Seven Hills Honey

Good day all.

I'm out checking honey boxes in the western yards today. The bees are none too happy in this hot weather but unfortunately I still need to check boxes so they have enough room. Quick in and out. They work hard to keep their homes cool in this heat, so speed is a must.

They actually cool the hives using water they collect and release into the hive and then fan it around just like those little misting fans you can buy at the fair. It can be 100 plus outside and they do their best to keep it below 90 degrees. And don't forget about the hot sun on the boxes heating up the wood.
I find on the hot days like this most of the bees take the day off from foraging and they concentrate on cooling the hives down. The foragers are the angry bees for the most part. So it results in fairly unpleasant welcome committee when the lid is lifted.
I don't normally remove entrance reducers but these hives are blocked from almost all wind. There is a pile of dirt and tall trees blocking good circulation.

And finally, if you like mulberries they are coming ripe. Very juicy this year from all that rain. This tree bee-ing next to the hives is very well pollinated. I spent more time picking and eating than I did in the hives.

Bee seeing you Saturday!
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Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there.

I am up in Random Lake again for their Food Truck and Open Air Market.
The rain has cleared and the winds are picking up bringing the warmer temps with.
We are low in vendors but they have a few great food options today. Thai, Chinese, Hot Dogs and Mexican food, and of course the areas BEST honey! So come on up with your appetite. I believe they have a DJ lined up for the entertainment.
I will be here until at least 4pm unless it's really busy then I will stick around a bit later.

Bee seeing you!
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Good Morning Port Washington!

The Port Summer Market has begun! Now until 12:30 p.m. on Main St. in bee-autiful downtown Port Washington.

All your favorite vendors are back. I see quite a few of our regulars plus a few new ones so come on down and support your local vendors.
Bee seeing you!
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Happy Friday to you all.

We are just 24 hours away from kickoff of the Port Washington Summer Farmer's Market! It opens at 8:30 a.m. and goes until 12:30p.m.
I never turn away early visitors so feel free to come early.

Angel and I went out to Menomonee Falls yesterday to rescue this swarm out of this tree. They has been there a week. Possibly the same swarm that had been checking out a house that I recommended to exterminate. There was a bit of activity at that house but it was cold that morning so it was hard to tell if they were in there.
This swarm was in pretty rough shape. Hungry and tired from hanging in the tree thru the rain and colder Temps we had.
Many were out foraging so I am not sure how many bees were lost. It was not a simple drop them in the box and go. So many continued to fly around their last known address...aka the tree. So the vac was set up and we collected as many as we could. Part of the swarm was on the ground, exhausted and a few dying.
We set them up in the Grafton yard with a double deep box that had lots of honey for them to eat and enjoy. Not much work for them to do as for cleaning, it was move in ready.
Hoping the colony will flourish in the coming weeks. We did not see the queen but they were acting like she was there. I just hope she is healthy enough to go on.

Bee seeing you all tomorrow!
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Good day to all.

Been taking advantage of this incredible cool weather to get out and do hive inspections yesterday and today.

The colonies for the most part are doing very well. Honey production at most is dismal at best.
This constant rain washes away the nectar and pollen. Leaving very little for these now very large colonies to survive on. I've encountered a couple boxes full of bees but no honey stores.
It will come though. The meteorologist I follow says we will be going into heat and humidity next week with long stretches of no rain. Bad for some, perfect for the bees. We will see, I for one hate the heat and humidity but if the bees can exploit it I will tolerate it.

The pictures of the brood. This was an overwintered colony that was struggling about 5 or 6 weeks ago. The queen was laying very small patches of brood since she didn't have enough workers to tend to the young.
I do what we call equalizing.
In this case since that Saukville yard was all new packages I do not take brood from them. But I went to the North Port yard and took away one frame of hatching out bees and gave it to this hive. Now that was just one frame, normally you give 3 or 4 if you have plenty of booming hives that you need to slow down, but I didn't so one was it.
With that 2 or 3 thousand non related adopted workers the queen was able to bust out and lay lots of eggs. In coming weeks they will begin to fill the honey boxes. They were given an extra one today so that makes two on them.
With what I feel is coming I would rather they have more room than too little. Fingers crossed.
Bee seeing you at Port Farmer's Market this Saturday. It is finally starting. I will probably bee in Random Lake on Sunday again as well given no emergency bee work comes up.

