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hanging out
This pic is a bit blurry, but it captures the moment. These bees are connected to each other by their legs, forming a chain that bridges the gap between the two frames. This was after I had completed the inspection and was putting the frames back into their proper places, I noticed the gap at the end had a pile of bees forming chains. I’m not exactly sure why they did this, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the large gap that was left with the frame missing. If you squint a bit you can also see the bit of wax that are leftovers from the…
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many thanks
I have to say a big thank you to Ken and Steven for letting me tag along as they inspect their bees, and for all the sage advice I’ve received so far. Here are Ken and I, looking for a queen in this colony today. It took awhile, but Ken found her. She hadn’t mated yet, so she looked more like a big worker than a queen. I never would have spotted her! One thing I’m learning as I watch Ken and Steven is that it’s important to keep good records. They use a voice recorder to take notes on the temperature and weather conditions, what they see in each…
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watch and learn
I was able to hitch a ride with an experienced beekeeper today, as he went to check on his bees. Here’s what I learned, in order of importance: 1. If a bee stings you, scrape off the stinger and put a penny on the spot with duct tape. I swear it works. Normally I would have swelling but there’s absolutely none from the sting I got today. Before the penny was put on, I could feel it starting to swell into my thumb and wrist (sting was top of my hand/base of thumb). After the penny went on, the swelling went down and you can’t even see it now. 2.…