despite it being a frigid 50 this past week, we've had little outside work to do as nothing is blooming or growing. not even the weeds. fortunately so, as we've had our hands tied up with the wildlife.
this is what a perfectly good, never-before-used bee frame looks like. this is what you put into a hive box when you start a bee colony:
this is what happens when those dirty rotten black bear scoundrels get their dirty little paws on them:
and here's a close-up:
edited to add....kenny said i should show you the frame as it had been when the bear actually ATE it...and you can see the frame with lots of bee-made comb and brood (and LOTS of bees, of course). all that busy-bee-work in the belly of a bear. such tragedy:
i'll save you the gory details on how a black bear just traipsed into our yard at 9:20 one night and within seconds ruined a perfectly good bee colony. and how kenny ran to try to save the honeybees all the while the black bear stood 100 feet away, licking his chops. and how i was freaking out yelling at kenny to "get the $^%# inside the house!" but he's a beekeeper now. and you grow a certain affection for the little bee critters when they're your responsibility.
we're not sure about the future of our first hive. it was pretty torn up (as you can see from the photo above). fortunately, we had just set up our second hive last week, and it's fairly untouched.
and we're pretty bear-proofed at the moment. dad and kenny spent a good part of the weekend putting up an electric fence for around the hives. we also have a live bear trap set up in the yard that is so far keeping the raccoons and feral cats well-fed. we're at least hopeful. last night, kenny and i were awakened by a very odd crying/howling that sounded like the last link on
this page. i mean no disrespect to the black bear. i realize it was US who invaded THEIR natural habitat. and i really don't think they're rotten. or scoundrels. okay, maybe they're scoundrels. but only when they walk around my yard where my three babies play daily.