Finally Got My Colonies!

I finally got my 4 colonies of Apis cerana.  We bought them at Balete, Batangas and hauled it all the way to Amadeo, Cavite, about 3 hours travel via the long flat route.  I was really worried that the bees would get stressed out. They probably would have if we traveled by day.  But we all got home safe. We immediately set up the hives, picking, at that time, what I thought was the safest location that will afford some shade at noon.   We turned the hives so the hive entrances face east.  Then I removed the cover.  The bees did not fly out... so I was a bit relieved that the bees did not abscond.  

I really did not get any sleep last night contantly thinking about the bees.  I was awake when my phone alarmed at 4... I did not get up until 5... When I went to see the bees, the hives were still quiet... no activity whatsoever, though I can hear the feint buzzing inside if I put my ear against the hive.  When 6 am struck, the bees got out one by one like clockwork.  I think some of the bees were disoriented.  I saw two bees wrestled each other to death on the ground.  I was afraid that I may have put the hives too close to each other, but I later dismissed the idea as I have seen some videos where hives are placed side by side, and mine was distanced around a meter.  

At this time, I decided to put the sugar-water feeder back to the hive.  I have earlier resolved not to feed the bees with sugar, but after my talk with the beekeeper last night, I have decided that I will do with sugar-water regimen for now, until I have the bees, probably the next generations, have acclimatized with their new environment and have learn not to rely on sugar-water.  The beekeeper confirmed that this is possible especially if I am not aiming for commercial production, I must carefully observe the colony.  Soon, I saw the bees took their orientation flights around the hive and zoomed to nowhere.  A few minutes later, some of the bees were flying back inside the hive carrying baskets full of white polen.  I wonder where they found it.  It must be quite near for it was only about 20-30 minutes since I saw the first be flew out of the hive.  A few more minutes later, bees are dumping white polen in their hive... maybe, just maybe, I can really do away with the sugar feeding, especially if I have planted the whole garden with wild flowers and herbs.  

Before I left the bees, I hung 2 swarm traps on nearby trees.  I was told by the beekeeper  that 2 or 3 of the hives already have queen cells and are ready to divide any moment.

with an extra feeder outside...

The One-Straw Revolution...

The moment I got my library card at CVSU a few months ago, the first book I searched was Masanobu Fukuoka's "The One-Straw Revolution".  I was very glad that the library's data base showed 6 copies of the said book.  But none of the six copies can be found.   I practically searched all the shelves, checking each book one by one but I did not find the book.  Even the librarians from the Circulation, the Filipiniana, and the Reference section all helped me rummage the shelves but we found no copies.  Finally, one of the head librarians told me that the books may have been donated to other schools, after all, the book was printed 1978 and it was old... very old.  But she did promise that she will look into the matter and notify me as soon as they find the book.  Then, a week or two ago while searching for a book in soil fertility, something caught my eye.  I have searched that shelf several times and it was not there before.  They finally found it!  I love this book.  I ordered a copy at Amazon years ago.  I am very happy that an agricultural school like the Cavite State University has one.  If I can have my way, I will have all agricultural curriculum centered around this book and have the all the Principles of Natural Farming sown into the heart of every student!

Update on the New Super

These bees are amazing!  They have completely covered up the holes in the plastic sheet divider including the large circular hole at the center.  But they actually left some passages open to access the empty chamber above them..  What could they be planning?!?  I have no idea!  They have completed the sealing a week ago.  So far no other activities, but there are some bees loitering around the empty chamber.

This was a few weeks ago when the new super was added...

This is now...

The passage way... the only access to the main chambers
below...

A small portion of the brood chamber below the plastic sheet
can be seen through a small hole (center of picture).

Filling the Honey Pot

Less than a week after I added a an extra super with a plastic separator sheet... the bees immediately went to work and covered the small rectangular holes at same time building up large amount of propolis around the circular hole.  I am not sure if they will cover it up entirely.  Pardon the poor photos.  I put a plastic sheet cover so I can lift up the cover and observe without the bees flying out.

Watching the bees filling up the honey pots is so amazing.  I can probably watch the bees going about their chores the whole day if they would allow me.  Here is a short video of stingless bees filling-in, and or, feeding in the honey pots.  Can you imagine the bees working in complete darkness the whole day?

Adding Super to My Stingless Bee Hive

This is the video I promised to post on yesterday's blog.  This is me, on our rooftop, opening the hive for the first time since I got it a few months ago.  In this video I will be adding a super with a plastic sheet separator. But first, I had to remove some of the propolis to expose the brood chamber.  I am hoping the bees will not just use the extra space as their storehouse, but use it to expand their brood up so I can split the hive in the future.

