Adventures in Beekeeping - Day 2

One thing is for sure, bees are truly fascinating.  I have a sensible fear of them, but I can't get enough of them at the same time.  This is all such a new thing for our family.  I hope no one minds, but I am going to be using our family blog as a sort of "Bee Journal", at least for a little while.  Today I came home during lunch to do some cleanup and shot a short video with my phone.  You will get to see lots of bees, and a few wasps unfortunately.  Wasps are terrible little things.  All they want to do is rob, kill, and destroy our bees.  They are the Viking of the insect world (apologies to anyone with Viking heritage but I think you get my point).  Here is a brief look at what are called Orientation Flights.  The bees are getting used to their new home and orienting themselves to its position.



My bee suit has really been amazing so far.  I haven't had any problems with the bees stinging me anywhere but my hands.  The bee suit is the Mann Lake Honey Maker in Nylon and it stays relatively cool.  My gloves are actually 3mm Nitrile medical gloves.  They work well in that I can really feel what I am doing, but so far they haven't been an ultimate sting stopper.  I prefer being able to feel what I am doing and risk being stung though.  At least, that is what I am saying now.  Those last stings were painful...

Lastly, here are a few pictures that I took for fun.  I tried to take them with my iPhone and it doesn't do macro shots very well, so if anyone wants to buy me a nice dslr camera, please don't hesitate.

A bee in flight on the right side.  Erin likes how the light is coming through the flowers.

This is the Italian Honey Bee.  Distinctively more yellow than other bees.  That is mud on the right side by the way.  Another battle scar from my poor installation ability.

The Carniolan Honey Bee.  Not quite as yellow.  I like this bee, I don't know why.  Maybe it's because they come from Croatia and the surrounding area.  (Which is my heritage for those who don't know.)

And finally, Daddy wears a bee suit, while Jude wears short sleeves, shorts, and no shoes.  I am humbled.