Mauna Kea Honey Bees

I recently spent a week in my brother's home on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was superb ! Cool, sunny, afternoon rainstorms, and very little humidity ~ plus the VOG wasn't bad at all.

I drove from Kona to Hilo and took the Saddle Road. This road connects the West side of the island to the East side of the island. I stopped to take some pictures of Mauna Kea and heard that familiar sound ~ the buzzing of little busy honey bees. Hawaii has been hit hard in the past year by varroa mites and the small hive beetle and the honey bee population is in decline.

Here's a few pictures of these ambitious little girls doing their thing with Mauna Kea in the background. Sweet !

Mesquite Dunes Buzzy Bees

I had a wonderful time in Death Valley about 2 weeks ago. My friends and I were out enjoying the Mesquite Dunes near Furnace Creek ~ I heard a very familiar sound, the buzzing of a bee in flight ! Way out in Death Valley at sunset there were these lovely little bees... bigger than European Honey Bees but smaller than a BumbleBee... I was able to find one and follow it as it collected nectar from the Creosote Bush living on the Dunes. Here she is... isn't she beautiful !!!

Hard Fall/Winter for my Little Girls

Well, this Fall/Winter was very hard for my little girls. I started out in November 2010 with 6 hives and now I'm down to 3 ~ although they are very strong and happy :) I treated all 6 hives with oxalic acid fumes in November ~ 2 times about 10 days apart. The 3 hives that perished this Winter were all older hives ~ about 3 years old. And truly believe that the queens failed in the Fall. The size of the clusters kept getting smaller and ants were a nuisance for these weaker hives.

This Spring has been a mixed bag with hot weather, cold temps and lots of rain. BUT my survivors are doing great and I'm hoping to harvest their excess honey in the next month. But only after this cold snap has passed us by :)