I really enjoy watching the
bees coming and going from their hive. It is amazing to me that a worker bee can go from flower to flower collecting pollen and nectar. Then, fly home, find the right hive, and drop off the "goods" just to go as quickly as she can to the next flower. Every bee has a role. The worker... well she does all the collecting. The house bee.... she maintains and cleans the house. She learns to take care of the young, clean the rooms and maintain a healthy
environment. The guard bee... she makes sure that only the right bee gains entrance. If you are a bee from another hive, you will be rejected... probably stung. Drone bee... he inseminates the queen during a mating flight and then dies. He neither collects food or cleans house. And... the Queen bee... well there's only one of her. She really is royalty. Every bee in the hive is her daughter. And without her the hive would die.
By this time of year we have usually harvested the spring honey. But the bees did not cooperate this year. We had so many rainy days. And they don't like that. So they swarmed. Hard to make extra honey if half your working force goes elsewhere. So no spring honey.
But now the bees have settled down to business. They scurry the countryside looking for what is in bloom. Currently, the bees are flying in a south direction. All of them. From every hive the "bee line" is southerly. I wonder what is flowering that much. It would take a lot of blooms to
satisfy 13 hives. But what is most important is how those blooms flavor the honey. In a week we will take what we can from the hives. Then we will put the supers back on the hives to get ready for the summer and fall honey for Labor Day weekend harvest. I can hardly wait for some honey.
Today's Journey Joy - watching bees
