TonTon is afraid. He is very afraid. There is a Minty looking at his blue ball. And he is hoping he will not be commanded to share. Sharing toys is nice Ton. 
The terror of having to share! Maybe with all three of the lambies! 
Poor Ton, being picked on by those iddy biddy wee lambs. This might be another postcard pic.
Cats in a curve. Mary’s cat always looks slightly bad tempered doesn’t he.
Water play. Hosing out the pigsty has already turned into a game of who can get the wettest!
I discovered something very unsettling yesterday afternoon. An entire hive, my biggest strongest hive, is now almost completely empty of bees.
The very few that are left in the bottom of the hive, are in a heap, sluggish and dying. There is no evidence of moth or disease. The hive smells sweet and is full of honey and brood, with room at the top to grow. I looked at them on Monday and they were heaving with bees coming and going really well. Is this CCD? The bees just gone for no reason. They have not swarmed, because even when they swarm, the nurse bees stay with the brood. It is never left to die like this.
The fields have not been worked around our house yet, so we cannot blame spray. The adjacent hives are just as vigorous as ever. 
I have read some articles on this but never thought this would happen to my bees. What a terrible blow. I need to have a think about this and work out what to do next.
However up we get. We will do some research and work out what to do with a hive full of honey and no bees. I can think about that on the run. Today is Retirement Home day. The Old Codger calls it Dog Medicine Day. Today we take the basket of chickens (who are growing feathers and not really looking their best) and Minty and TonTon to the Old Folks Home for an official visit. Signs have gone up around the home inviting any one who is interested.
I have bought Ton a few new softer toys for retrieving. So he can play with the old folks, without balls bouncing all over the place. The camera battery is charging and the slide show is finished. I am going to set up stations around the hall, so the ladies and gentlemen can move from the Lamb to the Chickens to the Dog Play to the Slideshow of Farm Life taken from the blog photos. They can pause where they want to be the longest. We do not have very many animals to take today but it is a beginning.
Good morning! I hope to have some photos of today – for you tomorrow, which I will post before I jump in the car, that will take me to the bus, that will take me on the two hour journey to the airport, to catch two planes across to California to cook a family dinner. I will show you how my Mum made pavlova!
Have a great day. We will have an unusually busy day. But there will be lots of smiles today!
It is after dawn and I can hear Kupa honking out there! What a peacock!
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “The Lambs find TonTon and Sad Bee News.”
You really are taking thr rough with the smooth Celi, and I can only commend you on your grace and positive attitute. I am really sorry about your bees. Like everyone else, though, I can’t wait to see the Dog Medicine Chronicles!
Ha the Dog medicine Chronicles! Wish i had read this before i wrote that post! perfect name! c
Sorry to hear that you have lost a hive C. Very unfortunate and disheartening.
Disheartening is exactly the right word.. thank you jed c
Oh, Celi, this is very hard to bear. I’m so sorry. Plus, you are a being a microcosm of the bee world in this respect. That’s disconcerting – especially when the experts haven’t yet been able to discern the problem. Does that mean it’s a new problem? It would be easier to swallow knowing it was Nature culling its own rather than something we are doing to the essential little beings.
By now, you are probably on your way home from the DM Day – hope it was a smashing success – except for windows!
Have a great time away. Hope you are able to be totally there. I gave myself that gift with my family and it’s been glorious.
That’s terrible to hear about your bees. And, unresolved as you don’t know what caused it. Hope it’s something easy to fix.
How awful about your bees Celi. Is the remaining brood worker, not just drone? Just wondering if the queen could have become a drone layer and the population fizzled out. But then you said they were heaving a few days ago.
Sometimes I have heard of hives absconding due to high levels of varroa. They either go to another hive or set up somewhere new. We think this has happened in our apiary once, when one beekeeper found all his bees had gone and another found his colony had suddenly got a lot bigger. Perhaps you could try uncapping some of the brood left behind with an uncapping fork to see if it contains many mites.
I did uncap and found it quite clean, but i will go back in and have a look with mites in mind. I examined a few of the dead bees and did not see any other the little black spots. I shall check the other hives though for an increase in bees.. this was a big colony, 4 supers high. I did see more drones than normal wandering about after the loss.
What do I do with the hive though. Do I dismantle it and destroy it in case of disease. It seems such a terrible waste of honey.
c
Try uncapping some of the drone brood, the mites prefer that. Your peacock will probably enjoy eating it afterwards.
Don’t give the honey to your other bees just in case. Burn up the brood frames but the hive boxes can be kept, flame them lightly with a blowtorch.
The honey is probably ok for you to eat, I would think? You said it smelled nice and there’s been no spraying near you. As you say, it would be a shame to lose four supers worth.
Such a shame about the bees. Can´t claim to know much about it though 😦 Love what you are doing with the old folk, bet they count they days till you come over to visit!
I am sorry to hear of the bees. It must be distressing to see them dying and know that there is nothing you can do.
I see your teacher hat is well and truly on with retirement home planning. It often comes in handy doesn’t it?
I’m wondering what your weather did around then. Could it have warmed up and the cluster broke and then cooled off to quickly for them to re-cluster? Spring can be tough on bees. If everything looks clean, I’d stick it all in the freezer and be ready to pick up a swarm later. Hopefully robbers haven’t cleaned you out.
This is a very good point, it did get very cold again around about then. Thankfully the other hives are doing OK, and they are smaller too…The freezing idea is a good one, I had not thought of that. I shall do that. I was at a loss as to what to do about the two supers of honey. I guess new bees will clean out the brood themselves. Any bugs will be killed by the freezer.. c
LOVE the lamb pics. And how weird about your bees – that is a blow for sure. I hope that this trend in the world today of bees dying will soon be figured out and stopped. We need our bees!
How awful, to lose a hive of bees like this, C, bees really are in crisis. Hope your other hives will be safe. Ton Ton is gorgeous!
Mary’s cat looking eyes amazing… how serious and seems in bad temper… Beautiful photograph, so beautiful… Thanks and Love, nia