It was a rough week, bee-wise. But all is well for now.

There were two problems. No. 1: I underfed them. No. 2: I panicked and lost confidence.

Of the two problems No. 2 was probably the most serious. The underfeeding was pure stupidity. I had all the clues -- my peaceful bees suddenly turned mean, the hive was full of bees and brood (eggs growing into new bees) and not so full of capped honey, and it had been very hot (as in 100 degrees hot) and dry. But I didn't put the pieces together until last Sunday at about 1 PM during an unplanned conversation with an experienced beekeeper at the Takoma Park farmers market. He heard my clues and said "feed them." So I came home and fed them. And all would have been well if a neighbor hadn't picked that afternoon to invite his grandchildren to use his pool. I can't see the pool from my house but I can hear when it's being used and I can see the top half of adults standing near the pool. All I could think was "the bees are chasing me into the house they're so mad, it's hot as blazes and they probably want that pool water, and look at all that uncovered flesh on the owner as he strolls around watching his grandkids." I always, always leap to the worse possible conclusion in situations like this. I envisioned a child stung by one of my bees going into anaphylactic shock and dying and that would make me a murderer because I was so irresponsible about feeding my bees.

I had learned, but forgotten apparently, that the Mid-Atlantic area is actually not a great place to keep bees. Not nearly enough of the right kind of flora for them to succeed on their own...we're already in a dearth situation.

I've now added a fourth box with fresh frames (the darker green) and I'm feeding like crazy. The bees are now nice and calm and my plans to get rid of the entire operation are on hold. Until the next scare...