Our Smoky Mountain Chapter Beekeepers met Thursday night and our speaker was my friend, fellow Master Gardener and beekeeper, Gary Bradshaw. Gary is a former commercial beekeeper with over 800 hives and also taught college level courses in beekeeping. He is now retired with 4 hives. His topic for the evening was bee diseases, mites, pests, ect. I'm not going to go into all the gorey details. Any beekeeper out there right now should know what bees are facing. What I am going to note is that Gary's plan of action for his bees is to do nothing. He is not treating for anything. Period. At his last inspection he saw no sign of varroa, disease, or anything else to note. I'm impressed.
My daughter is an excellent photographer and she shot the first 2 pix of the workers on the face of the hive. Their pollen baskets are so full they almost stagger. The hive was wet because I had watered a few plants this morning. We should have rain this evening and tomorrow. We need it. I'm going to have the most awesome crop of cukes I've ever had this year thanks to my buzzy friends. 
Bee balm is in full bloom and has become quite the favorite.
Here I come.
I like this picture because it looks like I just pasted the bee in. I didn't. Just happened to get a lucky shot. Lamb's ear is just about finished blooming.
7 comments:
Your garden looks fabulous! I never knew about the pollen baskets. (I am not a beekeeper, as you might have guessed.) But I love the beekeeper blogs because I am learning so much. Wonderful photos!
It's funny how I always thought it was ducks that waddled. But when the bees are so very loaded with pollen on their hind legs, they do waddle a bit :)
Great photos. It's hard to catch bees in flight - so great job!
It is hard to catch bees in flight. I know this all too well as I became victim of beesting while taking a few shots of Mom's bees. One caught me on the eyelid ... After I voiced a few four-letter opinions of stinging bees, I called even louder for my Mommy. Would have been great footage for this blog!
No doubt the mean bee who stung Miss Mel was just passing through the area. Neither Walter or Ora would be guilty of hurting someone so dear to their hearts.
Looks like the dearth is well underway here in the Piedmont, so if you don't mind, I'll point my girls to the west so they can forage for some pollen on their own!
Side note: I just saw where someone in Winston Salem is selling some Bee Balm...15 plants for $10...or maybe it was 10 plants for $15. I wonder if I should et some and plant it behind by hive, along the creek bank border, actually on the city's right-of-way. I know they could care less (they trim it once a year) and it would give my gals something closer. Just a thought.
Interesting article as for me. It would be great to read a bit more concerning this topic.
BTW look at the design I've made myself Overnight escort
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