On The Air!

It was great fun to be on the air with Rick Vuyst and Stacey Hirvela. They have a relatively new show called, Gardening Simplified where they share their love of plants. Honey bees fit in quite naturally with a love of plants, so it makes sense to have a beekeeper as a guest. Fortunately for me, I was that beekeeper. Their program airs on WOOD Radio Saturday mornings from 9:00am-10:00am. Their YouTube version has a little bit more content than the radio version. Here is the link to the YouTube version. https://youtu.be/MMB3qLCgMB0

After lighting the smoker, using pine needles and twigs, I put green grass on top. This gives a "cool" smoldering smoke used to confuse and calm the honey bees.

As beekeepers, we can tell a lot about a hive by simply looking up into a box from the bottom as it sits on its front side. This is a useful skill especially in cooler springtime inspections since pulling out frames might chill the bees.

I am removing the weight (brick) on top of this hive in preparation for a hive inspection, or replacing it after an inspection. After smoking the entrance to the hive, I puff a little smoke under the top cover, too, before I remove the lid altogether to perform an inspection of the frames.

 

This frame appears to be filled with honey. It looks dark; probably because the cells were first used for  brood (eggs, larvae, and developing bees) and then as the bees emerged the they filled those cells with honey. The darkness comes from the "cocoon skins" left by the emerged honey bees. That frame in my hands contains about four pounds of honey.

Here I am checking out a brood frame. I look for eggs (so I know the queen is present), healthy larvae, healthy capped brood (under which the bees are developing), and other indications of the general health of the hive.

Honey bees are so amazing. It is a privilege to care for them.

Hey, look who's NOT wearing a veil while he works with the bees! I often say that "I always wear at least a veil when I am working with honey bees." Well, this time I took off the veil for the photos so people could see the face of the beekeeper. I did take a sting to the face that day. Ouch!

Thanks for reading my blog and a special thanks to Kayla from Kayla Marie Videography for all these great pictures on this post. She took many more as well and you can see more of them on my website.