
It’s been a while since we’ve written about the bees. When we last updated you, we had taken just a tiny bit of honey from one of the hives. At that time we were a little worried that one of the three seemed to have no honey at all. It was as if those bees had gotten really lazy and just stopped working. We had to remove its the upper layer because it was empty, and hoped they would just hunker down and survive the winter. Well, sadly, they didn’t even make it through Thanksgiving. We found a bunch of dead bees near the door to the hive, and sure enough, a peek inside confirmed our fears. The bees were all dead, starved. In this picture, you can see their sad fate. Their dove in deep, trying to get the last bit of honey they had made, and all their little butts are sticking out. We have a theory on why this hive didn’t survive and the others seem to be okay. It has to do with the way the hive was constructed — this one was more “free form” while the others are ready-made to go. You’d think the bees would be prefer the au natural hive route, but apparently not.
We probably won’t have another update until spring, as the other two hives will be left one alone to do their thing. Fingers crossed, they’ll survive a few cold months! Wish us luck! — Angela M.