Mike and I finally got to attend the “Homestead Beekeeping Seminar” in Waco last Thursday.  It was an 8 hour class – and it was only part one!  We didn’t go back the second day for part two- I didn’t know it was offered and it was full by the time we asked about it.  Well, if I feel the need later on – I know where to find the class.

We sat in class the whole morning and learned about the importance of managing your hive, the biology of the honey bee, pollination and importance of bees and on and on and on.  You think you just throw a box in the back yard, put some bees in it and collect the honey, right?  Oh heck no.  You have to learn to tell the bees apart – and I don’t mean like “this is Jane” and “this is Bob”- you need to be able to identify the queen from the drones and the worker bees.

After lunch, we suited up and headed out to the hives.  There were eight of us in the class and most of us were new bee owners. 

 

Here we’re learning how to start a fire in the smoker.  You smoke the hive to calm the bees before you open it.  When the bees smell smoke, they start eating the honey because they think there’s a fire and they’re going to have to relocate the hive.  When they’re full of honey they calm down and don’t swarm.  OK, that’s for the bees in the hive, but the ones coming in from the field were not smoked and they were not happy we were there!

 

Here are two of the five top bar hives we checked. 

 

This is Jacob who taught the class.  He’s been bee-keeping for 13 years and he’s got to be at least 22 years old!  What a really nice guy.  You see he’s only putting on the hat and veil.  No gloves.  No bee suit.  Show off.

The combs hang from the wooden bars shown here.  We pulled them out one at a time (that’s every bar on every hive)  and checked for the queen  (there’s only one in each hive.)  You should see on one of the combs where she’s been laying eggs.  The poor woman lives 2 to 3 years and lays 1000 to 1500 eggs a day.  The problem is - it looks like a small grain of rice in the bottom of a well.  I’m going to have to buy tri-focals.  If another queen hatches – they fight to the death.  You go girl!

 

You should also see drones and worker bees hanging out.  The worker bees are all female.  They are responsible for all the maintenance of the hive,  and feeding the babies, and collecting the pollen and nectar and guarding the hive.  She only lives about 45 days.  Please, I’m surprised she lasts that long! The drones are the male bees who do absolutely nothing but hang around to mate with the queen – who by the way only mates once and that’s it – it’s over.  They get to live a couple of months.

OK, class is over.  Walking back to the class room to take off the suit.  I felt like a warrior coming home from battle. Spending an hour with bees crawling all over you is nerve wracking – even with a full suit.  Nobody got stung – not even the crazy instructor who didn’t even wear gloves! 

We pick up our bees on April 27^th – I think we’re ready!