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.”
I’d feel like moping too. That’s so sad, about your bees. If any one can find out why though, it’s you! with help from so many.
So sorry about your bees, Celi. I do have a bee book, which I will consult this afternoon. It is from the 17th century however! Nevertheless–there might be some little tidbit of use in there.
I will take help from any century! c
Miss C, I’m so sorry. Thinking of you today, while you stoically go about your business x
What is the title of your essay in the contest; I wondered why Mama was losing her Scarlett O’Hara waist, and must have missed that she was enceinte(sP); when it came to the bees, a silence filled me, a reference for life, and a sadness to see all those tiny charred looking bodies; what a tragedy; bees are in trouble!
The title of my entry is the mists of writing, but do read the others there are some very good entries! And it was awfully sad finding all the bees dead, such a shame, they were such strong little hives too.. c
I hope you found out what happened to your bees.
“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.”
― Emily Dickinson
Alice how clever of you, this looks like it should be an embroidery hanging on the wall , what a wonderful gift!.. c
Very sad about the bees, but at least you know now. Accept the gift of the honey, and the bees’ legacy… then make a new start. The writing desk stories are wonderful… I voted, of course 🙂
Thank you ella dee! c
I love the thought of the Shush sisters playing in the snow, Celi 🙂
I will let them out in it tomorrow!! but they will be moaning their arses off within minutes, trying to lift the gates off their hinges so they can get back into the barn! !
Good luck on the contest!
It didn’t sound good the other day wen you mentioned the hives were silent but I did hold out hope. Sorry, Celi, but I hope you do find the cause. Maybe one of your readers has an idea or some practical experience that may help. I certainly hope so.
We, too, have snow on the ground and I actually got out the blower, clearing about half the block’s snow. I chuckled at the thought of the Shush Sister wearing coats so that they could play in the snow.
Good luck in the contest, though I doubt you’ll need it. I voted for you and I’ve had quite a successful voting record of late. Just saying … 😉
i am so glad you got that blower out for some exercise.. phew! I was thinking maybe we were in for a No Blower winter!.. laugh!! c
Oh Celi, what a blow about the bees.. hope it isn’t part of the worldwide decline in bee populations… it would begin to feel like Armageddon… all the girls look good though, won’t the shush sisters wear their coast because they’re not elegant enough?
they eat them.. not a good look! c
my neighbor,a beekeeper in west virginia, builds big fire and heats tub of water outside
puts the black frames in boiling water to kill any bee germs, mites ect
then will store the honey for human use, do not give to other bees and boil those frames, hive bodies
everything that could be contaminated with verrona[spelling] mites
then he puts hives/frames in big garbage bags with some sort of mite killing crystals for a period of time
i know, its a chemical, but sometimes have to use them
the alternitive, if mites,is to burn the hive to prevent spread
would mites wipe out two hives like that? so fast. the tub of boiling water would be a good idea, i have frozen frames and whole supers in the past too.. thanks for the advice, always appreciated.. and welcome ronald c
bees bump into infected bees when forageing
that 1 way mites spread
neighbor has buckfest brand/breed of honeybees
say they more resistant to mites
good point, thank you ron,I test for mites a couple of times a summer .. i will stay on it for sure.. c
Voting done: seem to have joined an awful lot of others in ticking a certain number: may they continue to increase 🙂 ! The bees: if at once you don’t succeed . . . . am certain you want to start again!
So sorry about the bees. We have had our ups and downs, and now do not medicate the hive anymore as I think it is worse than not. You do NOt have to destroy the frames and supers. You have to scrape them out very carefully and treat them with a chlorox solution. And let them get the sun and air. For a number of years we only used a frame with about 3″ of foundation right at the top of the frame and the bees did their own thing. They were Russians and Carneolans and they hated the foundation all the way down! You never know… :*(
I like the idea of the 3″ foundation. And thank you, this is what I shall do.. scrape. bleach and air. Thank you. I think it was this wild winter and I did not put in extra feed early enough. This is what my research is telling me. Miserable.. c
Oh no! So sorry to hear about the bees – I hope it wasn’t anything too sinister.. x