From A to Bee (29 page)

I haven't written much this week because, quite simply, my hands have been too busy scratching away at my left ankle. The stings have developed through a variety of stages throughout the week which has been most interesting. On Sunday, nothing really happened, which was disappointing. I was expecting or rather secretly hoping to see some swelling immediately after the stings and maybe something like the elephant man's leg but I got nothing – no evidence of the stings, not even a red mark. I had walked back to Jo hoping for sympathy and had nothing to show for it.

  Monday arrived and I remember jumping out of bed and looking down at the ankle – still no elephant man-type symptoms or even any redness. However, as the day wore on, I found myself scratching the area of the stings and it just got progressively worse.

  I woke up on the Tuesday after a very unsettled night. I think that I must have been trying to scratch the inflamed ankle with my other foot as I do remember kicking Jo several times during the night. I was in serious trouble with her in the morning for precisely that reason. I thought I had a decent excuse though, especially as my ankle was now nicely red and there was finally evidence of the stings. Sadly my defence was pretty much dismissed. Kicking your wife while asleep because of a few bee stings is obviously not recommended.

  Ever since the pleasure of actually proving to people on Tuesday morning that I'd been stung I have been feeling pretty fed up with the matter to be honest. They have been incredibly itchy and though the swelling went down yesterday, Thursday, they are still quite uncomfortable. I have a feeling that by Sunday they will have calmed down completely just in time for another inspection. I wonder if it is all contrived by the bees. They deliberately pump in enough venom to keep the sting uncomfortable for a week, just so that others will sting you on the next inspection, keeping the level of comfort at such a point that you eventually decide bothering them is a bad idea!

Today was a strange day. I woke up feeling quite excited following on from last week's successful inspections. Spotting the two queens gave me a real confidence boost and then there was my growing feeling of calm as I inspected the hives, something I hadn't felt before. Today, however, was slightly different. I got just over halfway through the inspection on the traditional hive and then felt that I couldn't complete it.

  It was funny as I had the game plan mapped out in my head today. I wasn't going to open the Beehaus, having decided to leave it another week to allow the queen to get herself up and running. I think this is normally accepted protocol when you have just introduced a nucleus to a new hive. Therefore I had only the one hive to inspect, the traditional hive which held the ever-growing if slightly feisty colony. It should have been quite straightforward.

  I think the trouble started about an hour earlier. I was doing some work up at the allotment near the hive and had spent about five minutes observing the hive from a distance. It was incredible and the only way I can describe it is like a really busy road at rush hour – a constant stream of traffic going both ways, invariably faster than the speed limit but, for the most part, staying in the right lane and all working in harmony. It was incredible; I was mesmerised. I could clearly see the constant stream of bees going in and out. It was slightly silhouetted with the Gatwick Airport planes coming in to land in the distance and yet the two flight paths couldn't be more different. My thoughts went to the impending inspection and I was suddenly a little bit psyched out. My God they look busy, there must be a lot going on in there.

  Come the hive inspection, it started well; I got my smoker lit first time, bee suit on, gloves on, head engaged and hive tool ready. It was the first inspection I was doing with a super on top of the hive; something I hadn't encountered before. Anyway, I got on with it and it seemed to work well as the smoke at the hive entrance did its job.

  I lifted off the super and was immediately aware of the increase in bees that I saw under the queen excluder (this separates the brood box from the super and keeps the queen in the brood box so that she doesn't lay eggs where honey is stored) and already in the super going about their business. They were busy drawing out frames in the super which was a good sign. It was evident that there were a good load of bees all over the frames in the brood box. This immediately pleased me as I knew it meant a lot of the brood must have hatched last week. Off came the queen excluder and I got stuck in. My mind was racing with excitement and any previous concerns went out of the window.

  After the second frame I started to see freshly laid eggs, which I was pleased about, but then my right glove got stuck on the propolis and the thumb of my glove ripped clean off, which tells you just how sticky this stuff is! Immediately I got a little bit concerned. It is amazing what a tenth of a millimetre of latex glove does for your confidence. I was then immediately aware of just how hot it was outside – the outside temperature must have been at least 28 degrees Celsius – and that again I had sweat dripping down over my nose, not a pleasant feeling knowing that I couldn't really wipe it away.

  I carried on regardless but was acutely aware of the bees being a little feisty. These girls have always been a little bit feisty but this time there were more of them! They were dive-bombing my veil like kamikaze pilots and I could deal with the ones at the front but when they were going for the back of the head that was a different story.

