off. Notice the coating of the wire is missing. House built in the 1920's. ALWAYS be CAREFUL when dealing with bees in a structure. As if you should not be careful anyway.
Entrance in insulation of fuel storage tank Larry removed bees from at Mako Marine.
Closer view of entrance
Larry shows off some honeycomb attached to the piece of insulation.
Insulation cut out
Tank surface prior to Larry removing the rest of the comb
Looks like Larry messed up a good thing for the bees.
Thanks to Larry for sharing photos of his adventures!
Second from left wearing the "bee bikini" is Sue Coby, renowned breeder of New World Carniolian Queens. BCBC was fortunate to have her as one of our speakers in the advanced beekeeping class in January 2006.
After some encouragement from Don Hopkins, Janet managed to pull together a very nice NC State Fair exhibit for the Buncombe County Beekeepers. SO GOOD in fact, that it got 6th place in the face of competition that has been improving there exhibit for years. A great big THANK YOU goes out to Janet and her daughter for their fantastic efforts.
The exhibit explained about the importance of our bees
It had nice displays of honey and bee products as well as some explanation of pollination
Of course it also mentioned our main enemy, the Varroa mite, our winning chapter of the year and it just plain looked good.
The main theme was education or our youth about bees
as you can see, much thought and effort went into this award winning display
Don Hopkins was the man who got Janet started with planning a BCBC exhibit, but boy did she finish the job in award winning fashion on very short notice. I think Don looks pleased with the BCBC exhibit
AT LAST! The drawing was held for the John Deere Gator, weed trimmer and leaf blower on Oct 22nd at the NC State Fair! Poor Bill Waddell looks tuckered out! Bills efforts have gone a long way in paying for the new Honeybee Exhibit at the NC Zoo in Ashboro.
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The winners listed with phone numbers blacked out
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Here is some of the tough competition BCBC was up against in the booth contest.
So now you know what we have to do for next year
BCBC President Janet Shisler and Queen Bee Robert Anders at Earthfare event. Earthfare was very generous to our bee school.
