Summer Time - 11 July 2008

It has been about 6 weeks since I've been back to check in on the G-Farm bees.  This was a Friday afternoon visit with my mentor ... I felt a little reassured this time being with her after my last encounter ... It was quite hot outside and a bit humid ... thunderstorms off in the distance.

I was happy to get the smoker going and have it last until we had finished the 2nd hive this time ... I think I may finally be getting the hang of this.  The bees in the 1st hive were active after opening the cover, but not agressive ... we worked quickly but with a sense of calm and the bees seemed to handle our intruding just fine.  The top 3 supers were quite heavy and looked to be almost completed filled and capped.  The one with 2 plastic frames had a little not finished, but the other 2 (one new and one older) were full as was almost the whole Ross Rounds super ... we estimated about 50 lbs on 2 supers with the other at about 70 lbs. and the Ross Round perhaps 30 lbs.  quite a nice supply with about 200 lbs total on this hive.  I hope to remove the 70 lb. super and extract honey from those frames and take the 32 rounds of comb honey on the next visit.  We did not notice any signs of mites, hive beetles or wax moths ... the bees looks healthy and we did a visual from the top of the Brood chamber and the frames looked active and quite full of brood and larvae.  Replaced everything, but changed the over of the supers putting the Ross Rounds one from the top.  On to the 2nd hive.

Here the new super was quite full and the 2nd brood box was also full of drawn comb, lots of bees and plenty of activity.  We pulled 2 frames in the top brood chamber and saw larvae, eggs and the activity of a healthy Queen.  Since we were not looking for the Queen we did not disturb the bottom hive box and reassembled the hive.

I was quite excited about the progress of the bees in almost completing the Ross Rounds and having populated the 2nd hive so well with most of a full super full of honey.

Next month we will finally get to take off the excess honey and enjoy the sweetness of our labor.  It was a good visit.  After getting out of our bee suits, we roamed the row of eggplant and picked a few select fruits to enjoy as an eggplant parmesan dish over the weekend.

I look forward to the August visit.

3rd Visit - 24 May 2008

My third visit to Geraldson's Farm to check up on the bees was a bit different from the first two visits.  This time I was the expert ... or so I thought.  I was taking my niece this time, and she had never been around bees.  To ensure I good visit, I decided to make sure she was well protected and I gave her my bee suit and veil, and my gloves.  I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and I have a spare veil to protect my head and face, but no additional pair of gloves.  This was OK as I am not afraid of getting stung, I just don't enjoy it.

We worked the first hives and removed the cover and lifted off the 3 supers and the newly installed Ross Rounds super.  I had added the 3rd of the 3 regular sized supers and the Ross Rounds super on the last visit.  These two were only starting to have the comb drawn out on and some honey deposited in the completed cells.

I removed the Queen excluder and was getting ready to show my niece the frames in the Brood chamber.  I smoked the hive again as I pull out the first frame hoping to show off the brood, eggs, larvae and hard work of the Queen.  All of a sudden I heard a change in the sound of the bees in the hive ... they were pissed!  As I was holding this first frame, the bees decided collectively it seems to start stinging me.  Since I didn't have gloves on this was an easy task for them.  One sting, then another and another ... I gently set this frame down on the down and we moved away ... but by this time I had over 2 dozen stings on my forearms and hands.

We moved quite a distance from the hives and I ask my niece to give me the gloves that she was wearing.  My suit was rather large on her and she was able to just pull the sleeves down over her hands to protect herself.  We returned to the hive.  I was planning to sugar the bees, but after thisI was in no mood to do anything but give this hive closed up.  I put the one frame that I had removed back into place and decided to go ahead and powder sugar the bees anyway.  We placed the supers and cover back in place and then moved onto the 2nd hive.

I wasn't feeling so well by then ... my hands were starting to swell and the stings combined with all of the heat was making me feel quite light-headed and squeasy ... we removed the cover on the this hive and the one newly installed super and just did a visual check to see how the bees were doing in added comb to the 2nd brood chamber that I had added to the hive during the last visit.  Both new boxes had the comb being drawn and the beginnings of pollen and honey stores, but with most of the labor left still to be done.

We closed up this hive and quickly got out of our bee protection and found some shade to rest and rehydrate.  We also took some time whilest we were at the farm to do a little last harvest U-pick gathering potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, squah and leeks.

I was a visit I won't soon forget ... my hands and forearms were swollen for about 3 days to twice their normal size with a aching and bruised feeling.  I will choose to work with gloves from now on and leave the bare handed work to inspectors and others with more tolerance for stings than I.

My niece survived this experience without any stings and enjoyed getting a chance to be a part of this exciting hobby.