We went down to check on our girls yesterday and were heart broken to see only wasps going in and out of the hives. We opened them enough to look at the feeders, and the feeders were at least half full - with nothing but wasps on them.
So we've managed to lose all of our hives this year. We are so sad. We're also very perplexed. We really did the best we could, but apparently that was not good enough.
We're not giving up. We're going to take some time and learn as much as we can. Next spring we hope to start again. Maybe with only two or three hives. And I'd like to locate the apiary closer to the house so we can keep a better eye on them.
Honey bees are such amazing creatures. I can't imagine being without them for too long. They have added a wonderful dimension to our lives and enriched it with the awe and fascination of watching nature doing what nature does.
I miss our little bees. I hope they didn't die hating us.
Bee Happy,
Penny
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5 comments:
I am sorry to hear about your bees. What are you going to do with the hives now? Harvest what honey is left or leave it for the wasps?
Is ther any chance they could have swarmed and will return???
Thanks, mommymommy. I'm still pretty sad over it.
When hives swarm, they leave a queen and about half the hive. So no, they didn't swarm - and won't be returning, I'm afraid.
We harvested the excess honey in August. I'm sure the wasps have about cleaned out the food box. We'll take it all apart this weekend and store it. We'll use it to start the new hives next year.
As sad as it is to lose all these hives and the girls I got so attached to, we're not giving up. We'll start again next year and maybe we'll have better luck!
Take care,
Penny
I'm so sorry to hear about your bees. Do you have any idea why this happened? Do you think it's the same thing all the commercial bee keepers are suffering? We plan on starting with bees in the spring and it breaks my heart to hear stories like this.
Im so sorry to hear about your bees. It is heartbreaking. I just started my first hive and hope that my girls are going to be ok. I hope they can forgive me for the mistakes of a new beekeeper. Good luck in the spring with the new girls.
deconstructingVenus - I've followed your blog and I know you've had a particularly rough few months lately. I do hope that your future can still include bees. They are truly such a joy - and they tend to sting evil dogs that trespass on their territory ;-)
Kelly - I hope your hive will flourish. In hindsight, we should have probably started as you are - with only ONE hive. Bees are really easy to care for, but we were inexperienced and trying to monitor 6 hives was really more than we were prepared for. We'll start again with only 1 or perhaps 2 hives. And we will locate them closer to our house so it will be easier to keep an eye on them on a more regular basis. We are currently so busy establishing our homestead from scratch, we will wait until next year to get more bees. I've recently gotten baby chickens and we're busy building shelters and fences, and all the other things necessary on a homestead. If you are interested, you can follow our progress on www.backtobasicliving.blogspot.com
Best of luck to you! Please let me know how things go.
Take care,
Penny
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