Newcomers: You need to read back TWO MONTHS to catch up with everything. At least read Mays Log before you start below. This is an on-going adventure and you need to be familiar where we are before you know where we are going. Thanks. 

Note: for your browsing convenience I have color coded my text: Red Text is Beekeeping Related Reading and Black Text details everything else in the humble life of John the Beemaster.

June 1, 2001

It's always scary looking at a blank template of this Logbook. May was a huge issue - even by my standards :) About 50 of you got replies from me today, either before or after the Airshow at Lakehurst Naval Engineering Center, Lakehurst, NJ. 

I really thought twice about going, even though it was for "All NAEC Employees and their families" So I decided to go. Fred and his entire family were there too. I walked the full length of the field which held 3 large areas, each area having dozens of planes, jets, helicopter and other exhibits. After walking every inch twice, I found Fred and the gang. Shown here is the Fred, his Mom Kathy, younger sister Jeanenne and youngest sister Leeanne.

I brought my old Mavica camera with me to give to Fred to use. Jeanenne was using both the Mavica and my Olympus. She too is a great kid and enjoyed talking with her as I always do. Jeanenne took this photo of Me and Kathy. I work with Kathy's Husband at the Power Plant where I make steam to launch jets. Still sounds cool.

But what about the bees Beemaster??? LOL Be patient my friends, I always get around to the bees eventually. Today was not a bee day, although C1 was busy landing on all my wild roses and now the honeysuckle is coming in strong. C2 I guess is busy doing in house duties. I haven't had a chance to add some sealed up brood ( Mostly Pupa on the frame ) from C1, so it will hatch very soon and give C2 some help with nursing these young workers that will be coming in about 10 days from the queen we raised and mated in May. Everything takes time and the bee clock is very exacting. 

I goofed by one day and lost a chance to save a queen that was most likely killed after C2 chose a queen from the twin cells I showed images of last month. Having a spare queen this early in the race is a blessing.

I will be making a better way to access these long pages without scrolling so much. May was great, but way too long. I think I'll have small images introducing each month into 4 sections. Each a week of logs. 

Last minute change, I placed a full box of frames with foundation on C1. I also added a queen excluder and I hope that the workers will cooperate and start finding their way to the upper super soon. I observed at dusk the bees trying to keep the hive temperature at their preferred 95 degrees by fanning the hive from the entrance. I've noted many times throughout the course that workers will hang and cling from the hive as dusk and throughout the evening when they can no longer maintain the internal temps with all the bees in the hive. It's a critical time that you need to carefully control.

I'll watch over the next few days to see if there is less activity at the hive entrance. Most likely they will start making use of this 100% increase in hive space immediately. In the hive, many things will be happening. As the colony draws comb above, they will not only fill it with nectar and pollen from the field, but also they will move much ( if not all ) of the honey stored down below.

The bees will eventually make this a lower super a primary brood box, taking advantage of all the frames of available cells for egg raising. The queen will kick into over-drive and populate this hive in miraculous time as the workers move their stores into the upper box.

June 2, 2001

Rainy, rainy day here. The Airshow went on through very overcast sky's. I stayed home today, nursing a nasty headache. I didn't mention yesterday that Fred and I talked briefly about trying Wall again this weekend, but I'm glad he didn't stay - we would have been stuck in the house all day.

Plenty of activity in C1 - even through the rain drops they are flying furiously toward a bounty of nectar somewhere. Although I still see lots of pollen coming back, I know the majority of these foragers are returning with nectar. I'm glad I got an extra super on C1 - rainy days are great times for the bees to catch-up with in-hive duties. All bees will do all jobs, even though a healthy and prolific colony will tend to keep to their age related duties. But with a new super to draw out, I assume all the bees will be doing their part to build up the colony quickly.

C2 still slowly rebuilding what was a sad colony from the start. I gave them a second chance and they build a queen. How strong she turns out to be will really determine the future of this colony. I can keep feeding it, adding lots of frames with pupa ( as I keep saying I will - but haven't yet ) and I can swap out queens if needed. But there comes a point of no return too. A place where the colony hasn't established itself and it's time to merge it and start from scratch with new bees and queen. Hopefully, C2 will get a move on once the first generation of workers from this newly mated queen emerge.

