New bee brood in January
A
beautiful sunny afternoon on Monday gave me
a chance to dip into our two remaining hives. I knew they were
both alive because I've taken to holding my ear up against the lower
brood box now and then to listen for a happy hum, but I didn't want to
risk another hive dying of
starvation.
Just like at this time last year, both hives seem to have
barely eaten anything since I checked on them near the end of December,
probably because they're down to such a small cluster, so starvation is
no longer an issue.
The
east hive surprised me by having a small nursery already in
action! A few capped worker cells and more uncapped larvae and
eggs
suggest the hive is already bulking up for spring. I'm thrilled
that
they're building their numbers, although a few dead larvae on
the floor of the other hive's brood box suggests cold weather put a
damper on the other colony's early brooding efforts.
Meanwhile, I've decided
to take advantage of winter's minimal bee colonies
to learn to work the hives with no gloves. I hate to squash bees,
especially when their numbers are so low, but clumsy gloves make bee
kills inevitable. (It's also a lot easier to take pictures
without gloves on.) During my first attempt, I got stung once on
my thumb, but I was
surprised to realize that my tough fingers barely register any pain
from a bee sting. And most of the bees who landed on my hand just
chatted for a while, then flew on, so I guess I'm on the right track.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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