As one can imagine, the first time a person opens a beehive and peers inside, it is an experience to remember! There has been anticipation, researching, looking at pictures and videos, and now there is the “real deal” of looking at your colony.
It was currently mid-May, and it probably took more than 2 hours to get ready and look into my box that first time. First, I had to figure out how to “fire up” the smoker. In my beginner beekeeper kit, I received a smoker, pellets made of fiber, a couple tools, a hat with a net and numerous other instruments. The smoker pellets had no instructions. They looked like large cigarette filters to me and seemed to be the exact fit of the hole at the bottom of the smoker. So, pushing one into that hole, I lit it with a long lighter and waited for it to smoke. Which it did… a little. I next added newspaper and kindling. That worked much better but got very hot. I dropped a couple more pellets into the smoker and donning my hazmat jacket (I had cut the legs off the suit), and netted hat, I was off to the hive with my tools and camera.
The lid was easy enough to take off, and the bees did indeed go down into the hive with a few puffs of smoke. Although, they seemed more agitated about the smoke than the videos showed. I also wonder now if the beekeeper I bought the bees from was one who doesn’t use smoke on his bees. At any rate, I was a bumbling idiot trying to pry out the frames one at a time. I definitely was not slow and smooth- poor babies. But at the same time, I was ecstatic that each frame was filled with thousands of bees that didn’t seem too bothered by being outside of their box.
To the inexperienced eye, it was a mass of movement, and I wondered how anyone could possibly find a queen in all these tiny humming bodies crawling all over each other. But I carefully looked the frames over, took in the smell, noted the different-shaped brood (capped juvenile bees), and identified pollen pockets (known as bee bread) and honey pots (uncapped nectar syrup that the worker bees sip on while taking a nutritional break from their duties).
I have to say, I was thrilled to be able to identify the few things I did on that inspection. It was so cool to be doing it in person. And I desperately wanted to bond with my hive, as weird as that may sound. I hoped they were used to my scent by now and could detect that I was their friend and hopeful caretaker.
While working away, I felt very clumsy with the gloves on. I sadly squished a few bees between frames, which really upset me. So I took the gloves off and was happy to see that the bees didn’t seem to mind my hands. I DID get stung a couple times on that inspection. But it was purely my fault when I grabbed a frame and nearly smashed a bee on the back side.
I had read that when one bee stings, a pheromone is put out that causes many bees to go on the defense and start stinging. So I quickly pulled the stinger out and rubbed it in ashes from the smoker to mask the scent. I guess it helped a little.
Anyway, I finished looking at both sides of eight frames. And I took pictures and videos of all the interesting things I saw. I identified eggs and larvae. I looked for the queen (and thought I spotted her). I was able to find a couple queen cups but had no idea what any of it meant. I saw little bees being “born” and chewing their way out of the cells. And I listened as the quiet buzzing noise became louder. Finally, I could tell they were more nervous, so it was time for me to wrap things up. When I put the lid back on the hive, I used my brush to get the bees off the top edges of the box so they wouldn’t get squashed. It didn’t work amazingly well. And once again, I felt terrible for killing a few more of my new babies – little heads or bee butts sticking out between the lid and box. This was going to be my next undertaking- how to do hive inspections without smashing bees. That, and learning how to keep a smoker smoking for more than 10 minutes.
Ultimately, I marveled at the industriousness and unity of this colony. I was completely fascinated by the world inside the beehive.
In my beekeeping journal, I marked:
HIVE TEMPERAMENT- calm.
COLONY POPULATION- crowded.
BROOD PATTERN- solid and uniform.
And I couldn’t wait for my next inspection! Had I REALLY seen the queen? Was it time to add another box on top? How should I check for Varroa mites and when should I treat them? Would the bees swarm if they felt too crowded? Stay tuned….