Happy Sunday to you all!

A little bit of a different venue for me today. I was invited up to Random Lake for a weekly Food Truck and open air market.
Live music starting in a little bit. Two different taco trucks one with a very extensive menu and Chinese food.

Soap, bags, ice cream, donuts and more!

430 1st St. Random Lake

Bee seeing you!

Happy Friday to you all.

I had a swarm that moved into a house in Menomonee Falls that I went down to remove, but after consulting with the homeowner on tearing up the roof and extracting them I decided the best way unfortunately again is extermination.
The bees were in for a few days. There was evidence they were hanging under the soffit for a couple days that they were beginning to draw out some comb. I forgot to take a picture of that. And after a couple days they decided to go in under some flashing and get into the ceiling of the adjoining room.
I had removed another colony from this location four years ago and was a very extensive removal. The bees were in the on and off for a couple seasons. The house was repaired after that and then two years ago an entire new roof was put on the house.

I do not like to leave owners with a torn up house that repairs highly outweigh the value of the colony. I am sure there is a bit of drawn out comb but should be minimal.
Some hives need to be removed. Like last Friday's huge cutout. You cannot leave that much to sit and rot inside a home.

Unfortunately another one put in the lost colony category.

Until the next...which hoping there will not be but I do have a couple huge ones I am considering.

Along with the city wide rummage I will probably have a larger amount of honey outside on the table. If I am not up to anything I may be our there as well.

Bee seeing you. 🙂

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Cut out: Fox Point.

Been here before. 2015? 2016? Not sure exactly. However, bees once again moved into the same cavity they did before. There was a little bit of wax on the wood but they were building on opposite side. So not sure if that little bit drew them in or just being opportunistic like bees are.

Siding removed, joist that was replaced was taken out and comb and bees removed.

This colony was maybe in for 4 to 5 days. They thought Monday but by the comb I'm guessing Friday. A few eggs, pollen and nectar.

We even put this one back together for them. I normally don't repair. Just get the bees out. I'm not a craftsman so I usually have owner get someone else to do repairs.
This one was easily put back the way it was.

As something new this year I am using Kilz spray primer paint. Hoping covering up traces of old comb keeps them out in the future. Biggest ounce of prevention is caulk. Seal those holes people.

Angel Tello actually came along on this one today. He's been wanting to see how the cutouts go firsthand.
This one was simple. Standard Smash n Grab as I call them. So besides being a ground runner and sucking up stray bees this one was and easy one for him.

Wish he'd been available last week on that big one.

Also went to queen search in the elusive Mequon cutout from Tuesday. She's in there. So no worries on exterminated queen by the owner. I was kinda nervous about that one. I kind of expected to not have her. But all is good.

I also looked into the County Highway LL road colony. I will look again in a couple more days but that one appears queenless. I am not surprised. Colonies normally do not lay flat like that unless no queen or bees are dying out. I have that very small colony at North Port yard I will merge them with of queen is not there. There could also be merged with Mequon to make a super hive. Not sure what plan will be yet.

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Cut out Mequon.

Well this is a good story for one but not the other. Definitely a first for me.

Saturday after I got done mopping up that mega hive in Kilwaukee I stopped by a house near Virmond Park to assess a potential swarm move in.
The property owner insisted the bees were inside the house as there was already about 50 to 75 that had made their way into the dining/entertainment room.
I did not see much for bees coming and going so I told them to hang a sheet or tarp from the gutter in front of the area the bees were accessing thru a hole in caulk.
This way IF there was bees inside they could get out but blocking incoming potential of the swarm.
It either worked OR the next door neighbors house seemed more suitable as they moved in yesterday morning.

This was a difficult locating process. The owner was very insistent that the bees were in the lower area roof and soffit and that there was no connection to the upper roof. So following his instructions to look for them in lower area was done.
No bees.

They did in fact go up to the upper house roof which was a very small compartment so it was very odd they chose that spot.
John decided he would lend a helping hand and do some cutting on the moulding and fascia. After several cuts the bees were finally found in a tiny little spot. It was a small colony. Maybe 5,000 but they would have outgrown that spot in weeks.
So the bees were vacuumed out. Hoping I got the queen. There IS a possibility that they moved her and more of the colony to another area of adjoining roof. He will check tomorrow for a ball of bees. And if needed I will go back down.
However, if the bees do show indicators they are hiding in next joist they will be exterminated. Tearing up the roof is not an option here.

