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| Most every evening the bees are bearding in a similar fashion as shown here. We tend to believe it is a combination of two things: No doubt it has been warm (HOT) here, so we think that the hive is too hot which will cause the bees to beard in the evenings; the other things is we think the hive is brimming to overflowing. |
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| I am starting to feel somewhat more comfortable with this whole bee thing! I have even thought of using less protective gear, such as my gloves. It does make things a bit more hard to work around with the layer of leather on my fingers. I am smoking the entrance to get the hive ready for my workings. |
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| The top board is off! The hive is FULL of bees! |
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| This is one of the frames from the supra which we added just a few weeks ago. These bees are amazing. |
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| The white comb you see is their handiwork, and it is filled with honey. |
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| In the midst of my moving the supras around, this is the activity that is going on out front. |
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| This is the queen excluder which is on top of the hive body. The hive body is below and is where the queen does all her work. We want to keep her out of the supra's so she does not lay eggs in the cells. |
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| Can you see the Creator in this? I can. These are the workers of course, and they are doing what they do best. |
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| The end result.. We took the first supra off the top of the hive body and set it aside with frames and bees in tact. Then we added the new supra on top of the hive, after that we put the original supra on top. We would have never thought that we might possibly get a supra of honey this fall, but it looks like a maybe. |
This is our first hive, we are learning as we go. We are very blessed to have a local bee supplier and bee, well I will call him a bee master, available to us if we should need him. If you have been thinking about starting a hive, I encourage you to read, research more and pray about taking the plunge. I am glad we did all of the above.
Photo credits goes to my dear husband, Eric. He did a great job!
My Grandfather certainly saw the Creator in beekeeping and I'll share an article his local newspaper did on him and his bees when I see you ~ once we're settled and I can put my hands on the article, of course. :) I always thought it was just a hobby for him, but after reading that article I realized it was much, much more as I'm sure you are discovering.
ReplyDeleteYou're amazing Lynnie!! And Eric did a great job as photographer!! The photo of the worker bees is AMAZING!!
OH Julie, that would be great! Eric did do a great job didn't he?
ReplyDeleteWe are in our first year of beekeeping too. We are just in Awe of our God, more so than ever after watching and studying the bees!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! So pleased I ran onto your blog. We are beginning beekeepers this year also and have a 'bee boss' friend. Don't know what we'd do w/o his advice. It's so interesting and we are learning every single day! Great pictures, and you are brave! We still need to buy our gloves and shirt/hat/veil :) These bees are simply fascinating and miraculous. Yes, a true reminder of the greatness of our God. -Tammy
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