Honey Bees #2: Meeting our Bees
Nice to meet you, bees!
May 2nd was our first official day of Hon’s Honey beekeeping at Filbert Street Garden!
We suited up in our newly acquired beekeeping gear (that was sparkling white, but not for long) and entered the beeyard that was literally a-buzz with activity. Previously a place in the garden to avoid, we entered our new world with confidence.
For our Hon’s Honey beekeeper, a survivor of traumatic experiences, an environment that should have filled her with anxiety, felt surprisingly peaceful. She moved with grace through the chaos of bees entering and exiting over 20 hives.
“It's helped me to step out of my comfort zone and allow myself to move forward by trying new and interesting things that I never thought could be possible. Having the nerve to say yes and once I walked into the area with the bees, I realized that I can do the seemingly "impossible" stuff that I used to doubt that I would ever be capable of.”
-Hon’s Honey Beekeeper
The day’s agenda was to examine a few hives that had been split earlier in the spring and determine if they were queenright (which means it has a queen and more importantly for us at this time of year, a queen that was busy laying eggs—-see? look how much we’re learning already!). Of the hives we checked, one hive had not survived (sad, but fairly common), one had a queen that was not yet laying eggs and the THIRD hive was beautifully active and healthy. It will be our first Hon’s Honey beehive!
Though the two strikes before the home run were disappointing, it was great for us to have the experience of checking it all out and learning what to look for.
In the new Hon’s Honey hive, one of the frames we removed was broken. The frame itself was very valuable and needed to be preserved as it was filled with eggs and some honey, so we watched as our mentors did a bit of troubleshooting, then expertly worked to remove the bees from the frame, cut off some propelis ( propelis is stuff the bees make to try to repair the frame themselves by filling in the unwanted gap where it was broken. Did y’all hear that?? Try to repair themselves!! Bees are so amazing!), slid the foundation back into the slits in the frame and stuck the frame back together. Ta-da!
After the frame was repaired, we walked away from the yard to discuss the equipment we needed for next time (we have to build a hive stand!). As we chatted. we noticed a swarm of bees! While it sounds and looks scary, it’s a completely natural thing the bees do to split from one colony and form a new one. So, our valiant mentors showed us how to catch it!
We put some lemongrass oil in a hive box, placed it under a branch where the swarm had clustered and Bobbie helped to knock the bees down into the box. Many bees fell together in clumps right into the box! Once some bees got in the box and figured out that it will make a nice new home, they signaled the other bees in the swarm and then they all just marched right in! So cool, right?!
We had to wait a few days to see if they did indeed like their new home and it seems they did! We hope that this captured swarm will be our second Hon’s Honey hive!
Needless to say, we spent a few hours learning a ton of new things! It whetted our appetite for more and we are excited to continue the adventure next week when we build our hive stand!