I've been getting a lot of conflicting advice about feeding the bees at this time in the fall. It's late fall, frost has killed off most of the flowering, so the bees don't really have that much nectar to go after.... so feeding them sugar syrup seems to be what a lot of people do, and a lot of people vehemently say not to do it, as it'll encourage robbing from other hives, wasps, bees, and the like. I was expecting that an internal feeder wouldn't have so much trouble.
So I put it on yesterday, and put in a quart of 2:1 sugar syrup, and today, I saw tiny little wild bees trying to get into the entrance, and a bunch of bees just hanging out on the back of the hive, where there was a small crack between the bottom of the feeder and the top brood box. Bah. They were buzzing around, and there was some wrestling, as I think some wasps might have been trying to get in there, but... I'm not sure. It seemed like there were bees grabbing and hurtling smaller bees out of the front entrance, but I'm not sure if they were small wasps or bees.
Still, the hive seems to be defending itself vigorously.... but I do wonder if the syrup was an unnecessary attraction, still... the bees were covering the syrup and seemed to be using it to good effect. So, it seems to be coming out all right. We'll see.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Getting Immune to Bee Venom
I had my skin tests yesterday, and they covered white faced hornets, yellow jackets, yellow hornets, wasps, and honey bees. The only one I reacted to was the honey bee. Drat....
So I'm going to be starting a series of shots next week, a bit more involved than my usual ones, but it seems that by spring, I should be able to take two sting's worth of bee poison without a problem. With the way the shots work, I should be building antibody blockers with gradually greater amounts of venom.
If only the test site where they did the 0.1 concentration of venom wasn't itching so much today... *sigh* But the good thing is actually finding out that there is a treatment to just insure that the systemic thing Will Never Happen.
So I'm going to be starting a series of shots next week, a bit more involved than my usual ones, but it seems that by spring, I should be able to take two sting's worth of bee poison without a problem. With the way the shots work, I should be building antibody blockers with gradually greater amounts of venom.
If only the test site where they did the 0.1 concentration of venom wasn't itching so much today... *sigh* But the good thing is actually finding out that there is a treatment to just insure that the systemic thing Will Never Happen.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Starting to Freeze and I Prove Allergic
The weather is going cold in Colorado, and we're starting to have freezing nights. I've closed up the front entrance, taken out the screened bottom board, and the girls seem very content inside their boxes. I left one super on top, as that seemed to give them enough room, and I that that I'm supposed to start feeding them sometime. I'm wondering if any of the more experienced keepers have a good idea on when. I have a top feeder, and I think I'll wait until a warm and sunny day to open up and put that in.
The girls seem to still be bringing in pollen! That kind of surprised me, as I would have thought they'd have slowed or even stopped rearing brood, but even just three weeks ago there were some brilliantly warm days, so maybe the Queen laid and they're just getting them through these last few weeks.
They seem to be doing well. I also added two popsicle sticks as shims between the inner cover and the top edge of the top box, just to let humidity out of the hive. Here in Colorado, a bunch of keepers have said that it's not the cold that kills them so long as they have stores, it's the wet and whenever there's condensation inside, it's bad.
On my side of things, after my ankle swelled up so thoroughly, I talked with my allergist about the possibility of me developing a bad bee allergy, and he got me to give a blood sample. It turns out that my blood has the large number of antibodies against bee venom that's an indicator that I may well be developing systemic reactions. So I now have an Epi-pen. I know how to use it and how to call 911 after. I'm also going in for a skin test in a week, and will do the long-term shots for bee venom along with any other insects I happen to react to. *laughs quietly*
Normally, from everything I hear on the local mailing lists, the keepers who form a bee allergy just give up their hives. But with a whole winter for me to get immune to them, I think I'm going to just keep them. I'm getting allergy shots for the ten thousand other things I'm allergic to anyway, so it's not much more of an expense for me, but I could see if it were someone without that overhead anyway how they'd probably prefer to give up the bees to going through a several thousand dollar therapy to keep them.
The girls seem to still be bringing in pollen! That kind of surprised me, as I would have thought they'd have slowed or even stopped rearing brood, but even just three weeks ago there were some brilliantly warm days, so maybe the Queen laid and they're just getting them through these last few weeks.
They seem to be doing well. I also added two popsicle sticks as shims between the inner cover and the top edge of the top box, just to let humidity out of the hive. Here in Colorado, a bunch of keepers have said that it's not the cold that kills them so long as they have stores, it's the wet and whenever there's condensation inside, it's bad.
On my side of things, after my ankle swelled up so thoroughly, I talked with my allergist about the possibility of me developing a bad bee allergy, and he got me to give a blood sample. It turns out that my blood has the large number of antibodies against bee venom that's an indicator that I may well be developing systemic reactions. So I now have an Epi-pen. I know how to use it and how to call 911 after. I'm also going in for a skin test in a week, and will do the long-term shots for bee venom along with any other insects I happen to react to. *laughs quietly*
Normally, from everything I hear on the local mailing lists, the keepers who form a bee allergy just give up their hives. But with a whole winter for me to get immune to them, I think I'm going to just keep them. I'm getting allergy shots for the ten thousand other things I'm allergic to anyway, so it's not much more of an expense for me, but I could see if it were someone without that overhead anyway how they'd probably prefer to give up the bees to going through a several thousand dollar therapy to keep them.
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