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Friday 27 May 2011

"Well, Honeycomb, be my own ..."

Despite the cold rainy start to the season, the bees are doing magnificently. The field right in front of their current location is yellow with dandelions, as are the pollen pouches on their hairy little bee legs most days.
The hives are strong and healthy, with lots of brood. Can you spot the queen working?
Sometimes she is easy to see, other times it's like playing Where's Waldo in reverse, where everyone is wearing a striped shirt except her.
In an earlier post, I showed a large piece of burr comb we discovered in one of the hives when we opened it for the season.
When we removed the inner cover of this hive last time, the unsupported comb broke off. Looking to see why it was so heavy, we found the comb full of brood. Naturally, we did not want to lose all these soon-to-bees (!) This is a beautiful brood pattern; nearly every chamber is being utilized - the work of a very good queen.
Clever Hubby devised a scheme to fit the slab of honeycomb into a wooden frame to give it more support. He gently lifted the wobbly comb from the hive and laid it flat.
Using sharp hive tools, he carefully sliced along the edges to square it up and fitted it into the frame. You can see from his bare hands that the bees were not a bit bothered. Perhaps they sensed he was was working to save their babies.
He was able to place the frame successfully back into the hive.
This weekend, the first of the hives will be moved to blueberry blossoms. It's a big job. Thankfully, the local Tim Horton's opens early!
(By the way...the title of the post is a line from a Jimmie Rodgers song called "Honeycomb")

3 comments:

  1. It's a darn good life when you've got a wife like honeycomb.....I remember that song, showing my age here! We have local honey growers here too.

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  2. Love to see all your sewing adventures...but I really love to hear about the bees, because we dont have anything like this anywhere near where I live.Keep us informed how the bee business works.

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  3. I remember that song too! Guess we're all "of a certain age".... Love seeing the Queen Bee- that's the first time I've been sure I'm seeing the Queen... Great pics Karen! Thanks

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