Bears and Bees

Courtney and Joel with setup split hives

Two of Bee Whyld’s hives came through the winter particularly strong. When this happens, there is always the chance of an early swarm. To prevent this occurrence, and to hang onto our bees, we split both of these strong hives.

To split, a couple frames full of brood (capped larva), along with the attending nurse bees, were moved from the strong hive into an empty brood box. Frames with honey and pollen were also added, including the bees present on these frames. A queen bee, still in her cage, was the final addition. These two new hives were moved to the farm.

The following day, the doors were removed from the queen cages allowing the workers access to eat through the ‘candy’ and release their new queen. She will begin to lay eggs and a new colony will be in fair shape by the time the Fireweed blooms.

Or so we thought … Unfortunately, someone had other plans …

 

Yukon black bear

After a call about a bear in the hives, Liz was recruited to check the damage. Armed with her bee suit, a fresh super of honey, and a large can of bear spray, she ventured out.

This is the scene that greeted her upon her arrival.

 

Bear devastated honey bee hives

Despite popular belief, bears aren’t after the honey as much as they are after the protein-filled larva. Honey is simply a sweet bonus.

Damage assessed and slowing putting it back together

Numerous frames were broken and the foundation removed. Some were licked so clean you would not have known there had been wax, larva, pollen and honey there only a few short hours before.

All the brood has been eaten by the bear

Here is one of the partially gnawed on frames. A lot of the wax and honey are gone, as is the entire brood. The yellow is some remaining pollen.

Lots of dead bees litter the area

You can also see piles of valiant worker bees that died trying to save their hive. Even though the bees would have attacked the bear’s face. They are not much of a match for a hungry bear.

Smart bees saved their queen under the pallet

Beginning the job of cleanup, Liz spotted a small group of bees under the pallet. If one of the queens survived, there would be hope of putting at least one hive back together. As she gently scooped the bees and placed them in a reconstructed box, the queen bee flew up and landed on her face screen! Despite a very cautious attempt, the queen flew away before she could catch her. With thoughts of simply returning the surviving bees to their original hive, the clean up continued.

A queen cage

Under an overturned lid … a queen cage … a wet, dirty, no doubt traumatized, but still alive, queen inside. Liz opened her cage and into the hive with the remaining bees she went.

Their new home

The surviving bees and queen in a reconstructed hive safe from bears (I hope) in my yard.

The queen bee 

A day later, dry and clean, our queen with her attendants and other workers surrounding her.

The season has just begun and hopefully this colony can make a complete recovery after a disastrous start.