[Assam] A Rebellion of my Own/ With Both Hands Tied

[Chan Mahanta]

WITH BOTH HANDS TIED:


OK, folks, I won't tell you what a queen in hand is worth! But it was  
a good news, bad news story.
I was elated that I captured the queen, but what now? How will I  
replace her in the hive, with both my hands
occupied and nobody home to seek help from? Even the neighbors are out  
of earshot. The cell-phone was in my pants
pocket, but great deal of good that was. I could feel her crawling  
inside my clasp. Good thing I am not ticklish on my palms.
Better still was to know that she was not hurt and moving vigorously.  
I walked around, trying to come up with
a workable plan of action. I thought I better get inside the house if  
I could. Surely I would find something
in which to hold her, while I free my hands to assemble a contraption,  
like a funnel or something,
to guide the queen into the hive entry.

A word here about doors: Usually our residential doors here have  
knobs, that require a functioning palm
to rotate and open the latch. Luckily however, I replaced the side- 
door knob las year with a lever handle, because
often I come inside with dirty hands working outdoors, making a mess  
of the knob. I can open the lever handle
with my elbow. It was a close call.

As soon as I worked my way into the house, queen in hand, a solution  
to my problem of temporary queen holding
greeted me  in the Mud-room. It was my bee-hat. The bee-hat is a wide  
brimmed hat, like a miniature " jaapi", but with
a hanging fabric net with a wire mesh vision panel. Could not have  
found a better holding-pen. It was soft and easily manipulated
and allows the queen to breathe and move around comfortably, just in  
case I would require to hold her there overnight
while I seek experienced help/advice in how to transfer her to the  
hive. Just as soon as I placed the queen in hat and
gathered the loose end of the netting together and clasped in my fist,  
my cell phone rang in my pants pocket. It was Bob,
returning my call from when the queen escaped. A lively conversation  
ensued. Me recounted the rapidly evolving events,
Bob-examining me, my explanations, Bob's disbelief, present  
dispensation of the queen, Bob's observations
on my travails and so forth. Bob wanted to know why I did not remove  
the entrance reducer to the hive before I attempted
to slide the queen cage into it. I told him that he didn't ask me to.  
Bob was exasperated. So it was HIS fault now? No, no, no!
It was not his fault, I explained. I understood and appreciated his  
efforts at helping me. What Bob did not know at the time just
  like I did not,  was that even if I had removed the entrance  
reducer, the plastic queen cage still could not have been slid into it.
It is a thinner, wood framed queen cage Bob was referring to. He did  
not remember  what kind of cage I got from him a few hours
earlier and I did not know that the slimmer contraption existed and  
that the instructions were applicable to THAT one, not the fatter,
  bottle shaped plastic cage I got.  Bob's voice was somewhat elevated  
now. He was thinking out loud
about what to do next. Place the hat over the hive, face down  
obviously,  place  the upper shell around it, cover it up with the top  
lid
he suggested. I countered, what if I placed it over the inner lid,  
over the feeder  hole and then place the upper shell and top lid.
I had mental images of having to remove a hatful of bees next morning  
and the idea was not too appealing. I figured, if I
released the queen over the feeder hole, she would crawl into the hive  
and the bees won't take up residence inside my hat,
obviating a possible eviction battle later with an already rebellious  
nest of bees. Bob shouted out that he couldn't think,
that he did not have a good answer. I said no problem. I got enough  
from him to be able to proceed with the next move. I would
be able to take care of placing the hat with queen inside the hive. I  
thanked him again for all his help. All this went on with one
hand clasping the hat net  and the other holding the phone.

