Last Bee Feeding for the Fall?

The temperature got up to 72 degrees today, warm enough to do a complete bee inspection. Both hives have lots of bees and are heavy with stores. The bottom boxes were pretty empty so we moved them to the top and fed both hives, probably for the last time until late winter or early spring. We put in new swiffer sheets because both hives had lots of small hive beetles. The sheets that were in the hives captured quite a few Hopefully they will die back over the winter.

We used the smoker but the bees were pretty calm. We moved the hive near the road over next to the other hive because the bench was leaning forward a bit and looked a little unstable. Wouldn't want to come out some morning and see the beehive fallen onto the ground. So all is good in the Camp Kreitzer bee yard. May the patrons of beekeepers keep our girls warm and healthy over the winter so we can try expanding in the Spring. We'll pray for a better season than this one was.

Feeding the Bees again

I like to keep track of our bee maintenance, so I use this blog to do it. We've fed several times, the last was on Thursday, October 10th before we left for our granddaughter's wedding the next day. We plan to feed them again this week. I walked by the hives yesterday and there was lots of activity at both hives. When we fed them on Thursday there were lots of black hive beetles caught in the swiffer sheets. We'll need to put more in next feeding. Hopefully the bees will do well over the winter. We have the patrons of beekeepers on it. Whenever I bless our beautiful property with holy water, I never miss the bee yard.  

Remembering my Dad...

Remembering My Dad with Gratitude

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. He was born in 2017, the first of five children born to Raymond Michael Schneider and Marie Zurlinden Schneider in Cleveland, Ohio. His dad, my grandfather, was an organist who played in vaudeville for the silent movies and later was organist at St. James Catholic Church in Lakewood where his men and boys' choirs became well known. He taught his own children to play and Daddy played the organ later for the Catholic community at the Naval Academy when he was student there and for St. Augustine's in Elkridge, MD after he retired.

In 2009 my brother, Ray Jr. (now deceased), posted this on his blog:

Raymond John Schneider — Dad

Ray's first ship was USS DETROIT, which was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. DETROIT subsequently transported the Philippine Government's gold and silver monetary reserve, which had been removed from Corregidor by submarine, from Honolulu to San Francisco. 

Bee Feeding and Inspection: Good News/Bad News

Well, the bad news today is that our Bianca hive is finished. We reduced it to two boxes since there are still bees in it, but we aren't sure whether they are robbers. We took out two frames with a little capped honey which would have been capped before we added the sugar syrup last Saturday. 

The irony of losing Bianca is she was the nucleus hive we paid $170 for in the Spring. It was a really strong hive, but it swarmed. We kept introducing eggs, but Bianca never reared a new queen. The hive that did rear a queen was the split we made from our own hive. So we will be going into the winter with two good hives, Anya and Charlie, and hopefully we can keep them alive until next Spring when we will try again to increase our little apiary. We fed Anya and Charlie with full Ziploc bags of syrup. The bees are also using the water source I left out there which was good to see, and our hive beetle traps have caught quite a few small hive beetles. 

The most exciting part of today's inspection was that we saw the queen in Anya. She's a beauty and laying well. It's always fun to see the queen and we don't very often so that was a thrill. We didn't inspect Charlie since that hive has been thriving all summer. We just added the syrup and closed up. 

We'll probably feed again in a few weeks.

Bee Update

The drought has done a number on the nectar flow. There's nothing much out there, so we've already started feeding. Larry did the deed yesterday and we put about two quarts of sugar syrup in each of the hives. That gives the bees something to do and lets them store up food for the winter. We need to do a complete inspection this week, maybe Wednesday to see what the brood situation is and whether we have three queen right hives. Asking the intercession of the beekeeping patrons. 

Saying Good-Bye to Bonnie Bluebeard

Poor Bonnie died during the night. For the past few days she's been acting oddly -- didn't want to come out of the coop, limped a bit, seemed to be feeling bad. I picked her up and petted her. she was extra docile. Bonnie was my favorite chickie, so I’m sad today. Silly, I suppose, to cry over a chicken, but I really loved her.

How can people kill babies? I think of Jim Lemon, the deathscort at the killing center where I counseled on the sidewalk for so many years. He loved his dog, Pumpkin, but championed child killing. He often told me that abortion just sent the babies back to God, so He could send them to someone who wanted them. I often urged him to think of the babies as puppies since they meant more to him than tiny human souls.

Jim’s gone now…I wonder to where. Think I’ll pray for him today. Despite his evil philosophy, I liked him. Poor, stupid Jim. So sad. I don’t want anyone to go to hell.

Broody Buttercup Never Gives Up!

Well, Buttercup is going broody again. She started yesterday puffing up and sitting in the nesting box all the time. When she's out she's pecking her coop mates and being altogether big, bossy Mama. 

Not a good situation for a happy chicken yard.

So I put her back in chicken jail. We'd like this episode to last less than the five weeks of last time. She's in the shade and has food and water and we will let her out this evening to free range with her sisters, but she'll be in lockup during the day. Hopefully the cure will only take three or four days. 

