Busy Bees

Throughout the winter I open the lid to our beehive every so often to see that, yep, the bees are still there!  They are buzzing happily.  Every few days I mix up some sugar water to give the bees in case they haven't stored enough honey to eat through the winter.  I've read a few more pages in my bee books, but I still have so much to learn.  I am a beginner, new, novice of beekeeping... for beginners.  In nearly every book I pick up, though, it says how important it is to open the hive regularly.  While I understand a few things to look for, I mostly don't know what purpose I have to go digging through their home.  With the weather warming, I decided it is time to replace a super (box) on top of my hive, which I had taken off at the start of winter so the bees didn't have so much attic space to keep warm.  So, with a reason to get into the hive, I decided to go for it and do my first "inspection" so to speak.

I separated each of the supers to have a peek inside.  I was surprised to see so many baby larvae bees between the supers.  I felt bad that they fell down into the grass where I placed their home.  I picked many up and put them back, but it was difficult to get them all. After speaking with a more seasoned beekeeper, I learned that this is because they are cramped!  I have LOTS of bees and need to learn how to split them, start a new hive, so they can space out.

(My hive tool is pointing to what I thought might be the queen, but I'm not certain.  Considering I didn't lift all the frames, it would be pretty remarkable and special if I did see her.)

I saw that there was a good bit of nectar stored, but very little capped honey (I did read that to harvest, you needed about 75% of the frame to have capped honey: comb that is sealed with wax).  Mind you, I only lifted the outer few frames of each level... there are a lot of frames!  If I'm supposed to lift each one... that would take a long time.  Plus, one broke when I tried lifting it, so I need to address that next time I'm down there. Again... I'm new at this... did I do it correctly?  I don't know... but I TRIED!

I ended up taking off my protective hat because it is hot and cumbersome, and all my kids started coming up to see the bees and I thought it was silly for me to be more protected than they were ("stand back" only lasted a few seconds with them).  The bees were pretty relaxed for the most part.  My oldest boy walked up just for a moment to see them, the furthest away of all of us, and a bee landed on his pants.  Then it flew to his shirt.  William began to panic.  The bee hit is face and he swatted and it stung him on the lip.  This is the first bee sting for our family since the bees joined us.  William is doing just fine, but has somewhat less affinity for the bees.  I felt my nerves spike a few times when a bee flew into my hair and when a few landed on my clothing.  My job as a birth educator came in handy as I forced myself to relax.

Busting into their home felt like an invasive process, so I am motivated to continue learning to make sure I do it properly and for good reason.  It was fun to see the drone bees for the first time!  And it was entertaining to answer the kids' questions about how bees reproduce and why the drones die.