June 3, 2001

I'm getting caught up with mail today. The airshow is going on and I hear the Oracle Stunt Plane flying around. The pilot was interviewed on local TV last night and he really is the best of the best in his field. Later the Blue Angels will be flying for the last time and then things get back to normal here in Lakehurst, NJ.

I checked into C1 and a few bees had made their way to the new super. I think they are a bit confused when you first make all that space available. I noticed C1 goes into an ALERT MODE whenever I make any changes or inspections - but they don't attack, they just come out in force to show their strength in numbers. I did some lawn mowing and they were all over the mower, but only in a warning kinda way.

I'm still catching up with the yard work. Rainy days all this past week made outside work almost impossible. Fred needs to get back here too - he owes me some yard work and I'm keeping him to it!!! If he had been here this weekend, we would be playing paintball or riding go-carts again. Both of which I really enjoyed as I know he did.

Around 5pm I took a good look into C2. It only had 3 frames drawn out and 4 of the 6 sides were covered with capped pupa and lots of larva. I saw eggs too although the sun was not out strong enough to make a good count on eggs. The queen was walking around and appeared to be doing fine.

The worker count is low, but young bees are only days away now. That should help them out greatly. I decided to start feeding C2 again. They need all the help they can get and I really don't want to rob C1 of brood yet - not until I see how C2 does in worker production on its own. I just can't see giving tons of brood to C2 if it is just going to lag behind C1 all season. For now though, I haven't given up on C2, I just had hoped to have two strong hives going into June.

June 4, 2001

Today at work I got to take a few photos of the remaining Blue Angel #6 and Big Blue their monster sized turbo-prop plane that is a traveling service shop for the Blue Angel. No. 6 was left behind and as the day moved on I realized it was there for a turbine swap out. Shown in this photo is Pat C. a coworker at the Power Plant with Big Blue in the background.

Around 10am I got to see the stealth fighter plane that arrived over the weekend. Photos of this masterpiece of engineering was strictly prohibited, but I can say that this plane ( which has a radar signal the size of a pigeon ) was absolutely neat looking. The radar absorbing panels, all at right angles of every other panel covered about 2 Billion Dollars worth of the most sophisticated planes on Earth.

I took a peek into C1s upper box and there was very little activity, I blame it on the queen excluder. I removed the excluder and we'll see how well they migrate toward the upper super without the excluder. The actual fight activity is amazing. Not only are they flying in huge numbers, but they are running into the hive with sacs of pollen - dumping the pollen into the hands ( lol ) of the hive bees, then right back out to collect more and more pollen.

Although the pollen flow of a few weeks ago has peaked, they still need food for the young and ravenous larva. You can't imagine the food bill if your own family ate in the same manor as larva. Think of yourself eating a stack of pork chops about 20 foot high every day as you doubled and tripled your weight and size. Of course my math could be way off, but you get the idea.

So foraging bees need to keep up with this massive task. Feeding them pollen during pollen flows is much more efficient than feeding them honey which is really an incomplete food at their stage of development. Pollen, which is rather tasty this time of year really has everything the larva needs to make it to the final stage of pupa. After the larva is sealed over, a ten day period of change turns this small grub like larva into a 4 winged, 5 eyed, 6 legged exoskeleton pollinating machine with an average life span of 4 to 6 weeks. It always amazes me to watch a new worker cut its way out of the cell. 

For 20 minutes she wiggles and crawls from the cell, stretching her folded up wings out and stumbling along legs that have never before stood. The sister workers tend to her, touch her and nudging her and sharing the pheromone of the queen with her. In no time at all, she blends into the mass of workers, tending to the other new borns and except for a marginal size difference, she is just another worker in a social society that is complex and amazing to watch.

June 5, 2001

Today I spent two hours answering your emails. A few were stories that I'm honored that people shared with me. Some tear Jerkers and other personal triumphs, all well told and special. Being the Beemaster to the world ( if I can be so modest - lol ) does have it's responsibilities. Although I'm just a hobbyist, I have taken on the task of educating anyone with even the modest interests in the hobby. And each of these letters deserves as much attention as I can give.

