Our Third Hive Visit

Finally, after two weeks of cool rain and heavy clouds, we had a beautiful day to visit the hives. (20 may) I'm happy to report we're getting a bit more consistent with the smoker, experimenting with paper bag pieces, pine cones, small pieces of wood, burlap...

In the time since our last visit, the bees of Hive 2 have definitely filled 6-7 frames in the top super (the reversal worked!) AND built a bunch of wild comb on the bottoms of frames, so much so that at least 3 were beginning to be sealed together. We were hesitant, standing there looking in slight disbelief, but in the several books we have read they all advise "cleaning up" any wild comb or propolis--the longer we let it go, the more problems it causes. Already the comb between frames made it challenging to pull one at a time for inspection. The bees were raising brood in the wild comb, which made it even more "not fun" to remove. With slow and steady work, Erin used the hive tool while I handed her frames and smoked the bees when needed. We removed the wild comb with stores of pollen, brood, and even sticky honey....we displaced bees....all the while questioning, hoping we were doing the right thing. It's the hardest thing we've had to do so far, but we knew if wild comb is this problematic after 2 weeks--imagine the mess we'd have after 3 or 4!

This was the longest we have worked with the bees so far--almost 45 minutes per hive! Once the frames were "clean," we collected the wild comb still covered with bees, and gave them several firm shakes over the hive. We added a third super and a fresh protein patty (they are obviously being eaten), and moved on to the artist colony - Hive 1.

We found a similiar situation....7-9 frames of the top super have been filled (super reversal worked here too), and wild comb had been constructed underneath the frames, though not as much as Hive 2. The creative flap we had noticed last time had become a problem--even bigger, crowded, interferring with other frames, and forcing brood into strangely shaped cells. We regretfully removed the creative flaps with so many bees still on them, and began cleaning the frames. Unfortunately, Erin received a sting. It was rotten luck. While slowly scraping off wild comb, a piece happened to fall on a bee, who reacted with loud buzzing and stung her on the wrist. Erin remained so calm, I smoked the area (to help mask the alarm odor) while she attempted to scrape off the stinger with her fingernail....only her fingernail wasn't long enough. All it did was further inject the venom into her system. Next time, we'll scrape the stinger off with the hive tool. We continued working, though we laughed because we were both a bit jumpy and needed to make a conscious effort NOT to react that way. This was about fear vs. calm, and with effort, calm won. We once again shook the bees off the wild comb and into their hive, added a third super and a protein patty, and closed up.

Erin said the sting wasn't so bad, it's the reaction that's been very uncomfortable. We iced immediately, but were really slow with remembering Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream. Her wrist/hand area has been red, itchy, hot--and I dare say--pudgy. Luckily, the swelling has gone down significantly today. I'm so proud of how Erin handled being stung in the bee yard, how calm she remained, and how she didn't take the bee sting personally. Bees are wild, reactionary creatures....there isn't an intention to cause humans harm, they are reacting to a situation--it's not a personal issue. With the extremely invasive work we were doing, it's amazing only one bee stung! I have to say, Erin's handling of the situation made me feel very safe and confident working with her. I only hope I do as well when my time comes:) When we talked afterward, we both realized we still felt comfortable working with bare hands. The gloves will come in handy for certain tasks, I know, but manipulating the frames is so much easier with bare hands, it's much harder to feel what you're doing with gloves, and our movements become clumsy--which is not desirable when working with a growing population of bees!

It's been such a help to email closely with Ron about the "freak comb situation." It could be that our bee population is growing rapidly and needed more room....if we could have checked them sooner, perhaps we would've been able to add the 3rd super and avoid at least some of their wild comb building. It's hard to say, as beginners. But we are learning that with beekeeping, as in gardening, as in life--there is no such thing as perfect. We learn, we grow, we observe, we just try to do the best with what we're given. In working with nature, this becomes a real flannel shirt philosophy, I know, but I believe it's the best we can do.