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Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Author: DNR

Our “anarchy apiary” in New York appeared to lose about half of the hives wintered there. Some died recently of starvation, others had more squatter field mice who scampered out of the hive suckling babies stuck to their bellies. Eviction. No mysteries behind the losses. Several hives survived as well, from bees bred from local queens.

These pics were take last week, April 20th or so.
Sam Comfort checks his hives Top Bar hive, New York 2009, Spring
Another view, practicing in peace What is this tree? Pear tree in complete bloom

This is an UN-identified insect that I’d like comment on from an expert. What is it? Dragonfly nymph? (see comments for answer!)

Read a great New York Times column by Leon Kreitzman about the circadian rhythms of honeybees and Carl Linnaeus’ floral clock idea. -DNR

What is this?? Mystery insect Mystery insect sideview

Mystery insect headshot with clawed paws

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 | Author: DNR

 IMG_1660.JPG IMG_1665.JPG IMG_2256.JPG

I checked my hive in New York and discovered some furry squatters, to my deep dismay. Check out the galleries to see the  story. The bees were installed in mid-June and may have run out of food stores throughout winter. Comment if you’d like. Now I’m swarm hunting soon … (The other top bar hives that Anarchy Apiaries has nearby are looking lively, though it’s been chilly.)

With bad news, there’s always good news… despite my loss, I’ve gained hope from the White House’s Organic Garden and news of their choice of using varroa-resistant Russians in their beehive!

 White House Garden plot

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Author: DNR

Feral Honey from LA

I love it when other people express for me what I want to share, especially on video. I wish my blog was more of a daily-life-of-a-beekeeper story, but it’s not. Mr. “Kirkobeeo” in Los Angeles, CA, however, is doing just that with a well-tooled web log of his natural, “organic” beekeeping practices. Unbashfully declaring that “we’re going to change the world,” his blog includes fantastic, well-edited videos of his adventures catching swarms in L.A. of all places, promoting urban beekeeping. He even posts these beautiful short audio reports, it’s like listening to messages from him on your telephone voicemail. You’ll learn a lot quick by reading http://beehuman.blogspot.com. Kirk is a beautful soul, who deserves well-paid tenure at Earth University. May he be rewarded for his tireless efforts! It is written. -DNR

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 | Author: DNR

My recent visions include creating a Live Hive ™. A Live Hive ™ is a high-tech monitored beehive complete with internal, infra-red micro video cameras, chip-tagged bees, microphones to monitor hive audio, external camera to monitor comings and goings, temperature sensors, solar panel - all data fed live to schools around the world via the Internet - LIVE 24hrs. It’s a Real World Beehive Show. We need our young to observe bees, for the sake of their own survival. We can now computer-record thousands of hours of high quality audio without a problem, enabling us to observe the change in frequencies within the hive, which I believe is key to understanding honeybee health and intention. (UPDATE: oops… This cool hive webcam seems to have had my idea already!) Here’s a cool example technology below (not German).

Beehive Temperature Data Logger

Furthermore, undergraduate UNC student, Andrew Pierce, et al found that the queen doesn’t decide hive actions herself, but rather “older workers gave signals to the queen and to the rest of the colony that it was time to swarm and leave the hive. Later, they were able to observe inside the swarm itself and see workers give the queen a signal, known as ‘piping’ that tells her to fly.” (read: University of North Carolina at Charlotte) How did they do this?

Today I discovered a gem of an article published four years ago in Der Spiegel magazine from Germany (below) that lifts my hopes that my Live Hive ™ concept will become reality sooner.

In an experiment that’s the first of its kind worldwide, they are creating precise movement profiles for their winged subjects. To this end, tiny transponders have been attached to the backs of thousands of bees. Each radio chip costs one euro and is attached to the bee with a dab of shellac. The chip weighs only 2.4 milligrams, about one-thirtieth of the maximum load a bee can carry, and therefore doesn’t present much of a impediment to the insect.”

The gear exists on the consumer market, we just need to buy the parts off the shelf and deploy the Live Hive ™ in concert with thousands of observing students of all ages to give researchers feedback and notes to accelerate our open knowledge. Google’s computer array should be suitable drive space. Wikipedia that! Pollinatethis!

