A Queen Gone Missing and The Painful Lesson

On September 21st, I checked on my bees for the first time since the honey harvest. I had to reduce the boxes from three to two. Since I had left the honey super on with any frames of uncapped honey inside, I had to check the progress and remove any frames that were basically empty. The bees need to focus on food supplies for the winter, not building comb now. When I took the lid off, there were not too many bees in the honey super and only a few frames needing to be put in another box. I removed the extras and proceeded to examine the bottom boxes. There were a lot of bees, young ones, and not too many brood within the frames. I did not see the queen among the bee chaos but I also saw a few larvae, estimated to be about a week old. Then, I saw a queen cell. It was a supercedure cell, right in the middle of the frame, and it had hatched. Could my old queen be dead or dying? Is there a new virgin queen replacement somewhere in the hive? Is there even a queen at all? Oh geez, the worry as I begin to have all sorts of thoughts now as I check the boxes. I finish my box reduction duties, leave any frames for them to recycle out by the hive, and begin my google search for greater understanding of what may be going on inside the hive. I read all sorts of advice, anything from re-queening the hive, watching out for a laying worker (where one of the workers begins laying eggs but they will all turn into a male drone), the "roar" of bees and their increased aggitation and agressiveness for not having a queen, and a wait and see approach to verify if the new queen is there. In thinking back, it was hard to tell if I heard a roar, they sounded normal. They were especially buzzing while I was in the hive but I assume that was because a bee stung my glove and the scent of pheremones sent them into a tizzy. I saw a queen cell so they are handling their own business. I will take a wait and see approach and check in the two weeks most beekeepers recommended. If I did not see anymore eggs then I will get a new queen.

The next evening, I decided to get the frames away from the hive. They were done cleaning the extra wax and honey and I wanted to put them back into the shed for storage. I gently picked up each frame (there were four total) and brushed off any dead bees. Just when I was on my last one, I was just about to walk away until I looked down at my foot. There it was. Sitting on my toe. A young bee. I had open toe sandals. I froze then I panicked. I tried to kick it off but no luck. It stung my toe. I rushed to brush it off then I remembered to get the stinger out as soon as possible. I dropped my frames and ran inside the house (as I was near the hive and didn't need an attack). It hurt and it was all my fault. On one hand, wearing what I was wearing was a sign that I felt comfortable around my bees, on the other hand, I should've known better to wear at least closed toe shoes since I had essentially brushed that bee right off the frame and onto my toe. Ah the lessons of a new beekeeper. I have been stung by bumble bees, yellow jackets, and one other honeybee as a child. This experience was far different. My doctor said it will be easier in the future. My foot itched, swelled, turned red, then a bruise surrounded my toe. Even as I write this, four days later, the bruise remains. It's a reminder to watch where I walk, be conscious of my movements, and respect even the littlest of creatures. More importantly, having the appropriate clothing, just as having the right equipment, is imperative to getting a job done safely and soundly.

Will this make me not want to be a beekeeper anymore? Well, it made me have my doubts as my reactions to the sting hurt. The actual sting wasn't the bad part. I hated looking at my bruise and feeling the awkwardness of the swelling when I walked. They do more good than harm and in the five months that I have had them, they have not caused any harm. Granted one did get Stew by the nose before but his reaction was minimal. I am just a bit more aware now of what is buzzing by me when I am in the yard. Flies sound just the same at times and that gets me a little spooked. I will overcome. I will get back on that metaphorical horse.    

