What's the Buzz?

Even though temperatures soared to over ninety degrees last Sunday, I donned my beesuit and veil, and went out with Steve to visit the "girls". It was time to harvest our Spring honeyflow! (two months late this year due to our cold winter.)

Once the suit is on and the smoker is lit, the heat of the day was forgotten as we inspected each hive and took off frame after frame of luscious sweet honey.

As usual, Steve's insights into the Queen's realm were memorable. Once the frames of honey were removed, we went down to check out the queen and her daughters in each of the hives. My usual job, which I take very seriously, is to gently smoke the bees as we begin. It calms them. 

Steve was looking to see if varroa mites were taking their toll. These mites can quickly decimate a hive, so it's important to keep a watchful eye. He showed me two different frames. "This one has mite damage." "How can you tell??" "Well," he explained, "Look at the brood pattern". I did. "This one is more like swiss cheese, with some brood [baby bees] all mixed in with cells of honey and pollen." 

He pointed out the other very organized beautiful honeycomb where a large center section was all capped over with babies within, and the honey and pollen were neatly stored on the outskirts, near the edges of the frame. "This frame is perfect. No damage at all." 

He went on to explain that this was all a good sign, because the perfect frame was newer, and the swiss cheese frame was older work, indicating that the hive was currently quite healthy, and the mite damage was old news.

"But how can you tell which one is newer?" I wanted to know. Couldn't it be that the healthy frame was older and the damage was more recent???

Aha! Steve knows all!

He directed me to compare the two frames. The capped over brood in the "mite" frame cells bulged out ever-so-slightly. The cells from the healthy frame were absolutely flat. "These are more mature and getting ready to emerge" he explained about the bulging brood comb. "The ones that are flat are less mature," their eggs more recently laid, and therefore, the happy healthy frame was new, indicating that any mite issues were in the past. 

I so cherish each bit of information he shares with me, giving me greater understanding of life within the hive.

We then spent several happy hours spinning out honey. We filled two 60 lb. buckets full. And we've been deliriously sampling sweetness ever since!