More BEEZZZZZ

This morning, my DH said that he thought all my bees were gone.  Couldn't hear anything.  Bummer.

Then they left for the first fishing trip of the spring/summer and left me home with my cold.  Yes, isn't that fun!  My new anti-seizure meds lower my immunity and make me more likely to get...well....anything, it seems.

Anyway, as I lay on the couch feeling like a slug...I though..let's go check on the bees.  There are some flying in and out....ones with "saddlebags".  When a bee is heavy with pollen, it is all on their back thighs looking like yellow, orange saddlebags.  They are neat to see and the color seems to depend on what kind of pollen they are finding.  The weather channels pollen report says there is no pollen currently...my bees do NOT agree.

So, let's crack it open and take a look.  Crack is literal, because bees make a glue that glues all the wood together and you have to use a tool to break the seal.  The top "hive body" is basically empty with a dozen or so bees....hmm....I'm not so sure about this...

Bottom body....full of bees!

I was slightly impressed with myself as I had only planned to peek, so I didn't take the smoker or my veil.  And I sat down with a chair and went through each frame pulling it out to look for the queen.  I couldn't find her, so I may need to find me a queen soon.  I'll give it a few more days and check again.  There were a few clusters that she may have been in. 

With no veil!  There was buzzing in my ears and them flying all around me.  I kept calm and just slowly went about what I was doing being VERY careful not to kill any of them.  That's what sets off the alarm that makes 'em ALL mad.  Danny, the dog, was not as successful as I think he was stung a few times for sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

I tried to get a picture of a "saddlebag'ed" bee, but it was quick to get busy loading it into the hive.
And what we always want....

HONEY!!!

So now I am back inside, reading some of my bee books and getting excited and wanting to make bee soap (honey soap) and candles, and eating bread made from our fresh ground wheat, eggs from the back yard, and honey from the front yard.  WHAT FUN!