Hey friends!
I wanted to take a few minutes to chat about one of my newer hobbies that pushes me to my limits some days… beekeeping! I always get asked tons of questions about being a beak but the most common is: “Does it hurt to get stung?” Haha! I’ll take this stringer of a question real quick… abso-freakin-lutely. I’ve been stung by wasps and hornets numerous times but only once (so far) by a bee. I got her to the back of my thigh after I dropped a frame last year. Really, you only get stung if you mess up. They let you know if you are doing something wrong!
As a beekeeper there are several things you note to make it ideal timing for a hive inspection. For example, experts say between 11am and 2pm is the best time when it is sunny with a slight breeze and over 55 degrees (F). Now I am now expert, especially since this is my second year as a beekeeper, but those qualifications for an ideal inspection in Colorado are few and far between. You either get wind, rain, clouds, no breeze, melt your skin off hot weather, or some weird thing is happening in the area. Oh, also, you don’t necessarily want to get in there when the air is super smokey as it will make your smoker less affective and cause mass confusion. As you can guess the perfect timing for hive inspections hardly ever comes around.
Although, sometimes, when these stars align it just is not my day to be messing around in the hive. Bees can smell fear via a pheromone you put off. It makes them uncomfortable and it is a down hill slide for you. A couple weeks ago, I was hanging out by myself and thought it would be a good time to see what the gals were up to. They were very active to start off with, I accidentally grabbed one in my hive tool- which understandably irritated her-, it was hot, and I was rushing. We were off on the wrong foot from the beginning and my anxiety went sky high. They knew it. I took several warning shots to the head/ veil. After about 45 minutes of trying, getting too worked up, walking away, and coming back all I did was get the top off and put it back on. It was a very unsuccessful attempt in one sense. In another it was successful as I now know myself a little better with our bees and have been practicing for my next solo attempt.
Another thing to note is what and when something happens. You should note when you do hive inspections, what the frames looked like, how the bees were acting, when you add or remove a hive component, if you did a mite check, etc. It is a lot to remember so I created my “bee journal” where I jot down my notes about the hive after I hang out with it. Again, I am no professional, so the notes I make are ones that I think are important to me or important to be able to reference in future years.
The honey that we harvested last year is unbelievable. I can’t compare it to any other honey I have ever had! Between the freshness of it and the knowledge that we “did” that (we cared for the bees and made sure they were okay), it tastes so good. We ended up with around 3 gallons of honey last year! We were completely unprepared for that much as most beeks say you hardly get a harvest your first year. But we did with some to spare! This year we should have enough more as the colony has already been more established.
Here is a definition for you, so you’re not a newbie like me… the term beek or beeks is short for beekeeper/s. 🙂 I have no idea why it needed to be shortened but there you have it. I am a beek!
I am very shy beek so far in this journey, we spent our first year without a mentor (I do NOT recommend that). We learned a lot the hard way and spent more time watching other people on YouTube than we did with our own bees. This year I have been blessed to have a mentor, although she is extremely busy, she is always available to answer my questions. I don’t share a lot on my methods yet, mostly because I don’t have any yet. Maybe in another year or two I will… but for know I am happy to share my learning journey with you!
Follow me on Instagram for my next hive check! @hal.and.pals I do my best to keep everything up to date over there 🙂
Happy days!
xx
Hal
Hallie Dantzler 