2 days of rain and 19 bee corpuses

i hop-scotch out to the top bar hive this morning before heading into the office. it was drizzly and cold and the ground was mushy. the cloud cover had come right down to the grown. as I leaned over the hay bales near the entrance I saw dead bee bodies on the porch. only three were small; worker bees likely. which makes the others likely to be drones. one body was still white! i found a stick and pushed the bodies around, rolling them over to check their wings. most had deformed wings. their coloring, or lack there of, looked familiar. i had notice similar colors in the grave yard below the  entrance in weeks pasted.

so the bees are still fighting off DWV by culling baby bees before or as they hatch and throwing them out of the hive. with the drizzle they would not fly out with the bodies, just leave them on the porch until a dry time and then push them over. i’m still researching option for treatment or other ways to assist the girls. with a forecast of a week of wet weather, I’m focused on food supplies.

About Ellie

I am a Permaculturest with an eye on a sustainable future. I feel it's time to take control of our personal environment and make it work for us and the planet. I am a Homesteader in an urban environment. Keeping it real on a budget and still enjoying all that life has to offer. I am an up-cycler: a creative, resourceful problem solver. I am a gardener and a Farmer. I am a resource, full of information for living a more sustainable lifestyle. I also build, paint, cook and sew.