Author: Justin Hill

New bees

My hive didn’t do so well over the winter. The queen is still there but I only found a few hundred bees around her (normal hive is in the tens of thousands – healthy hive is 70,000). I moved them to a nuc (small 5-frame box) to see if they can turn things around — if they do, I’ll have two hives.

The old bees, gathered around the queen after a tough winter. Can you spot the queen?

I ordered a new package of bees, which I installed Saturday. Today I released the queen who stays in her own cage for several days until the new bees (who aren’t her kin) decide she smells ok and can be their matriarch. She has already mated with some drones in California, so she has all she needs to lay up to 2,000 eggs a day (less in the winter) for 5 years or so. The other bees’ job is to keep the queen alive and prepare cells so she can lay eggs that will hatch into their replacements. Tough life. After a month or so the whole hive will be the new queen’s progeny.

Here’s a little video, at half speed, of today’s hive entrance activity –

And some photos –

Bees are pretty interested in the queen who is in that corner of the hive (but inside)
Coming in for a landing
Orange-legged one on the right (facing down with spread wings) is bringing in pollen
Installing the bee package (plastic white box at my feet)
Peach blossom harvest
Peach blossom harvest

The Hills in New York City

April 2018 visit to NYC – lots of tourism, a Hamilton show, and Nate Bargatze.

St. Luke and St. John
Radio City Music Hall on a foggy night
Trinity Church – NYC – burial place of Alexander Hamilton and family
New York
Times Square statues of liberty
Matching poses in the subway
View from Ellis Island
Brooklyn bridge
St Patrick’s Cathedral – NYC
Outside Rodgers Theater the day before Hamilton
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Brooklyn bridge
Bike tour of Central Park
View from Central Park – NYC
Nate Bargatze at Caroline’s Comedy
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton’s grave – Trinity Church, NYC
Manhattan view from Ellis Island ferry
Ellis Island tour
Brooklyn bridge
Outside Rodgers Theater the day before Hamilton
Brooklyn Bridge
Times Square red steps
The Empire State Building
We are probably the lowest priced in the city
Rockefeller Center – NYC
Alexander Hamilton’s grave – Trinity Church, NYC
Brooklyn bridge
Lighting a candle in Trinity Church
Statue of Liberty finally visible through the fog – view from Ellis Island
Bike tour of Central Park
Manhattan view from Ellis Island ferry
Times Square red steps
Yes to Lox, no to locks – Brooklyn Bridge
New Amsterdam
Trinity Church – NYC – burial place of Alexander Hamilton and family
Ice skaters – Rockefeller Plaza
Cafe Wha? – old Bob Dylan hangout in Greenwich Village
View from Central Park – NYC
View from Central Park – NYC
The bridge from Home Alone 2
Rockefeller Plaza – NYC
Dome of Federal Hall – NYC
Alice in Wonderland – Central Park, NYC
Rockefeller Plaza – NYC
Hot Dogs and Pretzels
New York Stock Exchange
Manhattan LDS temple
Empire State Building
Bike tour of Central Park
Imagine monument – Strawberry Fields, Central Park
Chrysler Building
Outside Rodgers Theater the day before Hamilton
Outside Rodgers Theater the day before Hamilton
Bad portraits for cheap! Central Park
The bridge from the snowball fight in Elf – Central Park, NYC
Times Square
Empire State Building – GoPro fisheye lens