Finally, Richard C. Hoagland unearthed an interesting nugget about hive sounds in a beekeeper’s recording of a hive noise he heard twice, last back in 2006 - Hoagland played the sound on Art Bell’s radio show (part 9) during a show about Colony Collapse Disorder (along with a bunch more about torsion field energy, and theories that bees build “small cell” comb for the sake of frequency resonance improvement at smaller, natural sizes than with larger, human-prompted foundation size cells… He mentions nothing about mite survival rates in large vs small cell… I appreciated Bell’s critical interviewing.) Sort of funny to hear this guy Hoagland reading from BWrangler’s website on Art Bell’s radio show. Need to learn more about torsion field physics and hexagons. Dr. Adrian Wenner’s work on bee communication is noteworthy for this project, too… Has someone already created the Live Hive? Who wants to fund it for me?

02/21/2005

Big Brother in the Beehive
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,343559,00.html

By Hilmar Schmundt

Bees become increasingly intelligent as they age. They suffer from occupational diseases and travel astronomical distances to produce a jar of honey. Using state-of-the-art monitoring technology, researchers from the German city of Würzburg are revolutionizing our image of mankind’s third most-important working animal.

A snowstorm is raging outside the beehive. Inside, number 6085 is making herself comfortable at a cozy 25° Celsius (77° Fahrenheit) and with an extra serving of sweet nectar.

6085 is a sprightly senior who spends her summers working outside. But for now she is a homebody, spending her time in a world almost entirely of her own making. Her fellow bees expend almost half of their energy making sure their hive is cozy and warm in the winter and pleasantly cool in the summer. The community strictly monitors family planning and carefully controls the intelligence of its offspring. 6085 lives largely sheltered from natural calamities that plague other creatures. Hunger and infirmity are a problem that haven’t plagued bees for over a million years.

“These living conditions sound like something out of a science fiction novel,” says neurobiologist Jürgen Tautz. The white-haired, 55-year-old sits in his office on the second floor of a converted house on the edge of an orchard within sight of the University of Würzburg campus. To convince his skeptical audience that number 6085 truly exists, he proposes an expedition into the exotic world of the bees. Tautz walks down a flight of stairs into his laboratory, where three experimental Plexiglas beehives have been constructed. The beehives even have names, written on paper labels — “Maja,” “Willi” and “Flip.” About a thousand honey bees are crowded into each beehive, including the worker bee identified as number 6085. The Plexiglas window to the hive is warm to the touch, especially near its center, where the royal household crowds around the queen with her long abdomen, making sure she is kept warm, well-fed and clean.

“Bees have achieved many of the things that remain the stuff of dreams for humans,” says Tautz, bright-eyed and speaking with a hint of a local dialect. “We can learn a great deal from them.”

Old bees are the smart ones

A tiny microchip enables scientists to track the habits of bees.

CREDIT: DDP / Fiola Bock / Beegroup Wuerzburg

CAPTION: A tiny microchip enables scientists to track the habits of bees.

The members of his 20-member research team routinely astonish the professional world with their articles in such highly-regarded professional journals as Science, Nature and Zoology. Peter Fluri, the director of the Swiss Center for Bee Research in Bern, is impressed by Tautz’s work. “The results coming out of Würzburg are remarkable,” he says, “and their significance extends well beyond the world of bee biology.”The “Beegroup” laboratory routinely dismantles theories previously regarded as scientific certainty. Until recently, for example, zoologists believed that during the famous tail dance, only those bees directly surrounding the ceremony are quickly informed about a source of nectar. However, the Würzburg researchers discovered that the dance is in fact a refined form of more…