I sat in the car this morning and I just watched the bees flying in and out of C1. Mind you, C1 was about 100 foot away, but the bees were busily flying in their normal established flight paths and I've actually figured out their Itinerary. They have three directions that they currently travel. Here is what I have observed over the last few days.

Flight Path One: Due South Easterly flight, past the mailbox ( the mail lady loves this one ) and well beyond my property line, still traveling at head height. Then they climb to the magic 30 foot level within the 100 feet from the hive. The bees return in the same exact manor, just diving at a steep level the last 50 feet or so, again flying through the sidewalk at head level. 

It's really easy to spot the bees a 100 and even 150 feet away if the sky is a good contrasting color. Light blue is fine for a good visual. These bees are heading toward their water source and possibly the massive wild flora of the Pinelands - a multi-million acre wilderness area comprising most of southern New Jersey. The amount of pollen from these trips makes up about 60% of the pollen that C1 is returning with. 

I've thought and thought, but I can not think of any other source that is easily identifiable in THAT direction. But mind you, just because they are flying that way today, doesn't mean that the source of pollen, water or nectar won't dry up in no time as the Summer sets in. To expect your bees to continually fly in the same patterns is not reasonable thinking.

Flight Path Two: is North to the local garden center and fruit stand. This quaint roadside stand has a hidden treasure of 4 greenhouses and many thousand plants, trees and shrubs that need pollination. I visit the own frequently and he noted that honeybee have been very active for more than a month now.

Flight Path Three: interestingly enough is due West toward our main Mid-Summer crop of Lilypads and beyond that to the cranberry bogs. Ocean Spray has a local producer with roughly 60 acres that normally is pollinated by migratory bees brought up Seasonally from Florida by the truck-load. I drive past the bogs every day on the way to work and I still haven't seen any hives on the property. Also, lilypads are not yet out either, so I can't figure out why the bees are so aggressively traveling toward these sites.

No matter where the bees fly to, they come back loaded down. I haven't yet marked any workers to see how long they are out in the field, but some day when I have some spare time to play this eyeball stressing game, I will mark a few dozen and follow their journeys.

June 6, 2001

I went into C1 briefly and found that they have began building comb in the empty super I place on top of the quickly filling bottom box. Taking out the queen excluder helped greatly, but I will replace it once the upper super has been built up to about 30%.

Once the bees get the box going well, they won't have any problem using the excluder. It will be an inconvenience to them, but all that available space is sitting there looking at them and by then the lower box will be drawn out 100% and most likely void of available empty cells. At that point, after making sure the queen is safely down below, I'll pop in the excluder and before you know it we will have a dedicated brood box below and a honey filled super above. At least THAT is how it is supposed to work :)
 

June 7, 2001

Great weather ahead and C1 is out if force. I went into C2 for a look at the queen and I was surprised when I noticed that she was tiny compared to the queen in C1 and also smaller than most of the  queens I remember having previously. I really don't need a runt of a queen in C2, it would be like a death warrant on the colony if her egg count falls short of the number of workers that die daily. But I won't replace her yet, first I need to see if she is a good egg layer and I really need to see the hive grow some before I can get an accurate count. Queen size is not necessarily a sign of low egg production - but a large queen has obvious advantages- mostly the internal area that she needs for egg development.

 But I watched her and looked at the sealed cells of pupa and I know what the problem is. The number of cells available for laying is limited for several reasons. Although I keep feeding these bees, they are very old now and older bees produce much less wax then young workers. The first group of workers from this queen are about a week away and they will be the critical caste in this scenario.

So a slow start because of many many reasons: older workers, new queen, limited cells for egg laying and a recovery from the loss of the original queen. C1 on the other hand had everything going for it from the start and it continues to multiply and expand at a very favorable rate. C2 has a good chance to improve after the first few generations of workers get the hive into the proper frame of mind. Remember, younger bees do hive duties in a healthy hive and older bees are foragers. C2 has older bees doing everything and I need to keep that in mind when I evaluate this colony. Comparing C1 to C2 is unfair - C2 will probably lag behind C1 all Summer, but eventually it should catch up. So at this point doing anything with the queen would be foolish. Again, beekeeping is a time game - one that you should have a better understand of IF you have followed along since we began several months back.

