another small synchronicity

In recent weeks I've been thinking I also need to learn beekeeping. So this afternoon, while perusing the local paper looking for realtor phone numbers I saw an upcoming event -- $5 lecture on how to raise bees by a local beekeeper. And, unlikely the last few years, I saw it in advance instead of learning about it after the fact. And I have nothing in particular scheduled that day. And I have time to go. :)

I just built two hives and installed two colonies last Saturday. Tomorrow I look in for the first time and hopefully my worker girls
have eaten the candy out of the cage that holds the queen, and I'll see hundreds of new drawn out cells filled with nectar, pollen,
and freshly laid eggs!.

While installing the bees last weekend, one got under my hood. I kept working calmly for about 10 minutes talking to that sweet girl
every once in a while, that things were gonna be great. I was so "one with my bees"

I'm really digging this.

but my husband is afraid of them. I know he would be OK once we had them. How much does it cost to get into it, and do you have to wait until a certain season? Larry said (my husband) that what a lot of people do, he thought, was rob a tree of the hive and set it up, but that sounds dangerous and mean.

I went through our local bee keepers association. They held monthly classes on the most important topics. Setting up a hive,
feeding the girls, swarming, supersedure...

For one hive the cost would be approx $300.00. And yes the bees are seasonal, and follow that season exactly.

I built the hive, it comes in pieces, but pretty easy to follow, with dove tail joints that glue/ then nail together.
The frames were a bit more tedious, but I was lucky to have access to an air gun.

The bees come in late April to mid May depending on what region you live in. May here in the northeast is when
the flowers start blooming, where the can do what they do collecting pollen, and nectar. I just need to visit the hive
every few weeks to make sure the queen is healthy. If you spray sugar water on the bees while peaking in, and have a smoker
going nearby the girls are too busy licking the water off each other to care about you. (or so I'm told- I'll know better
in a few hours) lol

John said he was nervous about the bees, but he drove home from the pickup with me while the bees were mostly caged
in the back of the car, and about 10 flew free in the car- without a problem.

although I suppose at one point in time, that was how it all started.

But I wouldn't want to start my hive with angry, frightened and/or disoriented bees. :(

I'm looking foward to the lecture and if the beekeepers offering it hold classes I will start with that.

I love the bees in my garden. I have one (family?) with orange butts. It started with a single bee that I greeted pretty much every day. Last year I saw several orange-butt bees :D

with bees. I don't believe a single one would ever sting me. A swarm, can't speculate.
My theory is they leave me alone because I leave them alone. I think they can sense fear as danger.

I've rescued fellow outdoor diners who had a problem bee at their table. No one got hurt :D

One queen cage was empty! Yay!

The other was not....... I gently pulled off the screen, saw the queen- she looked
energetic and healthy, the girls had been taking good care of her through the cage.

I watched as she slipped down into the middle frames and the girls just surrounded her in
a frenzied love.

They've been drawing out comb, and I had to remove large quantities of burr comb, some that
was filled with pollen, and honey.

Couldn't help but to try the pollen. High in protein, and nutrients- and tastes just like a sweet vitamin pill.
Couldn't get the smoker to stay set. Used a sprayer filled with sugar water instead. They loved that.

Didn't see any eggs in the hive where the queen was freed-, but could be too soon? or that I need
to wear my cheaters! (These eyes aren't spring chickens anymore)

So please send good vibes to the hives all you good people.

peace IN

and beehives everywhere :loveya:

"it's time." :)

and it turns out that the organic herb place where I may do some volunteering or something this summer is holding a bee seminar at the end of June. A big muckety muck in the world of bees from Vermont will be teaching it.

I also got to meet some Italian honeybees that the beekeepers had brought along. They accidentally brought along their queen (oops!), so I got to see her too, with all her girls caring for her. What a life, although it was sad to learn that they'll kill her when she stops producing enough. Also the way the drones just walk away to die, with their wings to tattered and worn out to fly :(.

The lecture was held at the park where I used to take Jakey regularly, so he came along and got to visit his old haunt, which lifted his spirits mightily. I left Luna behind, as his training and socialization is just beginning. The 2 of them where overwhelmed with barking joy when we got home -- you'd have thought they'd never been apart before, or that they'd been seprated for years as opposed to 4 hours, lol. He's snoring happily, now.