Friday, March 06th, 2009 | Author: DNR
The international Demeter Association certifies Biodynamic® agriculture and its guidelines are considered the highest and strictest inHistory of Demeter the world. The Melissa Garden is utilizing biodynamic agriculture methods and will seek Demeter certification. By extension, our beekeeper, Michael Thiele, is practicing biodynamic beekeeping methods.
  • With the exception of fixings, roof coverings and wire meshing, hives must be built entirely of natural materials such as wood, straw or clay. The inside of the hive may only be treated with beeswax and propolis. Only natural, ecologically safe and non-synthetic wood preservatives may be applied to the hive exterior.
  • Swarming is the natural way to increase the number of bee colonies and is the only permitted means for increasing colony numbers.
  • The system of management cannot rely on the continual introduction of colonies, swarms and queens from elsewhere. Clipping the wings of queens is prohibited. Multiple and routine uniting of colonies as well as systematic queen replacement is not permitted.
  • A locally adapted breed of bee suited to the landscape should be chosen.
  • The comb is integral to the beehive. Therefore all combs should be constructed as natural combs. Natural combs are those constructed by the bees without the help of waxed midribs. Natural combs can be constructed on fixed or movable frames. Strips of beeswax foundation to guide comb building is permitted.
  • The brood area naturally enough forms a self-contained unity. Both comb and brood area must be able to grow as the bee colony develops through building more natural comb. The brood chamber and frame size must be so chosen that the brood area can expand organically with the combs and without being obstructed by wood from the frames. Separation barriers are not allowed as integral elements of the management system.
  • Honey and blossom pollen are the natural foods for bees. The aim should be to winter them on honey. Where this is not possible supplementary winter feed must contain at least 10% honey by weight. Chamomile tea and salt should also be added to the feed. All feed supplements must be of organic if not Biodynamic origin. All pollen substitutes are forbidden.

A bee colony should be able to correct any occurring imbalances out of its own resources. Measures taken by the Demeter beekeeper should aim to reinforce and maintain its vitality and capacity for self regeneration. The occasional loss of colonies particularly susceptible to certain pests and diseases should be accepted as a necessary part of natural selection.

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | Author: DNR

It’s been a while since I blogged. I’ll be uploading many photo galleries from the summer and more video…. bee footage I shot in Brazil! Stay tuned…

Back in San Francisco, I sprinkled powdered sugar on my bees for the first time to see how many mites would fall through the screened bottom board, on Oct 25th. The week before, I noticed some shriveled bee wings on some newborns that were booted from the hive and Bee defense were getting plucked up by little yellowjackets on a chilly, overcast day. It was alarming, but also rather normal and natural. I was hoping not to get into any heavy management of this hive, but I’m attached now. I love what is happening in there now, and powdered sugar is hardly one of the poisons or nasty (boric) acids that other beekeepers recommend to control mites. So, I opted to see what happens. I found one mite after sprinkling some sugar on the top super (see photo). I’ll do more sugaring another time.

I benefited today from reading about “proper supering” on mainebee.com http://www.mainebee.com/articles/March.php
One photo in my gallery from 10/25/08 is a view of my recently harvested super, in which I returned 5 frames with comb onto one side of the super about 2 weeks ago (10/10). There was honey residue on there, and I tried to preserve their comb while spinning the frames. I didn’t really clean it off with water. I’m back 2 weeks later and it’s all filled out again, but with evidence of burr comb and bridge comb. I decided not to examine the frames and just powder sugar to see what happens. I’ll take the advice from mainebee.com. Thanks!

Sunday, June 15th, 2008 | Author: DNR

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TRT: 7:11 - To see video full screen, click the little square to the left of the volume control on the video controlbar. These bees are in Dutchess County, NY. This hive box came from Dadant in New York state.

Friday, June 13th, 2008 | Author: DNR

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TRT: 9:31, shot June 12, 2008, 4:30pm EST, Canon Powershot SD1000, using macro feature

These are my bees in Dutchess county, New York. They came to me as a 5 frame nuc from a friend, who raised them in Dutchess county.

Tuesday, May 06th, 2008 | Author: DNR

I had the extreme pleasure to receive distinguished visitors straight outta the Big Apple to inspect my beekeeping operation and make sure the girls were not manhandled too badly…. That is to say, we learned a whole bunch together, and I made some great new friends! I only wish we could have played together more and they could have seen the actual day of freeing the bees into their new multi-level highrise condo.

Biologist comes equipped with microscope! Totally adorable Cheejus watches over his flock The smartest sisters in the world Marshmallows? Examining the box

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Monday, April 28th, 2008 | Author: DNR

Yesterday was an amazing day. Picked up a package of “Italians” from Bee Kind in Sebastopol, CA. They came in a little box with screen and a can of syrup in the middle. The queen was held separated hanging in a little cage of her own. She was pretty light looking, will be hard to spot her in the crowd, because I forgot to request a little colored marker be added to her.

