The Healthy Honeybee

.

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.
.

.

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.
.

.

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.
.

I took the girls out on a 'breakfast picnic' this morning at Fertile Ground CSA, which is where my beeyard is located. Today is the first day of the CSA pickup season for Angie and Mark, so they were very busy setting up their washing station and harvesting their organic veggies. I was busy too, setting up the hives in preparation for the bees. My girls had their breakfast on a picnic blanket, and were slightly annoyed with the early morning mosquitoes.

Only 2 more hours until I pick up my bees!
.

I had a little helper today as I added some finishing touches to my brood chambers. He helped me hammer the frame rests into place. Hopefully that will be the last job, other than heading out to Fertile Ground CSA to set up the boxes tomorrow morning before I pick up my nucs! Yes, tomorrow is the day - I will become the proud owner of 2 nucs of bees. Wish me luck!
.

Last Wednesday I visited Fertile Ground CSA to check out possible bee hive locations, and the trip was a success! We found a great spot to put the 2 hives that should keep them happy. Many thanks to Angie and Mark for allowing me to borrow some real estate for the bees.