Talk about a bee beard!!!

[Cindi]

Early last summer I had an exceptionally strong hive, probably on the verge of swarming, obviously way too hot.  It was unseasonally hot here.  I ended up splitting this hive and giving it some queen cells that were raised from a colony that had began some emergency queen rearing.  This colony that I took the queen cells from was obviously very upset with me one day and blamed their queen, so they "balled" her (I presume that was what happened, that is the term when they smother and murder their queen, (regicide?) right?).  To go back a bit, one day it was very cloudy and not the best weather, but I went into this particular hive anyways for one thing or the other.  I have heard that sometimes the bees get very upset and take it out on their beloved queen.  The next day was nice out, I was out looking at this hive and I saw the bees taking the dead queen out and leaving her on the entrance to their hive.  Hmmm...I think that it may have been totally my fault that she died, like I said, maybe I should not have gone into that hive on that dark and sultry day.  Oh well, maybe my fault or not...don't know, being a newbie, just don't get some things sometimes.  Anyways, I split the bee beard hive, gave the queen cell frame (the queen cells were capped) and this split raised a new queen and things went great for the rest of the summer.  Until the varroa mite!!!  Now that is another matter with some my colonies altogether.  I am "embedding" (LOL, John) three pics of the beard.  The bees were very very thick on the front of the hive, probably at least 6 bees deep.  What a sight!!!  Cindi







Whew!!!  I see the wonderful mentoring I received with embedding pictures worked, thanks again, I am grateful for this, Beemaster.

[Brian D. Bray]

Nice bee yard.

[Michael Bush]

That's actually a small bee beard.  A large one might cover the outside of the hive AND look like a large swarm hanging off.

[beemaster]

Cindi:

Great pics of the yard in both new posts - awesome you are now a master of image posting too!!!!

I pity the hungry bear with your set-up, he's going home a bit hungrier and a lot more frustrated I think! And that ROCK PILE, I bet a few 4 inchers tossed in his direction might make him think twice about returning. Great Job - very proud of you!!!!

About bearding, reminds me the the second season I was doing apitherapy for a damaged neck (I took a 20 foot fall breaking my arm in many places and hurting my neck long term) and in year two of daily bee-stings from 30 to 40 sting around the back of my neck, I went to a party where I kept a hive. The friend who owned the home cooked up a scheme with his three friends who did not know me.

After getting them half drunk, he bet the guys that I would sting myself "ON PURPOSE over and over again" they thought he was nuts (or at least I was) and they foolishly bet him a dollar a bee, thinking a buck or two was worth a good show - lol - after grabbing 30 worker bees with teasers and sting my neck (mostly) a few other stings here and there for effect (and showing every pumping stinger as I over-played the pain level, they all yelled uncle and walked away with a story they'd never forget and almost a hundred bucks less between them. I think that day, a little bird told them "Don't mess with that guy, he's nuts" which was good because they all towered of my modest frame. If only they knew that the pain level of 30 bees in the same area isn't much more intense than 2 or 3 properly placed stings, but ignorance is bliss - lol.

PEOPLE: don't try this one at home, this is NOT a game for anyone who has not built-up a large tolerance for bee venom. I had worked up to these numbers over many weeks and months of daily stings - do not try this one at home

I got the larger half and my neck felt like a wonderful heating pad had slid under my skin to do its magic.

[Finsky]

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Colony have just too few room or hive is full of honey. 2 boxes more and send that nice  bear  we can see in history via your photos.

[Cindi]

That's actually a small bee beard.  A large one might cover the outside of the hive AND look like a large swarm hanging off.

Now if a bee beard was that big, I would imagine that the colony would probably have several boxes?  Wouldn't a colony have swarmed if it was that humungeous?   I would  love to see that for sure.

[Cindi]

John!!  Holy crow!!  I hope that you weren't up a tree trying to catch a swarm when you took that fall.  That is a long ways to take a tumble, you were lucky you did not break more than you did.  I bet those half drunk guys were just a'freakin' about you taking all those stings.  I began some bee therapy late summer on my sister's knee and elbow, we started out slowly of course.  She was so surprised at how different each sting felt, some she said barely had the burning sensation at all, and others it almost made her scream.  Actually, when she saw me coming with a bee she did scream sometimes (ha, ha), I guess her anticipation was too much for her and that was her only outlet.  This is an interesting question, I would imagine the pain from a sting would be different, depending upon the maturity of a bee, correct, also, would different breeds of bees have different strength of venon, or is a bee sting a bee sting, regardless of race?  Hmm...many more questions coming from me on this forum.  I love it, a great place for getting info and opinions.  Great day.  Cindi

[Finsky]

When bee beard become during yield season and I take honey off and give them more space,  it takes often several days before those siesta bees start to work again.  But it is light alarm light: GIMME MORE SPACE!

