Observation Hive Update, November 10, 2015

    The bees in the observation hive seem to be doing okay.  I was a little concerned when it seemed they were shutting down brood rearing a bit early, around the end of October.  It is normal for the queen to take a break from laying in the winter,  but that usually happens later in the year around Thanksgiving time. As it turned out, I think they merely ran out of pollen due to a week of rather cool rainy weather.  Since I had made up this little hive from one of my late summer queen banks, they had not stored any appreciable amount of pollen when they went into the observation hive.  They didn't have much honey either.  They have done a good job storing honey in that relatively short time, but they never seemed to get beyond gathering much pollen beyond what they needed at the time. Pollen is the essential source of protein they need to be able to rear brood. No pollen, no babies.

Lots of capped honey, little or no pollen

    Once I noticed that all of the pollen had disappeared, I added a piece of pollen supplement to the feeder on the windowsill. That was about a week ago. The weather has since been a little more hospitable to foraging, but not a whole lot.  However, I did notice Queen Abigail the First laying eggs on Tuesday (November 9).

Good Queen Abby inspecting, looking for a cell in which to lay an egg

   I made up an entrance block so I can keep the bees inside on days that are too cold for them to be flying. I think that will be particularly important once we start getting frosts. So far I have only used the entrance block on just a few days.  My theory is that because the observation hive is in a constant 70 degree environment, the bees don't realize when it is too cold to go outside. Last year the observation hive lost most of it's population in just a few weeks after the weather turned cold. My theory is that the foragers flew outside on cold days and were unable to make it back to the hive.  I'm going to try and give them a little help this year with the entrance block.

      I'm starting candle classes at the Beez Neez this week. I should have lots of candle making photos for my next post.