Sam, Dawn, Ceebs, Roberta.The Bee Rescue Hotline got a call from the LA Zoo. Ceebs jumped on it and arranged for us (Sam, Dawn, Ceebs and myself) to check things out at 6am so we could all still make it to work on time. We set up a quick trap-out.
While there, we did a handoff of bees to Sam. I had picked up these bees from a compost bin in Culver City on the way home from work the day before.
All done before 7am!
—roberta
I live in Bakersfield, California.
This spring has been unusually cool compared to normal years and we've had 10.25 inches of rain, almosts double normal.
I don't keep bees but find the whole thing fascinating. Perhaps later...
Here's my question: is the 1:4 sugar to water ratio in hummingbird feeders good or bad for bees? Does it depend on the season at all?
Bees have discovered my hummingbird feeders and really, really like to drink from them. The bees are cute with their little bee-butts sticking up, but is it healthy or not for them to drink the sugar water that is in the feeders?
I've got a nice size garden of sages and other native plants, so something is always blooming to provide the bees plenty of other natural sources for flowers. There is also a pond/sump nearby for "regular" water for any wildlife who dares live in an urban setting.
Thank you!
Hi there.
Bees are very efficient creatures..........they like to get the most for their effort. The sugar water in the feeders won't hurt them. They probably go there because the sugar content is higher than the flowers right now. As soon as the flowers start up in full bloom, they may change their minds.
—kirkobeeo
all communication welcome
Squirrel box (containing bees) sitting on hive box (empty).Earlier in the week I dropped off a squirrel box full of bees (from Elaine in Torrance) at Chris' place. We put the squirrel box on top of the hive box so that the bees could orientate to their new location.
After a few days Ceebs and I went over to do the quick evening cutout. We removed the top of the box and off came the tops of the combs along with it. There were a few combs and lots of bees.
Ceebs and Chris.We took out one comb at a time, shook the bees into the hive...
...and then put them into the frames. Easy.
The hard part was separating the bees from the squirrel bedding and nuts. We dumped everything from box onto a piece of cardboard and then let them walk right in. It took a little bit of coaxing but they figured it out.
These bees are going to love living up in the hills near Lincoln Heights.
Thanks also to Marcia of Coast and Canyon Rehabilitation and the squirrel box hosts for helping us save the bees. It takes a lot of planning to coordinate but it's worth it.
—roberta
Emma came to the last bee club meeting. She tagged along today—we went to take a swarm out of a trap at Leonardo's house.
This is Emma all geared up.
This is the top of the trap. It had comb attached, and there were 5 pizza-shaped combs in the trap.
Kirk put me in contact with Barrett, who had bees in the base of a Sycamore tree. The bees had been there at least a year. A bee company had come to fill up the opening with a spray foam, but that didn't work. Now it was time to try something new and better, so we met planned a 6am trap out. Luckily Barrett found out that his neighbor, David, had just set-up a new hive a couple of weeks ago and he was interested in helping despite the crazy hour.
We nailed in the screen with a small hole in the middle of a cone shape that would help funnel the bees out of the trap out screen. We tacked down the screen to the ground with garden staples and then buried it in dirt. It looked great but it didn't last very long, as some creature found it the next day and dug up the dirt and closed the hole. We fixed it the next weekend but then those sneaky bees found a way out the back of the tree!
We'll throw some dirt where they are coming out and hope for the best. The trap-out will take a while but in the meantime...
Summer runs her hand over the frames to test for meanness.
The acid in citrus helps neutralize the alkali in bee stings.
I live in Bluefield, West Virginia, and I'm just starting my first hive. I want to go the backwards way but I'm wondering how to use the starter strip with the paint stick if I don't have my own clean wax. I ordered a beginner's kit that came with foundation but I don't want to use that.
Thanks for your willingness to help. You guys are awesome!
—Brittany
Hi Buddy, it is real simple: don't wax them. The bees will do fine—in nature they don't have waxed starter strips and they do just great.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.
—kirkobeeo
Always bring your magnifying glass!
Summer smokes the bees.
Bingo! Eggs and brood.
Trap-out at Stephanie and Jeff's. Angry bees!
Stephanie and Jeff.
We got a call on the Bee Rescue Hotline about a swarm in a trellis at the West LA Meditation Center. Tim had spotted them and wanted to make sure that they were saved.
I took them off to Ceebs, my go-to-woman for rescued bee distribution and support. I couldn't keep up with all these bees without her.
—roberta
Everyone loves a bee swarm.
Jason the exterminator.
Kill kill kill!
Steve, loaded for bees.
Barnaby looking in the hive. These bees are from Coma Apiaries in Northern California. I purchased bees from them in 1999.
We pulled a frame. Good pattern of brood, very yellow bees—haven't seen yellow bees for a while.
Supercedure cell..."but there are eggs and larvae!" he says...bees don't care what Humans say. The queen is being replaced.
Second hive: Barnaby getting ready to open it up.
I don't know if you can see it, but there was a supercedure cell in this hive—also not much brood. "Why the supercedure cell?" the human asks. Well, we saw the queen—she was going in circles like she was frustrated. "How would you like to be ready to lay 5000 eggs a day and have nowhere to lay them?" I said.
The bees think something is wrong—the queen is not laying, so they start to replace her.
Barnaby.
More plastic comb, another supercedure cell.
Closing up the third hive.
The second hive when we opened it sounded funny. I pointed this out to him. When bees are happy they sound in tune. I also had him put frames with wax foundation in the hive so the queen can lay. The bees here been here for a month—their numbers are going down.
A queen excluder is a device that removes the queen's determinism. She should be able to decide whether to swarm or leave or lay wherever she decides is best. When a human or humans decide what is best for the bees the bees fail...humans don't know as much about the hive as the queen and the bees do.
But it has been fun Mentoring Barnaby anyway.
—kirkobeeo
Ty in his improvised bee suit.I met Ty and Rick Saturday morning to do a cut-out from dresser in Long Beach. Yolanda and Johnny had a dresser that bees had moved into 8 years ago! The bees had gone into the 2nd drawer when it was upright and then at one point it fell down and they went into the top drawer.
Yolanda and Johnny.
This was a really strong hive and was producing swarms regularly. There were 4 swarms in the past month so it was time for the bees to move into a bigger hive, so Yolanda and Johnny called the Bee Rescue Hotline.
I only had one extra veil so Ty jumped in with borrowed dishwashing gloves and lots of duct tape. These were some mean bees but Ty was great and took a bunch of stings and kept on smiling. We got them into a deep box but unfortunately I only had medium frames. Ughh!
Inside the hive there were a bunch of queen cells including some closed ones. The left side of this comb had drone cells and nice capped worker cells on the right.
These bees will go to Malibu where they can live undisturbed and Ty and Rick will get some nicer bees. Not quite new beekeepers but almost. Ty gives a wrap-up in the video just below.
—roberta
Debra had bees that I took out of her chimney last year. They left in January. I told her to leave boxes out—maybe a swarm would move in. They Did.
Debra smokes the bees.
Yup, we have brood and eggs. Good deal.
Put the lid on, check in two weeks.
I mentored Debra and Summer both earlier this week. It is fun to mentor.
—kirkobeeo