The Healthy Honeybee

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Here's the main reason my bees have been so angry with me and humankind lately: all of the extra comb and brood in the picture above needed to be scraped off, so I could actually inspect the hive. The white grub-looking things are larvae: stage 2 in the life cycle of a bee. Before that, they were eggs laid by the queen. After that, they were going to be pupae, locked in their cells by a wax covering over the entrance. The pupa stage is kind of like the cocoon of a moth or chrysalis of a butterfly; when pupae eat their way out of the cell, they are adults.

Angie reports that the bees were still dive-bombing people 2 days later. It's a bit disconcerting; I feel like my children are misbehaving, badly, and I can't do anything about it. Sigh. Fortunately my human children are much better behaved.
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Here's what the ob hive looks like so far! It was quite the production getting it populated - I have never been in such an angry cloud of bees. One crawled into my brand new glove and stung my hand!!! I thought I was Fort Knox with all my gear but it turns out I had a weak point.

Many thanks to Andrew, who is an intern at Fertile Ground CSA, who braved the angry buzz to help me out with the glass and wood and screws.
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I'm sorry to report that my bees have not been behaving themselves lately. The girls decided that Janine Grespan and her cameraman Kevin were a little too close to the hive - at more than 50 feet away! Angie was about to be interviewed for a special feature on organic farms when the bees came charging on the scene, sabotaging the shoot. They had to relocate so they could finish the interview.

I thought they were still mad at me for disrupting their hive yesterday, taking some brood and honey for my observation hive. After talking with Ken, though, it seems there might have been a skunk around. I'll have to investigate further.
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I'm hoping to get out and see my bees tomorrow - and also hoping I'll have a full hive that won't mind me taking 2 frames for my observation hive. I cleaned it out a bit tonight, and also figured out how it comes apart and goes back together. I thought it might be good to be prepared *before* I'm in a cloud of pissed bees. I even wrote myself a list of things not to forget - like extra veils for helpers! Here's hoping for a great afternoon.

Look for the observation hive if you're coming to the Seedling Sale at Little City Farm! Saturday, May 22, 9-12. It just might be there. Sealed, of course.
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I took a little trip to Better Bee Supplies today, to pick up some frames for my honey supers and some gloves. Gloves were not something I really wanted to work with; it's great to have the sensation in your fingertips and be able to 'pet the bees' with your bare hands. However, my allergist tells me I have a Colophony allergy, which is basically an allergy to coniferous trees and products made from them.

This is an issue because the propolis - the super sticky gummy glue that the bees make and use to seal and weatherproof their hive - is made using things like pine or spruce sap. Too much touching that stuff, and I'll end up with a major rash like I did last summer.

So - on go the gloves. Monogrammed, even - see the 'S'??
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My only real issue with this video is the stingers on the boy bees. You can't have a stinger package and a *cough* male package. There's not enough room. The girls get the stingers, the boys get the ability to genetically alter the next generation. Fair is fair I guess. In both scenarios, the bee dies after using it once. Quite the sacrifice.

Thanks Ken for sending me the link.
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