Changes in Perspective

I drive a lot for my career, and as I'm driving, or when I'm calling on nurseries and greenhouses, I find myself looking at the flowers around me, and thinking "Oooh, my bees would like that!".  Even plants that, in the past, I've viewed as weeds, like black cherry and dandelions, now have much greater importance.  Your perspective changes when you see your bees happily foraging on those first cherry blossoms, or in early May on a field of dandelions.  Used to be I'd think nothing of spraying these with an herbicide.  Now I'm hoping my neighbors aren't using any weed 'n feed on their lawns!

MY LAZY BEES

The day started out dreary, cool, and damp.  I have Italian bees, and the instructor at our bee school says that Italian bees, like Italian people, prefer to be outside only in the best of weather.  My bees, true to form, wait until the sun is bright and warm before they venture out.  But once it is, on go the Gucci sunglasses, and  out they go!  Sue is getting Carniolan bees, and supposedly, they're much more like a New England farmer; up early, and outside working in all kinds of weather.  We'll see... 

Around 11:00 my bees had finished their venti lattes and started their day.  I stopped by the hive around noon, and there was a lot of activity.  I have to say, once they start working, they're ferocious about it!  The foragers head out and start gathering pollen and nectar, and when they come back to the hive, they're so laden down, that they bounce around at the entrance of the hive like an overloaded pick up truck.  Their pollen baskets are full, and some even have pollen all over their thorax and abdomen.  

INTRUDER!

While I was watching, there were a handful of hornets and other wasps, as well as a couple of ants around the hive.  They're attracted by the sugar cake I feed the bees.  One of the hornets attempted to enter the hive, and while they weren't aggressive about it, the bees prevented him from doing so.  At first, they chased him around a little, then one of them attempted to sting him, but he had the advantage, both in the size of his body, and his stinger.  Finally, as he made his way towards what I call the "side door" (a gap in the joint between the hives side wall and end wall), the bees all crowded into the opening, stingers pointed outward, denying him entrance.  Eventually, he decided it was fruitless and chose easier spoils, a small piece of sugar cake that had fallen onto the cribbing.

DRONES

Honey bees will vigorously defend their hive from most intruders.  But one thing I find very interesting is that they will allow drones into the hive, any drones, whether they're related to the colony, from another colony, or even feral drones.  One of the books I have refers to drones as "flying sperm", because they basically have no other function than to mate with the queen, and that doesn't happen inside the hive.  Queens take flight a few days after they emerge from their pupal stage, mate with a bunch of drones, in mid-air (I'm told that after a drone mates with a queen, he literally, not figuratively explodes with an audible "POP"!) then the queen returns to the hive.  So, it seems strange that the bees, which all have very particular functions inside and outside the hive, depending on their age, would allow these do-nothing drones to fly in, eat their pollen, nectar and honey, and then leave.  Maybe all drones are extremely handsome!  Oh, to be a drone...  There were several drones around the hive today.  They're much bigger than the worker bees, and they're pretty clumsy.  One of them flew in while I was watching, bumped into the sidewall and fell over on his back.  He laid there like an upside down turtle, grasping at the air, until one of the workers came over and rolled him back onto his feet.  In the pictures below you can see the oaf, upside down on the bottom board, and then to the right of the entrance hole.

That's all for now, but it's possible I may post again tomorrow.  Sunday is my regular hive inspection day, so check back then...