June 8, 2001

Sometimes you learn something, a tip or clue that make your beekeeping easier or more pleasant. Today was such a day. I've said many times needlessly killing your bees is not necessary if you are careful in you inspecting of the hives. You know that I'm in C1 and C2 practically every day - mostly for you folks, but I also do it because I like it!!!

I've been going nuts lately when I place the cover back on the hives and I hear a crunching sound which is one or more workers getting smashed. I always look closely at the inner cover to make sure that no bees are walking over the raised border that keeps a safe space for the bees to walk under the lid. The inner cover also allows the lid to be raised and tilted for additional ventilation.

The problem lately is that I'm smashing bees as I replace the lid. I thought that the bees were walking onto the inner cover's parameter, but today I finally figured out that the bees are getting smashed as the walk around the inside of the lid. Sounds like common sense now that I figured it out, but it puzzled me. 

Then I though about how I handle the lid. I always lift it, keeping the top toward me and I set it down against the fence, again facing the inside of the lid away from me. I do the same with the inner cover which always has a greater number of bees on the side toward the frames. When working with the bees I like keeping these under the lid and inner cover bees facing away from me - reducing the number of bees toward you lessens the chance of getting stung if the bees get grumpy.

On average I've been smashing 3 to 5 workers EVERY TIME I replace the lid - ugh. It's not a horror story and believe me I have a bunch of those, but still I'm a beekeeper and not a beekiller, so each of these workers has the right to live.

But Beemaster, your queen is laying 500 times as many bees every day, what's 4 bees in a hive with 80 thousand bees??? I hope this question sounds as ridiculous to you as it does me. Not only is it killing these marvelous creature unnecessarily, it also is provoking an ALERT to the rest of the hive when the bees venom sac is broke. And when that happens, all heck can break loose and you stand a good chance of getting stung.

So I took the lid off and watched the mess of dead or dying bees get cleaned up by the other workers. one group of about 20 workers pushed a nearly dead worker toward the small opening at the center of the inner cover. She would eventually fall to the bottom board and be pushed out of the hive.

Another worker literally grabbed a dead worker with on foot and after finding a good center of balance, flew away over 40 feet and dropped the dead bee on the ground. Just imagine lifting your own weight with one clawed foot and actually going airborn to carry it safely away from the hive so that predators have less of a chance sniffing out the hive. A few other workers were chewing the remains of a badly smashed bee that obviously was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 

June 9, 2001

I just finished 16 hours at work and had a chance to take a nap. Tonight is going to be great I hope, I'm picking up my young friend Fred at 5pm and we are then headed for Wall Stadium Stock Car Races. This is the third week in a row we've tried to go, but every Saturday has been rained out. Well... not tonight :) It's clear skies and warm out, so all is go for the green flag.

I wasn't going to take the camera, but I hate not sharing everything with you guys. Even if I only take one photo for the logbook, but digital photography is like Lays potato chips - nobody can take just one. 

Then Fred's going back home, he has relatives visiting and staying over isn't part of this adventure. I had hoped paintball for Sunday, but we'll do that again some other weekend.

I decided to give the bees a break from my constant interruptions. It really is counter-productive to be in the hive all the time, but I'm always trying to gain insight to share with you. Observation of hive activity is key to prevention of catastrophe in the hive. To date, I have seen NO SIGN of parasites, especially the dreaded varroa mite. Treatment is still months away and for now I'm just trying to build up colonies that will net me some honey and still have a bounty to get them through the Winter. Later on we will discuss how much honey to take and how much to leave. 

June 10, 2001

I was just going over this June Logbook and it is nearly as big as May's Log already. So it's time to subdivide these longer pages into smaller sections - Hopefully it won't drive too many people away. Just like banner ads, people hate clicking on link after link. 

Last night Fred and I did make it to Wall Stadium Stock Car Races. We sat at turn 4 and got to see truck, small block modified and street stocks race. It was a very pleasant night, although around 9pm I made a trip back to the car to put on a pair of long pants. Oh... I left the camera home because I forgot to plug in the charger and taking half dead batteries is frustrating. We had a great time though. Fred called the track "PHAT!!" which is today's generation way of saying "Cool!!"