Fall Honey Harvest

In late August, I did harvest honey from our beehive. The day before harvest, I added a bee escape board. It is a one way maze for the bees to exit safely from the honey super so when a beekeeper goes to extract the box the next day, there are hardly any bees inside the box. When I did take the box off the next day, there were only about 2 dozen bees left - easy enough to just brush off the frames. However, I did not try to harvest honey right next to the hive - that would be suicide and mayhem as the bees would surely get back inside. Instead, I used temporary boxes and covers to take the honey super to another part of the yard (so I can brush the bees off without taking them inside the house). It was surprisingly easy to get that part done, especially as I was working by myself. I was able to take 6 of the 10 frames for honey extraction. The rest of the frames with uncapped honey went back to the bees. I also gave them back all used frames, bowls, or plates that I used that may have been covered with miniscule amounts of honey, which they then slurped up and took back into their hive. They are the ultimate recyclers! In the end, we got 15 pounds of honey. It was a dark, amber color and rich tasting like a sweet caramel. Since I didn't have a fancy extractor, I used what I had on hand in the kitchen - a bread knife to cut away the wax cappings, a metal spatula to just scrape off the honeycomb off the frames, pots and pans to catch the oozing honey, and miscellaneous strainers to get the chunks of comb out. Ultimately, I learned that the wax will float to the top and then I just had to skim off the most chunkiest of wax. If I had more frames to extract, this process would have been tedious but since it was my first time and I wanted to experiment, it was just fine. The total time to let gravity pull the honey out was about 24 hours. I would crush and strain several times just to get as much honey as I could. Whatever I was unable to use, I gave to the bees and my leftover wax was rinsed in water and the honey-water given to the bees too. The harvest yielded over a pound of raw beeswax too.

The frames, full of honey

Stewart and I uncapping the frames with a bread knife

The uncapped frames allow the honey to drip into the bucket

All of the honeycomb and honey prior to straining

The chunks of wax were strained using a basic colander and pots

Once all the biggest pieces of wax were removed, it was bottled into sterilized mason jars.

Time For More Beer

Our fermentation room is getting a little bare, so what better time than the Fall to brew more! Our current recipes are an experimental Pale Ale, Honey Weizen using a pound of honey from our own beehive, Coffee Stout Porter, and another Hefeweizen. We have decided to order our ingredients online this time from a brew supplier in Minnesota. More choices, better prices, etc. Stay tuned to see how these new beers wet the pallets of our most honest critics...AKA our friends and family.

Rabbits for sale!

We are selling a pair of New Zealand rabbits for $80. There is a 5 month old male (from Cuzic Rabbit Ranch) and a 3 month old female (from Fog City Rabbitry). These would be good for any 4H members, fellow farmers, or anyone wanting a breedable pair of rabbits. New Zealands are a bigger rabbit and grow rather quickly (compared to most other breeds). If you or anyone you know in the San Jose area is interested, please contact me at leahrondeau@yahoo.com.

Bottle Feeding A Baby

Our newest arrivals to Rlittlefarm were 7 rabbit kits. They were born on August 6th. On August 9th, the littlest runt passed away, and today, I had to begin bottle feeding the next smallest. In comparison to its siblings, this little one was still tiny and wrinkled, with weak coordination. Sure we could let nature do its course and take a wait and see approach, but we decided to supplement with kitten milk replacement. While it rested between feedings, I was also able to cradle it inside my tank top. We may only need to supplement for a little while, just enough to regain its strength to have a fighting chance of nursing fairly amongst the others.

Master Sheefoo with its sibling. The size difference is HUGE!

Update: this little runt, which we named, Master Sheefoo, passed away after a long and hard battle to survive. It's nature's plan I guess. RIP Master Sheefoo 8/6/2012-8/16/2012

Rlittlefarm is getting high tech!

Rlittlefarm is now on Twitter! Follow us @Rlittlefarm. We are also on Facebook...be sure to Like us! We will like you too. We try to stay current but when there are animals to care for, weeds to pull, and hungry mouths to feed, time can escape. Be patient and we will give you all the cool updates when we can.

August's Hive Inspection

After a summer's worth of bees buzzing, I finally wrangled Stewart and Rick to assist with my monthly hive inspection. The first box to remove, my honey super, was heavy. There were a few full frames of honey but not enough for me to harvest any...at least not yet. I will give it time.

Stewart preparing to smoke the hive entrance.

The top two brood boxes. There was some honey on top of those frames, which the bees quickly collected.

There is still room for my colony to grow as they are using this frame for water storage.

The Queen has been here, as evidenced by the capped brood. The bottom box has a better brood pattern though.

Stewart was armed and ready with the smoker in case the bees were overly aggitated with my fumbling of the hive.

About to check the deep brood box. We did find the Queen and that was cool.

After a long week of daytime heat, the bees were working hard trying to cool their hive. It's a bee beard!