“Let It Bee, Let It Bee” (Part 1)

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?