I appreciate that John did allow as much removal as we did to recover these bees. Roof repairs can run fairly costly on these.
Until the next one....bee seeing you!
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Well on today's episode of Bee Rescue 262.
I got a call right about noon about a pile of bees on the road in Belgium. It appears another keeper may have lost a hive or a tote of bees. I dint know. A tote lid with rain and a bit of honey.
I threw the genny in the truck along with the vac equipment. 15 minutes of sucking up bees and I got most. Some were flying around alot. I think the queen is in my box and the pheromone in the air will make them fly and chase the scent.
It was kinda tricky on the gravel with rocks and sand getting sucked up too.

Having equipment ready to go this time of bee season is paramount. Quick little rescue and done. Maybe ought to buy an old rescue firetruck for this gig. 🤣🤣

Thanks for the tip Ryno!

Bee seeing you!

Cut out: Kilwaukee

This one was a tougher one.
Neglected bee problems can lead to a very large colony in a couple years.
This older home with 1980s build ons to it created a very large space for the colony to build in. Main structure built in 1949 with brick facade and an inner cinder block structure. Basically a brick bunker. Second story added in 1982 was built on top with a 2x12 floor framing structure. Leaving enough space from the 2nd floor sheathing to the lower wall coming in at about 22 inches tall.
Bees doing what they do best is fill in said area.
This colony came in last summer and the homeowner did not like the quote he got.
So the bees were left. They survived our winter quite well.
I am estimating this colony population at least 60,000 to even 80,000 bees. My vacuum box was unbelievably heavy when I lifted it.

I also assessed doing removal from the inside. The infrared heat picture was taken of the hardwood floor in the corner of the reading room. Too much damage tearing that up.
I thought this would bee easy when I removed the exterior panel and exposed the 6 inches of comb that was hanging down. However, I reached up into the cavity on the left and realized it was another 12 inches to the above floor. Do the 2x12 was cut out. Luckily it was not weight bearing being on the outside so far from the foundation wall. Once it was cut the full extent of this monster colony was exposed.

Suck bees, and more bees. And even more bees. Comb was removed. I honestly did not count, I just kept removing and vaccing the bees.
Once I got the newer comb removed it exposed what drew the colony into this cavity. Nasty, old comb. Probably dating back 10 to 20 years. It looked like Bryce Canyon in there. I was waiting for little gnomes to come running out from behind. Some of this wax was so thick and packed onto the wood it would take a chisel to get it all off. I took the easy way out and used Kilz primer paint and covered it up this morning when I went back to do a final cleanup and retrieval of a few more hundred bees.

I think this one will go down in my top 10 of biggest removals I have done.

The queen was removed yesterday hiding in a very large cluster in that nasty brown comb. After she was out the rest of the bees scattered all over so it's best to come back in the morning and finish up then verses hours of single bee capturing.
All their usable comb was framed up into 8 frames. Other chunks of brood comb, honey and drone brood was placed on top of the main brood chamber and they will hatch out the new bees, rob out and transfer the honey to down below. I did this a couple times last year and it seems to work well. Little goes to waste. I will clean out and burn that comb in about a month.
I placed them at the Lions Den yard, where I found another trapped colony in my equipment.
That is all for now. Have a great weekend. Bee seeing you!

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Good evening everyone.

Finally the clouds have cleared and was able to get out and do some hive maintenance.

It's been a crazy few days. Swarms, swarms and more swarms.
The bees that had been scouting out my equipment in the drive either moved in yesterday while I was gone or early this morning while I was enjoying my coffee.
I went out to load up honey boxes and other equipment while waiting for Angel. He wanted to come along today and experience more advanced hive work.
When I opened up the stack I found the new household of invaders. Quite the nice surprise. Free bees are always welcome especially when they deliver themselves to your driveway. I will be moving them tomorrow to the Lions Den yard. I knocked them down to one box and they have settled in nicely.
I lost a queen at Jackson yard so we went into the hive that bugged out at North Port yesterday. Took away a nice frame of brood and one very nice queen cell in the center of the frame.
From there we set out towards Jackson and gave the queenless hive the new cell. Hopefully in a few weeks a new queen will hatch out, get mated and start laying eggs.

