Bears

 A text today from my friend Denny, upriver, where I keep 10 hives: "bear scat this morning on the road".

Which sucks, as I have no protection around those hives, and they are packed full and supered, as I my truck is up on blocks and I haven't been able to pull the honey.

Bears seem to be coming out of the woodwork- everyone is seeing them, it's like they are scouting out the place- where we live- in some sort of anticipation of living here. It's like they've been reading the paper, the litany of how it's all going to hell for humans. They need to read the comics more- which is what I do. I even read- and like- the Family Circus, if that is any measure of desperation.

I have a charger, one that will charge 100 mile of fence, but it's with some other hives, surrounding about 20 feet of fence. I suppose, if I had enough fence, I could pretty much surround the whole valley on this charger, but I don't know where the bears would go.

So I do my best- I went down there in the heat today, and truck strapped every hive I had, and for those that had honey to pull, I put in honey extractors, one way boards. So I can pull the supers this weekend. Pretty much if you can get a hive to be two or three feet tall with a good truck strap around it, it's not accessible to a bear. They bat at it, slap it around- but don't break into it. Or at least, that's what has happened so far- mayhem, but no colonies lost.

But I'm worried about the 6 footers, with lots of supers. Strapping might help- but if a bear swats one, or tries to push it over, I can't imagine it won't break. I double strapped them, not sure that would make a difference,

When a bear gets into a hive it doesn't stop. It eats all the honey. all the brood, everything, and in the morning there are only pockets of bees shivering amongst empty frames and smashed super,to tell the tale. Everything is smashed, and laid out in a line. I'm hoping this doesn't happen- or I can pull the honey soon and get the hives short enough where they won't break open- but even I can smell the honey. I bet a bear is heading towards them now, even as I write. Dang it.

I worked fast to get them strapped, and a one way honey extractor installed-and they got pretty mean- lots of stings. Recently, somehow - old age?- I forget to bring the center zipper up to the top- and there's a little place where a bee gets in when they get mean. Boy, I hate that. Bees go nuts for some reason, pelting, and its hot, and you can feel them stinging through your jacket- and suddenly the find a way in. And they don't let up, once that happens, but will track you down. 

It's a record year for honey- not for me, but for people that were set up with good hives. The blackberry happened perfectly- a little rain, then a long stretch of hot weather and nectar. One friend extracted 160 gallons from 15 hives. Another shows me a picture of a hive in mid July, fully 7 or 8 feet tall, and crushing it's hive stand. It's just amazing. I have a few hives similar- but nothing like that. 

This week I'll take the time to start pulling supers- a little late, and I pulled no Maple, so I'll be curious how it ends up. I think I still have 20 or so colonies- but I bet only half will have surplus. A real decline for me, though in some ways, a relief. So much less work!