APIS MELLIFERA - The Honeybee



LIFE WITH THE "GIRLS"

Packaged Bees

It all started April 11, 1998 with two of these screened boxes filled with three pounds of baby bees, a can of sugar syrup to feed them on their travels, and a queen bee.








Busy, Busy!

Each package of bees, along with their queen, was put into its own hive. After two weeks, on April 21, this is what we saw! The workers were busy building comb, the foragers had been bringing in pollen, and the queen had been very busy laying eggs. They must be happy with their new home!








Where the heck IS that queen??

Oh, Oh!

THINGS THEY NEVER TAUGHT US IN BEE SCHOOL

Bears.....Black Bears..........BIG, BLACK BEARS!!!!!!!!!

During, and after attending Bee School, I planned my apiary. Let's see, put the bees on a platform to protect them from skunks and racoons, face them East/South East, early morning sun, late afternoon shade, not at the top of an unprotected hill nor at the bottom of a gully. Bears, marauding elephants, anteaters? Naaah. They live somewhere else. Well, not the bears. He arrived in my yard the weekend of June 28. I have become very familiar with bear scat, huge footprints, mangled birdfeeders, and the mechanics of an electric fence. The latter was hastily erected after he made his second visit within 3 days.

Paddington, the bear, (he might just as well have a name, since he seems to have moved in) is gorgeous, and totally unafraid of humans. Yell at him, and he just grumbles; take away the mangled birdfeeders, and he's at the sliding doors wondering where you put them. He is currently harvesting the raspberry bushes which border one side of my apiary........10 feet from the hives.

I fear for my hives. The electric fence looks awfully puny, though it has shown signs of having done its job.

Black bears like to feed in the cool of the evening or in the early morning. They will eat almost anything edible including decaying animal carcasses, fish, ants and other insects, honey, elk and moose calves and a variety of other small mammals; but most of their diet consists of berries, flowers, grasses, herbs, tubers and roots, and nuts of all kinds. So, this is why he loves my yard!

The flowers and birdfeeders are now gone, holes have been dug into ant hills and chipmunk holes are mysteriously enlarged. I don't *think* I have any elk or moose. I do know that there is bear "poop" everywhere!

The range of every adult bear is composed of an individual territory, part of which constitutes its exclusive domain while the rest it co-habits with other bears. A home range generally is composed of several smaller food source areas connected by travel lanes. Open areas are usually avoided by black bears as they prefer wooded cover. Stream and creek beds are often used as travel lanes because of the thick undergrowth and a barrier-free escape route. The life span of a black bear can be 25 years or more.......and they have good memories.

Paddington, as close as I can guess, is about 6 feet long, stands about 2-3 feet tall, and probably weighs between 200 and 300 pounds. I would guess he's a young male just staking out his home range. I don't even dare to think what will happen when he gets a family.


Meanwhile, the bees are producing fantastically with the latest nectar flow.......blissfully unaware(?) of the danger that lurks on the other side of "The Fence".











Hey!! Where's our honey???







      .......over here!!







And so the year draws to a close in my beeyard. My first year has been more fun than I ever would have expected. The bees produced over 60 pounds of honey for each of their hives to use over the coming winter, ........and... together they produced over 100 pounds of honey for me!!

I have medicated the bees, hoping to keep them healthy over the winter. Soon we will all rest, and dream of next year.




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