It’s good to be back, after 2 weeks of crazy learning experiences and field work. Just like Parky told me, so many moons ago: "Learning is 10% book and class work and 90% field work and actual practice." Boy oh boy Parky, if you could see me now!
So, I performed my first inspection last week and that was a huge learning experience. 1st of all, because our hive top feeders were covered in TONS of mold. Green and furry, black and spotty, it sure knows how to crash a perfectly good party and ruin it upon arrival. I attribute it to the warm weather, the massive amounts of open sugar water, the lack of proper ventilation and the increased amounts of humilty within the hive top feeder. Now, just so we’re all clear as to the specific type of feeder of which I’m speaking, it’s the wooden hive top feeder seen here
The mold was everywhere and I had to do something about it, so I threw out the sugar water and quickly took to my mold killing solutions. I first cleaned every bit of the hive top feeder with water. Then I took my distilled vinegar and my sponge and scrubbed the entirety of the hive and the inner cover until the mold was either no longer visible or non-existent. I then rinsed everything out with fresh water and proceeded to take fresh lemon juice to add a final acidic layer of mold killing goodness. Finally, I added my fresh sugar water, placed the feeder on top of the hive, placed the inner cover and capped it with the outer cover. All after a thorough inspection of the hive.
As for the actual inspection, I performed it frame by frame, with the greatest of care and caution not to sqwash any of the bees in the process. The hives were doing great, with tons of new comb and wax, fresh honey, newly deposited pollen and hundreds of teeny little grains of mini-rice shaped eggs spread throughout the combs and the frames.
Seriously, what a beautiful thing it is to see a new hive, to read about it and then to see it live, in action, right there in front of you. But then again, I guess when you open up the hive for the first time and you see tons of grotty mold starring at you in the face, it’s not quite a beautiful thing, now is it?
Let me backtrack a little bit to give you a history of recent events:
So I went to Miller Bee Supply on Friday and picked up my Queen, so we would’t be “Queenless” in the Russian beehive. Check! Problem solved! I also took the opportunity to buy a couple of quality hivetop feeders so the bees wouldn’t starve at this moment of their grey, little lives (I’ll talk about feeders in my next post)
I went to visit the bees yesterday afternoon to install the queen in her new hive, so I suited up, lit up my smoker and proceeded to open the Russian hive. What an experience! I’d been gone for one day and already the bees had started building comb. I could only wonder what the other hive looked like. It was nuts!
Every infusion of smoke triggered a high pitched agitated buzzing sound from the bees and it worried me for a minute, because I thought it would make them angry and cause them to attack me. But after reading up on the process of smoking bees upon visiting a hive, it turned out to be a normal reaction from the bees.
I first took the ziploc bag of syrup I had filled to feed the bees and it was pretty much already gone. I then created some space between the frames and placed the queen in the hive, candy side poked in and took a few moments to make sure her majesty was out of her cage and into the new hive. I then placed a frame full of bees to surround her from the front and from the back. Here too, I was worried that they would attack the queen, kill her or not accept her, but I guess we’ll have to wait a week to make sure that she’s alive and laying eggs. I then proceeded to install a hivetop feeder on the Russian hive and to fill it up with syrup. I then placed the inner cover on the feeder and the top cover on top of that. My day was done!
So I went back today, because I had yet to install a hivetop feeder on the Italian beehive. What a difference the sun really makes! (I can’t believe I just wrote that obvious fact, but it’s so very true, especially for the bees). Yesterday, it was overcast, cold, rainy, just a day for sleeping and lounging and the bees were no where to be seen except for inside the hive. Today? It was sunny, about 62 degrees, blue skies and just perfect. I didn’t know what to expect from my bees when I got there, but I think this video will show you what I saw when I reached the hives
It was an amazing sight to see! Seriously, if you’ve never seen bees up close like that or have never been a beekeeper, the sight will blow you away! I just had to take this (and another) video and then sit on the bench facing the hives for about 15 minutes just observing the bees, because I had never seen anything like this before in my life: the sight of hundreds of hard working little girls going in and out and flying all over. They were so curious too: I must have had 30 or so plus bees flying on me only to fly away a few seconds after landing on either my arm, my shirt or my pants.
I was in a bit of a predicament, because I didn’t want the Italian bees to starve, but I had to place a feeder on the hive. But at the same time, I did’t want to place some sort of feeder out in the open where any other bees would have access. But you’re also not supposed to disturb a new hive until a week after you set it up, because the bees might kill the queen. I really did not know what choice to make.
Finally, I opted for placing the hivetop feeder very quickly on the Italian hive in order not to disturb the bees. I said a quick little prayer and made what I thought was the best decision. Hopefully, just opening the hive, taking out the ziploc bag and immediately positioning the hivetop feeder won’t cause the bees to kill the queen. I guess only time will tell.
Overall, it was been a very intense experience that has taught me so much about the art of beekeeping in such a short amount of time. Some mistakes were made, some equipment was obtained later than scheduled, but the bottom line is this: we all learn from out mistakes and grow from these learning experiences.
A wise man, who I’ll just call Parky, once told me: “I doesn’t matter how many books you read, how many drills you do or how many exercises you’ve completed on paper. Real learning comes from going through the motions and forcing yourself to do something and to do it again and again . . . Only then will you master what you are trying to learn.” So while reading something like “Beekeeping for Dummies” or “The Backyard Beekeeper” is good, there will come a time when one has to take what one has read and learned and apply that learning by actually going through the motions of an actual beekeeper.
You know, I never told him that he was right, not only about what he was talking about, but about many things in my life. Maybe, when the time comes, I’ll send him a bottle of honey attached with a note saying: “Thanks for teaching me that learning comes from actually doing and not just reading a book.”
I think that would be a sweet gift; but not as sweet as the sight of hundreds of busy little bees!
