What are you doing today?

[Alice B]

Blue colony is in trouble.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Alice B what kind of trouble ?

 

[Alice B]

not enough bees, and I don't know why and it is late to requeen

 

[jaylach]

not enough bees, and I don't know why and it is late to requeen

I can easily see the difference. If it is possible that it could be bacterial or viral issue it may be wise to separate the hives if possible...

 

[Alice B]

I can easily see the difference. If it is possible that it could be bacterial or viral issue it may be wise to separate the hives if possible...

more likely it's a queen issue. No need to separate the hives, and I am about to treat them for mites, which are the chief transmission of viruses in bees. Kill the mites it knocks out most diseases. Nosema is a contagious disease but it favors cold rainy weather and our currrent cold front has dropped our temps to 90 degrees F.

 

[Lanpenn]

View attachment 348924Blue colony is in trouble.

What bee species? I tried to attract the native stingless bees here in 2020 (I even bought an attractant with a wooden box) but I did not get anything.

This year it will be my 8th birthday of driver's license (in Brazil). Still had the picture of the car where I took my practical classes:

It is a Chevrolet Onix LS 1.0 (probably 2017), with manual transmission. Since most people probably operated the transmission wrongly during classes, when I was moving the stick to change gears, it was a little weird (indeed, a good condition manual transmission of this car is very good to operate), with some squeak. The vehicle sold so well that so many times it was the best-selling car in the country, beating Volkswagen Gol. The Volkswagen was the top-seller in Brazil for 27 years (1987 to 2014), due to its reliability and suspension able to deal with poor road conditions (a reputation earned thanks to its predecessor Volkswagen Sedan, known in Brazil as "Fusca"). The Onix is also reliable, after all the Family I engine did so well with the Chevrolet Corsa that existed in the market for two generations. As a title of curiosity, thanks to bizarre tax laws in Brazil, exported Onix from the country was always with the larger (and better) 1.4 engine, while for Brazilian consumers there was the 1.0 engine (with a poor performance and fuel economy).

A few days ago, I also went to the EducationUSA fair which occurred in São Paulo (arrived late thanks to terrible transit in the city, even taking the bus and subway), where I was able to ask some questions and found out some interesting things about higher education in the United States. Since most Americans in the event did not speak Portuguese, it was possible to practice some English speaking... I was a little confused to elaborate some questions, but I believe they understood. They were very lovely to attend the people, definitely. Only time will tell if this will fill the book with more stories or not.

My brine shrimp are still doing great (me, not so well, since I am probably with some Influenza, viruses from the family Orthomyxoviridae). Last week, I decided to buy molasses, but in powder, since I did not find the liquid solution. The guy told me that this is "strong" (probably referring that this is concentrated). So, I did the same thing as before, mixing about one tablespoon in freshwater. But I was pouring the solution and the culture water from the brine shrimp was not turning turbid. I wrongly assumed that this implied that I did not feed enough. It was only slightly turbid. When I returned home two days later, the culture water was extremely turbid and with many shrimps concentrated at the surface (no money for an oxygen meter, unfortunately). As a result, I increased the oxygenation from my air pump to maximum and, a few days later, the water turned less turbid. Okay, I reduced the oxygenation and, a few days later, the water turned turbid once again!

So, I probably created a bacterial culture by accident... however, they are okay.

 

[Alice B]

I keep European Honeybees, these swarms are probably descendants of the Beeweaver hybrid species I bought queens of several times since 2011. Lose a swarm, seed the area with bees.

When I planted wildflowers to feed my honeybees, I also attracted blue mason bees, leaf cutter bees, bumblebees and carpenter bees, plus a few more I have yet to identify. Best way to attract bees is with flowers.

 

[Fishmanic]

@Alice B
How many times have you been stung?
Do you wear a bee protector suit and head gear when getting the honey?

 

[Oldspartan]

Back from a short trip, I do not say vacation because being retired I have nothing to take a vacation from!!! Returned home Friday afternoon.

Spent time in Maine. Martha's Vinyard and New Hampshire with the RV. This will be the last RV trip of our lives and will sell it come spring. The Silverado needs to be retired unfortunately, and I will remove it from the road on Tuesday. The frame has rusted, and it will soon be unsafe on the highway, (not immediately but soon). It is also beginning to pile up repair bills due to age and mileage. Time to cut the cord.

Went shopping for a replacement Saturday and purchased a new Honda CR V Sport. It is smaller than I am accustomed to but will meet the needs economically of Linda and I at this stage of our journey. We are now basically home bodies. Still have the Jimmy as a second vehicle and the 1957 Dodge 1 ton Dually for hauling what needs hauling.

Today is unlaxing at the pond with perhaps a game or two of Bocce Ball after I give the play area a haircut.

Fish weathered our time away very well and continue to thrive. My sister-in-law fed them every other day in our absence and did water changes for us. She even vacuumed each tank one time. We are rewarding her and my brother with dinner at the restaurant of their choice Wednesday evening.

Enjoyed the travel but glad to be home.

 

[Alice B]

@Alice B
How many times have you been stung?
Do you wear a bee protector suit and head gear when getting the honey?

The first hive I bought turned out to be africanized bees with a cordovan queen, hotter than a firecracker. I always wear a suit. Getting honey requires rainfall. in 13 years I have had a honey harvest 5 times. I just like bees. I have no idea how many times I have been stung, I used to open soffits or walls and take bees out of houses, put them in hives, requeen if I needed to, treat the mites. When you open an africanized or hot hive you better be wearing a suit. However hobby beekeepers buying gentler queens are diluting the DNA of the wild hot hives and calming them down.

 

[gwand]

I thought it was a great idea to have livebearers. So I created a tank with 4 male and 4 female dwarf red coral platys, a mating pair of gold sailfin Mollys and all male yellow tiger endlers. The platys are out of control with breeding. I am constantly fishing out young juveniles to bring to my lfs. This is getting old. Therefore today I will spend considerable time fishing out the female platys to bring to my lfs. These platys are difficult to catch.

 

[Alice B]

That's about the time I add a gourami. or an angelfish. I don't have a local fish store that would buy the livebearer young, and lately I don't seem to have the right water for platies or mollies so I just don't buy them anymore.

 

[MaloK]

The first hive I bought turned out to be africanized bees with a cordovan queen, hotter than a firecracker. I always wear a suit. Getting honey requires rainfall. in 13 years I have had a honey harvest 5 times. I just like bees. I have no idea how many times I have been stung, I used to open soffits or walls and take bees out of houses, put them in hives, requeen if I needed to, treat the mites. When you open an africanized or hot hive you better be wearing a suit. However hobby beekeepers buying gentler queens are diluting the DNA of the wild hot hives and calming them down.

Is it true that africanized bees produce more honey ?

 

[Rocky998]

Going fishin'

 

[Alice B]

Is it true that africanized bees produce more honey ?

not really. They might be more successful in defending that honey in difficult situations. It also takes a microscope and a person to operate it to tell an africanized honeybee from a european honeybee.
I've had hot a hive that made no honey only drew a couple of frames of comb and while I fed they just made more mean bees. I picked up a huge swarm and after a couple of months i was ready to go queen hunting in that hive, had to suit the grandkids up so we could go feed the chickens. They simply did not settle down. Because I did not know their temperament when i brought them in I put a queen excluder under the hive so drones and the queen could not get loose. This meant that my apiary didn't get a bunch of new hot bees from random mating. My neighbors probably appeciated it when I took the colony out of action.

I am pretty sure that first hive I bought was part africanized, but not 100%. The queen was definitely part Cordovan, she was beautiful with golden legs.