Getting to Grips with the Bees

Yesterday, Russ was putting on his bees suit and asked me if I wanted to join him. I've been enthusiastic about keeping bees, but haven't ventured too close to the hives. The bees are fascinating to watch. They wake up and rest with the sun and are active throughout the day, travelling all over our little community collecting nectar and pollen. On particularly busy bee days, you can hear the hives literally buzzing with activity from about 100 feet away. I like to watch the bees, but from a distance of about 20 feet. 

Since my most recent bee adventure though, I've been feeling a little braver. I put on the spare bee jacket and veil and went out with Russ to check on their progress. I also brought the camera, but the battery died just as things were getting interesting. 

This first photo is of our three hives in their bee enclosure, which protects them from the wind. Our oldest hive, now 2 months old, is on the left. We bought a second hive, on the right, and the recently-captured swarm is in the middle.

The second photo is of Russ smoking the bees. The smoke from the smoker confuses the bees and encourages them to eat, which in turn sedates them and makes them easier to work with. Even though we used smoke, the bees were flying all around us and buzzing very loudly. Normally, this would cause me to run away screaming, but my late-night-angry-bee-garage experience taught me to be calm in the face of this intimidating behavior. It was all for show, as the bees weren't landing on us and  so we didn't get stung. 

The third photo is of Russ removing the inner cover of one of the hives. This was his first time checking on the bees without thick leather gloves for protection. 

The last photo shows the interior of the hive and the tops of the ten hanging frames inside. The bees build their comb in the frames, which they use for laying brood and for storing honey.  As we pulled the frames out, there were hundreds of bees clinging to the comb. We saw lots of cells with little white worms (brood) and lots of cells with golden honey, which makes the frames heavy.