That really dark queen in the pictures is the colony I cut out in Williams Bay last week. She settled in fantastically and is an egg laying machine. That would have been a massive hive if it wasn't discovered as early as it was.
From there we trekked all the way up to Fillmore and luckily the water went down. Second honey boxes were given to those hives and quick look thrus were done. Looking really good there.
We were done with my hives so it was back to Port to check Angel's hives. Those hives are doing very well. One was actually setting itself up to swarm out.
There is no reason except the colony is lazy. They do not want to draw out comb on the new frames. The 4 drawn out frames they were given about 10 days ago were filled with brood and honey. We found about 10 plus queen cells throughout the hive. All those cells were destroyed. We don't want them to leave. The picture of the close up broken up cell is a queen. Probably about 8 to 11 days old. All my hives are queen right so there was no need to save them.
I am hoping they start drawing out the new frames better than what they have. We will need to watch them closely for the next couple weeks. Usually once a queen decides to fly, she does.
Some beekeepers actually cut the wings to keep her from flying. I don't believe in doing that.
I will either force split the hive or try to prevent her from leaving. Use of a queen excluder on the bottom can be done. She is too big to fit thru the screen. Those are used to keep the queens from laying eggs in the honey boxes, but they can also keep her inside and unable to escape.
That is all for tonight's update. It was a great day of nice weather and fun beekeeping followed up with a delicious dinner at Tello's.
Have a great rest of the week and enjoy the nice sunshine.
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Well I kinda called that one. They must have come in yesterday.

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Well I had another swarm at the North Port yard.
Kevin the property owner was outside when they heard the bees buzzing around in the yard.
They settled again in the honeysuckle bush. Easy 5 foot off the ground. At least they made it simple.
I clipped the branches off to give better access and they Kevin cut off the main branch and I walked them over to their new home...right next to their old hive. At least I think that was the one they came from. They were pretty loud and angry sounding so I am checking them tomorrow fir swarm cells. I neeed a couple for a colony that lost their queen. Unfortunately a new package. So I am needing them to get up and running since I already have $150 in to them.
The North Port yard has had honey boxes on them for almost 3 weeks. They were a really strong colony coming out of winter and I was wanting them to stay in the hive and make lots of honey. But now being queenless they are kind of like kids left home on Spring break. Most just hanging around the hive and eating food. Some work, but not as hard as they normally would. Nectar is really flowing although getting washed away nightly by the rains but some hives are doing very well.

There is a possibility that the scout bees I have been seeing are from that hive. It's a long ways away but they were really buzzing those boxes as I was putting together equipment to go capture. I will see if the disappear tomorrow since they now have a new home.

Bee seeing you!!!
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Have a safe Memorial Day.

All gave Some, Some gave All

Well, I could use a boat to get to the hives.
The mostly serene and gentle flowing Milwaukee River tributary through the Fillmore apiary is way above it's banks.

I am not risking the weight of truck on the bridge or the little trail leading to the hives.
So glad I moved the hives. Two years ago they were to the right of the bridge by the tree line. The hives would surely be under water. I had a bad feeling late that year when there was puddles after the storms.
Hopefully they have enough room in the honey boxes for a few more days.

Good evening to all.

It looks like it is really kicking off to be a very swarmy Spring.

I started a capture yesterday in Mequon that will unfortunately end up with the bees having to be exterminated. They moved in to behind the fireplace. Which being brick is not being removed. The interior of the house has shelves and mantle that cannot be removed. I would have one possibility of taking out the drywall but there is such an endless area they could move over or up and then out of reach from me. So we made the extremely tough decision to have them poisoned out.
I also got a call this afternoon about a swarm in Port. Sitting on the north side of an apartment. This was an easy catch. I was there for less than 15 minutes and am right now waiting for the foragers to come home. Most began to walk in but I needed to hurry the process up so I scooped them off the wall with a piece of paper. The queen was located. I wanted to make sure this colony had a queen. They were fairly spread out on the wall so I was fearing she got lost.
These girls will be placed at North Port yard. I have a few open spaces there yet and that yard has plenty to eat.

