The Apiary
For those that don't know about what it's about, suffice it to say I've said a lot about the birds in this thread. Now I'll talk about the bees. That's where they live, in the apiary.
You might know that there are many varieties of bees. Some are very aggressive, tough to handle, but produce more honey. Those that are a bit less productive but easier to be around were my choice. They were called "midnights".
The queen and her six workers were sent in a tiny cage. On arrival, a little barrier was removed so the workers could release her to begin her hive.
A hive is made of "supers". There are frames in each with foundation (precast bee's wax) for the production of comb. In a heathy hive, the bottom two are for the hive. It's where the workers (immature females) build comb, store food, and raise the young. A fertile queen will lay her eggs anywhere she can. The workers will care for them from larvae to pupae.
The queen needs to be prevented from going to the upper parts of the hive, or she'll lay eggs there too. So a wire mesh called a queen excluder is put between the bottom two and the top ones. Otherwise, you'll get no honey, just a lot more bees.
Once the hive is established, one super at a time is added. As long as the queen is kept out, the workers will fill it with honey. Sad to say, at the height of the summer season, a worker will only live for three weeks to produce her tablespoon of honey before her death, dancing a dance to tell others where the nectar and pollen treasure is located. Who needs GPS when you can dance?
As the season cycles, different types of honey are made. I like red clover and wildflower. Early season honey like willow is a bit strong to my taste.
So, how do you get the bees to allow you to take away their honey you might wonder? Well, first off, I already told you about the different varieties of bees. Some get very angry. That's why I like the midnights. When they're working on a bright sunny day, they hardly notice. They're too busy gathering.
Pull off the super and scrape the propalis (wax-like stuff to seal the hive), and shoot a little smoke (they think they're having a forest fire), and it calms them down.
Then the caps (top of the comb) is cut off and the frame is put into a device that spins out the honey like a centerfuge (think blender).
The caps are great to chew, especially if you have allergies or a sore throat.
The honey can be filtered and bottled. The frames left in the yard and the bees will collect back anything that was missed. back to the hive to be stored as honey again. Pretty neat if you ask me.
Taking away their food but leaving their home and enough in their pantry seems ok.
Now about the drones. Those lazy male bees that just hang around the hive all summer long, eating the honey and watching baseball games on those tiny plasma tv's. Heck, all they ever were expected to do was to fly high enough to mate with a reluctant new queen so that one of them could have magical sex high in the sky. One lucky drone, the strongest flier...the rest are just bums I tell you! Having the girls get their food while they play poker with those little cards.
Well, come the first hard frost in October, guess what happens. Those hard working females set their lazy as ses straight. No divorce in the bee world is allowed. They kick them out of the hive and post guards at the entrance so they can't come back in. No wall stretching from California to Texas....get out and stay out, bee boys! Freeze your lazy self off! There's only enough honey for us doncha know?
Go get em girls!
Now, if I could only find a better way to protect you all from black bears.
Chain link fence that's eight feet high doesn't seem to have had an effect.
As Gilda R (rip) said, "It's always something"!
Sweet.
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