Pollinators, Pollen, Protein and Productivity!

It is April 30  and the brown, drab, lifeless landscape of late winter and early spring has transformed into a breathtaking wonder! Trees adorned in white, pink and purple demand to be noticed. The countless shades of green, the plants that grow inches overnight, the smell of lilacs, and the melodious buzzing of the bees never cease to amaze me.
The overwintered colony whose cluster was only 3 to 4 frames months ago is now bursting at the seems of its two deep hive bodies. I dare say, swarming is close at hand. I have started the OTS, On The Spot queen rearing system by removing the queens from some of my larger hives and making an artificial swarm with each.  This ensures, they can't swarm on me.  I notched the remaining brood frames in each hive and will check 7 to 10 days later for queen cells and then make splits.  I hope to get pictures of this process for the next blog.  For now, enjoy these pictures.

This forager is bringing back red pollen. I've been told it is from the purple dead nettle, picture below.

Purple Dead Nettle, suspected source of the red pollen pictured above.

Hives near the Purple Dead Nettle.  However I couldn't find a honeybee on these a the time.

Honeybee on Willow.

Bumblebee on Maple bloom

Native bee on crab apple blossom

Honeybee on crab apple blossom

Honeybee coming in for a landing on crab apple blossom

Honeybee forager with large load of pollen, crab apple blossom.

Bumblebee on Bleeding Heart bloom.

Bumblebee on Quince bloom.

Honeybee on unknown flower

Honeybees on freshly drawn comb.  Forgot to put the queen excluder on this hive and they built this above the frames.

New wax with eggs laid in each cell. Honeybees tending to larva.

Moving and relocating Honeybees in Michigan

"Out of sight out of mind" is a saying that many old time beekeepers repeat.  They know and have had the displeasure of moving colonies due to complaints about their bees. If no one can see your hives, the less likely they are to complain or request them to be moved.
The twelve hives I had to move today were not out of sight.  Their new locations will be.  I wanted to get the bees moved and settled in their new home before I pull the overwintered queens which happens in late April.
This time of year, one can't just pack up the hive and move it whenever one feels like it.  The temperatures really need to be above fifty degrees. If it's too cold, the bees are in cluster.  If bees are knocked off the cluster during the move and it is too cold for them to get back in cluster, the brood and or bees could be chilled.  After keeping them alive through a Michigan winter, I really don't want to off them in a move.  In Michigan, the weather is a pain in the butt!!  I needed at least two days over fifty with no rain.  Watching the forecast, I decided this weekend might work. Today was fifty-five and tomorrow should be over sixty.
This morning's temp was only thirty-three degrees, brrrr!  I went out in the morning and closed off all their entrances with hardware cloth (#8) and my husband secured each hive tight with metal banding.   By the time noon rolled around, it had hit fifty.  We loaded them up with a two wheel dolly on to the trailer.
Once we arrived at their temporary hold over spot five miles away, I opened up the entrances.  They were ready to be OUT!  After they have oriented there, I will move them back here and place them in their new locations. Hopefully, that will be tomorrow evening.

These bees escaped the screen somehow, a few more staples needed!

Honeybees not pleased to be caged in before the move.

The two wheel dolly was very helpful, needs some modifications though.  Larger tires and a longer base would be great.

All loaded in the trailer, now need to be secured.

Thanks Wayne for making sure we are all secure with tie down straps :-)

At temporary location 5 miles away.  Honeybees very eager to fly after being confined for a few hours.

Honeybees reorientating to their new location. Will stay on trailer until final move days from now.