Fred and I had a standing one dollar bet each race. We both picked a car and which ever car finished first of the two netted the winner a buck. Well, Fred won 11 out of 12 races. I couldn't win to save my life. I also bought us two rub-off lottery tickets, Fred won five dollars there too. Next time Fred's paying for the races :)

June 12, 2001

Hi everyone :) I had an interesting conversation last night with someone who I will collaborating with in the future on a very special project. I can't tell many details yet, but my photos will may be used in a very interesting way in print media. More on that when I can tell you all about it.

Today ( actually just minutes ago ) I and my wife Tracey were looking at a frame from C2 which had 4 workers chewing their way out of the cells. Brand new, first generation workers that I hope will turn the fate of C2 around.

The queen was walking along the center frame, remember C2 has only drawn out three frames. She was looking all over the place to lay eggs, but either the cells were filled with brood already or the cells contained nectar. If I can get these bees to start drawing more comb, I believe this queen just might be strong enough to grow the colony strong.

I also replaced some photos on many of my beekeeping pages today. Most of the older photos were fine, but I have a thing about keeping the site uniform and updated. It's not always easy though, over 50 pages to constantly tweak and play with. 

I also heard from a beekeeping acquaintance named Nick who lives near the Stock Car Race Track that Fred and I went to over the weekend. Nick has a small bee yard too and we have tentative plans for lunch. Nick also sent me a few photos - something I love from you guys by the way!!! He has that really neat looking round smoker that I've seen in very old photos. 

I didn't mention last night that C1 has the top box drawn out and filled nearly 60% and that is just about as impressive as I could hope for. It won't be long before I get a THIRD super on this hive. Even at 100% filled I would leave the filled super on the hive to let the honey age some. The frames are drawn and filled with nectar, that is not honey yet though. The bees need to reduce the water and humidity levels in the cells before sealing them over. But once capped the nectar is officially honey and ready for use. It's after the frames are sealed and leak free that I'll remove them from C1, this will put the bees back in high gear to fill that empty super as fast as it can. 

Available hive space is a bit of a "gathering" trigger. Why collect nectar or pollen when there is no place to store it in the hive? Keeping the bees low on honey gives them more incentive to collect even faster. Maybe that's the human way of thinking, but stick 4 honey filled supers on a hive and I'll guarantee that the bees will be less productive than if they had only one half filled super to deal with. Leaving super after super of honey on the hive really isn't a good idea - the bees should always have minimal stores of honey during the peak nectar flow season. 

June 13, 2001

Congratulations to Marcus B. in Dallas, Texas who is the FIVE THOUSANDTH member of the Beemaster Monthly Newsletter!!! I must say that this is an awesome milestone that I am very happy to share with you all. The Internet has been a friendly place for me and it has been wonderful meeting everyone and sharing my many beekeeping and personal adventures.

I just talked to Fred and we have plans for paintball and some beekeeping stuff on Sunday. He is doing well and he says hi :)

C1 had a small beard of bees clinging to the bottom board. By now you should have a bit of an idea that the bees are trying to adjust the hive temperature by reducing the number of bees in the hive so that the internal temp is near 95 degrees Fahrenheit. But this could be just a over response to a 20 degree temperature increase above the last few weeks averages in the mid to low 70s. But yesterday and today are hot days in the lower 90s. That may not be "hot" when the bees are subjected to these temps every day for weeks on end, but it is hot compared to the 71 degrees we've seen lately.

I am not afraid of them swarming. If there were over crowded conditions and I spotted bees clinging nightly to the bottom board, then I'd make plans for swarming.

June 15, 2001

First a little recap of the last few days in Beemaster's life. I heard from Kathy at the AirScoop ( Navy Lakehurst's official newspaper ) and she will be meeting me at lunch next Tuesday to take some photos of me and the hives for a special article about websites designed by Navy Personnel. You might remember that it was my original meeting with Kathy that sparked our wishes that I work with the Public Affairs Office and although it seems like that will never happen, I did make a friend in Kathy and look forward to her photographing my humble apiary.

