The fall flow from goldenrod flowers is just about done. We didn't pull any honey at all this year. We caught two swarms in the spring and decided to let them grow the colony for the first year. We will attempt to get honey in 2024. We open the boxes and inspect what's going on. They are slowly filling the boxes. This spring we are planning on splitting to double our two boxes of bees to four.
We love watching what they are doing. Currently, they are bringing pollen into the hives. You can see the bright yellow pollen on their legs. They are very interesting insects!
You've heard the old saying, "busy as a bee." They stay busy indeed. They work and work and work. Back in the 70's there was a song that had the following lyrics: "Work your fingers to the bone, what do you get? Boney fingers. Boney fingers." Bees are kind of like that. They work themselves to death. Their lifespan is roughly 35 days. They say that a bee will have flown 500 miles in it's life. Tricia was looking at a honeybee the other day. I was trying to get a good photo of it, but I couldn't get it to focus. I think you can see roughly what I'm talking about in the photo below. Look closely at the bee's wings:
The edges of the wings are ragged. There are notches in it. This is normal in a bee nearing the end of its life cycle. It's just worn out. Do you ever feel like that? Ha ha! The impressive thing about the honeybee is that its life is almost over, yet the been in Tricia's hand is still out there working, gathering pollen for the colony. She'll soon be dead, yet she is gathering sustenance for the hive to eat long after she's gone. The amazing, industrious honeybee. Since learning about bees, I've often said, "How can you be a beekeeper and not believe in God?"
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