Beekeeping demonstration, September 13, 2009

Last month Cassandra and John offered a beekeeping demonstration at DHS Community Garden. This was the first time I'd ever been so close to so many bees (without quickly running away!) They stepped through disassembly and inspection of the bee box (aivery) and answered our many questions.

Without further adieu...



The strap is to prevent the box from coming apart should a strong wind blow it over.





Preparing to disassemble the box:



Using a hive tool to separate the frames.



This hive was very gentle. Cassandra didn't need much if any smoke to calm the bees down as she carefully took apart their 'home'. The bees didn't seem to mind us one bit.


Offering a few pointers on taking apart a hive...


John samples the honey...





Most of the hive are female (workers). A few males (drones) are kept around, and they do not have the capability to sting.


Taking apart the second level...



Honeybees are actually relatively clean insects. They do not use the bathroom in their hives - they wait till they are away from the box, like on my finger. This drone demonstrates:


Honeybee combs are made of beeswax, which is excreted from the underside of worker bees.




This frame weighed quite a bit...




Reassembling the hive:




And finally, topping off the nectar bowl on the top of the hive:


After closing the hive, dozens of bees fanned their wings near the entrances. Honeybees like to keep their house at a steady temperature and humidity, and they control this by moving air in and out of the box.



That's it for now -- if you'd like more photos from the demo please let me know. (I have 40 more).