Then I got an email from my retired supervisor Jay who has been a good friend for many years. He also has a great friendship with my young friend Fred as shown here from our trip to Manhattan and the WWF New York restaurant and Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum. Jay is doing well and living in North Carolina.

Tonight I had hoped to go to the lakewoodblueclaws Minor League Baseball Stadium, but Fred is at a cousin's Graduation and my wife Tracey "don't do" baseball :( So, I'll catch some of it on the Internet. Now, I'm not a baseball fan, not even close - I would never travel all the way to Philadelphia or NYC to see a professional game. But the BlueClaws are only about 10 miles from here and it should be a nice night to do something completely different. Oh well... next time.

Also, I made plans for a few days vacation in the Baltimore Inner Harbor on the 26th thru 28th of this month. Tracey and I took the entire week off, but 3 days away is enough of a vacation if I schedule it well. There is lots to do there: Museums, Aquariums, Zoos, Planetariums, IMAX Theaters, Water Taxis and much, much more. So tonight as I sit here on my screened porch, AKA The Internet Lounge, I will start planning those vacation days.

I always take this notebook PC everywhere I travel to, mainly so I can transfer images from the camera and then wipe clean the smartmedia cards to take more photos. I also like bringing movies with me, that way if it's a quiet night we can just sit back and relax to a flick. 

June 16, 2001

"Oh Beemaster... were are all the photos? Your images are the best honeybee photos I've found anywhere, but you haven't had any all month on the June Logbook!" Well, I apologize Lydia ( from Greensboro, NC ) I have been working on a theme for this months wallpaper issue and as I stated yesterday, I hope that it is Kids in Beekeeping. Until then though I think I'll offer a few photos to hold you over :) So later tonight I will upload a few images to keep my promise - hopefully they will make their way to your desktop.

Also today, I will transfer some frames ( probably two ) from C1 to C2. Again, I'm aiming for sealed pupa so that they will only be days away from emerging. C2 needs a boost of population and more importantly YOUNG population.

Also, today is Lakehurst's Block Party, I'll be taking images of antique cars and show you what our historical downtown section looks like. Everyone knows Lakehurst from the May 6, 1937 crash of the Hindenburg - but Lakehurst has a rich history in Railroad Travel, Health Spas and at one time; the gateway to the Easter United States. 

Later... Well the block party was rained out until tomorrow, as was switching frames from C1 to C2 - but I did get a few neat NIGHT-TIME shots of C1 with the small cluster hanging outside of the entrance. I'll get the camera connected in a bit and add a photo to this paragraph.

We really got whooped with rain for a few hours, the humidity is wicked and the ground couldn't take all the rain. I did disconnect my back porch rain gutter and filled up six 5 gallon buckets with rain water for our tomato plants. Nothing can beat rain water.

June 18, 2001

Time to use a NEW TERM: C1U ( upper supper ) C1L ( lower super )

I went into C1 today, both the upper super and the lower super. I was amazed to see that the upper box was about 90% drawn and 80% full. I had to weigh it and It tipped the scale at a whopping 92 pounds. I noticed though that the queen had been busy laying eggs in this upper super and I tend to think she was there, but I did not see her.

None of the cells brood cells were capped, matter of fact I didn't see any larva at all in this upper box. So here I am with a quandary, what to do to get the queen back down stairs where I want her. Well... I could put the excluder back in and trap her either up top or down bottom. In a week I'd know WHICH box she was in just by spotting eggs in the upper box. If there were eggs, then she is in the upper box, no eggs and she's down bottom.

Once I have a clue WHICH box she is in, then I can better search for her if necessary. Again, no eggs in the lower super than I needn't do anything, just leave the excluder in place. If I find eggs, then I need to search for her and switch the frame that she's on with a frame from the lower super. Either way, in a week I'll have her where I want her.

Much of the honey is capped in C1U but the uncapped nectar is well on it's way to being called honey. Something tells me that I may just offer some of this special blend for sale on Beemaster.com :) I do like the teddy bear bottles, we'll see what kind of response I get after I get a real idea of how much surplus I have in the Fall.

Anyway, it's a long time and many pages of logbooks before we can say 2001 was a success. We still need to make a winner out of C2. I can't wait to talk about C2 upper and C2 lower - but we need to work closely with C2 to make it the success story that C1 is.