  I got to the seventh frame but was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I was hot and bothered and the bees were all over me, especially on my gloves. Every time I removed a new frame more bees piled out and it was as if they were making a decision every time: do we stay here or would it be more fun to join the kamikazes or go for that exposed finger? As a result of my increasing nervousness and generally not feeling happy about the whole situation, I took the decision to finish the inspection early. I had seen the eggs and so I wasn't too concerned but I just wasn't happy with the situation and there seemed so many more bees than normal.

  As I closed up, I quickly took a look at the super and made sure the individual frames were doing all right. I had split my super into half 'cut comb' (so I could make cut comb honey) and half normal frames. The cut comb frames basically have no wire going through the wax and the result of this and my bad workmanship of fitting these particular strips was that the wax had worked its way loose and was hanging loose in the frame. They would be useless and would have to be replaced at some point. Damn; a bad ending to a bad inspection.

  Sitting down now, glass of white wine in hand, reflecting, I am both pleased that I took the decision to stop the inspection but also slightly disappointed that I couldn't continue.

I am sitting outside having just tied in some tomato plants and am having a glass of wine: bliss. It has given me some time to reminisce about Saturday. Despite feeling a little bit of a wimp, upon reflection I think I did the right thing. If you don't feel right you should pull away from the inspection.

  This morning I went up to the allotment on a daring mission to cut the grass around the hives. It might not sound much but imagine as a child approaching the house of the neighbourhood weirdo who you had been told ate children. You had been dared to knock on his door and then run away at the speed of sound. You probably knew deep down that he didn't eat children and so, with your heart pumping you would have done it but would have felt so unbelievably nervous all the same. That was the feeling I had this morning.

  So I got up nice and early, hoping to miss the rush hour around the hive. The M25-type traffic I witnessed the other day would hopefully be several hours off yet and so I might be able to sneak in and get the job done. It was absolutely beautiful this morning and the field in front of the allotment looked majestic as it often does in the early mornings.

  I went to the Man Shed, pulled out the hand pruners (not really sure what this contraption should be called but basically shears on long handles) and crept up to the hive. I was going rather quietly, careful not to draw attention to myself, and I have to say it did raise a question in my head. Can bees hear? If not then I was wasting my time being silent. I have a feeling that it is only really movement and vibration that they are aware of but I could not be too sure this morning.

  I got started and to be honest it was a rather quick job and I was in and out of the area within five minutes. I had given the grass around the hive a good haircut and all was looking rather smart. I was quite pleased with myself and then decided that I would start on the loose branches around the hive as well – shows what a little bit of confidence does for you doesn't it? Anyway, this job was also done pretty quickly and all was good.

  Afterwards I sidestepped over to the Beehaus to have a look at what the bees were up to. I lifted off the lid really delicately – I have to say the more times I use it the easier it becomes, quite practical really – and looked in. I was really pleased to see about fifteen bees in the feeder which was fifteen times as many bees as I had seen previously. It was evident that the feed had also been devoured so my intervention last time had obviously worked. With the crown board on it meant that I couldn't see into the actual hive but looking into the feeder gave me a good indication that things were going well.

  Having left the Beehaus bees alone for a couple of weeks I am looking forward to doing a full inspection on Saturday rather than just looking longingly at the entrance, to see how they are getting on in this most controversial hive. I am quite enjoying looking at the two of them side by side. Even Farmer Ray pointed out that I had 'one of them modern hives' the other day – even the scary farmer is interested!

  I put a couple of litres of feed in the feeder and left them to it. I was a much happier beekeeper on this very beautiful morning.

A little bit of confidence was restored today as I went to my evening with the Reigate Beekeepers and got my hands dirty once more. It is really uplifting to be around other, more experienced beekeepers who all state it is quite common to abandon a hive visit. Some, by the sound of it, have had it a lot worse than me!

  The session started ominously with my gloves splitting once again but I just got on with it this time. The weather wasn't as hot as Sunday but the hives there seem a lot calmer than my own. It was a nice and gentle introduction back into the swing of things for me and a much-needed morale boost.

  I am slightly concerned about what I might find when I carry out the inspection on the Beehaus as (a) they haven't taken too much of the sugar syrup, perhaps indicating they haven't been building much onto the wax foundation and (b) I know the hive is on a little bit of a wonk and it needs to be straightened up. The latter should be straightforward and hopefully the former should be OK too, as there is a very strong nectar flow at the moment, which will encourage them to build out the combs naturally.