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2 more stings
In spite of the sweat-inducing oven of a coverall you see me wearing, I did manage to get 2 more stings yesterday at the beeyard. Right through the coverall. So I ask myself again, 'why do I wear this?' Hmmm.
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wacky house day
Here are the results of yet another experiment: I thought I'd try putting honey frames into the hive without foundation. Other beekeepers suggest rubbing beeswax along the top underside of the frame, to encourage the bees to start the foundation along that line. Sounded like a great idea. So I tried it. I put wires in the frames:
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new ideas
Here's the thing about beekeepers: put any two together, and you've got five different ways of doing things. My mom was talking to a beekeeper at the Port Colborne Market and happened to mention that her daughter was a beekeeper. Well, there's another thing about beekeepers: once you get them going, it's hard for them to stop talking about bees.
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hornets and honeybees
I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful hornets - a deep metallic blue, so shimmery and sleek. Very sexy insects. Unfortunately they're all over my sister's garden, so they will have to be taken care of at some point. My two little nephews don't need to be stung by these gorgeous pollinators! Here you see them on the parsley flowers, doing their part to ensure that my brother-in-law has viable parsley seeds for next year's crop.
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seabee v8
This was a very shiny airplane that we saw at the airshow on Father's Day weekend. Our family went to see the Snowbirds - you can see one of my munchkins in the reflection - she's got her pink cowgirl hat on! Anyway, I thought it was cool that a plane was named after a bee. I'm told they have
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beautiful bee
The other day when I was walking my children to school, I noticed this gorgeous bee. How could I not stop and take a picture? She had pollen in her hind leg pockets, and was working away at collecting the nectar from this flower. I think it's a mason bee, which is a type of solitary bee. Some masons are
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update
. I heard from the person who had the bees in the wall of the house – they had to call an exterminator because there was really no easy way to get the bees out. Which I am not holding against them. You gotta do what you gotta do. It really doesn’t make sense to tear up your house over this. This person is also allergic to bee stings, which makes it all the more important that the bees are gone quickly. .
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almost ready?
The first thing I saw yesterday as I opened my tar papered hives was this furry little friend, who seems to have found a nice dry place to overwinter. He had some lady friends with him too: I went to fix a mistake – I had forgotten to make a vent hole at the top, so I had to open the hives and replace the inner covers with vented ones that Ken is kindly letting me borrow. All went well at the first hive, very sleepy/cold bees, no movement. The hole-making went beautifully, as you can see below: That was the easy hive. I saved my biggest meanest hive for…