Finally I could now find a rubber-band to tie the hat-net and get both  
my hands free. Placing the tied hat on the dining table, I walked out to
ponder what would be the better move. Bob's idea or mine? Phone rang  
again. It was Bob. He was very apologetic that he shouted at me.
In my excitement I didn't even realize that he did and I put him at  
his ease. We discussed the possibilities again. We agreed  his idea was
better. I had a mosquito hat with netting that I could wear to  
retrieve my bee-hat after the queen has gotten out. He gave me step by  
step
instructions. Should I leave the hat in the hive overnight? I could,  
he said. But I could go back ten minutes later and see if she left the  
hat.
I thought to myself: I will leave it overnight! Bob  explained that  
the queen was actually trying to return to the hive on her own. I got  
defensive
and felt that my accomplishment in capturing her in mid-air was not  
being given due importance and  countered: What if she had entered the  
wrong
hive, next to it? She landed on that box after all? Bob did not know  
for sure, but  shared that she  would have been 'unwelcome' there.
Understatement of the day I thought. Oh, one more question, before I  
hanged up: Did I  need to 'smoke the hive' to place the queen-in-hat?  
Bad
phrasing on my part. What SMOKE, Bob retorted? Bee-keepers use precise  
words and phrases for describing their art and science.  At least this
one did. I should have asked if I should apply smoke, as we do in  
preparation for inspecting a hive. No, that would  not be necessary, I  
was
informed. I shouldn't worry about a sting if that happens. And I did  
not.

Dusk was fast approaching. I opened the hive. Placed queen and hat  
over the comb frames,  determined not to let the queen escape
again. Ever so carefully I opened my clasp of the netting. It was not  
a neat operation. The mouth of the netting still crumpled, but there was
enough open space for the queen to crawl out. I placed feeder shell  
over it and closed the outer lid.

I lingered around the yard, savoring the fact that the roller-coaster  
events of afternoon ended on a positive note . I tried to decide
if should I leave the hat in the hive overnight or go inspect in ten  
minutes as Bob suggested? After some vacillation, I
decided to go inspect the hive to see if the queen left the hat. She  
did. I removed the hat and shook off the few bees clinging inside.
That was the good news. But she was tightly balled around by a fistful  
of
workers. Not a good sign, that! I closed the lid and slowly walked  
away from the hives, wondering if the workers would accept her or kill  
her.
I finished tidying up the yard and closed the garage door. Went  
inside, took a shower and tried to call it a day. Easier said than  
done however.
I called Bob and reported the operation in detail. Well, we will just  
have to wait now and see. It will take three days before we know. If  
there
are eggs being laid, we would know that the queen was accepted and the  
problem resolved.

But how would I know if they are good eggs being laid by the queen or  
just more drone eggs by the rebellious egg-laying workers?
Could I look for the queen?

Bob was exasperated again. Were we dealing with a laying-worker colony?

Of course we were Bob! I felt he had too many things going on in his  
own mind.

She would be killed, Bob thought out loud.  Why did we do this ?

Now I was exasperated. We did it because YOU did the research and  
found that it was worth a try, I explained.

OK, OK, we still can determine if the queen was there, but it will be  
eight days later, he explained.

If I find capped worker larvae cells ( they are distinctly different  
from capped drone cells), we will know. I should still inspect in  
three days. I shouldn't  even try to look for the queen, it is too  
hard, he reminded me. Well, what the heck, I thought, I shall wait.

It was almost dark now. But I had to go out again and hover over the  
hive to see what is going on, if anything.
The bees in the good hive have all retired inside for the night. The  
rebellious one was however abuzz, with workers milling around the  
entrance. Very unusual I thought.

Hey, stop it--one of them buzzed me over my ear! Another came at my  
neck.

I was not wearing the protective hat. Usually  I can go watch them  
with any problem at all. They are very gentle. But now they are acting  
unusually aggressive. I  flailed my arms and was walking away, when  
another came at me, landed on my nose tip momentarily and stung me on  
the upper inside of my right nostril and escaped. I felt the sting and  
the acrid smell of the venom.

Oh, no, not in my nose!  I felt a little pain and despaired over the  
thought that the next day, when I  go for the neighborhood association  
directors' meeting, I would be wearing a mask, inviting all kinds of  
fool-questions, because surely the nose would swell like a balloon. I  
looked for the stinger with the finger-tip, but there wasn't one.  
Apparently the bee did not get a good stab. Just pricked a tiny bit  
and left with her life. For had she had a good stab, she would have  
left her stinger and rear end embedded in my nose, and flown away to  
die. Mercifully , the ballooning of the nose did not happen. Banti, a  
physician,  explained that the nostril is made of cartilage and not  
soft tissue. That saved me from an injury  compounded with the insult.

