Bee-success!

Being first time beekeepers on our local Bee Club's "swarm list", N and I have been a little tetchy lately. The phone rings and we'll suddenly tense, wishing, hoping, praying that it is someone calling to tell us that an unwanted swarm awaits capture. Ready to drop everything, put on our bee-suits and go catch a swarm of homeless bees to occupy our brand new sparkling hive. As the season dragged on with no swarms on offer we'd been harbouring the dark thought that maybe we'd just have to wait until next year to get our bees. Bees swarm from spring through to early summer but this year, after a hot and dry January, the bees have not been forthcoming. And you can only get bees during swarming season: it was going to be a long wait if we missed out!
But then on Saturday, at around noon, we got our call. We were told there was not one but three swarms at a property not far from our place at the home of an experienced beekeeper. Things were dropped, bee suits donned and we high-tailed it down to the swarms!
According to our bee guru Howard, captured swarms will "take" to a hive (ie. set up shop) around 70% of the time, and we were lucky enough to be in that percentile. It is a truly incredible thing to watch bees take to a hive - once they've made up their mind they literally march right in. And its not as scary as you might think - bees who have swarmed have filled their bellies with honey before swarming so they're in a total post-lunch stupor and its pretty unlikely they'll try to sting you.
 A week of perfect weather later and our bees are still happy and still home. Hurrah!

Art of Bee-ing

As huge fans of both terrible puns and the TV comedy Community, N and I were *so* excited when we found out that there was an actual Community College in our area, and that they run a course on bees! Beekeeping seems to be one of those things that you just can't learn from books. I've read quite a few of them and decided that the secrets of the bee-world are best learned hands on (or bare-hands-on in the case of our brave teacher, Howard). With the last day of winter being a glorious sunny one we suited up today for our very first "prac".

I am bee man hear me roar!

Smokin' bees

As one of last year's graduates from Bee School described it, your first experience of beekeeping can be pretty life-transformative: being surrounded by all these bees, and feeling completely safe within your suit and with your smoker by your side. And it is a pretty incredible feeling, once you get over the fact that you are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of little venomous creatures who may or may not want to sting you. After trawling through half a dozen hives though, not one student got stung and we all happily hoed in to some of Howard's honey harvest (not before admiring Howard's amazing bee-mobile... see below...)

Apis mellifera ligustica (Italian honey bee)

Howard (our teacher's) sweet ride