Other beekeepers are having lots of swarms as well. I've taken other calls that I could not get to today. Unfortunately one up in Fredonia. Another keeper got those...I can't get them all! 🤣

More coming but for tonight that is all.
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Happy World Bee Day!

Cut-out #1 for the year.
Location William's Bay.

No I am not desperate for work or bees.
I received a call from my friend Dawn on Friday afternoon. She is the one that made my table cover that you see at the markets. She is working for a property management business down in the Lake Geneva area. They wanted to know if I knew anyone in that area that could do a removal ASAP. I unfortunately do not know anyone I would recommend that is skilled or reasonably priced to do it.
So I said I would be will to make the trek down there.
80 miles! This is the furthest I have gone for a removal I believe.
This was pretty simple. What I call a smash n grab. Remove the lower trim to expose what is normally a floor joist. This time it revealed they had access to a huge cavity. In a few months this could have been a massive colony. Lots of space.
With lightning and thunder booming in the distance towards Beloit I knew my time was limited before it started to pour. The incoming storm actually kept many bees from venturing out to forage so it made for a quick clean up.

I am hoping not many bees were trapped away from home and were now left behind bit traffic leaving the hive was really not too busy.
One medium piece of comb and one tiny piece was all that made up this hive. They were in there for 4 to 6 days. The condo occupants said there was many bees getting inside is how they knew about it.

I did fully gear up expecting aggressive bees with the crummy weather coming but they were actually fairly pleasant. They are smaller sized, maybe 6 to 12,000 bees. I did not set up the hive yet. I Will place them later if we get some sun.
I closed up the wall the best I could until permanent repairs can be made. Lots of rain coming the next 2 days.

Number one is pretty much in the books.

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Good morning Port Washington and Ozaukee County.

The last indoor Spring Market going on now until Noon.
We are located inside Edison Hall at the new Inventor's Brewpub on the marina.

This is my last market until later June when the Port Summer Farmer's Market starts up.
Honey is always available daily on the front porch.

Lots of exciting stuff coming up in the next few weeks. So stay tuned!

Bee seeing you!!!
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Good evening to you all.

Tonight I had the pleasure of having a little bee talk with Cub Scout Pack #3837. I thought wrestling a colony of 25,000 bees was a handful. Wrong! 22 boys is definitely another ballgame!! Wow!! I was thrown so many questions and tried to answer them the best I could, so hopefully they were able to absorb the information I threw at them.
And once again the question I get asked most often was asked. 🤣🤣
"How many times have you gotten stung?"
Answer: Lots! In all the years, probably close to 2,000.

So thank you Pack #3837, I had fun!

I also went to check on Angel's hives today. He saw that the population was beginning to explode and I figured with the bee-autiful weather it was a great day to dig into the hives and see how well they are doing.
And they are doing fantastic. We added the second deep brood box and I also gave him 12 frames that were empty and comb drawn out. The workers will need to clean and repair before the queen can start laying eggs. Each hive was given four frames.
Now in a way this is kind of cheating for a new beekeeper to bee given drawn out frames to boost the colonies strength quickly. But I want to make sure that these hives succeed and have every possible resource I have to help them survive.
Like I have mentioned in past posts, I am....maybe...scaling back on how many hives I run this year. I will see what cutout season brings, but running about half of what I did last year.
I was able to take some really clear close up pictures of newly layed eggs. That comb was just made and not even drawn fully out yet and the queen did her job and layed up all those cells. In 21 days there will bee baby bees bee-ing born on that frame.
We took away the feed pail for a few days, but I told Angel to give it back on Monday or Tuesday next week. I want the bees to clean up the older drawn frames for eggs and not honey stores. So with no 'large' abundance of sugar feed they will not just transfer from pail to comb right away. The queen will check the frames and start dropping eggs in a couple days.

Now I mentioned the other day that my hives that have 20 frames of comb have already had about 8 to 9 frames filled with eggs. His are at about 5 1/2 frames. So they are significantly behind, but they had lots of comb to draw out. It's a really cool experiment to see the difference between them.
We are both having a blast with this. He's been a great student so far. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
Have a bee-autiful week!
See you at Inventor's Brewpub on Saturday for the last indoor market. And just a reminder, this is the last market until later in June when the Port Summer Market starts. So comevon down and stock up, however honey is always available on my front porch!
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