Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Signs of Life





A more beautiful  Winters day could not be imagined in any tale of fiction or work of art. We were still hovering around 4 degrees this morning as the sun came up but by noon we were pushing 30 and have passed the freeze level at 2pm.

I been burning a low, slow, lazy fire comprised of some small dry Elm logs and a couple pieces of green hickory in the wood furnace all morning. It pops the blower occasionally and keeps the inside at a steady 77 degrees but mostly I am just keeping some coals going more than anything else. I pushed all the critters that have been occupying the house out onto the porch, laid down some fresh hay on the path to the wood furnace because otherwise it will soon be churned mud and relaxed on the tail gate of my pickup just enjoying the sun rays and fresh air.

30 degrees feels like a warm Spring day right now let me tell you.

The snow still lies heavy over the grass and gravel but anywhere it is paved or on the buildings it is melting swiftly. I would estimate we still have about 6 to 8 inches of the stuff on the ground though. I waded out to the garden bee hives and was greeted by many instances of the picture you see above.

Yes dead bees.

Bees that are away from the hives, some already melted down into the snow several inches as the sun warmed up their little corpses. Now some of you might think being happy about dead bees seems kinda contrary to the entire idea and hope of my girls surviving Winter. However these bees are away from the hives which means they were more than likely carried out by the workers still alive inside or flew out on their own and got too cold. Either way they came from inside those hives.

Another words they are a sign of life that inside the balls are probably still alive and functioning.

Or they could be the few survivors that finally came out to die alone in the Winter wasteland. Except bees don't do that, they stick to the queen to the very last. No these dead bees scattered about are a pretty sure sign that there are more alive inside.

Tomorrow I will venture out to the other bee yards and see what I can see but I now have a bit more hope they also survived since those hives are a bit better protected than these out in the open.

After a couple of hours the supervisors were ready to go back inside to their nice warm beds. They had fully explored everywhere the snow had melted but were pretty limited and refused to actually go out into the snow although the birds that were out there were quite interesting.

Life is good




After coming back in my direct supervisor decided she wanted to be carried around on my shoulder. She usually gets her way I have noticed.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


16 comments:

  1. Hope the bees are alright. I lost hives multiple years in a row... then finally gave up. Apparently, I am just a plant "god"... not a bee god. Heh.

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    1. David - Winter is always a bad time for bee keepers and bees. I am amazed at some of the stupid moves bees will do. You would think such a complex organism as the hive would naturally work but sometimes they just don't make the moves they should.

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  2. Like the III with the cross. Reminds me of one of the Confederate flags.

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    1. Brock - That is the Missouri Battle flag. I just added in the III.

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  3. Hope springs eternal. I truly wish the girls the best of you. Very regal cat...

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    1. Stephen - That cat is only happy when she is laying on me. Drives the wife crazy as she tries everything to get that cat to lay in her lap. Just not happening.

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  4. Lots of snow here, my supervisors are in the cellar supervising the firing of the wood furnace. It has been a rough winter on bees around here from what I hear and we haven't been as bad off as you guys.

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    1. SF - Yep the dead bees gives me some hope but the verdict isn't in yet.

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  5. PP - i hate seeing or hearing about dead bees, but if they are indication of life still in the hives, then i have to accept that it is what it is and i am glad that you will still have working hives this year! as for your little supervisors and your direct supervisor - man, you sure are a sucker! i know because i am the vehicle known as "the cat taxi" and whenever one of our 50lb cats wants a taxi ride, i have to drop everything and carry them around. for however long they want. regardless of anything. arghghghghgh!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. kymber - That cat just loves me and her offspring thinks I am the jungle gym of choice as well. As a matter of fact she is on my shoulder now and her son is sitting on my desk int he way. The Queen is next to me on the table. Those three cats out of all the stray population we have had dumped on us are never more than a few feet from me. They follow me outside. Hell they will try and get on my lap while I am on the tractor. I have to lock them up whenever I am doing anything dangerous now. The little yellow one in the pic tried to climb inside the furnace while I was cleaning it the other day. I was running the chainsaw and looked down to see her sniffing the end of it once. Not sure how I am all of sudden the cat-man though but they won't leave me alone.


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  6. It was warmer this am (24) then it is now (15). they keep talking about warm temps. Ya right. I hope the bees made through. Could you move the hives to a wind break area next year??

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    1. Rob - No moving them shouldn;t be necessary. I will put a wind break up for them though. I could have this year I just didn't think it would be needed.

      Oh and the two hives near the house actually had bees in the entrances this afternoon so I am pretty sure they at least survived.

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    2. Could you use some of the cut timber vs hay bales?? What about planting or moving some evergreen trees/bushes??

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    3. Rob - The real issue is that as much as the bees need Winter protection they also need as much full sunshine as possible in the Summer to help them fight off vermin, especially wax moths. Wax moths cannot abide the heat of a normal hive. If I make a permanent type Winter shelter arrangement then it might make them weaker and kill them in the Summer time.

      Damned if you do, damned if you don;t kinda

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    4. So what you need is something you can remove come warmer weather??

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    5. Ideally I guess. I know there are buildings used to house bee hives and other permanent structures but most of those were built before the pest issues got so bad as they are today.

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