June 19, 2001

It's only minutes away before Kathy ( the Editor of the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Center's AirScoop ) from arriving to take some photos and watch beekeeping up close. She asked yesterday if there was any colors that she should avoid wearing, I told her that honeybees aren't fond of red and that if bulls don't like it, neither will bees :) I'm curious what she will be wearing and how well she'll warm up to the colonies.

She and I have talked many hours in the past and now she gets to see the bees up close for the first time. I know she'll be fine, I tend to introduce the bees to visitors in a way that makes both the visitors and the bees comfortable. More on this later.

Here it is later :) Kathy came and we had a great time talking about beekeeping, web designing, photography and lots of other stuff. I really enjoy our time together and it's a shame that the job at Public Affairs Office just didn't happen, I know we would have made a great team.

She got within a few feet of the queen from C2 and got a good view of all the bee activity of C1. She asked about the neighbors and how they took to honeybees being right on their property line - I explained that having good communication with the neighbors is vital when keeping bees. She seemed impressed that the neighbors actually enjoyed dragging their friends out in the yard every time I tended to the colonies.

All in all it was a very pleasant time and When the article comes out next week, I promise to scan it and put it up on the site for guys to see :)

June 21, 2001

How's everyone doing??? I went into C1U ( Colony One Upper Super ) and just looked at 8 full frames of nectar filled cells, of which 1/4 of the frames were capped over. I think it's time to add another frame filled super on to this colony. 
There has been quite a few emails lately asked where to place another super - on top of the existing boxes or in between the boxes. Lets cover a few points about each and see if we can come to a backyard beekeepers decision. 

If we add the empty super to the top of C1, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

• Well, the first advantage is that you can easily watch this super by removing the lid and inner cover. If you enter you hives as often as I do, then having the boxes added in the same order as they fill up is ideal. 
• Also, the filled super of honey works as barrier between the brood box and the new super - hopefully keeping the queen down below where she belongs. 
• Also, it causes the workers to come in more contact with each other as the travel the full length of the hive to store the nectar. 
• It also keeps the empty super as far away as possible from the entrance, reducing the chance of robber bees and other invading insects from setting up house in a relatively empty space.

Disadvantages of having the empty super on top includes: 

• Having the younger in hive bees having to travel further with the nectar passed to them from the field bees at the entrance. This is not a big deal, just an inconvenience to the young workers. 
• If wax moth or other insects make it to this top box, the bees will pay little attention to them as as I've shown in My Bout with Wax Moth you can have devastating losses. Again, keeping a close eye on your hives can lessen such situations.

June 22, 2001

I had mentioned a few times about a special project that needed to be kept secret until more details could be released. Well, today I got the go ahead to speak of the project. An Author of main Total Quality Management booklets and seasoned lecturer named Howland approached me several weeks ago concerning a book that he was in the negotiation stages with concerning beekeeping. The book will be Beekeeping for Dummies, a publication that is sure to be a hit to all newcomers and seasoned beekeepers. 

My role in all this will be the photographer of most or all of the images used in this book. I'm anxiously awaiting the macro lens from Olympus now so that I can start on the images required for this special project.

Howland is a pretty remarkable man with a very prestigious background and world traveler. I have seen the chapter layout and a sample chapter and I must say that his writings are well thought out and very entertaining. I am honored that he considered me for this book. Them center of the book should contain many full color images and nearly every page will have B&W images for tutorial purposes. He is looking at an early 2002 date for publication, so we have all Summer to create and target these images for the book.

I have never attempted such a venture, although digital photograph is no stranger to me and I always welcome a challenge. This is just another example at the wonderful people and exciting situations that the Internet has made possible for me. Many of you write and seemed amazed at the efforts I put into this site. True, it is daunting and time consuming - but it has always brought me great pleasure and I would gladly do it all over again.

June 23, 2001

Well, it's Saturday and Monday I go on vacation with Tracey to Baltimore Inner Harbor for 4 days, returning home some time Thursday evening. Check the  Traveling Around section to see the trip in detail a few days after we get back. Until then, I hope you read a few of our past adventures, including the dreaded trip on  The Mighty Toms River a canoe trip that ( without a doubt ) was the single worse adventure of our lives.

