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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Inside the hives today


The first inspection for spring. It's a bit exciting for us. Are the bees going to be happy to see us? Or maybe they will be angry this time? In all honesty, I don't think bees are ever truly happy to have their hives opened up no matter how calm and kind you are.

We have three hives. The blue hive, the white hive and the pink hive (that's my one). The white hive had an almost full super of honey which is good for this time of the year. The blue hive was probably about half full. The pink hive was a bit behind. It is usually the best producer with very busy bees and lots of them. Numbers were down today so perhaps there had been a swarm that we didn't notice. There were quite a few baby bees though so all is good.


There was some burr comb in one of the lids which we removed. Burr comb that is comb built outside the frames. It can contain honey, pollen or brood or even empty. The stuff we took out today had honey in it.


I know bees are a scary to some people and I can understand why. The stings do hurt. Inside the bee suit, I feel quite safe and I'd recommend going along with a beekeeper to have a peek inside a hive if you get the chance. It's very interesting.
Tracy

5 comments:

KERYN B said...

Tracy that is amazing. That honey looks like it would be really good. wish I was closer I would love to see it up close.

Chookyblue...... said...

yummy honey.........I am fascinated with bees but have no interest to have any........

Anonymous said...

Hi Tracy thankyou for sharing it was very interesting,and a huge thankyou my lovely friend for my lovely mail today,the washer is so beautiful and you are such a beautiful knitter,thankyou again my friend.xx

Fiona said...

making me drool.....
Hugz

Zara said...

Bees are such fascinating creatures. I'd love to one day have a few hives as we go through honey at a rapid rate in this house.
x