Gentle Honeybees

This is what a hive of approx. 60,000 bees looks like. Not as scary as you thought, huh? Toward the end of August it is packed according to Mr.Beekeeper.  All I can see is the few at the entrance and some coming and going.

Our Queen "Queenie" is the one that has been painted with blue polish so she can be found.  

 A little bit of info about the bees. There is a female queen that runs the show, female workers and the male drone. The Queen can be huge but the drone is bigger than the female workers. He has no stinger and is virtually pointless. The queen mates once in a mating flight so all of the other drones are killed as soon as noticed (by the beekeeper) He sits around the house and the females feed him, and he eats a lot.

At our house the drone is for the kids fun and collections:)



He likes to capture thm inside his veil a few at a time:)



But even the female bees with stingers are not to be feared at our house. This is our 2nd day as beekeepers and she let the bee crawl on her hand. They will bring lost bees to me somedays and I remind them that she has a stinger and to be extra gentle, and they will take her back to the hive. If we are in the garden the kids aren't afraid to pick their veggies if one is nearby.

                 We do have rules about the backyard to respect the bees. We always wear shoes, and the kids do not cross the fence without our permission. We walk right through the bee yard to get to the front yard without worries. They fly straight up every once in awhile but don't mind if I walk past. I tried weeding around the hive once and the guard bee chased me off to let me know I was too close:)

               They just keep on working as they go about business...