The Bees are buzzing again…
One of my favorite things to do with the Farm Boy is to fire up the smokers and get into the beehives to see what’s going on. We’re like sparkly-eyed kids on Christmas morning looking at all the “toys” in front of us. Last year was our first year of beekeeping and I was clueless about how much I’d love it…
Speaking of Christmas – the day we dumped the poor Queen’s in the hives, it was of course snowing, and miserably cold and windy. But they couldn’t shack-up in my basement any longer, so into the hives they went. Brrr.
Rituals…
There’s a bit of a little ritual we have with our hive inspections. We grab our favorite cocktails, fire up the smokers, help each other strap hats on, and then we usually start by opening his hive first. But only because I automatically use my hive to serve as a table for the beverages and hive tools…
I also get a kick out of keeping a running tally for the season as to who got stung the most. Last year’s total: Farm Boy got it 5 times, and myself a mere 4 times. So just so you’re clear – I’m winning : ) .
Beekeeping is a really fun thing for us to share together and also very relaxing – unless the bees are agitated shit-heads on any given day… This is when the “relaxing” part flies right out the door. But that’s okay. Cocktails are waiting.
The other day the weather (and the bees) cooperated and we were able to open up both hives to check and see if the new Queens we installed were still there and doing the job of laying eggs.
We were able to locate both queens, which are marked with a bright blue dot. This makes them so much easier to find. Last year the queens weren’t marked and many times we were unable to find them at all. A little frustrating.
Did you find the Queen up there ↑↑↑
Aside from the cold weather last week, it looks like the bees are off to a good start. There are cherry blossoms and dandelions all over the farm keeping them quite happy at the moment. ~A
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What are the chances we both publish bee posts on the same day!??