gold!

honey harvest - take 1

not the happiest hive

urban honey harvest - take 2

shiny black hairless syndrome

aka Chronic Paralysis Virus (CPV)

"...has been called a variety of names - "black robbers", or "little blacks" in Britain, Schwarzucht and mal noir or mal nero in continental Europe and "hairless black syndrome" in the USA. At first the affected bees can fly, but they become hairless, appearing dark or almost black and shiny which makes them seem smaller than usual. They suffer nibbling attacks by other bees in the colony, which may account for their hairlessness and they may be prevented from returning to the colony by guard bees, which makes them appear like robber bees. In a few days they become flightless, tremble and soon die..."

"...the characteristic symptoms comprising hairless-black syndrome... high mortality and various combinations of other symptoms, such as paralysis, withdrawal from the cluster, trembling, subjection to attack by healthy bees, and the hairless-black condition."

the saga continues,

easy swarm

I love it when swarms choose low-lying branches!

at first I thought this was two swarms, but after catching the top one, the bottom group joined of its own accord, so I think they were just heavy with honey and resting on the ground:



and here they are after shaking them into a cardboard box, wagging their bums and advertising their new (temporary) home:

sharing power

guess I left two queen cells in this nuc...I was surprised to see two queens, at least one of them mated (some eggs), casually sharing the same frame: