Bee Happy!

Bee Happy!

Last year Harland and I made new friends, Melvin and Shirley Kidd.  They are beekeepers and Melvin also makes wooden ware for hives.  We needed bees to pollinate our fruit trees in the orchard.  So Melvin moved in his bees.  They have been visiting for a couple of spring blooms now.  I have been watching some of the most interesting and beneficial insects in the world.  I have also observed Melvin in several challenging situations trying to capture swarms from his hives.  Not to mention that they have shared the beautiful and delicious honey from their hives.

This spring when Melvin and Shirley were here to check out a new swarm they let me suit up so I could get in a little closer to see the differences in the worker bees, the drones and the queen.  I was enthralled.  I wanted some of my own bees.  But, I wanted to study some before jumping in with insects that have stingers!  There is so much to learn!  Before heading to the beach with mom last month, I found a hive of bees for sale on Craigslist.  I called and asked a lot of questions.  But should have already been on the road to the beach so I let it go.  Unknown to me Harland called the guy back and bought the hive for me.  They are called Carniolian (pronounced Car Knee O Lee N)

The hive was delivered on Friday before I came home on Saturday with Charlotte.  All week I wanted to get in there and check them out.  But I had Charlotte for the week and didn't want to lose a minute of our time with her here.  So I tabled it all week.  I still had to buy all my protective apparel and gear!  In the meantime, a friend offered a swarm hive that was captured this spring.  Harland, Charlotte and myself went to pick it up on Monday night.  We were supposed to go on Sunday night, but we spent the evening in the emergency room with Charlotte.  Oouch!

So I then had two bee hives!  Finally I got all my gear and dove into the hives to have a look see.  Amazing, to see the inside of a hive.  I found the queen in one of my hives.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find her in all those bees.  Thousands and thousands of worker bees lots of drones and one little queen.  Although you can go out on the Internet and look at pictures, nothing can compare to seeing her amongst all the workers.  If she reveals herself, there is no doubt,  when you see her you know who she is.  Long and slender a little larger than the worker bees.  She is everything to the hive.  They cannot survive without her.  Oddly enough, she cannot survive without her hive.   She lays between 2000 and 3000 eggs a day!  She doesn't even have time to eat, drink or take care of her personal hygiene.  The workers feed her and attend to her every need.

The hive loves and adores her!  But in the event she is no longer able to lay eggs or she doesn't perform to the hives expectations, it's off with her head.  Not literally, but they do push her from the hive and she will swarm with a portion of the hive.  Or they will kill her.  The hive can even produce a new queen from eggs that are less than 3 days old by feeding it royal jelly.  All eggs laid are exactly the same.  The only difference between a worker and a queen is eating the royal jelly.  In contrast, a worker bee lives approximately 30 to 35 days.  A queen can live up to 5 years.  I want some of that royal jelly!  Anyway, I am sure I will be sharing more bee facts with you going forward.  I just wanted to share with you my interest in beekeeping.

Several years ago, I was stung on the foot by a Japanese hornet.  Hateful insects.  It is one of the most painful experiences you could imagine.  It felt like I stepped on a hot nail.  I could feel the burn as the venom went up and through me.  I cried and cried.  It hurt so bad that after a couple of hours past I was still hurting so bad I could not sleep.  I got out of bed and laid down on the sofa so I would not keep Harland awake, because I could not be still in the bed.  After I laid down, my feet began to itch, then my legs, then my belly, arms, neck and face.  I woke Harland up to tell him, he said turn on the lights and as soon as he saw me he said put your clothes on I am taking you to the emergency room.  I was covered in whelps.  I had reacted to the hornet sting.  It's called  anaphylactic shock.  The doctors told me that since I reacted to the hornet I would probably react to any sting or bite....and the next time I was stung, I did.  Several years later I was stung by a wasp.  I got an ambulance ride to the hospital for that.  Now it seems like I am a wasp magnet.  If you see this big guy (in the picture above) run the opposite direction because he is bad news.  Also the enemy of the honey  bee.  I have watched them grab one of my bees in mid air and fly off with it.  Poor bee!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_GiantHornets.html

Now you are probably wondering why I want to play with honey bees!  Well I do wear a full suit.  Harland says I look like I am walking on the moon or an alien when I am wearing it.  It is not 100%, but pretty protective.  So my second time in the hives I was stung.  But I did not react and have to use my epi pen!  I didn't want to be stung of course.  But I was so relieved  that I didn't react.  Now I can follow my interest and enjoy working and learning about my honey bees.  So far I have been stung twice.  Amazingly, bee stings do not hurt as bad as wasp stings and definitely nothing like a Japanese hornet.  I still keep my epi pen with me when I am out there.  Just in case!  I hope you enjoy the pictures of my bees.  We are looking forward to the bees sharing a little of their honey with us!