I just know the other day I went out to put some Mite a way strips in all the hives to treat for Varroa Mites. I had done the Nuc first, then the Split (yes I have names for all our hives) I had decided to leave the Big Hive till the end. The first two hive went along smoothly. While I had the hives open it was a good time to see how the honey production was coming along. I kind of dreaded doing the Big Hive because of the weight of the honey super, it was full and I was afraid I may drop it.
Anyways, I preceded, I removed the top cover and inside cover, then lifted off the top super, then I was at the full honey super. I got it off ok and set it aside. Taking advantage of tearing apart the hive I decided to remove the queen excluder and leave it off. So far so good. Next came the second brood box, I slowly pried up the corners and lifted it off. Out of no where came an explosion of bees. 1000's of them, all ticked off with me for disturbing them. They was not happy, I was covered head to toe with bees and they were trying their best to have some pay back.
I decided when they didn't let up, I would go for a little walk and let them simmer down some. I got half way across the driveway and they were still bouncing off me, so I went farther and farther and ended up behind the motel. Slowly they started letting up a bit. By this time my legs and bum were starting to feel like a pin cushion, then I felt a sting on my ankle. I pulled off my gum boat and whipped off all the bees out off my pant leg. By the time I came around to the front of the motel the bees were pretty well gone.
Next to our bee yard is where we cut and stack the firewood, so its fairly close, and while I was working in the bee yard, James and Ray were splitting firewood. As I glanced over I saw Ray running across the yard waving his arms. Oops! I then noticed James shutting down the splitter and walking away. Apparently the cranky bees were mad at them too. (teehee)
To be continued........
No comments:
Post a Comment