We have snow on the ground. Not much.
Almost everyone likes to play in the snow, even if you do not have hands for snow balls.
Mama continues to get larger and I can literally see her lambs doing flip flops inside her. 
Some of us have no interest in playing in the snow though.
We will look at the devastation that is the remains of my bee hives shortly but first here is a lovely surprise. I made the finals in the writing contest over where Nancy writes at Spirit Lights the Way. So if you have a moment, do pop over and vote for your favourite entry. The competition is all about writing spaces and there are some wonderful short essays and poems.
The Shush Sisters were not allowed to come out and play in the snow, maybe today will be warmer. They used their entire repertoire of honks and squeaks and oinks to try and convince me to let them out but no-one one would wear a jacket so in they stayed. 
Snow. And now to the bees. I was encouraged by one of my bee mentors to have a quick peek in the hive and I found piles of honey but no bees, so I looked further down. 
Further down I found this. All the bees are dead. They have been dead for quite some time.
The comb is black and in some places it has been eaten away. 
Good morning. No life in the hives at all. I have seen this kind of thing on a smaller scale from a moth infestation. But it is winter and both hives have been wiped out. There are no webs or cocoons or larvae. Very sad. I shall research this today. We need to work out what killed them, how to avoid this happening again, what to do with the supers full of beautiful clean honey left behind by my beautiful bees and how to prepare these dirty supers for a new beginning this coming spring or do I burn them and give up. There is a lot of honey sitting out there now. I don’t want to give up on having bees. Grim isn’t it.
Well, lets all take a big breath and get on with today. Straight after the milking I am off to visit Nancy to read all the writing desk entries and vote, then you and I better get our bee books out.
Look for loveliness today. I am off into the snow to milk the cow and check on all the healthy happy animals waiting in the barn. No use moping. Though I feel like it.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
90 responses to “Bad news about the Bees and a Chance to Vote.”
So sorry about your bees C. All loss is tough to swallow.
Congrats on your story though. I will most certainly vote. 🙂
Sorry about the bees.
That is so sad about the bees.
Sad about the bees but at least they left you a legacy…
Cecilia,
Here’s the link we use all the time and have ordered our supplies from them for years. They have a wonderful newsletter I get each month and it’s so educational. It’s http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/ and another source we use is our county extension service for quick help.
I would take that good honey off immediately and put it in jars and seal it (heat the lids in boiling water and put on the jars immediately). It will keep forever and if it starts to crystallize all you do is heat it a little. We get $14 a quart for our honey with comb and $25 a quart if it’s strained. Email me if you have any questions. We’ve had bees for 30+ years.
Rita
I use brushy mountain farm too , they are great. Ok I will bring in the honey. Best to jar it I guess. c
That’s what we do with what we do. Others may have other ideas. This works for us.
That’s very sad news about the bees 😦
But good to see the pigs 🙂
…and congratulations on making it to the writing finals 🙂
Sorry about the bees C — If I remember anything from when I helped my dad keep bees, I wil certainly let you know — I think we did have to burn the frames but not the supers at one time — have to think on it so more — hope the forums can help you
I’m moping for you and your bees, But glad they left you some honey, which will be extra s.pecial. I voted for you.
Oh, no. I’m so sorry about your bees, c. I know nothing about bees, but quite a lot about keeping warm. Maybe something crept in to their warm home and decided it wasn’t big enough for all of them?
Oh dear. Too bad about the bees…….are you sure they’ve all expired? Around here, insects go into a state of ‘suspended animation/hibernation-like’ when it freezes in the wintertime. Often when I bring in firewood and there’s a ‘dead’ mosquito or fly or beetle on it, they come back to life when they heat up inside the house. I hope you figure this out….bee colony collapse is a real problem.
Most definitely dead I am afraid, a long time dead too. c
Voted yesterday. So sad about the Bees, is there no way you can erect some sort of protective structure above and around one side giving the bees some protection from weather both summer and winter and chemicals from crops? I really hope this is not a disease that can’t be rectified so that you can carry on. Laura
Celi, so sad about the bees. I hope you find out what happened. Love the pictures 🙂 the shush sisters are particularly adorable.
Congratulations on making the writing contest finale. None of us devoted readers are surprised. I just cast my vote for your piece.
I am so sorry to hear about the bees.
Darnit! I was hoping that they had just been extra sleepy because of all of the cold weather you’ve had. 😦 I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the soy fields next to you…
Congratulations on the writing contest though! I can’t wait to pop over and see what’s what. Have a lovely day, I look forward to seeing how “we” are going to fix the bee issue. 🙂
My response disappeared! I am mourning for you and the bees, and hope you can find a reason/solution.
My vote for you was made yesterday. I wish I could vote twice!