Bee Barn

About two months ago a tornado swept through this heart-shaped state and decided to make a giant mess. An even bigger mess than a normal tornado, because this one hit a barn holding several 50 gallon drums of honey: the Wooster Honey Bee Barn.

image facebook snatched from the bee lab

That's what it looked like at first, you can see more pics of the mess and the resulting clean up here.

But I like to look on the bright side of things: Dr. Drone was a key player in the aftermath and he has a keen eye for salvage. A new/ancient smoker is coming my way!

Super Mom

I couldn't figure out the meeting. They are a mysterious bunch, apiarists, and do not post times for their get-togethers. So I made the call- Dr. Drone's mom. She said she'd be right over, and met Mr. Holt and I at the bee yard with two pretty blue supers in less than 24 hours. She's just as excited about bees as her son, and clearly concerned for the welfare of our hive. She even made a call to the head of the bee research lab to ask some logistical questions for us. Put on both supers at the same time? Only one? etc.

Both, it turns out.

Mr. Holt and I were out of pine needles, our usual smoking fuel, and we had stopped by the pet store to get some cedar chips, like pet bedding, recommended as an alternative. At least at our pet store, they only sell those in 10 pound bags for 30$. No thanks. So we bought this dodgy looking fluffy bedding made from "recycled plant cellulose" and crossed out fingers it would burn cool.

It did, eventually, but not before Mr. Holt spent a great deal of energy coaxing it into a smoldering fire. I can't say I favor it for bee smoking, but this bedding will certainly never kill your hampster by fire.

It was SO hot today, high 90s, and the bees were hanging outside the door, fanning their wings to keep the hive cool and hanging on each other like tiny living ropes.

This is not our hive, did I already mention how much my bees see to hate being photographed? The neighbors were more obliging.

We wrangled the two boxes on, making sure to put a queen excluder between the deeps, the lower, bigger boxes meant for babies and over-winter honey, and the supers, shallower boxes on top. The queen excluder is like a cage that the workers can wiggle through, but the Queen with her giant egg swollen abdomen cannot. Thus she lays only in the deeps. Fabulous.

Looming responsibility

Dr. Drone contacted me today to let me know he's turning over full hive responsibilities in a few weeks. He'll be heading to Costa Rica for the summer to study some monkeys. Just like a primatologist- always jetting off to the jungle, leaving us human primates to fend for ourselves. He is making me a list of "common bee parasites"...

It had never occurred to me that I may need to protect my bees from anything other than bears. I haven't seen the list, but whatever organism that could take on a hive of busy bees is a tough foe indeed. Let us hope I never need consult the list.

I still haven't received all my equipment from the beekeeping company either. I'm getting a little concerned because I will need my own smoker to soothe those bees once Dr. Drone is away collecting fecal matter and taking notes on whose balls got scratched by whom. I suppose in a pinch, I can call upon Mr. Holt to attend with copious amounts of cigarettes. Chain smoking for the common good is something he might really get behind. We'll probably get those bees so addicted to nicotine smoke they'll get all irritable and start bumming quarters in the yard to get a pack.




Our corner of the bee yard. Isn't my hive the prettiest?

Three things

Three things I love about beekeeping so far:

1. Beekeeping smells really good.
The smoke that makes the bees calm while i poke at them (no not literally) smells amazing. The field where the apiary is smells amazing. Honey and the pine boxes of the hive smell amazing. It's intoxicating.

2. Beekeeping is far less work than I expected.
It has never before happened that a new undertaking takes less effort than I originally planned. Mr. Holt is quietly thrilled that I have not had to pitch a tent and move into the apiary to fulfill any midnight beekeeping duties. Turns out bees just kind of do their thing with or without my supervision.

3. Bees are completely different from children, cats and plants.
Most of my experience with keeping things alive comes from the latter three categories. Today I watched a new drone bee chewing his way out of a cell, saw bees eat using their proboscis, and learned that they can see ultraviolet light. I think they're really more like aliens than mammals.