I Finally Opened My Stingless Bee Hive...

I was a bit worried about my stingless bee hive at home.  Since the bees sealed of the main entrance of the hive after my failed eduction experiment, there seems to be less activity.  I am still not sure if the new entrance at the side of the box leads to the main colony inside.  I do not know if the bees managed to puncture a hole at the side of the box.  Maybe they found a crack or something.  I just have to look inside to see if the bees are ok.  Of course, that was not the only thing I have in mind. Since, at the moment, it will be difficult to conduct the eduction experiment with the hive's new entrance, I thought I should try normal splitting... in due time of course, when the colony is much stronger than it is right now. I don't think I would dare split the main hive and have two half-strength colonies.  So I made an extra super and put a plastic sheet separator.  Hopefully the bees will extend their brood chamber and their food store, to this third super and probably a fourth one also.  The separator sheet is used to lessen the damage to the main hive during splitting, well, at least that is the idea.

I saw the separator in a Youtube video.  I don't have the measurements so I just made something close to it.  Below is the link to the video.

Normal split of Trigona carbonaria colony in box with dry split separators

My bees seem to be a bit tame compared to the colony I have recovered from CVSU.  My bees did not gang up or swarm all over me when I opened the cover.  It is probably because they are less aggressive or, not as strong as the colony in CVSU.  In fact, I think I could have opened up the hive without a bee vail.

So I finally opened up the hive for the first time since I got it a few months ago.  The colony looks ok but again, not as strong as the colony in CVSU despite the fact that the brood chamber is almost up to the ceiling of the second super.  But they are alive!  And the hive is full of honey and pollen.  I took a small amount of honey pots so I can have the people at home have a taste. I also want to get some sample viewed under microscope so I can try to identify the bees source of forage here at home.    My concern about this experiment is that the main hole of the separator sheet does not align with the brood chamber which is located at one corner.  I also did not remove much propolis to fully expose the brood.  But let us observe for a while what will happen and then adjust accordingly.

You can see the topmost layer of the brood chamber at the
upper right corner of the box hive where the main entrance
is now located.

I was able to make a short video of the whole process, but it will take a while for me to upload it to Youtube.  So, I will have to post the video later.

Unravelling the Purl Rows...

Ok... I am unravelling the purl rows at the outer edge which I think I knitted too loosely... and yes, I know, it's another pink yarn project... sigh! I am going to apply some of the techniques I learned from my knitting group yesterday.  I hope I can make my knitting tension more consistent.  This is an infinity scarf for my sister who will be going to Korea next month.  'Hope I finish this on time.  I only have a few more days.

Unravelling is easy, now comes the hard part, putting the tiny loops, 255 of them to be exact, back to the needle,without unravelling the work further or dropping any stitches.

You can find the pattern here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/infinitude-scarf

Update on Second Colony of Stingless Bees at CVSU

Took a quick peek inside the 2nd hive (upper super) to see how the new colony is liking the their new home.  It looks like the bees are doing some major renovations or add-ons.  I hope they will add some brood chambers so I can split them later on.

Photo taken 5 days ago, 9/12/2014

Photo taken yesterday, 9/16/2014

Update on Stingless Bees at CVSU

Second Colony... the bees look fine 2 days after the transfer.  I have no idea what these bees are doing outside... they are not doing anything... I also need to move them to a better location but I have not build a platform yet...

This is actually the upper super.  The main hive is below.  This is a chunk with small pieces of brood which i accidentally chopped off or fell off the main brood.  The divider has two holes the size of the main entrance.  Maybe I should clean this up and put the brood pieces at the center and the propolis chunk around the sides...  but this bees are nasty... I think they marked me for life!

First Colony... same as the second colony, lots of bees outside doing nothing...  Last time I looked, they have pretty much fill up the box to the ceiling... is it time to split?  But I do not have a divider in between the supper...

at the upper rear of the hive

a bee frisking a strange orange visitor... 

Now Agent Lukot, should you wish to accept your third mission....dum! dum! dum dum dum!!!

I thought I should look around the area and look what I found!

I think this one is biggie!  Look at the flight tube on this one!

Intense Heat?!?

I got a bit of scare this morning as I visit my stingless bee hive.  It was like a ghost town and I found a 4 dead bees on the floor.  I saw a bee landed on the coconut shell and began dancing like crazy then fall off.  I immediately suspected that the shell was too hot.  I saw the dance before when a bee landed on a hot metal sheet roofing.  During hot weather, the bees are out fanning to keep the hive cool, but they can't go outside because the moment they step on the coconut, they get fried. The moment I put a shade over their hive, the bees crawled out and began fanning like crazy!!! Whew...

