Bees of Greece

So we are here in Greece and had the opportunity to visit the bee yard of my brother-in-law.  I snapped a few pictures so you can see what a Greek beehive looks like – they are very colorful.

Bee yard in Greece

Beehive - They use old tires as a stand to raise them off the ground.

More beehives

A screen entrance reducer

A top feeder - notice the dead yellow jackets in the frozen syrup. Yup - it is cold here!

Inside of a Langstroth hive

Storing hives bodies and supers over the winter - since it is so cold here they can keep these outside without having to worry about insects and pests.

Another type of entrance reducer

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Plenty of pollen for our bees

It has been a very warm and wet winter so far for us here in South Florida.  It is already Dec 20th and we are still in the upper 70’s – 80 F (upper 20’s C).  With all the warmer temperatures and rain we have been getting, there are plenty of flowering plants and grasses all around.  Our bees have a good supply of pollen and honey stored up.

We noticed a variety of pollen colors and it looks so pretty in the comb – vibrant oranges, yellows and white.

Then we saw this little bee full of pollen on her legs – she was certainly busy collecting.  See the white puffs.

And then we were graced with seeing our wonderful queen from this hive.

Next week we will be visitng our family in Greece.  I am hoping I will be able to post some pictures of Greek bees and beekeeping practices there.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Battle against fire ants

We went to check up on our hives the other day and noticed a pile of dead bees and fire ants in front of the hive.  We also noticed a lot of bee wings across the front entrance of the hive too.  Upon opening the hive we got a good look at what was really going on.  Fire ants were invading the hive and the battle was on to get rid of them.  Lots of bees got injured and/or killed in the process, but it seems that everything is fine now.

When it comes to fire ants you need to keep any eye on your hive and take any measures you can to eliminate the threat.  Fire ants can destroy a bee colony if they are not strong enough.

Pile of dead bees and ants

Bee wings all over hive entrance