Best Livestock Ever....BEES!!!

I've had bees for about 5 or 6 years and I've had my share of ups and downs.  I keep bees for pollination and not so much for honey...which is a good thing...I usually end up with at least one weak hive and transfer honey frames over from the strong hives to keep the weak hive alive over the winter.

This year's bees have been very strong and productive.  I decreased my garden size because of the continuing drought so every plant needs to be productive and has been...thank you ladies!!  The fruit orchard has been under stress because of lack of consistent water, but has managed to produce fairly well...again...thank you ladies.  I planted lots of hollyhock, mustard, lavender, sage...anything that took little to no water just to feed the bees.  Today I will have to feed sugar water for the first time...while I wait for the 200 acres of squash to bloom my husband has planted for seed production ...should just be another 2 weeks.  When I open the hives today, I'll get a chance to see how the ladies are doing...I check every 4 to 6 weeks...it's been 7 weeks: YIKES!  I had an ant invasion 2 weeks ago that I had to address and didn't want to further the stress by smoking and opening the hives...every time you open a hive you cause severe stress to the ladies and I just hate doing that.  Ants have been horrible this year...they are everywhere...and they are not little black sugar ants...they are protein loving Argentine ants...they are AWFUL and EVERYWHERE!! Bastards!!