We are now moving into a season of rain and heat. It looks like the flow is back on in my area, although it has not been so for the rest of our town. I live on the northeast and it seems everything is a week or two later out here. I won't see the crepe myrtles blooming for another 3 weeks, maybe a month, and yet they're already in bloom in town.
The South hive is busy and full of quiet bees. They have already filled half of a honey super.The South hive had quite a few small hive beetles in the top. I added beetle blasters with a mix of half apple cider vinegar and half oil in order to drown the beetles once the bees trap them.
I was concerned that the North hive with two deep brood boxes was ailing. When I opened it up it seems to be doing just fine. It had no small hive beetles in evidence.
I went ahead and added a queen excluder and a honey super to the North - today. I think it's ready.
In search of a solution of where to store all of this equipment, I had pitched a tent and put down an additional layer of plastic on the floor. It seemed to work for quite a while, but when I went into it today I noticed all of these black tubes on the ground particularly around the area of the comb. As I looked closer I saw two things. One was black tubes all over the white plastic floor, and ants had figured a way to get in. Here is one frame which I had salvage, frozen, cleaned, and storage. That's why I didn't think it would have been wax moths. I had no idea what these tubes work. See the picture.
I now believe they are earthworm that had crawled up into the tent and reproduced during the heavy rains. They then dried when the heat came on, and ants came to enjoy the feast.
No comments:
Post a Comment