What a day it was!

NEXT: THE LONG WAIT.

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Assuming there has been some interest in following my bee-keeping saga  
( this is blog stuff, I think, but I haven't entered that era yet,
so the punishment meted out here, like it or not :-)) here is what  
happened after I decided, on the evening of May 18, to release the
caged queen into Hive B, manually, as Bob originally suggested:


I confirmed from Bob earlier that should I decide to release her  
manually that evening, should I smoke the hive again? He said it
is not necessary.  So what if I get a sting or two? I agreed. So far I  
have been stung once only, during inspection, when I decided
to shed the leather gloves . It was on the back of my left hand, which  
swelled up, even with application of Benadryl cream ( antihistamine)
some and subsided to normal in two days. It was not painful enough to  
be concerned.

So, donning only my protective hat/mask combo. and slipping on a long  
sleeved shirt over the T-shirt I was wearing ( no-space suit this time),
I opened the hive box and accessed the queen cage, which was still  
surrounded, loosely, by unruffled looking workers. I picked it out ,  
brushed the
workers away gently with my fingers, and replaced the upper cage and  
inner and outer lids. I held the plastic, bottle shaped cage and
looked at it as well as the tiny slit of an entry at the hive box  
bottom. The normal entry is full width of the box, about 15" long X  
3/8" high. But
it had an entrance reducer that we put on when a new hive is  
introduced, about 2" wide X 1/4" high. Hive B still had the reducer  
on, but not
Hive A just a foot away. The cage bottle  is about 1/2" in thickness.  
The main body, where the queen resides, is perforated, to allow the
workers to feed her thru with their long tongues and is about 1" wide  
X 1.5" long X 1/2" thick. The neck of the bottle is to one side,
1" long, and was filled with solid, soft sugar ( the candy plug) that  
the workers are expected to eat thru and release the queen, while being
used to her and her pheromones that keep the bees in the hive together  
and in control of the queen. Next to the base of the neck of the bottle
  was another little plastic lid on the main body of the cage. That is  
what I had to open with my finger nail, hold the opening close with my  
fingertip,
SLIDE the assembly into the hive entry slot and release the finger to  
let the queen crawl into the hive.  Fairly easy, right?

Wrong!

The cage assembly was way too thick to slide into the entry slot. Not  
even close.

What happened, I wondered?  Bob is very detailed and thorough with his  
instructions. He could not have made such a huge error
and instructed me to insert a 1/2" thick assembly into a 1/4" slot. So  
I looked at the next hive and the full entry slot, without the reducer
as in Hive B. That was more like it, but that too was not large enough  
to accept the cage.

Now what? Queen cage in hand, plastic lid half open, ready to insert,  
but nowhere to go! Why me??? Back in my IIT days, we would
have described the predicament with the first letters of a colorful  
Hindi phrase that I cannot repeat here in this forum.

Should I call Bob AGAIN? No, I couldn't do that. Called him enough  
already.  I am resourceful enough, I reasoned.  So I approached
the reduced entry slot, placed the cage assembly opening against it  
and assessed the size of the mismatch and the problem. It was
sizable! The tip of the long neck and the tip of the short body's  
other end, when placed against the slot made a triangular open
space with 3/4" X3/4" sides, plenty big for the queen to escape when I  
release the plug. But I could cover that with my other hand, while
I release the opening with the left fingertip. Simple enough, right?

Wrong!

While I maneuver the opening with my left fore-finger and cover the  
opening with my right hand fingers, what holds the cage securely
against the hive-box entry and prevents the opening from getting way  
too large? Not a whole lot, other than some vertical pressure and side
friction that I could generate with my right fingesr. Could work. But  
even my tiny left fingertip, about 1/2" wide X 3/8" thick, requires  
some room to
maneuver. That was a BUT that turned costly! As soon as I attempted to  
release the queen, the poorly protected top  opening got wider
and the queen headed straight out, into the air and not into the slot.  
I tried to shoo her back with the right hang fingers and in the fumble
the queen gave me the slip and out she flew. I was aghast!

