We just had our first taste of the delicious honey our bees have been indefatigably collecting over this amazing Spring! I had taken out a frame of drone (the males which live solely to have sex with a queen - during which time their genitals get ripped off!) eggs as a natural method of controlling varoa - a mite which can cause a hive to die if left alone. The larvae were fed to the chickens and today I needed to replace the frame - in its place was a nice slab of honeycomb filled with delicious honey!
I am becoming more confident when working the bees - I must admit that they still get my heart racing, but I felt a bit panicky on my first few hive inspections. I now feel a lot calmer and take care and time, making it more enjoyable... for me not them of course!
I still haven't seen the queen, below I'm checking to see that the honey frames are capped - meaning they are full and... capped off with wax!
If only you could see all of the bees - there were a few thousand checking out what I was doing! My colony are very placid apparently (doesn't feel like it some times!) and I only get a few trying to find a way into my suit - they make a distinctive high pitch buzz when on a mission to sting!
Here's the honeycomb I robbed - after brushing off the hundred or so workers who were desperately trying to devour it during the theft!
I look drunk, I'm not! I always get really hot inside the suit... the taste of honey was sensational - a slight bitter taste to it which I really liked.
If only you could taste it...!
An extra incentive to come and visit us here!
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