Yard Work

Hurricane Irene took down half of the big hickory tree in the front yard.  Some of said tree landed on Oscar.  It turns out Oscar was knocked slightly of the stand.  Jack and I straightened the hive up yesterday before the temperature got above 50F and the bees started moving.  We also managed to cut the rest of the branches away from the hive and got them moved away.

Usually procrastination is a bad thing.  This time waiting to clean up the tree from the front yard paid off. The wood was drier and lighter and split better.  The weather was cooler and therefore the bees were not an issue.  All and all, about a cord of hickory with a bit of oak mixed in.

After Irene

After Snowtober

Cut And Split

Stacked on the Porch

Leaves Blown, Sticks Raked, and Grass Cut

Oscar no es feliz

Stupid hurricane.

Hot.

118F heat index and everyone is melting.  Felix still has an entrance reducer with the largest opening and is bearding.  Oscar has no reducer and is not bearding.  I am not about to suit up in this heat and open up Felix.  They will be fine hanging out outside the hive.

Felix was faking, long live Felix

It turns out the bees going in and out of Felix were robbers from Oscar.  I reconfigured the hive to the same setup as Oscar and ordered new bees.  The replacements and their queen arrived this morning.  Of course it is raining buckets and in the mid 50s.  The sun eventually peeked out this afternoon and I hived the new arrivals.  No issues, no problem.  The bees seemed pleased that their new home was mostly furnished and partially stocked with honey.

Felix Lives

Felix was just playing possum, apparently.  Sunshine and 50F and there are signs of life.

March Bees

It is 45F and sunny and the Oscar hive has bees out and about.  There is pollen substitute and fondant on this hive so they have something to eat until the pollen starts coming in.

If Felix doesn't show some signs of life soon, I am going to order another 3lb package of Buckfast bees for that hive.  Nairobi will have to wait until Oscar swarms for new bees.

Mid-winter Sighting

Last weekend the temperature rose above freezing for the first time since New Year's Day.  The sun was out and when the air hit around 40F Oscar's bees took flight.  I whipped up a quick batch of fondant to feed them.  I checked Felix while I was out knee deep in the snow but that hive looks pretty dead as does the top bar.  It looks like one out of three have made it so far.