systlin:

saltmaven:

systlin:

pleasespellchimerical:

systlin:

pleasespellchimerical:

First bee day of the year whoo~

Autopsied a dead nuc and a dead hive. The nuc was simple–not enough food (mental note: attempt to overwinter nucs next time with a two double nuc boxes).

The hive seems to have been a combo of breaking cluster, weakening from mites, and dysentery. Despite the treatment, lots of phoretic mites (note for next year: begin treatment earlier in the fall). Lots of dark staining as well, indicating some sort of intestinal issue. No idea what it could be, but doing some reading, looks like I’ll have to sterilize the whole thing bc of the possibility of nosema. :/ Before it can house bees again. Yaaaay.

Healthy hive is doing well! Lots of new honey happening, good amount of brood. Actually spotted the queen! Which is unusual. Want to split them at some point, but will need more population and a hive to actually put them into.

Tried a new smoker fuel (cotton–was a free sample from the local supply store) and this shit is awesome. Doesn’t really burn, just smolders away and puts out lots of white smoke. Not much of an odor either.

I lost two this year as well. Both, so far as I can tell, starved to death in place while huddling when it got down in the -50F range. Honey all around the cluster, but bees in the cluster are showing the classic starvation signs. 

Both hives were my last two with italian genes, as well. The carniolans came through the cold just fine. 

Yesss I’m at the point where I don’t touch any genes that haven’t been made for Winter. My local store breeds a very hardy hybrid queen, which is what my current girls are descended from~

Yep. Same. 

I still want to get my hand on some Caucasian gray bees. I’ve heard they’re much like carniolans and I’m curious. 

I DID NOT KNOW THERE WERE DIFFERENT BEE GENE FAMILIES I AM SO FASCINATED AND BLESSED, I GOTTA GO DEEP DIVE GOOGLE NOW.

T_T Too bad I can’t go look at anyone’s bees in person.

There very much are! There are a whole lot of varieties of honeybee if you start looking. Bees, like any critter, adapted to their environment. They’re native to…well, basically of of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

Italians are from, well, Italy. They’re the most commonly available bee since they are gentle and usually pretty adaptable. They are, however, not as tough in cold weather as some other varieties. So, if you lives somewhere where it gets really cold…like I do…they aren’t as hardy as some others. Italians are usually the classic gold-and-black bee. 

Carniolans are native to Slovenia, Austria, and the surrounding area. They can handle much colder temps than Italian bees, but can be a bit ‘saltier’ sometimes. They’ll forage in temps Italian bees won’t, and are much thriftier with their winter stores. They’re usually a more muted color, though they can be gold as well. 

Russian honey bees are native to, well, Russia, and are probably the most cold-hardy bee. They have some rather strange habits to someone who’s used to keeping italians and carniolans, such as keeping queen cells around just in case, and are much more mite resistant than other types of bee, probably due to their strong grooming drive. They’re much darker than carniolan or italian bees. 

European Dark bees are a very old type, which are very cold tolerant, but are known for being aggressive and somewhat susceptible to certain diseases. They are, well, very dark. A somewhat rare type now, and measures are being taken to preserve them. 

African bees are native to Africa, and have developed a highly aggressive behavior to fend off predators. The so-called ‘killer’ bees are European bees that have crossed with African honeybees, and inherited the African bees’ aggressive behavior. Despite the bad rap they get, people throughout Africa have kept them for thousands of years, and often use a ring of hives around crops to fend off elephants. People keep them today in South America, and the southern parts of North America. They’re highly heat-tolerant, highly disease and mite resistant, and can thrive on very scarce resources. Cannot survive cold weather, however. 

There’s more, but this is a few.