Bees Week 3

Today’s inspection had a rather festive air. My friends Holly, Harvey & Kristin came over to see the bees while I moved the Russians into their permanent home. They’ve all been very interested in the bees, and are trying to figure out how they can fit a hive in their gardens. Kristin enthusiastically suited up, and helped pull out frames & inspect. Harvey took notes on what we found, and Holly played paparraza.



Without even trying, Kristin found Ekaterina, the Russian tsarina. She just came waltzing across one of the frames. I was disappointed that I wasn’t seeing many eggs or larvae, and was relieved when Garrett showed up to pick up his nuc hive. He showed me the error of my ways. I was looking at the cells facing into the sun, and not even seeing the fat little larvae in the cells. By turning the other way, a whole other world opened up. He also showed us up by jumping right in with no more protection than street clothes. Someday soon I’ll relax enough to forgo the Sta Puft Marshmallow man suit, though I think I’ll keep the veil. Garrett soon dashed off to enjoy his day elsewhere, and we returned to fumbling with the hives.



Kristin tried her hand at removing & inspecting frames, and only made me feel a tiny bit more experienced at it than her. Holly got some great bee close-ups. Harvey’s note taking sped up the process tremendously (thanks!!). At this point I really want notes on what’s happening with each frame, though I’m sure I’ll back off soon enough.




For the second week I didn’t see Boudicca, the Italian queen. Fortunately there are eggs, so she’s (hopefully) just hiding from me. We did see a drone in the Italian hive, which must have drifted in from the Russian enclave. Drones take much longer to mature than workers, so he couldn’t be one of Boudicca’s offspring. It’s supposed to be good for a hive to have drones around, even when they’re not breeding. Hopefully he won’t leave his socks on the floor ;-) The earliest worker brood should be emerging in a couple of days, so the population should soon begin to recover.



After closing up the hives and putting away our toys, we retired to the house, where Karin had made a wonderful brunch. We stuffed ourselves on quiche, fruit salad and lemon-poppy seed pancakes, and washed it all down with mimosas and Holly’s berry smoothies. The proper way to spend a Sunday morning!

The bees have made it a bit chancier for me to run around barefoot in the garden. I find quite a few on the ground, either tired or dying – I’m not sure which. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I find one with my foot.

The Russians are a bit problematic, too. Instead of quietly sipping espressos on a cool morning, like the Italians, they stay up late into the night drinking vodka and singing raucously. Occasionally there are fisticuffs. Oh well, as long as they get their work done during the day. (Actually, they are quite mellow. The above image popped into my head when a friend asked what the Russians sipped while the Italians had their espresso.)