Alemany Farm Apiary

Hive placed in Alemany Farm Frames in hive, feeder on type, white board on bottom Feeder

By the power of simply asking, my local bee club saved me from driving many hours again, because I forgot to buy a few things for my hive. I was so lucky to have found someone on my club phone list who had the same exact foundations I needed for my deep brood box frames (wooden). Thank you Philip! (Lesson learned: bee clubs should be distributed sources of beekeeping gear, especially since it’s mostly mail order. I feel so lucky. Now I need to get some extra gear to serve other new beekeepers…) I picked them up and prepared the hive. I torched the hive to kill any bateria or pathogens that might weaken the bees by passing a propane torch over all parts of the hive.Bees in package

  1. Screened bottom board with white board (to spot mites). It actually has a matrix of quadrants printed on it to identify from where in the hive the mites are falling.
  2. Deep brood box with 8 frames and 2 follower boards. Plastic foundations in wooded frames… sort of bend them into the slots that keep them in place. 2 entrance reducers to help them keep out strangers while they clean house.
  3. Top feeder box, which is plastic tray with a slot cut in the middle and screen on which the bees climb and hang down to drink sugar syrup.
  4. Inner cover with screen in the center cutout circle for ventilation
  5. Wooden cover

Bees on mite catcher

My mentor, Steve, and I met up at Alemany Farm to “install” the bees. All went smoothly. I’m going to check later today to make sure the queen has been released as the bees and she eat away the marshmellow that was used to plug up the hole in her cell. I was surprised that they gave me a marshmellow to plug the whole. Wish I came up with something else, in reflection. Hopefully, they like it. If not, I’ll need to release her myself.

Bees on mite catcher

I’ll probably feed them for about a month, because there is tons of bloom right now in San Francisco and the farm gardens are looking spectacular. I think the bees will be anxious to get of sugar water pretty soon.

Package and hive

I’m also going to bring a bunch of cinnamon over to drop around the legs of the platform to keep ants from climbing. Another hive on a different platform next to the top bar hives has the same type of large tray feeder for sugar syrup. That poor hive is completely over run with little ants feasting on the feeder. They can probably smell it pretty easily. I wonder if the Light Brown Apple Moth can smell it…

I’ll be getting supers later on to build up the honey on my hive. Thanks Steve! And Happy Birthday to Phil and Mom!!

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 | Author: DNR

I cleaned the two hives I bought from my friend in Sebastopol. And just today I heard of a swarm on the SFBA list… but I wasn’t quick enough. Now I need to torch the frames and box to kill anything on there and make sure my bottom board is alright. I don’t actually have a white board or screen, yet.

Scraping Frames Scraping Frames 2 Gunk Boxes Frames and Boxes

I’m considering placing a hive at the Alemany Farm (watch great video), just down the street. http://www.alemanyfarm.org/ (download video)

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Monday, March 17th, 2008 | Author: DNR

Pollination of our -food- supply is threatened, because throughout the past several years, the honey bees have been disappearing from hives, leaving queens, honey and larva behind! Few dead bees remain, mostly abandoned hives: colony collapse.

You’ll find plenty of research and speculation. But solutions are not easy to find. CCD News map

 

We must take action now, however. PollinateThis! calls for immediate federal emergency spending (FEMA, USDA) to give the U.S. beekeepers, both commercial and other, financial relief for losses. This small community (beekeepers) is mission critical to the survival of our economy. We cannot let them go out of business. They need the same relief and benefits that other -subsidized- industries and farmers receive! If we pay farmers in this country -not- to farm, then we can pay beekeepers to exist. We further call upon FEMA and the U.S. president to redirect money allocated for the “War on Terror” directly toward establishment of emergency beekeeper training in the U.S. for veterans and returning soldiers. We may not have enough bees to sustain -our own food-, and we cannot rely on imports from China! Can you imagine the potential for reckless poisoning from tainted foods? They don’t have an EPA in China and that’s why their bees disappeared and they are hand-pollinating pears (pesticides)! “Homeland” defense must now include sustaining and nurturing our honey bees, because our lives depend on it. Immediate relief for beekeeper losses can come in the form of compensation for educational services provided to returning vets to learn beekeeping. These are our bold recommendations. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! 2008 is the year to prevent catastrophe! Beekeeping and PTSD probably go together pretty well, too.

I don’t have post trauma, but I’ll be blogging here about my experience becoming a beekeeper in a time when it doesn’t look profitable or healthy. But that’s what I think we need to do - pay more attention and nurture our relationship with this amazing, beautiful, female BEEing.

