Paul opens the hive

Paul Szott gave a brief rundown of  springtime hive management before heading outside on a beautifully warm April afternoon. This is what we all wanted to do.

Before a large audience of beekeepers of varying experience, Paul dug right in.

You never know exactly what you will find, but the amount of activity and the pollen laden workers told us it would be good.

The first frames pulled showed abundant stores of honey remaining.

The next showed new pollen and then capped brood.

The bees seemed equally interested in the spectators as they rested on many of us with their corbiculae (pollen baskets) fully loaded.

Paul made his way right down to the screened bottom board where he gave it a good cleaning prior to replacing the boxes.  Medication was carefully administered on the top bars, making sure not to be placed directly on the new brood cells.

The temporarily displaced occupants remained calm as did the new club members who showed no signs of reluctance to approaching the active hive.

A syrup bag was placed and the hive was closed. But that was not all.

Kenny Record brought his top bar hive along to show curious bee keepers another way to keep bees. Although we have Top Bar Beekeepers in our club, this was an experiment for Kenny himself, who has many decades of beekeeping with Langstroth hives. The hive was fully sealed all winter long, dead for sure, as Kenny expected it would be.  This hive has end boards that can be adjusted to suit the size of the hive. As Kenny started pulling out the bars, you could plainly see bee carcasses clumped and clinging to what otherwise looked like good comb. Ken showed how to properly lift the bars to avoid bending or breaking the wax comb. About 3 or 4 bars in, I thought I saw some living bees. With the next bar and comb up in hand, it was obvious that this hive was not dead, not dead at all.

To Kenny’s delight, the final bar revealed the queen, alive and standing along side the last band of loyal attendants. It appears that Ken Record will have another season of top bar honey.

Thanks to Paul, Ken and all who came out. We are now into open hive demonstrations, so be sure to bring a veil if you have one and wish to get close.