Expanding the Apiary

Since the bees are thriving, I took a day to attend a bee workshop. I went to the first lecture last year, in my one day of bee keeping bliss, and learned so much. This year, I was thrilled to see that I was not the youngest. There were older beekeepers, but of the 25 or so of us, there were seven college students, who were all involved with their campuses organic gardens, and wanted to learn more about apiaries. They were passionate and enthusiastic, and I am grateful that the enthusiasm for bees is spreading to younger people.

The topic of conversation was expanding the apiary. I don't know how most bee keepers manage this, but we learned that the best way is to let the bees swarm. When we went out to the farm, there was a swarm, an enormous swarm, three times the size of a normal swarm, hanging on a new peach tree. Totally unprotected, Gunther and his wife, with an experience beekeeper holding the catch box, bopped the tree and the swarm fell in.

Sadly, we think the swarm had been out for a day already. They were more irritable than expected, and the beekeeper got perhaps 60 stings, Vivian perhaps forty. Most of the viewers had a sting or two; thankfully, I was standing in a different spot and avoided them altogether. I swell up so badly!

This was absolutely the worst case scenario. Most workshops Gunther holds end without a single sting. But everyone chewed plantain and put it on the stings. The worst-hit beekeeper didn't look much worse for the wear in the end: minimal swelling, despite a bald pate and bare arms.

It was good to see this, though. That was the worst case; no one died or was even unduly stressed. Some people might have an eye swell shut, but then, I heard that swollen eyes aren't that big a deal. One girl mentioned that a sting in the nose is worse, and Gunther agreed. I cannot even imagine. (Shiver!)

I had had so many stings last year, and it broke my heart because I felt like I approached the bees with love and respect, but they were rejecting me. It restored me, though, to hear that that happens. Even Gunther, yesterday, sustained a few stings as he opened various hives. One on the ear. One on the finger. He didn't get upset or feel like a failure; he just carried on.

He did say, though, that if a bee gets caught in your hair, you need to squash it as fast as you can, because you will never get it out. "A single bee is like a blood cell, a small part of the organism." Later in the workshop that happened to me, right on the wisps on my forehead, and I squashed it against my head. No sting, no guilt.

Besides catching a swarm, you can also allow your bees to artificially swarm. Once a hive has a capped queen cell, an indication that the hive will swarm (and a queen cell is totally different than a worker or drone cell, looking almost like an olive at the bottom of a frame), then find the queen and catch her. Take a box and, with about eight frames, vigorous shake the bees, frame by frame, into the box, until you have about four pounds of bees. Then put the queen in, close them up overnight and put them in a cool place. The next day, late in the day, put them in a new, empty beehive, where they will make rapid progress on making new comb, maybe six frames in a week.

Then see if there are queen cells on two different frames (or more). If there are two frames, put a frame in a new box and leave a frame, then split the frames of honey and brood and, from one hive, now you have three healthy, happy hives. And other than the (considerable) expense of buying new hives, you can build the apiary rapidly.

So I had an interesting day, and Phil had a restful day with the boys, doing many little tasks (like vacuuming the RV) that make life nicer.