A stinging Lesson

Sunday September 4, 2011

2 hives on the left to be moved 15 feet to the right...simple!

It was a perfect beautiful day, sunny with a light breeze.  Ben and I had noticed earlier in the season that  our 2 older hives in Chanhassen were in the shade to much during the day, as a result the honey production seemed low compared to our packaged hive and our split. 

Ben making a little spot in the goldenrods for our hives

New location ready for hives

So yesterday, we decided to move them about 15 feet from their original point. First Ben weed whacked a section of goldenrods, then we put down some weed fabric and spread a good 2-4 inches of mulch. We racked around the hives, and re-used the fabric and older mulch. We did all that work without our bee suits, the bees were flying from their entrances towards the sun, working hard bringing back pollen and nectar.





That same evening, we decided to go ahead and move the colonies. My first thought was that it would be easy and simple. I also said that we might not need our bee-suits because the bees seemed so gentle and busy with their own thing. But Ben thought that we should wear our suits and veils. Nicolas came with us to help. As a good beekeeper, I loaded the car with all our "bee things" including the smoker.

We drove to Chanhassen, and walked to the hives in question. Without smoking them (because they were inside their hive, we thought they (and we) will be fine) I removed the outer cover top, and proceeded to remove every box until the hive stand was cleared. The bees seemed annoyed, but we were still ok. Suddenly Nicolas got stung 3 times and ran away from the scene, which was a good thing. Ben and I started moving the equipment few feet away. The honeybees were now furious, I tried to start the smoker but we had forgotten the newspaper in the car! Nicolas ran to the car, and at about the same time  Ben got stung few times on his ankles, knee and hands but not before moving the hive into its new location. Only then, he moved away from the hives while I was still trying to get the smoker started; in the  commotion my bottle of matches spilled on the wet grass, and could lit nothing at all! Finally, I moved toward  Ben who was still dealing with the stinging bees, removing his shoes and slapping himself. After few minutes, the situation calmed down but Ben had been stung 25 times mostly on his feet/ankles and Nicolas 3 times. Thankfully everyone were wearing their suits and veils. Ben finally got the smoker ready, and we continued to move the second hive...without a glitch. This one was fine and calm.  We were happy and relieved that we were done for the night.

Nicolas and Ben with the colonies at their new site

PS: we were going to move a colony from Shakoppe to a new property using my car! yes, we were going to go at dusk and put the hive in the car and drive. That was such a great plan! However when Ben and I woke up the next morning...our first thought was... WE ARE NOT GOING TO PUT THE HIVE IN OUR CAR, NO WAY! I guess we did learn a lesson after all:)
PPS: Ben and Nicolas are fine and still love bees.