I recently uploaded this video to my YouTube channel. Recorded in 2017, our first install into the Top Bar hive. We dropped the queen, so that adds a layer of complexity!
It’s worth a watch again…
Beekeeping
Hive Inspection
What does one do in a hive inspection? Mostly, a lot of looking and listening.
Looking for the Queen, brood, signs of disease, signs of swarming, honey production, Queen cells, drone cells, beetles, varroa mites…
Listening for their overall mood, easily reflected in their humming, often gentle and work-related, sometimes irritated and loud.
Whether or not you need to really “do” anything during the hive inspection depends entirely on what you see and hear. Often there’s nothing that needs to be done (except maybe refilling a syrup feeder), but sometimes there are interventions and adjustments to make — and usually, ones best made right away in order to prevent disaster — but you never know it until you take the time to look & listen. I’m sure there’s a life lesson in there somewhere.
Keepin’ Bees in the summer of ‘20
Some things don’t change, even in pandemics. Like the way beekeeping makes me smile.
{Spring is Coming: Bee Install Day}
March 2017, we install my Dad’s first bee colony into his new Top Bar hive.
Note that the queen-box strap had become detached during transport, resulting in the need to scoop the queen-box out of the package by hand.
“Hear the voices, they are humming, change is coming to all… Spring is coming home.” – The Gospel Whiskey Runners
Blessings on your beekeeping, may the rewards be sweet.
(a hive inspection)
Glad to have Scott along for my latest hive inspection!
The ladies calm quickly with a little puff of cedar chip smoke from the smoker.
The bees appeared happy and busy, and the Queen continues to lay healthy brood.
After such a dry summer, there isn’t quite enough reserve for a honey harvest yet. A simple & poetic reminder: sweet things come to those who wait.
{junior beekeeper}
My brave buddy G-man recently helped me out with a beehive inspection – his very first experience beekeeping!
He wasn’t worried one bit, and could already distinguish between the bees “happy buzzing” as opposed to the way an angry wasp sounds. Look how close he is to the bees!
I’m a big fan of teaching kids to appreciate honey bees and love getting to provide an opportunity for them to experience wonder & fascination at this amazing and beautiful species. There’s an innate sense of accomplishment and pride that develops in the child from knowing they can approach and handle bees, something they’ve seen grown adults run away from.
Many adults have strongly embedded fears of bees, often because they associate them with more aggressive insects and have only the vaguest notion that wasps are a different species entirely. Kids are totally capable of making the distinction between a docile honeybee worker busy gathering nectar, a harmless bumble bee browsing for pollen, and a buzzing angry yellow jacket that wants you out of its territory. Instilling this knowledge at an early age goes a long way towards reversing the social fears that surround buzzing insects.
I’m super proud of my cousin for his interest and willingness to learn. I’m glad to know he is already an advocate & ambassador for the exciting world of beekeeping!
{beekeepers}
Scott, thanks for being the best beekeeping co-pilot a gal could have. I love you more than pith helmets and fresh honey!
{bee checkin}
Friday was an excellent day for a hive inspection. My sister accompanied/assisted and my bro Josh helped us carry our supplies out to the hive.
I love this photo! It makes me think of Back to The Future, when Marty dresses like a space alien to scare his dad into asking out his mom. “I am Darth Vader, an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan.”
{Bee Update}
5 days after installing our bees, I set out to do a hive inspection to see how the girls were settling in.
My mom came along to meet the hive, and here she is holding a frame of bees for the first time even though it made her a bit nervous. She is brave!
{Bee-Day: New Hive Install}
We’ve been working intermittently on setting up our new Langstroth beehive for the past two months.
On the first weekend of April, we picked up 10,000 new Italian friends (plus their queen) and introduced them to their new home.
The bees arrive in a 3lb “package” that includes a queen bee who is kept safe in a small box located inside the package.
Italian honey bees are known for their light blonde coloration and their docility. Our honey bees lived up to this reputation, and did not attempt to sting either of us even once during the install.
This little lady happily licked some sugar syrup off my glove for a full 5 minutes.
We’re excited to be beekeepers!
Unbidden Grace 