Sophia Hive

I realized I didn't have any pictures of the Sophia hive posted yet. This was my first hive, populated with a package of bees purchased from Vancouver Island, and installed on May 4, 2009.

I found a neighbor who's back yard was filled with vegetable plots, surrounded by fruit trees and bushes. I thought it would be a perfect spot for a bee hive. As the summer progressed, the garden thrived into a lush green jungle, blossoms and flowers decorated with bright color, and my neighbor harvested food for his dinner table. However, the bees didn't fare so well.

I still don't know exactly why the bees didn't thrive earlier in the summer, but each weekend I checked on them, their numbers were smaller, and they just didn't seem as vibrant as compared to my other hive. I conferred with other beekeepers who advised that they wre probably starving! In the middle of a thriving garden! Who would have thought? Anyways, I started feeding them sugar syrup and pollen patties mid-summer, came back a couple of weeks later, and BOOM! suddenly the population had exploded! Lesson learned - the bees will let you know what's wrong - don't assume they will eat what I think is a nectar flow.

By the time the bees had recovered enough to put on a honey super, it was late in the season. They started to fill a fresh box of frames with comb and nectar, but very little of it got capped over. We took only two frames off to extract, and got a really dark, coffee colored honey. It had a richer taste than the honey from my other hive, but a thinner consistancy. Here is a picture of the Sophia honey next to the Belle honey:

The hive is doing very well now. It has a strong population, no diseases, and no varroa mites. I have finished all my fall management treatments, and can only hope that they are healthy enough to survive the winter.

Adoption Update

I was out of town for a few days this week, and came home to lots of great news! Two families have come home this week with their daughters, another one will be home soon with a son. And a waiting mom just got word she can travel at the end of this month.

Things seem to be moving fast. Not nearly fast enough for me, but I know my file is in process. Here are the things I have to do before I go to Vietnam:

Paint Molly's room - I have the paint, a light turquoise color.
Steam clean the carpet
Find and hang matching curtains
Buy a dresser
Buy a carseat

Buy a highchair
Buy cloth diapers
Buy a diaper pail
Buy a baby bathtub
Clean the garage - I need room for her stroller!
Get my travel shots

I'm sure there are many more things I haven't thought of, but it will all fall into place sooner or later.

Seasonal Management

The season is coming to a close - the honey is off, flowers have stopped blossoming and preparation for over-wintering the bees begins. I have noticed a large number of drones sitting outside the hive on the landing pad, and an uncomfortable number of wasps hanging around eating them. The drones get kicked out of the hive to die at this time of year - they have served their purpose and become unnecessary.

I treated the hives for varroa mites and nosema, and am feeding pollen patties and sugar syrup again. I left a fair amount of honey in the hives for the bees to eat over the winter. I could have taken it off, but I would rather they eat honey than syrup.

I found that the Belle hive had a HUGE number of dead mites drop onto the bottom board after the varroa treatment. However, I couldn't find any on the Sophia hive - good news. I'll keep an eye on them though, as they had a rough summer.

Introducing Molly Hoang Minh Sanh Jones

Edited note - I had pictures of Molly posted, but my agency asked that I not post her image on the internet until after the adoption is final. Therefore, her pictures have been removed.


Here she is - my daughter! She is 3 months old, and is living in in Vung Tau 3, an orphanage in the south of Vietnam. I don't know when I'll be able to go get her yet, but I expect I might be spending Christmas in Vietnam this year.

I spent most of the morning talking on the phone with another adopting mom who received her proposal at the same time. We have become close friends in these last couple of years, so it was really good to be able to share this day with her. I was on the phone with her when I opened the pictures and saw my baby for the first time. My computer was working very slowly this morning - the picture opened one line at a time. I saw a little fist, then the hair (!) and then her adorable little face! She's so sweet.

I love the hair that stands straight up! It's just like a friend's daughter when she was born - it took 5 months for her hair to grow long enough for it to lay flat.

I have spent the rest of the day talking on the phone and emailing pictures out to everyone. I had to re-charge both phones and my ear is sore, but I'm so happy!

Bottling the Liquid Gold

We took the honey off the Belle hive on the weekend! I had a couple of friends come over to help - a big thanks to both of them, as it turned out to be a bigger job than I expected.

We first had to brush the bees off each frame that contained capped honey. These frames are heavy, the bees do not want to leave, and we only had one bee brush. It took much longer than we thought it would. I was pulling frames out of the hive, passing them to one friend to brush the bees off, then she passed the frame of to my other friend over the fence, who put them in my kitchen. When we were done, I had 11 frames of honey to extract. There were bees flying all over the yard, trying to get into my kitchen to find their honey!

I set the extractor up in the middle of my kitchen. It was a two frame extractor that was spun by hand. Again, one friend took the cappings off, another friend took pictures, and I spun the extractor. The neighbors from next door came over to watch for a while - it was hot and stuffy, as we had to keep the door and windows closed to keep the bees out. However, a couple of tiring hours later, I had about 40 pounds of honey.

I spent the next couple of evenings straining the honey and putting it into jars. We are still working on the labels, but my plan is to label the large and medium size jars and sell them. I'll keep the small jars to give away as Christmas gifts, and have kept a couple of kgs for myself and the neighbors.

Summer holidays

I spent a week with my family on Quadra Island, which is my favorite place in the world. We camped (rather luxuriously) at Taku Resort, a beautiful spot on the edge of the water. We spent time beachcombing various beaches, cycling, exploring, relaxing and eating.

I took some of my family members kayaking out to the Breton Islands to show them the seals. We got all the way out there, and I couldn't find any! There should have been hundreds - sunning themselves on the rocks and bobbing in the water, keeping an eye on us. I almost cried! Then we paddled around the back of the large island, and I spotted a few on another small rock-island nearby. We drifted close and scared some into the water. But my niece and her husband continued to drift around, and watched a mother and baby climb back onto the rocks. The baby started nursing, and they were close enough to hear it suckle! So the kayaking trip was successful after all.

I took my family to Rebecca Spit Park, to Tsa-Kwa-Luten Lodge, to the Museum on the Native reserve lands, and the guys rented bikes one afternoon to cycle to Village Bay Lakes. My poor brother was riding my bike - wasn't used to the toe cages, and took a tumble into the ditch! He was fine, but wouldn't ride it back to camp.

I had a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for quite a while, met another adopting mom who lives in the area, and visted Quadra's resident beekeeper. It was wonderful to spend a whole week there, showing my family why I love Quadra so much. However, a week just doesn't feel like enough time - I would like to live there one day with my daughter. I dream about her running around our property with pet dogs, baby lambs and chickens. Maybe one day...

View of Taku from the dock

Beachcombing

Setting up camp

Looking towards the Breton Islands from Taku

Can you spot the seals?

Kayaking back to camp

The beach at Tsa-Kwa-Luten on a stormy day

This beach is on the southern tip of Quadra Island

A Totem pole near the Native band's museum

Bee pictures

I thought I'd post some pictures of the bees:

This picture shows how much bigger the male 'drone' bees are, compared to the female 'worker' bees.

This picture is courtesy of another beekeeper. It is a mason bee on his wisteria blossom.

This is a bee drinking nectar from a borage blossom in my garden.



On the hottest days of the summer, the young nurse bees clear out of the hive to regulate the interior temperature. Some bees will stay inside to flap their little wings to create an air flow. The rest hang out on the face of the hive. They cannot fly yet, so they just crawl out and form a 'beard' on the front. Notice that they do not cover the sides - they stay near the doorway so they can find their way back in during the night.