My parents have decided they want to be beekeepers. This means there is a lot of focus on bees and whether or not they are Papa and Nana's bees. I hadn't been out there to see the hive, so one day last week, we went out with Papa to check on them. I took pictures, because I am such a good photo documenter. I am trying to be better about actually sharing them and writing down what happened with them though! First of all, we had to get fire in the smoker machine, so that the smoke will confuse the bees. If you want to know all about it, I am sure my dad would love to fill you in. In short, it covers up the scent of their warnings and then makes them all dizzy- or something.
Then, once you have your full beekeeper gear on (only my dad had some, the rest of us were open to attack (even Thomas who was in the front pack as we went out there- my dad said he didn't think he would need it, but he would wear it anyway) you can head out to see the bees.
The white box in the background is the hive that they built. Then there are these molds (or at least that is what they look like) that the bees use to fill in with honey and other baby bees. The outer molds didn't have very many on them, but the inside ones had lots. But my dad was pretty disappointed by the production of these bees. Said the queen wasn't making enough baby bees to replenish the hive. Apparently the life span of a bee is about a month long.
Here you can see where the bees have been busy. Busy as bees! Ha ha ha ha! I am so funny! Must be because I am sleep deprived! Anyway, you can see the capped of cells- those have baby bees inside (if I was listening to my dad correctly) and the other ones are the honey. 
I thought I would try to share the queen bee, since queens deserve some kind of respect. But it was really hard to focus on the queen, since she kept moving and my dad kept moving the screen. If you look in the lower left hand corner, there is a bee that has a red mark on its back, that is the queen! Keith and Rachel are very good at spotting her.Now you have had a crash course in beekeeping. How exciting, huh?
6 comments:
How fun for your kids to learn about. I am very scared of bees though. I don't think I would be able to get too close.
Nice Pictures Jennifer. I have yet to get out and see dads babys.
Bee keeper?? Your dad totall cracks me up! I hope he gets some great honey!
I don't understand why they would want bees. Chris doesn't either. You would think with all of his life experiences that he would remember how much fun it is to get stung by bees... especially little kids. It is fun to see the pictures though!
awesome, jennifer! you should look into doing photodocumenting as a profession! and i really enjoyed the first picture. have i told you that i really miss your kids? :)
Wow, I have always wanted to keep bees, but Aaron doesn't like honey so I don't see much advantage to it. I guess we could sell the honey. Sophie needs to lose the training wheels, but we live so close to the road and it is a busy road, that she doesn't get the practice she needs. Maybe Keith will be an inspiration to her!!
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