Now if only we could cure the liberal Left with just a few days of solitary confinement in a cage. Since they act like hyenas and baboons, treating them that way and putting them in the zoo seems appropriate. Biden has certainly turned the White House into a zoo -- or maybe the freak show at a fair!

Another Bee Inspection! Question for the Season: Will the Bianca Colony Rear a Queen?

We went out early this morning for our inspection because of the brutal heat. No way we want to be out there when the temp is pushing the upper 90s! Bee suits are hot, hot, hot! We were back in the house by 9:00 a.m. but both of us were sweating profusely and ready for a cool shower. Whew!

Our main objective was to see if we have queens, feed, and insert some hive beetle traps. 

Back in the Bee Yard Again! Whew -- Hot Work!

We should have checked the bees yesterday when the high temps were in the 70s. Today, while we were out there in the sun it was about 85 degrees. Whew! With canvas bee suits on, that makes for hot work! But sweating is good for you, right? So I'm not complaining.

Another Quick Bee Check

I went out to take out the bottom board insert from the little hive in case we pick up a swarm. It's too hot to leave that in. I checked inside because there's been some activity, but there were only a few dozen bees and they are probably robbers cleaning out whatever stores were there. 

We still hope to attract a swarm although it's getting late for that. But we'll see. I checked all the other hives to make sure they have enough room and they are all okay, so no need to add any boxes. 

No ants, no wax moths -- that's good news.

In another week or two we'll check again to see if the three active hives are queen-right. We know one hive is. The other two are iffy. But they have lots of bees and they are busy.

June 15: Bee Inspection -- Good News/Bad News

Well, the bad news first. The swarm hive left. Hardly any bees -- probably all robbers. Still a little capped brood in a few frames but we expect that will result in nothing since there won't be any nurse bees to take care of it. Anya, the next hive, has a queen cell, probably from the frame of eggs and brood we put in last time, but the hive may already have had a queen since there was a little brood in another frame. So that hive is hopeful

We are on the beekeepers roller coaster!

Up and down. One minute things look great, the next, not so good! Here's how it's been going this season in the Camp Kreitzer apiary:

May 16th -- Just did a bee check. All well, except for ants, but not so many I'd call the hives infested. Will probably weed whack and put down diatomaceous earth around the stand legs. Busy, busy bees. None of the hives needs a new box yet, but the second box from the top on the middle hive was so heavy I couldn't lift it and Larry was out so I was on my own. Looks like we will definitely get some honey from that hive even though it's the new one. And if we can retrieve the swarm from our garage ceiling we will have four hives this season. That would be great!

Bee Inspection - Keeping Track

I need to keep track of what we're doing with the bees so this will be my "notebook" entry so to speak.

We came out of the winter with one strong hive. To give us insurance for the season we bought a nuc and installed it in the bee yard on Monday, March 25th. The same day we split our big hive but couldn't find the queen so we didn't know which double box she was in, the original box which I'll call Alpha, or the split which I'll call Beta. We fed everybody and started waiting. 

On the 29th we gave Beta another feeding because they were so inactive. On April 7th we added boxes to the nuc and to Alpha because they both had so many bees outside. In fact, we were afraid the nuc was getting ready to swarm.

Today, April 18th we did a check of all three hives. Beta had two queen cells at the bottom and brood so it's clear we moved the queen there when we did the split. She may be going to swarm anyway. We left the queen cells alone because if they swarm they'll need those queen cells to raise a new queen. We added some spearmint to our swarm box to hopefully catch a swarm, perhaps one from our own hives. 

We added a box to the nuc because they have almost filled the top box with nectar. That makes three boxes on the nuc. There were lots of drone cells which we removed and fed to the chickens. There's plenty of brood and we took a frame with egg cells and gave it to Alpha. If they have a queen it won't hurt and if they don't, they can use the eggs to raise a new queen. We're asking the patrons of beekeepers for help.

I got my first sting of the season on the middle finger of my right hand. I never saw the bee. She must have been on my glove and stung me as I was taking it off. I hope it helps my arthritis!

We're off to a good start for the bee season. They've been all over our apple tree and this weather is great for pollen and nectar collecting. 

Cooking Day at Camp Kreitzer

I love spending time with my grandkids. Two of the local grandsons decided awhile back that they want to do "cooking day" with Grandma every week. So for the past month or so we meet weekly to learn cooking skills and enjoy the results. One of the big benefits is that it gets them away from the computer games. They bring their Ipads to do math tutoring with their grandfather (They're home schooled), but that's it. Bike riding, board and card games, and cooking are the fun for the day. They are becoming quite the little chefs.

A Snow Day at Camp Kreitzer with Max and Jude!

Believe it or not I have a real life besides my virtual life on the blog and Facebook, and that's the life I cherish. It usually starts with morning prayer time invoking the Lord's blessings on Larry and me and all our loved ones. I have a little prayer box in my home chapel overflowing with funeral cards, ordination cards, prayer requests, etc. that I cycle through. I've grouped our parish friends, the folks at the nursing home I used to visit, priest friends who have gone to the Lord, etc. It takes me about a month to make it through the entire box.