Monday, October 3, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The New Queen Reigns...
See her there on the bottom? The bee with the long abdomen and stubby wings?
She was reared and hatched in this hive. The old queen and half the bees in the colony swarmed and
this new, lovely has taken her place on the throne.
Her enlarged abdomen is the clear sign that she is mated and should start laying eggs soon.
Shown here are a few drones (fat, big-eyed fellas) standing near Her Ladyship.
Drones need these giant peepers to spot a queen on her mating flight. When a drone
mates on a flight, it is, sadly, his last flight.
The queen will mate with 15 or so drones in one or more mating flight attempts until she has a sufficient amount of sperm stored to last the rest of her life. After she is successfully mated, if she is well fed, she will lay 1500-2000 eggs per day from early spring through mid autumn in these parts. She will do this every year throughout her life. A healthy queen's life expectancy is thought to be 4-5 years these days.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
honey bee yard residents that are not honey bees
4 baby wrens ... waiting on them to fledge out of the hive already!
oops, a bald-faced hornet nest on the inside of the gabled cover...
not cool
sorry, you can't stay here
just let me take a few pictures
the queen and a spider...
patterns
these can be really nasty
goodbye hornets
Thursday, June 16, 2011
walking round the yard looking closer
Tiger Lily
Crazy Allium
Astilbe
Spirea
Wildflowers in the bee yard
hmmm... there were five. The wild turkey feathers are new. hehe... Silly wrens.
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