A Bee in Your Bonnet

Embarking into the world of beekeeping has been interesting, to say the least.  We've learned so much and the organization of the bee's colony is something to behold.  I've got to be honest with you when I say that I enjoyed the hobby more last year than this year.  Why is that, you ask?  Well, we caught another swarm and we made a split, so the two hives we had last year are now four hives.  You can see them over my right shoulder in the photo below.

The population of each of the colonies has exploded.  A queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day.  With those hatching each day, suddenly you find yourself having to add boxes so they have room for their brood and of course fill up boxes and boxes of honey.

Last year, the bees were kind.  We could go out and lift the lids off of the boxes without a suit on, without gloves on, and observe activity.  Comb being drawn out.  Looking at eggs and larvae.  Trying to find the queen.  Seeing the difference between all the workers and the larger drones.  We'd go out and get into the hives weekly and marvel at the changes occurring.  

With the expansion of their population and more brood and more honey, things changed - in a drastic way.  Our bees that were once kind are now annoyed, cantankerous and protective.  If you get near their boxes, they buzz your head, a forceful warning that you're encroaching on their property and you'd best leave.

So the flow began this year, beginning with white Dutch clover and privet and now Chinese tallow trees.  That means honeybees are bringing back lots and lots of nectar the the hives.  Last year we had a drought, so I only mowed three times the whole year!  The bees never bothered me.  This year we've had lots of rain and the grass grows almost as fast as the rate of inflation.  I cranked up the mower, knowing full well that the bees were cranky.  "I will respect their territory and will only mow far away from them," I said.

I was a generous distance from them, mowing my merry heart away, when I saw something in my peripheral vision.  I mistook it for grass cuttings flying out of the mower.  Oh, how I wish that's what it was.  Suddenly, something began to hit me in the back of the head.  I brushed it away.  That's when the first of several stings got me on the back of the neck and on my back and in my hair, stinging me on my scalp.

To pour salt on the wound, one bee flew around and got me right on the eyelid!  That was the icing on the cake, right there.  I jumped off of the lawnmower and ran to the back door, swatting, waving my arms, looking like a fool for all the neighbors to see.  I didn't care.  The bees were in hot pursuit.  I could hear them and feel them as they continued to sting me.  I ran in the back door and some followed me indoors.  I got a flyswatter and dispatched them to honeybee heaven with the quickness.

The next morning my left eye was completely swollen shut!  That eye teared up the whole morning.  It goes without saying to say that I'm not quite as fond of our bees as I once was.  The bloom is off the rose.  From now on in the sweltering heat, I'll be mowing with my bee suit on.  We'll be pulling honey in another month.  Maybe when they don't have as much honey to protect, they'll go back to being docile, gentle, friendly bees once again.