The Quadra Farm : Honey Bees

opening the hive

This last blustery sunday afternoon we went to Paul's house to learn from his hives. When we arrived he was already at work adding new supers to give the growing bee poulation more room, Noah donned a veil and jumped in to join him. I don't have a veil but I find it really enjoyable to just sit ten feet away and watch and listen. Bee's are fascinating, each hive seems to have a different mood, rythum, and work ethic. Paul said the more you operserve the bees the more you can learn. He used to have a glass observation hive on his table so he could watch them. After Paul had went through all his hives he headed over to our place to help Noah go through our hives. Both our hives seemed very calm this afternoon and Noah didn't get stung, Noah's movments where also much slower than the previous visit. Noah fed the bees, moved the brood in a closer cluster due to the forcast upcoming cold weather. He did this so that they are able to breed more eifently and stay warm. He also moved the food storage to the outside edge. My favorite part of the day is when Paul came over with a frame and scraped off some bee pollen for me with his hive tool. My friend Sarah once said "I didn't know I had taste buds that went down to my toes". The pollen was still warm from hive and it tasted like a powdery honeysuckle nectar. If I was a bee I would work that hard for a taste.