Where did the Summer go?

Busy getting ready for winter

Is August really coming to a end already? 

Seeing a few more yellowing leaves and noticing that the days are getting shorter, I am reminded that Summer is coming to an end. As i look around the fields and along the sides of the road the Goldenrod is now in bloom, along with Asters, Hardhack and Tansy. The last wildflowers to bloom. Soon that smell of dying leaves will be in the air. Then I will need to prepare for our first frosts which usually happens in the first couple weeks into September. I look around to see what else is blooming but sadly that is about all there is. I see lots of berries on the trees and bushes like Mountain Ash, Bunch berries and the Elderberry.

The other day I was in the bee yard quietly sitting on my chair by the hives watching. Its one of my favorite things to do. They were busily working and I could see they were bringing in both gray and yellow pollen. It seems like every year around this time, they are flying with real purpose.....getting ready for winter.  They are also feeding quite heavy on syrup. Soon i will place pollen subs and possibly some fondant for them, to help them get ready.

Its been a terrible Beekeeping year, not necessarily for us but lots of our friends. From down at the Lower Mainland and right up to Terrace and Smithers, everyone is reporting little to  no honey. Its been an unusually wet and cool summer. I know folks who take hives up to the mountains in Terrace in July/Aug for the Fireweed nectar flow and that was a bust for the second year in a row. We havent pulled our honey yet so I can't say  how ours looks but I know it won't be much.  But as long as the bees have enough for the winter, that is most important.

One of our beautiful days

Another weird thing that happened this year was, swarming. Lots of swarming......and from the same hive. A friend of mine bought a Nuc this June and she told me hers have swarmed 2 times. It seems crazy. I heard this over and over this summer....and late in the summer too. Crazy. Another friend told me 2 of her hives attempted to swarm...but the queen refused to leave....like what was that all about. I heard the same thing from a beekeeper in Prince George. I know my big hive must of swarmed as well. With the nasty weather and hardly any breaks from it, I found capped queen cells in one hive. I wanted to deal with it but it had started to rain, then the thunder started. I had hoped to deal with it on the next  day that wasn't nasty and hopefully split it before the new queens emerged. 2 days later i went in...and all the queens cells were open. It was too late. 

So now i am hoping for several nice days so i can get into the hives and check out their food stores. Maybe take a couple frames of honey for us and start removing any extra boxes. I have already started feeding them and will continue until the beginning of Oct. 

I can't believe the beekeeping season is coming to the end. At least we still have a few months to watch them work and sit in the beeyard with them before they disappear inside for the winter.

Until next time.     

Bee Safe