A First with the Bees

Happy Monday, everyone!

Last week I had a very special guest in the bee yard with me. My sister Mary Ann came for a visit and had wanted to see the bees since we installed our package. She's been living vicariously through my blog and photo texts. I think she was more excited to see the bees than I was! And that says a lot! 

She saw the best in beekeeping and learned what happens when you don't follow the recommended steps of opening a hive. One of the first things we did was go into Tim's big hive. The first frame he pulled, had lots of brood on it and we were given a real treat.

We weren't able to see the entire birth because the frame was heavy and Tim needed to put it down. How cool is that though? If you look to the left of the frame toward the end, you can see a 2nd baby chewing her way out of her cell. It was an awesome thing to witness, especially for Mary Ann's first visit to see the bees!

Tim was kind enough to open the rest of his hives so she could see as much as possible in her visit. She lives in Texas so it's not so easy for her to come play with me and the bees.

Tim was not finding a queen in one of his hives that he'd just re-queened with a queen grafted from his big hive. It was a disappointing afternoon for sure, but the very next day, he said he reopened the hive and found a big yellow queen on the first frame with lots of eggs. He just had to give her another day to show what she's made of. Needless to say, I was thrilled for him that he didn't have to get another queen for that hive. He has a queen from fantastic stock that will do awesome work if she's anything like the queen who made her.

A view from inside the Flow super

We took a quick look through the observation window of my honey super. She LOVED looking through the window to see them working without having to bother them.

Now for the lesson of the day. ALWAYS follow the proper steps when opening a hive!

Because he's just that awesome, Tim made a ventilation/winter board (it would also give the girls an upper entrance) for my hive a couple days prior. So I brought it home and stained it then brought it with me to put on the hive. Well, I had it in my head that I just needed to pop it on the top of the hive and put the cover back on. I wasn't thinking of the steps in between to achieve that result. Mind you, the honey super is the top box on the hive, so when I opened the hive WITHOUT smoking the bees first, well, they ambushed me and with good reason. I got my very first sting, thankfully just on my knuckle through my glove. I had about 50 bees on my veil ready to get at me any way they could. It was not the smartest move on my part, but the girls instantly reminded me that I need to follow the proper steps before accomplishing my goal for the day.

I know I'll continue to learn from my mistakes, but it'll only make me a better beekeeper. I was thrilled my sister came to play with us and she loved every minute of it! How could she not? Bees are so cool!

Until next time, bee kind! 🐝