We decided to not smoke and see how it would go. We started on Rod's hive this time. The bees were very gentle and did not seem to get upset. Once or twice they would buzz a little louder for a few seconds, so we waited and they settled back down. The same thing happened with my hive. It is great to know they were fine without smoke, since we have heard if you smoke them, it takes awhile for them to get back to normal.
Here are some pictures we took. This first one is looking at a frame. You can see the capped brood (the tan areas), and the capped honey (the white area at the top left). And you can see some of the many bees that live there!
Here is another view of the hive. You can see the girls down in the hive on the frames, as well as the frame I am holding. It was rather amazing to me that they just kept on working and really didn't seem to mind what I was doing, even when I moved the frames and lifted them out. I guess they are just really intent on what they are doing.
And here is one of me, holding up a frame. How do you like my classy beekeeping suit? If you look real close, you can even see the clear packing tape I put over the openings down the front. I didn't want any bees getting in there. I really think that these bees are so gentle, at least now, that I could just wear my jeans and sweatshirt, along with the hat, veil and gloves and I would bee just fine.
This next photo is looking down into the hive. So far, this has been a lot of fun and we feel like we have our own personal nature experiment going on.
No comments:
Post a Comment