January 08, 2009

First Inspection in the New Year: Dead-Out

It was 61°F today so we opened up the hive to sweep out the dead bees. Something like 10% loss is normal, so it wasn't unusual to see the floor sprinkled with bodies. But our hive is 100% dead. I guess that's what 14 below does to a cluster of just a few hundred bees.

We are going to move the hive to another corner of the yard in the Spring. Moving it away from the evil neighbors will reduce our stress (since I still haven't figured out how or where to mount the cameras). I really liked it down in Aspen Grove, but I didn't like not being able to see the hive from the house.

There's quite a bit of honey to harvest, but I hadn't planned on it (hoping there were some bees still alive) and didn't have the necessary containers. I'm not entirely sure how one stores several large chunks of comb honey, some of which are cracked and leaking. Besides, not all of the honey is capped, so it's staying out in the cold to retard fermentation while we figure these things out. We'll let you know how it tastes when we do.

The notch on the edge of the comb is where I whacked it with the hive tool by accident. The wax was surprisingly crispy.