Hey.. I know you!

[kensfarm]

Last Sat. evening I was lounging on the couch reading my first ABJ magazine that my fiance had given to me for an Xmas present.. earlier I had been in the hives doing a Sugar powder treatment.. the day had warmed up to the 50's. 

As I laid there reading.. my Jack Russell got off the floor and was looking towards one window..  I ask him what are you looking at.. my fiance said.. "It's a bee!"  So I got up and went over to the window.. yep.. must've hitched a ride on me..  I took the magazine and let the bee walk onto it.  Before I could get to the back door.. she flew off..  didn't see where.. couldn't find her.. so I went back to reading.

A little later I hear a buzzing noise go by..  "did you see where it went?"..  "it's on you!"..  yep.. the little girl landed right on my shoulder & that's where she sat.  Funny she would land on me..  but a bees life is a world of smells..  maybe they do remember their beeks smell.

I let her walk onto my hand and got off the couch.. already too cold & dark outside.  As I walked her down to the hives..  she snuggled for warmth between the cracks in my fingers.. I told her.. "you know you're getting special treatment!"..  I just smiled.. it was a good day! 

[Cindi]

Ken, now that was a very nice little story.  Cute how the bee cuddled inbetween your finger to keep warm.  Even saving one life in the colony is an important thing.

I am ever so careful when I work in the hives to try my hardest not to injure any bees.  It makes me feel awful when I see one that I squished accidentally, like when I put a box on the hive and remove it later to see a squished bee.  Oh well.  Good deeds are good deeds.  Great day.  Cindi

[kensfarm]

Hi Cindy.. thankyou..  I do my best not to squish too many.. use the slide method putting the boxes back on..  lower then raise it up some to give them a chance to move out of the way..  methods that have been talked about here. 

The last time one hitched a ride.. I got stung on the neck walking in the back door.. luckily my reaction is small.. I only got stung 4X for the whole year.. but never got stung while I've been suited up.   

Just ordered more equipment this week to expand this year..  my 3 hives look good..  looking to expand to 10-12.  I've enjoyed reading your posts.. here's hoping we all have a good year! :)  Ken

[Cindi]

Ken, thank you.  I have tried the sliding box thing, I have a hard time pushing it because it generally has blobs of propolis.  This year I will try the slide again, but I will ensure the slide can slide easily by removing any propolis.  I know that is a pretty safe way of putting on the hives, gotta do it for sure.

I think that my two hives left (out of 10) have overwintered well too.  The last time I took a quick peek in was about a week ago, the sun was shining and it was warm, the bees were flying.  Bet they were happy.  I could see about 5 frames of bees.  That made me happy.  They are probably beginning to raise brood by now in a big way.  Last year when I did the first big work in the hive it was March 4 and I saw larvae and capped brood.  So obviously the queen had been laying for at least 6 days.  I suspect that she began laying much earlier, but I just didn't see anything until this time.  This year is about the same as last year I would imagine.  By this time the bees were bringing in lots of pollen.  It was kind of cute.  I could see some of the bees covered from head to toe with the bright orange stuff.  They looked really neat.

Well off to get the house ready for the kids galore that need food and some personal time from us.  Great day.  Cindi