(Unintentionally) angering the bees
Sometimes it is unavoidable. Two of our 8-frame hives started last year (one purchased last April, one from a captured summer swarm) needed some spring attention. There were clearly some bees coming and going as the days warmed up, but we had no idea how many or what shape the inside of the hives were.
I wanted to move the hives to the empty 10-frame hives behind the greenhouse. But this was very disruptive, requiring every frame in every box on both hives to be physically pulled, put in a new box one at a time, without losing the queens. Then the new boxes had to carted over 25-30 feet to the other location.
Our hives are generally pretty passive - I am not usually in mortal fear for my life around them. But this disruption, done in two pieces - one day I moved one alone, and Montana helped me with the second - made those bees ANGRY!!! Both hives are extremely ornery. Individual bees are still dive-bombing us anywhere in the front yard, two days later.
The right hand hive was stronger in terms of the contents of its frames (lots of brood), but we will have to give both hives a chance to settle down a bit to see what we have.
I am excited to have two hives, even as ornery as they are. Two is a manageable number!
This frame is super interesting, because it has both capped honey (the light yellow-white) and capped brood (the darker yellow, slightly textured part.)
A close-up of a bee carrying a nice load of orange pollen.
Not sure if the colors come through or not, but this section is full of interesting different colors of pollen.
SOOOOOO many angry bees buzzing around. You have to really trust your bee suit in moments like these!
After the move, there are a lot of bees still trying to cling to the old hive equipment. They should find a spot inside in the night, when we can then cart away the old equipment.