But the queen did not fly far, she actually landed right back on the  
hive box wall, but as soon as I tried to grab her she flew right out  
AGAIN!
I could see her flying around  overhead. She was a marked queen  
( artificially spotted with a white dot of paint on her back, making her
easily identifiable.) But the next moment she swung around and took  
off with a steep climb, in a trajectory like the McDonnel Douglas logo,
unto the yonder!

I must have missed a few beats of my heart. I was crestfallen. It was  
so close, but  it is so far away now!  Deep disappointment settled in.
I grabbed my cell-phone in my pocket and called Bob. His mailbox  
answered. I left a message briefly describing
what happened and asked if he could give me a call back when  
convenient. It was about 6:00 pm. Banti was not home. Alone
with my despondence, I attempted to get to the chores of tidying up  
the yard for the evening. It wasn't easy.

In less than five minutes I returned to the hive, just to watch and  
wonder and sort out my next step. It will have to be Plan B now.  
Things were
all quiet, dusk was slowly creeping into the voids under the trees.  
The sky was steadily looking darker and there was sense of loss in the  
air.

I looked out towards Hive A, just a foot away and WAIT, is that the  
queen trying to land on the taller hive box?  Yes, indeed, she just  
landed. I
dived for her with my bare hand, almost got her, but she give me the  
slip again and was clumsily trying get her flight steady, just outside  
the box.
I thought I hurt her. This time I went after her with both palms open  
to clasp her in mid-air. Dang, missed her again. But there she was,  
still flapping
around, and this time I got her. Plucked her right out of the air! Am  
I good or what? All those experiences of childhood at Namti, plucking  
slow
flying fire-flies ( lightning bugs) from the dark nights of summer  
came to life instantly, and there she was, Miss America, firmly  
planted inside the
half-shells of my palms. Reminded me of the  lyrics of Joan Baez's  
immortal Diamonds and Rust ( You strayed into my arms-- And there you  
stayed--
Temporarily lost at sea--The Madonna was yours for free--Yes the girl  
on the half shell--Would keep you unharmed).

It felt good. Very, very good!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next:  WITH BOTH HANDS TIED
You strayed into my arms
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Readers: Pardon the excruciating details leading to the lengthy piece  
below. I am writing this also for our Journal, where the readers
will understand the details and would want to know.
cm
________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The last piece I posted to assamnet  about my bee-keeping saga was on  
May 19.

It was on May 13 I determined that my hive B, was in fact taken over  
by what is commonly known in the bee-keeping community
as the Laying Worker Colony, a seriously bad problem, particularly for  
a novice like me.  Why it is so serious is because of the time
available in our climate for the colony to be re-queened and built-up  
enough to be able to survive the next winter -- the primary goal
of a new hive. The available time is from April to August and every  
week of new worker production and honey collection for the
winter is critical to its survival.

Once I knew I was in trouble with Hive B, I called my go-to-guy and  
answer-man, Bob. Bob is the tireless retired attorney, along
with others who provides this immense service to the St. Louis bee  
keeping community called Eastern Missouri Bee-Keepers'
Association ( EMBA). Ordinarily I would have been somewhat hesitant to  
keep calling him ( started with e-mails from Assam, about
ordering problems over the internet), but he assured me earlier that  
he did not mind. So I told him about my problem. Now, Bob, being
the attorney he is, does not converse like ordinary  people, he cross- 
examines you at every step. Fortunately, I am OK on that front,
because I do too. But every now and then the cell-phone breaks up, Bob  
has this additional challenge of learning to read my accent
and in my excitement, I speak way too fast for most people to be able  
to comprehend. On top of all that Bob has been in pain from a slipped
disc and was under pain medication. So communication has, needless to  
say, been somewhat turbulent at times.

