Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of cracking open the hive with my grandpa.
He kept bees well before I knew him, when my dad was really little and even before that when grandpa was a high schooler in Lafayette, LA. I think he had two hives most of the time. He built his hives by hand with wood salvaged from fruit crates! He also built an observation hive (similarity: just like he admits he was, I’m probably inclined to mess with the bees more often than I really should). While he was here, Grandpa (and Grandma & Dad!) also helped me put wax into a stack of super frames. He said the wax foundation is pretty much the same as what he used back then.
We didn’t go too far into the hive – it was only 56 degrees, so we checked the super I had put on last week (only a few wandering bees, no progress to speak of, and feeder still full of syrup) and pulled out one outer frame which held uncapped honey and a good volume of bees. Actually it was good to see that most of that top brood box seemed full. Looking down on it, there were bees stuffed between every frame. They were all staring at us like “shut the front door!”
Me and grandpa both think bees are fascinating creatures. It’s pretty neat to share that with him.
(Thanks for the photos Jason & Dad. More here.)
