“Slow and methodical, Mikey”
It’s the same thing I say, out loud, every time I get my bee equipment ready before visiting our hive, or “our girls” as we call them.
I tell myself this, out loud, as a reminder that until I walk away from our bees, I need every movement, breath and reaction to be slow and methodical.
This means no loud noises, no quick handling of the bees, no being clumsy…because we’ve all seen the movie My Girl, right?
I fail just about every dang time I go see them bees too. I’ve dropped glass jars around their hive. I’ve tripped into it. The other day I got right in front of their hive (the one place you shouldn’t stand) and let out a sneeze so loud that they formed a cloud around me for disturbing them.
Now, what I’m learning about our girls is, most of the time, they’re simply checking me out. Exploring the giant white ape that drops their food off daily is an activity of theirs, and I rather enjoy it. We’re forming a relationship here, ya know. I want them to get used to me as much as I want to be responsibly comfortable around them.
They let me check out the renovations on their new home. They just got their second story a couple weeks ago and they’re starting to build it out. They even let me pick them up, sometimes individually and sometimes in big handfuls. They don’t mind as long as I stay slow and methodical…and not with a greedy spirit. Lemme explain…
A couple nights ago I went to change the feeder out on our new hive. While I was there I went to inspect the hive. This means I take the roof off and inspect their individual frames. Now, there wasn’t much going on in the top floor, as they’re still working on the blueprints. But on the original floor it was a bustling metropolis of apiary glory. THOUSANDS of bees building new comb, some were tending to the new babies, some were tending their food stores including pollen from the local plant life, their sugar water and even some old stores from their original sugar water from week 1, that’s about gone. (I know this because the sugar water was purple, so their pantry looked the color of an old Prince poster)
It’s about gone, now replaced with nectar from the flowers and clear sugar water that we’ve switched to to keep them strong while they continue to bee fruitful and multiply.
While I was inspecting their first floor, I also harvested some of their propolis, which is how they seal any cracks in their hive. Propolis has wonderful antibacterial properties and can be applied to wounds. I had a fever blister last week the size of a small hippopotamus on my top lip. I applied propolis to it, much like you would neosporin and it cleared up really fast. I figured snagging some for future wounds would be a good idea. The bees didn’t seem to mind as I only take a little.
As the sun went down I realized I was behind schedule, so I started to speed up the inspection…bad idea #1. The girls started to get a little riled up.
Then I figured since I harvested a little propolis, I might as well snag some comb since I’m part Winnie the Pooh. BIG mistake #2. The girls didn’t mind sharing their healing salve, but don’t mess with their dinner. Before I knew it, I was covered in bees. That’s also when I learned that a bee suit is much like a bullet proof vest. Just because it can protect you, don’t mean you still can’t be shot…or stung in my case. Right through the fabric of my glove, too!
Knowing I had just broken my two rules of SLOW & METHODICAL…and with the stinger still pumping venom into my new wound, I reset myself. I slowly put the hive back together, apologizing to our bees the whole time. I slowly picked up my gear and slunk away from the hive.
I got back to the house, my wrist now on fire, and stripped off my bee suit…where I discovered 2 more bees still trying to find a way into my suit to finish the job. Yes, I screamed, swatted and danced like my britches were on fire…I wasn’t around the hive anymore. They both flew back home, no harm to either party…this time.
I still say “slow & methodical, Mikey” before I go visit the girls. I also double the protection around my wrists…just in case I forget the rules like I did that night l when I had to reset the “How Many Days Since Mikey Got Stung” bulletin board back to ZERO.
The current number is 3, btw…
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