Bob's initial reaction, after assuring himself with the cross- 
examination that I DID indeed have a Laying Worker Colony,
from his car, was that it was over for Hive B. He wondered out loud  
about a couple of options , but was not hopeful. Gave me some
websites to look up and would himself look up his references to see  
what my options are. He thought more, called me again.
Went home, did more research and called again. He was a life-saver!  
Finally he found something in a newer edition of one
of the most well liked books on bee-keeping, by Dr. Keiths Delaplain,  
that gave him enough hope to call me and help me
with a definite piece  of advice ( unlike the thinking out loud  
options earlier) : I can try re-queening the hive with a new queen.
If the colony rejects it, we will just accept the eventuality and  
salvage the box-full of combs with stored honey with drones and all
and use them to accelerate the growth of my other hive, Hive A. That  
was on the morning of May 14. He had three queens, of which
two were spoken for, but he could sell me one. I was on the road to a  
meeting and I inquired when and where I could pick it up from.
Turned out it was not too far away, and after my meeting I headed for  
Bob's house. It was 2:00 pm  and I had not yet had lunch, but
I gave him a time and  made sure I was there. But Bob had another bee- 
keeper in his basement honey factory, teaching her how to install
re-inforcing wires on honey-combs. It was a great learning experience  
for me too. By about 2:45 PM, I was heading home with a new
queen and a lot of hope. Bob explained to me, in his usual and  
thorough manner how to place the plastic cage between two comb
frames, cautioning that both ends must be exposed to the workers and  
so forth and to make sure it does not fall to the bottom.
What Bob did not know was that I am even more careful about these  
things. I arrived home about 3:30 PM ( still had not had lunch),
went to my basement workshop, fashioned a metal sling to suspend the  
queen cage from the frame tops ( as opposed to merely
relying on side-friction of two comb frames to hold the capsule  
suspended) and placed the cage in the hive.

I have now completed the first step of our Plan A, to try and re-queen  
the hive. It was 4:00 pm. I reported to Bob that the deed had been done.
He wanted to know how the workers were behaving, grouping loosely or  
clumping heavily around the cage making stabbing motions
at the cage, which would be a sign of imminent danger.  The workers  
were behaving nicely I reported. And I went inside the house
to grab half a sandwich left over from the day before. It tasted  
heavenly!

Bob cautioned me to be patient and allow  three days for the worker  
bees ( he had reason to suspect I might be over-anxious, but that
is another story) to eat thru the candy-plug of the cage and release  
the queen. That will give the bees in the hive  enough time to get
used to a new queen and accept her, instead of attacking and killing  
her if she was released into the hive immediately. So I could inspect
the hive on May 17 to see how the workers were behaving with the new  
queen and if they had released her. Bob wanted to keep him
informed about how things were coming along.

May 17 was a very gloomy, cool and rainy day, all day. Not a good day  
to open and inspect a hive, because the workers were all inside.
They don't go out on rainy days to forage. Next day, a nice sunny day,  
about 3:00 PM , I finally got around to gear up ( don my screened
helmet and white body suit and long gloves that look vaguely like a  
clown-astronaut outfit) to go check the queen cage
and see if she had been released yet.  I lit the smoker ( you need  
cool smoke to blow into the cage, which calms the bees down
and suppresses their defensive instincts), grabbed my hive tool and  
long tweezers ( to grab and smash any hive beetle, a pest that
has already began to appear) and opened the top lid, removed the upper  
shell, feeder bucket and inner lid and exposed the comb
frames in the hive box below. The queen cage was in place like I  
expected it to be. I pulled it out to inspect. The 1" long candy plug  
was
eaten to about 3/4" only and the queen had not yet been released. I  
called Bob to report my findings. He took deposition carefully and we
discussed what to do next. I reported to him that I took a knife and  
scraped out some more of the candy plug, leaving only a little. I hoped
the workers will eat thru the remainder of the plug overnight and I  
will inspect again tomorrow, on May 19. Bob had a different idea: I  
could
hold the cage in my bare fingers ( no big deal if I get a sting or  
two, a bee-keeper is expected to be stung every now and then) and with
my fingernail open the little plastic cap ( not the candy plug) and  
release the queen into the entry slot at the bottom of the hive box. I
should slip the cage, holding the open cap close with my fingertip  
( no, a queen can't sting) into the bee entry slot at the bottom of
the hive box, release the finger and let the queen crawl into the hive.

