A Lesson in Smokers (why it is good to have one nearby at ALL times)

I am definitely no artist.

A picture is better than a thousand words...that's my post!

Just kidding!  I will get to the sketch later, but first an update on this week with the new bees. 

Tuesday almost brought heartache as I attended to the hives.  The bees never vacated the NUC (pronounced NOOK...it is a nucleus hive)!  There were some in the new hive, but the NUC was teeming with bees.  Once again, I did not see the queen, but I learned something new.  When moving bees from a NUC to a hive, you must remove the NUC from the picture all together and the new hive must be in the same place as the NUC was previously.  Why?  Bees are creatures of habit.  They create flight paths and will follow them exactly to and from the hive.  So what was the solution?  Remove the cover of the new hive...pick up the NUC...turn it over the new hive...and shake!  A majority of the bees fell right into the new hive and I quickly covered it.  Then I moved the NUC well out of the picture.  Two days later, the bees were hard at work in their new home and the NUC was completely empty.  No stings were awarded!

A quick note about this endeavor: I did not use my smoker since it was so quick and the bees were pretty docile.  This hive has not started producing honey, so there is not a whole lot to protect.  Now for Friday...

Friday was a beautiful day!  The sun shone bright and hot in the sky.  A moderate breeze kept the temperature reasonable.  The goal of this trip was to photograph the bee's progress for you, the reader.  Instead, here is what happened:  I arrived at the hives ready to go.  I approached the big hive...which I shall name later (please give me ideas...I need to name the hives so you will know exactly which one I am talking about...).  Anyways, the bee activity out front was normal.  Foragers were coming and going and everything seemed right with the picture. 

Unfortunately for me, I had not lit off my smoker and was a little cocky about the whole situation.  I gently lifted the cover and flipped it over to find thousands of bees clinging to it!  There is a bit of comb built on the lid and it is full of honey!  Before I could react, three bees came directly onto my head and ear...within microseconds it had happened.  The stings were immediate and I decided that was enough for the day.  I carefully replaced the cover trying to not smash any bees and get out of there.  I calmly walked away back towards my car (believe what you want, but I was not about to go running away and get chased by a bunch of ticked off bees!).  I got back into my car and removed the stingers.  Needless to say, my ego was mostly sore.  My head and ear were fine, just a little tender. 

Now for the take away: I will keep my smoker lit and nearby anytime I am working the bees (even if I don't plan to do a whole lot with them).  A calm hive makes for a calm beekeeper.  I plan to go back out on Wednesday afternoon to scrape off the extraneous comb and keep the bees contained to the frames! 

Until then, remember to bee kind to your neighborhood pollinators!