Bees!

Well we were all there when Idgie Threadgoode charmed the bees to sneak a jar honey and watched Dakota Fanning grow up under the wing of August the bee keeper, but do we really know what goes on in the bee world?  This past weekend I was able to get a small glimpse into the world of bees thanks to an old friend, "The Bee Guy" of Honey Fly Farms. 

"The Bee Guy", Kevin, took me out on a usual checking of the hives.  Basically we lifted the lid off each hive and pulled out each frame. Now I should stress that this should be done carefully.  I quickly learned that loosing your grip on the lid and dropping it makes the bees upset.  Each box holds about a dozen frames.  The frames are inspected for disease, vigor of the hive, unwanted insects such as mites, and of course, we were trying to spot the queen.  The queen is slightly longer than the rest of the bees and has more of a solid coloring on her back rather than the typical black stripes.  As you watch her you'll see her cruising through the crowd of bees like, well a queen.  Once spotted, we were extra careful not to damage that frame, we certainly did not want to hurt the queen.  

Can you spot the Queen?

 And just for an extra bit of information, this little adventure would count as my "walking on the wild side" day because when bees sting me I swell up like a marshmallow peep, some would say I'm slightly allergic.  So Kevin made sure I was safely suited up, which left him without a suit.  Luckily neither of us got stung. 

We visited a couple different hive locations.  Locations are spread out across the county to give the bees different nutrient sources when the surrounding plants are blooming.  But when there isn't an abundance of nectar for the bees we put out nutrient solutions just to be sure the colony had plenty to eat. Basically a simple sweet water solution is mixed up and placed close to the hives to supplement their nutrition.  We were also checking the boxes for ants.  Ants love the sweetness of the hives and the nutrient solution.  I learned that sprinkling some cinnamon on the wooden box lids deters the ants.  The cinnamon burns their little feet!  

      


Next time we will be extracting the honey from the hives.  This will be done in a few weeks.  Hopefully it will be a good harvest. 

Until next time,
Lynn