I attended the second session of the beekeeping training yesterday. Once again, I was surprised at how many people showed up for the class. There were over 100 people at 9am on a chilly Sunday morning. I was pleased to see there was coffee with a choice of wildflower or sage honey. I chose the sage honey and it was amazing. Great start to a meeting.
The topics today expanded on the parts of the hive, how to build them and how to set up a new colony. It is important to use wood glue as part of the construction for longer lasting joints in conjunction with nails or staples. Once completed, the outside of the hive boxes should be painted with several coats of white exterior paint. Don’t do anything to the interior of the boxes.
I think the stories that the presenters incorporated into their lectures of the mistakes they have seen people make or have made themselves helped reinforce the information. One story that stood out was addressed loading a hive with a package of bees and setting up the queen. The lesson learned was to remember when you take the cork out of the little box holding the queen, cover the hole quickly because given the opportunity she will fly away.
Note: they paint a little color-coded dot on the queen to keep track of how old she is. As the queen gets older, her egg production will decrease.
I have been researching the safety equipment that I need for the next class which takes place at a hive location. More specifically the bee-suit, gloves and veil. The trouble I ran into was sizing. It was hard to gauge the fit for gloves or the bee-suit. I took the opportunity while I was in the gift shop to look at the equipment. So glad I did it. I would have totally bought the wrong sizes.
I am looking forward to the next class. Attendees will have the opportunity to work directly with the hives and if the new bee stock has arrived we may be setting up new hives. Exciting stuff!!