Ok, so as you recall, I have all my equipment and a couple empty supers in the back of my truck, with a piece of cardboard for a bottom, and an inner cover for the top, to put the harvested honey frames in, a way of sealing it and keeping the robbing at a minimum. I have fired up my smoker with the propane torch and it is smoking pretty good. I am off.

 

Some hives are more aggressive than others. I just know when I approach. They have histories. All else equal, like it’s a warm day with no storms brewing and the bees are wild in their search for late summer nectars and pollens, a few hives have the disposition of black birds to a hawk’s head. Don’t let them know you are there. Don’t bang anything. Puff of smoke in the front entrance, pop the outer cover of the top, a couple puffs of smoke right away into the center hole of the inner cover, and retreat. Give it a minute. I take my hive tool and slowly lift the inner cover exposing the frames of the honey super. A couple more puffs of smoke, and some smoke on the worker bees there on the frames. Good.

 

I dislike wearing a veil, a bee suit, gloves, all of the beekeeper’s protective paraphernalia. Can’t stand it. So, when I come to one of the angry hives, I, at least, put on a face veil. The anger and aggressiveness of a hive might be due to any number of reasons. Some are simply genetically prone to hyper-awareness, and often beekeepers will requeen a hive with these tendencies in hopes of changing the genetic make-up of the worker bees and having a new queen produce a less sensitive population in the next generation. In our area of the world, we don’t have to worry about “Africanized” bees. Killer bees, as they are sometimes referred to down south, cannot survive our cold environment. At least, not yet. The African genetics are not in our local bees. African bees are high-tree dwelling insects prone to swarming repeatedly. The rapid swarming, or dividing of the colony by natural means, insures an effect defense against viruses transmitted by mites, as the mite life cycle is longer than the swarm cycle of the African bees. 

 

If a hive has recently been attacked by a raccoon reaching up inside trying to get some protein from the brood, or a skunk, or some other predator, the hive will be on edge and hot to the touch. If a hive has been knocked over by the wind, or a black bear, they will be on high alarm. Putting back together a hive lying in pieces on the ground, I wear protection. If it has been raining for three days and the bees are coming out again, wait another day. Little tricks to not wear another layer of clothing.

 

I’m in a hot hive right now. They’re like little bitches. (Excuse my Olde Germanic, bicce). I’m not going to be in the hive for long. They are isolated and stand alone and never see a human. Bees have facial recognition, but if they never see your face, how can they recognize you? That’s the kind of thing beekeepers think about.

 

This hive had a late start, was the product of more than one combination, and while there is some work in the honey super, I am not taking any honey from it. While here, I will break the hive down to the lower box, check for eggs, have a quick look for the queen, and put in a treatment for mites. I use formic acid, a naturally occurring acid in the hive, applied in Formic Pro strips, two per hive, to be left for 14 days. It can be used with the honey supers on, as it is organic, and it is a one-time treatment, unlike so many other methods which require repeated disturbance of the hive. I barely have time to go in the hives once, let alone numerous visits for the same result. 

 

Oh hell! Right on the first bone of the second finger, left hand. “You bicce!” Almost always when I get stung, it is my own fault. I was trying to go too fast. Even the most experienced beekeepers get jumpy in the middle of a project. I lifted the inner cover a second time and got sloppy. Both the poor worker bee and I suffered; the bee because honeybees sting only once and when they do, they are finished, and me because I can feel the stinger and the venom in the bone of my finger, like hitting it with a hammer!

 

Tomorrow I will have a full day in the bees, gathering honey and checking for brood. It will be too hot, again, to treat for mites. Ninety degrees is too hot to use the acid. The acid burns the mouths of the mites, and they can no longer feed, and it works inside the cap brood too where the mite eggs are laid right alongside the queen laid egg. Don’t ask me how.

 

Have a great week. I am piling it on this week, getting ready for the first of the big garlic festivals. Bottling honey, cleaning and bagging garlic, making braids. I will be heading up to Bennington, Vermont this Friday for the Bennington Garlic Festival on Saturday, one of my favorites. Come on up! Vermont is beautiful when the months don’t end in “ber”.