- PollinateThis!
January 22, 2008
San Francisco, CA

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Monday, March 17th, 2008 | Author: DNR

I borrowed my friend’s vegcar to drive up to Santa Rosa, CA last weekend to learn about the CCD situation and meet more local beekeepers at the 2008 Bee Symposium. Quite a niceRandy Oliver at 2008 Bee Symposium, Sebastapol, CA turnout at the Summerfield Waldorf School, and I learned some great bits about dusting for mites with powdered sugar and using a microscope to look for Nosema ceranae from Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping dot com). The nice couple from Bee Kind store sponsored the event…. symposium@beekind.com

I have some recordings, and photos. The most interesting presentation that I wished I had recorded entirely was Dr. Ron Fessenden’s 20 minute powerpoint about honey and health, and the first Int’l Honey and Human Health symposium that happened in January 2008. It was fantastic! Click play below for some video from his presentation (shot with Canon Powershot SD1000).

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I commented publicly on my observation that most of the attendees were more experienced, and/or older folks and thought that there may be a connection between the disheartening graph presented by Serge Labesque, and the fact that not many younger beekeepers were present (I counted 5 including myself). The response from Michael Thiele and others was “it’s always been that way” and “even in Germany and other Chart of beekeeper decline? parts of the world.” Obviously, according to the graph. My intention is to inspire more “kids” to understand pollination and beekeeping. It’s probably more heroic work, than, say… well, need I say? I encourage potential beekeeper mentors to recruit, get involved with leadership programs to integrate your work to find and plant the beeky seeds in our youth. Gold stars for all who get a kid away from “Play”stations and Second “Life” and turn them on to saving the planet for real!

Many San Francisco beekeepers were there, who I met later in the week at my first beekeeping club meeting. I’ve gained a mentor, and have found a place to put my hives when my bees come in April. We’ve formed a subcommittee within SFBA to examine and understand the apple moth arial spraying slated for the city of San Francisco August 1, 2008. Arial spraying for pests seems to me to be a rather Soviet-era way to handle a bug, militaristic and ineffective, and devastatingly ignorant. There is a campaign to stop this insanity.

As far as CCD goes, Mussen reported that it appears the same or worse than last year. The Vanishing of the Bees crew blogged of a well-known beek bringing them to see his dead-out hives, bee “graveyard” - millions of bees.

-DNR, March 16, 2008


BEE SYMPOSIUM 2008
THE HONEYBEE, Pollinators AND THE ENVIRONMENT

DATE: Saturday, March 8, 2008
TIME: 9:00 am ? 6:00 pm

In this time of global ecological challenges, the honeybee is an indicator species reflecting the enormous changes taking place in our world. Bee populations are dying and pollination ecology is deeply affected. As beekeepers, we must become stewards of the earth and change paradigms. This one-day symposium offers information and speakers with new perspectives on honeybees and native pollinators, beekeeping practices, innovative approaches and ecological strategies for beekeepers.Randy Oliver on microscope

THE DAY FEATURES:

  • Randy Oliver, Grass Valley, Biologist and forward thinking commercial beekeeper
  • Dr. Eric Mussen, Entomologist, UC Davis, CA Beekeeper Association 2006 Beekeeper of the Year
  • Katharina Ullmann, Presenting for Claire Kremnen, Xerces Society, UC Berkeley
  • Serge Labesque, 2006 Western Apiculturist Society’s (WAS) Innovator of the year
  • Kathy Kellison, Executive Director of Partners For Sustainable Pollination (PFSP)
  • Michael Thiele, Holistic beekeeper; Demeter Beekeeping Standards
  • Ron Fessenden, M.D. Co-Chairman of The Committee on Honey and Human Health

Serge Labesque presentation

PANEL DISCUSSION AND ALSO:

Two Innovative Movies on Beekeeping presented by the filmmakers

1) Pollen Nation, by Singeli Agnew and Joshua Fischer

2) The Vanishing of the Bees, by Maryam Henein

Doreen Schmid, presenting bee art The Melissa Garden ? A honey bee sanctuary in Healdsburg Rudolf Steiner College, Sonoma County Master Gardeners, 4-H Kids, Sonoma County Beekeeping Association and more.

Natural looking Hive (from Germany)