Bee Chronicles

3 December, 2019

21 November, The bears are still roaming around. Saw one in my driveway. Will be going down to check the apiary as soon as I get this done.

15 Nov. My witch hazel has started blooming. It is supposed to bloom the end of Nov. into December. It usually starts around 25 November. So much for global warming.

My bees have appeared to be okay. They are taking up syrup as fast as I put it out. That will slow down as the days cool off. The last two weeks have been abnormally cool highs. I think the weather will get back to normal (warmer) before Christmas. Cold weather is supposed to be January.

I have not looked at my bees in two weeks. I will get that done this week. We are supposed to have several days of 60^o weather before it starts raining on Saturday and Sunday.

It has been a dry hurricane season here in the mountains. Enough rain for surface moisture but no deep penetrating soaking rain. Add this to the 6+ week drought in August and September and the blooms will be affected next spring. We are still 4" ahead of average rainfall but that came and stopped in the summer. So much for global warming. I have not mowed by yard since July and is still not 6" tall.

I lost two hives to predation by the Japanese/European Hornets. Fall of 2018 we had hordes of yellow jackets working the bee feeders. This year hardly any yellow jackets. They were replaced by the European Hornets. More than I have ever seen. It is hard to manage against the hornets. With out just standing in the apiary with a tennis racket wacking the hornets, I can only think of one other technique. Buy a "bug zapper" at the hardware store. You need to break out a few protective bars to make a double sized slot. Do this in maybe 4-5 locations. The zapper will attract all kinds of bugs, butterflies, moths, honeybees, flies, etc. Yellow Jackets and Hornets start working earlier in the morning and work later in the evening than honeybees. Turn it on about 7:30 Pm (after the honeybees stop foraging) and turn it off after dark. This will protect the moths and honeybees.

Make sure your mite counts are down and wait for next spring.