Recovering 2nd Hive of Stingless Bees at CVSU

I was a bit hesitant hauling up my "stingless bee recovery gear" this morning to the university.  It was drizzling this morning and was raining the other day, but I did bring it.  I commuted in circles from CVSU to Tagaytay to Amadeo and then back again at CVSU, Indang. There was a heavy fog at Tagaytay late in the morning with a little bit of rain. And it was overcast at Amadeo when I arrived and by the time I left it was already drizzling.  I arrived ad CVSU for the second time this day and I was observing the sky while I was having a quick lunch at the University Mall.  It looked like it had rained at Indang when I left.  By the time I made my way to NCRDEC to picked up my things at Sir Diloy's office, the Sun showed itself, and by the time I have donned my bee veil, dark clouds have moved in again.  I decided to push through with the recovery.  But I don't think this one went on as smoothly as first one.  

First, the original box hive was in such a terrible shape and lots of bees were already outside.  I was afraid that if I carry it somewhere else, the bees will prematurely swarm.

So I decided to work on that area standing up over rough ground, with very tiny working area, being very very careful not to move around and slip or trip and fall on some sharp rusty metal.  Plus it was not well lighted.

The moment I touched the hive, the bees started swarming out.  I decided not transfer the flight tube immediately, which was a big mistake.

Because by the time I finished transferring the colony to the new box, there were several pieces of the old hive lying around and I can no longer find the flight tube.  Lots of bees have already found their way into the veil and were already attacking my neck.  It also started to drizzle.  I had to retreat and failed to attach a flight tube.  This could be the reason why the bees did not immediately went into the new box hive.  They kept on swarming around their new home not entering.  I also realized I forgot to seal the hive with tape.  It was already around 4 pm and I had to leave for home.  When I left, lots of bees were still flying around, and when I left the campus ground the heavy rain started pouring... poor bees... I hope they know how to find shelter.  The colony is small compared to the first one. This one only occupied the first super.  I put a divider on top of the first super and added another super hoping that I can split them in the future. 

Sorry I only have a few photos.  I was all alone this time and had no photographer to document the transfer.  Hopefully, this will bring in some new people to help me out during the next transfer.

Laywan at NCRDEC, CvSU...

I was visiting the CVSU stingless bees yesterday and saw that the other hive had been dugged up already and was put aside at one corner fully exposed with its deteriorating box hive.  There were lots of bees huddled outside.

I dropped by Sir Rod's office at the NCRDEC to inform him that I will try to relocate the other hive next week if I managed to find another empty box.  Then he asked me if I am looking for a "laywan" nest (Apis cerana) because they found one at the back of the NCRDEC office.  I can not believe what I just heard.  This is one of the reason why I enrolled at CVSU.  I answered yes and asked Sir Rod if I can see it.  Sir Rod asked one of his staff to show me the nest.

Behind the huge water tower is the NCRDEC building...

There seem to be lots of tanks in this area and very few trees...

Where could the bees be nesting here?!?

I was told to move closer...

a little bit closer...

There! Can you see it?!?   Holy @%*#$!!!  It really is a wild
bee hive!!!

Not hundred percent sure if this is Apis cerana but 

what else can it be?!?

Hmmmm... ok.... I need to take down the water tank!!!!

Bees Got Fed Up With My Experiment...

This morning, I pulled out the tube I re-attached yesterday to serve as flight tube for the bees.  Same as yesterday, the end of the tube was completely sealed.

tube on the right was pulled out this morning.  it
was also completely sealed barring access to the original
hive entrance.

The moment I removed the tube, the bees started sealing the opening of the coconut shell. Well, at least the bees inside are ok.  It's just that they do not want to use the front door anymore.  The new entrance I found yesterday at the rear right of the box was also sealed.  Around 6:30 PM, the bees have almost completely sealed the front door.  Now, it will be difficult for me to conduct an Eduction method as I have no more control over the front door.  The bees just won't pass there anymore.  It will be useless if I continue to attach the duplication hive there.  There won't be any traffic.

around 10 am...

around 4:30 pm...

around 6:30 pm...

The bees decided (I think..) to move their main operation at the rear left portion of the hive.  There is some sort of another entrance there when I first got the hive.  When I notice there was an increase activity there, I put a coconut shell near that area hoping the bees will use it for storage.

But they hardly used it.  Up to now, they have not sealed the small hole on the coconut shell.

Now, there is an increased activity in that area and increase build-up of propolis.  However, I don't think I can easily connect a duplication hive here.  So, Bees 1, Beekeeper 0.