I did make a trip into C2 though, just to have something to tell you before we left. Lots of eggs and quite a few bees drawing comb. Thanks to the first generation of young workers that are producing a good deal of wax. I am feeding this colony again, now that they will actually take the sugar-water. 

Can slow and steady win the race?? Only 3.5 frames are actually drawn out and I've procrastinated about moving frames from C1 because the weather has been crappy and I just didn't feel like suiting up for the event. Even Beemaster knows his limits in working with the bees and whether or not to suit up. I rarely ever use suits or hoods, actually I rarely use the smoker. 

But you need to know your bees and how aggressive they are under differing situations. I do use the smoker when friends are helping or people are around that have no previous experience with bees - such was the case the other day when Kathy from the AirScoop was in my yard. So don't just jump into a hive unless you really know how your bees will react, and never do it because Beemaster or anyone else works the bees without protection. Only you know your limits and you can only know your limits after several seasons of beekeeping.

Back to our vacation for a second. I got a great deal using my Federal Government ID Card at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel right on the harbor and only feet from the water Taxis and other local attractions. I saved an incredible $94 a night using the ID, so we decided to stay an extra night. Who knows, I may add some more stuff to this log before we leave early Monday morning, but if I don't I'll see you all when we get back.

This month is quickly coming to an end and June's log has surpassed May's log in length. It has been a fun month and the Summer is finally here. The beekeeping Summer though is half over already and as July approaches we need to start talking about the events leading to the Fall of the Season. I know that you will be anxiously awaiting some advice on treatment and preparation of the colonies for the changing seasons. I think we have some interesting log entries ahead, I hope you all check back often as C1 and C2 require more and more inspections and interventions by us.

Late update :)

Just went to BJ Wholesalers and got 3 new 32 meg smart media cards at a very affordable $22.95 each which is less than half of what I paid a few months ago. I bought more memory because I decided to NOT bring my notebook with me on vacation. So, I figured extra media cards would enable me to take tons of photos and NOT have to upload them to the notebook, just leave them on the cards instead.

For you digiphiles, a 32 meg smartmedia card gives you 42 super high res 2048x1536 image or 91 high-res images at the same size. I always use the super hi-res ( called HQ on my Olympus ) although the images eat away at the batteries. Oh, speaking of batteries - with high end digital cameras you need Nickel Metal Hydrides because no other battery will do. You will pull your hair out with alkalizes which drain after only a few photos. Just thought you might like to know. Lastly, all the wallpaper images on my site are 1/4 the size of what the camera actually takes. Yes 1024x768 is 1/4 the size of a 2048x1536 image. It's like measuring carpet: a 10x10 carpet is 4 times bigger than a 5x5 carpet.
 

June 29, 2001

For you NON BEEKEEPING FOLLOWERS - people who love reading about my daily adventures, you'll love this link to my Baltimore Vacation Page. I changed my mind and just made the travel page in my travel section, and didn't make THIS page any larger than it already is. I hope you all read this adventure and expect lots of wallpaper images as soon as I get a chance to upload them. This image is of the Inner Harbor, Harbor Malls taken from the Baltimore World Trade Center - the worlds largest 5 sided building. This was from the observation deck on the 28th floor.

 Baltimore Inner Harbor <<<--- hope you visit my latest page.

Quick note: C1 and C2 are doing fine, although I just looked into each briefly. I either got sun poisoning ( something I get frequently when traveling ) some bad crab legs. I tend to think it's the sun because I have a rather nasty heat rash that is bothering the heck out of me. It's the chills though that is wearing me down. I decided to do the Inner Harbor page just to get my mind off of the sore muscles and shivers. More when I hurt less - ouch!.

END OF JUNE UPDATE

I'm in the hospital - came in June 30 and I'm STILL HERE on the FOURTH OF JULY. Tracey brought me the computer after finding out that lots of people use their computers in the hospital. I'll be working on JULY soon, but obviously C1 and C2 are living without Beemaster. Any emails would be appriciated now, I've been here going on 5 days now and it may be 2 more days before I get home. Write me if NOTHING ELSE just say say hi :)