Rain.

[Dishmop]

Silly bees from my Obs hive decided to sit on the veranda yesterday doing nothing.. Bit of a grey day here.

They were just huddled together, all piled on top of each other.

Then it rained... Silly sods still didnt move. Got sodden wet.

Very slowly most of them decided to crawl back in one by one.

This morning a bunch of them were still there so I scooped them off into a container with a lid and put them indoors in the sun.

About 2 hours later I took them outside and removed the lid. All happily walking around inside and then one by one they flew off.

Bloody stupid things we do.

 

[MJBee]

I checked a varroa tray and found a bee that had been shut in for 3 days, it was very lethargic but I put it beside a drop of honey which it slurped at for two or three minutes, sat in the sun for another 5 minutes then flew away - makes you feel all warm inside

I'm going to start a poll " how many beekeepers read the above and said "silly sod"

 

[BlidworthBees]

Not silly at all. Bees are living creatures and deserve to be treated with respect.
Good for Karma.

 

[Silly Bee]

 

[kazmcc]

I agree too. I still can't get over how attached I am to these darn bugs

 

[Polyanwood]

Are you kinder with your head or your heart?

I admit to, and indeed rejoice in, soppiness about my bees... and even other people's... including picking them out of the feeders, propping of pieces of stick for them to climb up when newly emerged bees have fallen on the ground and picking individual bees that were in a drowning swarm in my ungloved fingers and putting them in the nuc box....

BUT sometimes I wonder if I am being soppy and not sensible.. I have seen bees that I have carefully warmed and revived be rejected at the hive entrance. Maybe they were old and sick and a burden to the colony and the other bees had already given them their marching orders.

The colony is more important than the individual bee...I think the bees do know best, but sometimes as a bee enthusiast, that feels hard to accept.

 

[Dishmop]

propping of pieces of stick for them to climb up

Yep,, I found that out. I watched them crawling up blades of grass.

I noticed that since they got soaked they havent stayed out there in the rain anymore. 4 o'clock and they're starting to come in as the temperature drops.