Fall Bees

the days and nights have been a lot cooler here in maine in the last two weeks.  there is no more nectar outside for the bees to collect. the bees know that winter is coming and they need to prepare for the long, cold season.  that is why they are cranky, very cranky!  gone are our happy-go-lucky, calm, peaceful summer bee-girls.  now, they've turned into nasty girls (but only because they are so cranky!)  

lawrence got stung three times in one of our last inspections of  Astoria's hive.  (perhaps the fact that he sort of dropped two different frames of bees had a bit to do with that.)  we've been feeding the bees a 2 to 1 dilution of sugar syrup to enable them to really stuff their hive full of nectar (and eventually, honey) for the winter. sometimes, even opening the roof of the hive a crack to check their supply can lead to disaster. 

last week, i checked Astoria's hive, just cracking the lid up two inches or so to peek in.  there was syrup left in the feeder tray, so i wanted to let the roof down, but two bees had popped up on the edge of the feeder.  wanting to get them back down into the box, i foolishly blew at them.  within a millisecond, one of them stung me on the wrist.  of course, i hadn't even thought of putting on any of my bee attire just to peek in the top of the hive. i dropped the top and took off, racing through the back yard with the second bee dive-bombing me.  i reached the side porch and raced into the mudroom and slammed the door.  i could still hear slight buzzing, but i saw no bee inside the room. i cracked open the door and the buzzing increased, so i knew she was lurking on the porch, looking for me. just then, a friend came by to drop something off, so i had to go back outside to meet him.  no problem with the bee, but as soon as i got back on the porch, she smelled the "banana oil" alarm scent on me and was all over me again. i panicked and ran off the porch, tripped on the stairs and landed flat on the walkway.  my friend thought i was deranged.  in desperation, i ripped off my pullover and threw it on the grass.  fortunately, this trapped the bee in the fabric. my friend, however, insisted on picking up the shirt, and despite my warning not to, he began to turn the garment inside out.  when he got to the second sleeve, out popped the enraged bee, who promptly went after him. he left batting his head, running to his car.  i ended up with a lovely sting and scrapes and bruises from my fall. 

today, we had to go into catherine's hive to treat it for mites with apilifevar.  even with my full-combat gear on (hat, gloves, shirt, tied-down pant legs), there were a bunch of guard bees trying their best to breach the defenses.  where have our lovely bee-girls gone?