Hive Bodies that is……I was looking for a catchy title today so you all wouldn’t think “Oh No! It’s another Beekeeping post…” well it is but I am talking today about the importance of having a couple of beekeepers in the family and also the importance of early inspection in the Spring if you get a pretty enough day.
The other day the Viking and I went through our bee hives on our lil’ suburban homestead. We always pick a beautiful afternoon when the bees are happy to pick up the hive bodies, examine what is going on in the hive, find the queen, look at the brood an do some housekeeping too!
Up until recently I have not been the hands on beekeeper in our household but after many discussions we decided that we both had to be hands on and who better for me to learn from than my husband “The Bee Whisperer“…yes I did get certified in Beekeeping but our instructor was not the most patient person and I am very fortunate because my husband is very patient with me and if I make a mistake he very calmly talks me through it and I realized I don’t want to learn from anyone else and he has a lot of knowledge about our bees I want to learn this information from him.
We were inspecting the hives to find the queen, the brood, and to examine food stores for the bees. This is important in maintaining healthy hives. If you don’t have a queen the hive will be unhappy and soon will fail, and if you don’t have brood it means you may have no queen or an unhealthy queen that is not laying. If you don’t have food stores it either means your hive was robbed or you didn’t set aside enough food in the first place at this point all you can do is feed them and hope they can recover.
I spotted the queen on one of our hives and she looked healthy and active….we did not see the queen on the other two hives but we saw brood and eggs which was proof that we have three healthy hives at this time and my husband is hoping to make about 10 splits this year which is very ambitious but we are going to do it.
Hope you enjoyed reading about our day with our bees! Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
Fondly,
Other Beekeeping or Related To The Topic of Honey Posts You May Like!
Lil’ Suburban Homestead – Close Up On Our Bees
Lil’ Suburban Homestead – Searching For Queen Cells
Lil’ Suburban Homestead – Making Your Own Pollen Patties to Feed Your Bees
That’s awesome that you jumped in and are getting hands on with the bees! It’s sad to hear your instructor was short on patience… beekeeping seems to be the type of task you need lots of patience for (for the bees and to teach others!)
Great job 🙂
Thanks Caitlin and the really cool thing is I wasn’t nervous at all and everything went well I will be going back in soon! 🙂 So nice of you to encourage me and stop in!
I had planned on taking the plunge and adding a hive next year but, as fate would have it, I just won a starter hive and a package of bees. Other than that, I have no other equipment including no suit! I see that you and hubby are wearing jackets and not full suits. Do you feel that the jacket is enough protection? I know that bee stings will go through jeans. Thanks for your help!
Such exciting news! Yes most beekeepers wear the jacket with the head covering, gloves, and cover up well with good jeans, socks and shoes and you should be fine! Yes bee stings will go through jeans but my husband does get stung during honey harvest season maybe around 5 or 6 times per season. I am going to find out more this summer the good news is you won’t be harvesting honey this season you will be just building up your hive this year and helping them keep their honey stores so they winter over. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. 🙂
I envy your bravery! My husband and I are going to have beehives soon, but I am so afraid of getting stung! I’m sure I will get over it. Thanks for your ongoing information, I appreciate every bit of instruction I can get before I dive into the hive! 🙂
Vickie I was scared trust me hearing that hum of the bee in the hives while I was picking up the box but I know I’m lucky because my husband so wants me to learn the biz he is very supportive and encouraging and walking me through step by step. I will post all about the next time I go out and hopefully it will inspire others and hopefully again I won’t get stung LOL!