Beesy Girls

Our honeybee girls have been busy all Spring and Summer.  While I was out chasing down teenage boys, playing in the Caribbean, soaking up the sun at the pool...the girls have been busy chasing down the nectar flow and turning it into that sweet golden honey that we love. 

As you walk up to my front door the lavender scent is so strong and you can hear a distinct hum coming from the plants.  The girls love my lavender almost as much as I do. 

Keeping with his motto...if some honey is good...more is better!  Dean grew his hives from 2 last year to 5 this year.  That means new queens!  Starring in the queen bee role in our backyard includes Caroline (return engagement from last year), Richard Parker, and Lady Gaga.  While Queen Regina George and Queen Nefertiti ruled over the hives in Ogden.

The queens never leave their hive they just stay home and have more baby bees.  I wonder if they ever get tired of their lives and want something more...maybe get a bee-sitter and go out for a night on the town.

The girls have been busy filling the frames of honeycomb with honey.  Once it is cured and ready, the bees will cover it with a wax cap.  You can see on the left side of this frame in the white area they have started this process.   

Dean has learned many valuable lessons this year about zipping completely up when attending to the bees.  One evening he got in a little bit of a hurry and didn't zip up his suit and hat properly.  The girls were very annoyed that he was in stirring up their hives and took out their vengeance after stinging him 7 times.  The man came running in the house scratching everywhere.  The thing about Dean the bee master is that he swells up like a balloon when the girls sting him.  Needless to say, the bee master needed double doses of Benadryl and Claritin to combat all those stings.

Once the bee master has "stolen" the filled frames from the hives...see reference to stinging above...we use a hot knife to skim off the wax capping on each frame. 

Mark and Dean discuss important bee matters like what happened at the last meeting of the bee club or bee church as Dean calls it.
 

Then the frames are placed in a spinner to extract the honey.

The boys bought a super duper new spinner this year.  No more cranking by hand!  Leisa takes a peek inside the new toy.

 

3...2...1...blastoff!

I think the boys expected the honey to spin out in a few seconds...so they were sort of disappointed when nothing happened immediately.  It helps if you read the directions...I'm just saying.  

But so exciting when it actually begins to spin out. 

And here is the sweet reward...

34 gallons of honey...thank you girls!