Pee You, What a Stink

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I discovered today that one of my hives, not next to my house, has likely been buried in snow for at least a week, maybe two. I didn’t expect this.

A hive that was probably buried in snow for a week or two, with all entrances blocked. (February 22nd, 2020.)

When I cleared out the top entrance, the smell was like rotten caplin fertiliser. Pee you. It was ugly.

Rotten gooey bee poop that had clogged the entrance along with poop-soaked dead bees that we’re cleared away. (February 22nd, 2020.)

The bees needed some cleansing flights and they couldn’t get out. I didn’t open the hive to see the mess inside because I can’t do anything about it at this time. But I’m sure it’ll make an educational video some day (stay tuned).

The last time we saw this hive about a month ago, a rat had been gnawing on it.

The bees came pouring out once I cleaned all the poop-covered dead bees out of the way. I’ll clean it up next week by spraying it down with apple cider vinegar. And I could do with less snow.

June 2018 Beekeeping Archives

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June 30th, 2018.

This may be the longest and the least interesting video I’ve ever posted. So if that doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what will. It’s a 30 minute cell phone video from June 2018 when I still had only one hive… Hold on. I just checked it. It’s only 27 minutes long. Oh well. Anyway, the last 15 minutes of the video show a full hive inspection of a single-deep hive. There’s a lot of talking in this video. A lot of semi-nonsensical ramblings too. I admit that I get a little loopy when I’m overheated in a bee jacket that leaves my glasses sliding off my nose from all the sweat dripping off my face.

If you saw my previous month’s archive from May 2018, you’ll know my one colony was in pretty sad shape then, and it doesn’t get much better for the month of June. This weak colony should have been combined with a stronger colony. But I only had one hive, so tough luck. It illustrates why it’s always better to have at least two hives (two colonies) instead of one. With only one, you’re stuck with what you’ve got and there’s not much you can do about it. All the tricks in the book are unlikely to get a weak colony to grow into a strong colony.

Thermal Images of Beehives Buried in Snow

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Here’s another video from February 1st of me testing out my Flir One thingamuhbob that attaches to my cell phone to produce thermal images in low res video and pics.

As usual, the results are okay but is it worth the money for beekeepers on a budget? I don’t know.

This video was shot after the Snowmageddon event that occurred in Newfoundland on January 17th, 2020. I’ll post a detailed video of that as soon as I can find the time to slap something together.

A Rat Gnawing on My Beehive

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Some of you may have heard that the eastern part of the isle of Newfoundland where I keep bees got dinged with a massive snowstorm on January 17th, 2020. The official forecast called for about 90cm (3 feet) of snow. But with winds hitting about 120km/h (75mph), more than a few snowdrifts were taller than me.

I’m guessing a rat did this (January 26th, 2020).

The city of St. John’s and surrounding municipalities were under a State of Emergency for about a week. Everything was shut down. I couldn’t check on some of my hives until the roads were passable nine days later. This is what I found when I checked on them:


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Weighing Down Beehives vs Tying Down Beehives

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I never got into tying my beehives down with ratchet straps because I was too stunned to know how to use a ratchet strap. I still prefer what some call “lashing” or “sport” straps. They’re less complicated to use, they seem to hold on just as tight to the hives as the ratchet straps, and if you’ve ever used them, you’ll know they don’t create any clack-clack ratcheting vibrations as they’re tightened (the kind of vibrations that don’t make honey bees happy). So if I had to go with any kind of strap to secure my beehives to the ground, I’d go with the so-called sport or lashing strap instead of a ratchet strap.

A lashing strap, usually cheaper and easier to use than a ratchet strap.

I should make a video on how to use the various straps. People as useless as me (people who can relate) might find the videos helpful. People with giant pick-up trucks who know their way around ratchet straps and heavy metal objects would probably get a good laugh out of it too.
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