I was a bit ambivalent about the operation. I knew I could do it. But  
won't it be better if I just waited one more day and let the workers  
release
her to themselves? Bob replied I could. What would be better, I  
persisted? He was not about to give a definitive answer. Obviously  
there was
not one. So I let go, set the tools away, extinguished the smoker and  
went into the office ( the hives are just fifty feet away from my  
office)
and resumed my chores. But I kept thinking, should I release her  
manually like Bob suggested? After all, he emphasized the getting used  
to the queen
and accepting her was the critical issue. Time is of the essence.  By  
about 5:30 pm, I got ready to work outside and decided, what-the-heck, I
will go release the queen manually.

Not a good decision, that! It led to a crisis all on its own.


Next -----CRISIS !










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Not to make light of the struggles of the oppressed in India's  
heartland and frontiers, but I have found myself
with sort of a Maoist rebellion right here in the land of  
capitalism :-).

After a number of years of mulling, I have decided to take the plunge  
into bee-keeping this year. In February  I attended a full day
seminar on bee-keeping, while traveling in Assam in March ordered bee  
packages and queens via the internet and thereafter attended monthly
meetings, on-hands training sessions on assembling hives, comb frames,  
installing bee packages and queens into hives, periodic checking,  
feeding, pest control etc. etc. Finally on April 17 we took delivery  
of two packages of bees each weighing about 2lbs. (about 6,000 bees)  
and a queen, for two hives.
It is recommended that a newbie bee-keeper start with two hives, just  
so if one becomes dysfunctional or diseased, one can remain to  
overwinter
and produce honey next year.

Immediately after  installing the packages into the hive boxes, the  
worker bees go into action, drawing combs in the frames for the queen  
to lay eggs
and start building the colony with worker bees. A good queen will lay  
eggs primarily to produce the female workers and  perhaps a few DRONES  
( males)
here and there. The queen starts laying eggs within three days, the  
eggs hatch in another three, the cells are capped in eight days and  
adults emerge
in sixteen days and the colony begins to build.

Things were going quite smoothly, until, after sixteen days of  
installing the two packages in the hives, I discovered that in one of  
the hives
there were only DRONES being produced, no workers, and thus a recipe  
for imminent demise of the colony. The drone cells are distinctively  
larger than the worker cells and easily identified. It did not seem  
right, but I thought it was just a little aberration. About a week  
later an e-mail came in from our bee-keeping organization announcing  
the next seminar where an expert was going to discuss various issues,  
INCLUDING problems such as drone-laying queens and
egg-laying worker colonies.

A warning flare went up in my mind! There are such things as a  
dysfunctional queen that produces only drones ? Or a colony taken over  
by the workers
who lay their own eggs? Oh no!! Why me I thought.

Ten days after I first saw the drone cells in my hive, I re-inspected  
the defective hive to confirm that there were no worker cells, only  
drones, just before going to attend the seminar. After a number of  
questions thrown at the speakers and a re-re-inspection of the problem  
hive the next day, I confirmed that the colony
did not have a queen and that workers were laying eggs, which can only  
produce drones.

Obviously, for some inexplicable reason, the workers went into a full- 
blown rebellion, killed the queen and took over egg-laying. I had a  
Maoist rebellion on my own hands!

Now what? I thought of calling PC. But that was not a good idea. He  
would probably say-" No discussions without them first laying down  
their arms"  or recommend calling in the air-force. MMS, perhaps?  
Naah, he will probably say that there is nothing that could not be  
solved within the democratic process! No use there either.

Well, how about  Assamnet law-and-order advocates?  Any help here :-)?

Stay tuned for Chapter II.

cm