[beemaster]

I'm not sure how the venom levels differ in the honeybee kingdom, but different bees such as the dreaded Yellow Jacket packs a major venom which I read ounce for ounce equals rattlesnake.

I would say the biggest difference in pain levels is a combo of where on the body, and how close to a pressure point (acupunturely speaking) and how much FLESH is under the skin.

Then neck has some burning, but it is a uniformly warm burn, not a super stinging electrical (almost) kind of feeling. My wife had done major tendon damage and we tried apitheraphy around her ankle - very tender area with no flesh to absorb the venom. Fatty areas I think are easier, places like the lower back and the face can be murder - we all get hit on the face from time to time - huh?

About my fall. I had been working for the County Road Department, my first real job and the job that eventually lead me to Boiler-man. My job was to cut truck and car tires vertically (like a bagel) on a huge machine, leaving a small hinge to form a figure 8 when laid down. They were laid flat and compressed and strapped together, and filled with concrete and then trucked out to a barge, to be dropped into the ocean to form an artificial reef. The process worked miracles at getting sea creatures to repopulated areas that had been eroded away due to storms, over-fished or died off due to low oxygen levels. Fish flourished.

One day, we couldn't get the front-end loader to pull tires from the massive pile of tens of thousands of tires, so my boss instructed me an another fellow to climb up and try to toss several down until the loader was available. I got nearly to the top and it was Mid Winter, ice had formed into the tire making it feel secure to step on, but my weigh cause the ice inside to break and I went tumbling down.

I tossed my arm out in front of my face, it was one of those slow-motion moments and when I hit, I heard my elbow shatter. It was an asphalt surface, but I caught a piece of the pile as I fell and I think it was enough to save my life - I have read surviving a 20ft fall is less than 1/3rd, so I was extremely lucky.

Within 10 minutes my arm went from its initially numb feeling to fully immobile to severe pain. I was in a cast for about 5 weeks and my neck finally began to hurt as my arm healed. I worked there for 6 months, moved up to equipment operator (mostly lawn mower, but often dump-trucks for snow plowing) and eventually to Buildings and Grounds where I did 5 years as boilerman in a brand new jail facility. I left there in 1989 to work for the US Navy here in Lakehurst and except for a knee replacement and some serious brain infections that nearly killed me, I'm relatively health - only problems I continue to have are migraines and short term memory loss.

I sure hope Cindi you give VENTRILO VOICE CHAT a try - see the voice forum, I'd love to actually talk with you as so many others would!!!

I replied to your PM also, hope that helps :)

[Brian D. Bray]

John,

 I know all about migraines and short term memory loss, except my short term is starting to get longer and longer.   
While a police officer I removed the rearview mirror from the inside of the car with my left temple when the rookie I was training put us two feet deep into a Cadillac from 60 Mph.  Scrambled my brains good and I still have a lot of problems as a result--not to mention the back problems.

[beemaster]

Brian:

I can see how you have opened your mind-eyes (if not almost your brain) and it allows you to see things beyond common sight. I have no doubt that we all have abilities to see beyond our 5 senses, the problem starts when we are taught that our imaginary friends DON'T really exist usually, and after that we give up on the true miracles of seeing beyond our commonly accepted sensory inputs.

[Brian D. Bray]

You hit nail square on head.  TO deny that you can't heard the voices in your head is like denying your own existance. 

Although when dealing with the voices care must be taken because not all mean you well.  Listening to the wrong ones can drive a person insane.  This may sound absurd but it works in getting rid of entites that mean you harm.  "Are you working with the consent or authority of Jesus Christ?" Bad voices, when asked this question, disappear so fast they literally make the inside of your head pop.

BTW, I've found Bay Rum works best for encougaging bees the trim their beards. LOL

[Michael Bush]

>Now if a bee beard was that big, I would imagine that the colony would probably have several boxes?

Hopefully.  Often you seen them when they have been reduced down to two for the winter but the bees don't fit in the hive.  You also see them in a booming hive in the summer that lacks adequate ventilation.

> Wouldn't a colony have swarmed if it was that humungeous?

It depends on the time of year and what the hive intends.  Usually, no.  But it could cause an overcrowding swarm if they are bearded because of overcrowding as opposed to lack of ventilation.

>   I would  love to see that for sure.

It's interesting.  But usually it's a problem to be solved.

When I was a kid there was a garage that had bees living in the walls and in the heat of summer there was an area about four foot by eight foot of bees bearded on the outside.  Every summer.