Ground Control

Video to follow.
Bee-godfather Peter phoned to say he was off to check out his bees today and whether I wanted to join him. So for the 1st time donned my sparkling new white blouse & gloves, grabed brush & bee tool. What was planned as a quick check turned in to a 3 hour marathon rebuild. His bees have been so busy that several of his hives are getting overcrowded & the queens threatening to swarm out. So Peter, constantly hindered by me, patiently described what he was doing, showed me the various types of combs, their function and let me handle them. Even got to eat pure honey directly from a comb. I'm not a honey fan but it tasted quite different & very good. Highly interesting, time flew by and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Came away with:
1) "off-spring" box I built a week ago, filled with 4 combs & bees to set the 2nd hive up at home.
2) 4 drone combs of filled larvae & honey for the chickens to eat.
3) a packet of honey comb for Angie to eat for breakfast. Just have to spit out the wax.
4) intact skin, not a single sting.
5) a whole lot more confidence in handling bees, hopefully not over confidence though.

Even though a bee got inside my helmet at some point, I never felt menaced by the bees. Peter's hives seem to be very peaceful, only one of which got agitated after we had it open for a long time & it was particularly full. I can understand now that it is possible to work with them without protection but for now I will continue to use mine! Thank you Peter for a great session.