Not much celebrated in the western world after the mid 20th century because Soviet Russia aka USSR used it for military parades. Remember those photographs of missiles and tanks rumbling down Main Street Moscow? That was the May Day Parade. The Novelist and Poet Margaret Atwood used it as a synonym for “Mayday!” in her brilliant novel titled The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel describes the Televangelists Dream come true. A world where a level of oppression present in everyday life makes George Orwell’s tame dystopia in 1984 begin to resemble a muppet movie.

The original pagan holiday, much like most holidays we currently celebrate, is closely tied to the turning of the seasons. May Day or Beltane is the fertility celebration of spring and growth. It is the mirror image of Samhain or Halloween, the celebration of harvest and plenty, and of death or dying.

I propose that we reclaim May Day as a celebration. It is traditionally a time of leaping over fires to “burn away the bad luck” and of change, rededication, growth. Think of growing things in the garden sprouting up, asparagus stalks, lettuces, and peas. Think of fertility, change, and new attitudes. Waking from winter slumber. Infusing the spirit with new purpose. Growth, celebration, happiness.

A little over a decade ago I gave up anger for May Day. Imagine the Catholic celebration of lent but applied to the whole coming year. A real change rather than a temporary dedication. The hardest thing for me about giving up anger was driving a car. I am not sure why that surprised me, it is obvious in retrospect. I did give up anger and it changed my life. I am giving up anger again this Beltane. I believe that my life will change for the better as much as it did that May Day over a decade ago. What is it that you can release? What is it that you can let go of that will make your life better?

On this day not so very long ago, one of our closest friends was murdered. No one knows why. No one will ever understand. No one will achive closure. He was the friendliest person imaginable. He would rather buy someone a drink than fight. Honor his memory. Let go of what is holding you back. Release your fears. Discard your baggage. Love those around you in his honor. Reclaim this day. May Day.

I ask that you look inside yourself and release what is holding you back. Let it go into the fire. Release it, and grow as a human being. In the 12 months ahead, I ask that you make sure that you are acting as a decent human being. It is easy. It is freeing. Much easier than being miserable, suspicious, paranoid, cynical, and bigoted. Let it all go. Grow into something greater. Be something that the future will remembered as pivotal in the creation of a bright tomorrow. Never, Ever, Ever, Ever give in. Mayday! Wake up! Celebrate! Today is…

May 1st. May Day. Beltane.

The best thing I can suggest to someone starting over or starting out is to get local bees that are already adapted to your specific micro-climate. A wild swarm or a cut out from a feral hive in a nearby house, outbuilding, or tree would be ideal. These are bees that are already survivors. Wild swarms are genetic gold, the are already toughing it out on their own with no “help” from humans. They are shrugging off all the contaminates, pollutants, and chemicals that we love to spread everywhere. In short they are barefisted back ally urban bees who can take a licking and keep on ticking.

You can set up swarm catchers in an area with existing hives. You can be on the lookout for feral hives and spread the word that you are available for swarm removal. This is cheap but uncertain because swarms may not find or like your swarm catchers, and you may not be able to find a feral hive to cut out.  If you do find a hive it might be 30 feet up in a tree or require a contractor to remove from a building or to repair the damage caused by removal.

The next best option is a swarm or split from a local natural beekeeper. You can buy a split or nuc (a small queen-less hive that has queen cells in it so the workers can raise a new queen) from a local chemical free beekeeper. You want to specify a split with viable queen cells, not just fresh brood. Workers can raise a queen from fresh brood but this is an emergency queen who often has a short life span and is weaker than a born queen. This is a certain but expensive option.

You can buy a working hive from a local chemical free beekeeper. This is more expensive and may not be an ideal set up for naturally managing bees as you are paying for whatever equipment the other beekeeper likes to use or more likely wants to get rid of.

As a last resort buy splits or nucs from local conventional beekeepers. Not the best plan since the queen was raised on contaminated foundation and subjected to who know what kind of chemical cocktails in her tender formative days. This might be marginally cheaper than buying from a chemical free beekeeper, but will cost you many times over in the long haul.

All of these are vastly superior options to shipping in unknown bees who are adapted to another climate. These bees are bringing with them diseases that will surely be passed on to local bees and contribute to the cycle of loss for everyone. Mail order bees may be cheaper or easier to find, but they are one of the principal drivers behind catastrophic collapse and are not a practice that natural beekeepers should be supporting.

No matter what route you chose to acquire bees it is all going to be wasted if you slap them into a hive full of contaminated foundation. Let them build their own natural comb free of chemicals and sized to meet their requirements. Anything else is asking for trouble.

My recommended approach to getting started would be a combination of a split from a local natural beekeeper and actively looking for swarms and feral hives. This combination approach gives you a guaranteed hive right away in the spring and a possible back up hive as well. If you don’t get a swarm the first year you may generate one of your own from the purchased hive in the next couple of springs. Either way you are securing the future of your beekeeping with a second hive with superior survivor genetics.

Q: Anything you recommend for bee stings if someone has a minor reaction but nothing life threatening?

Q: What do you do when you get stung?

In reality, the answers are all related.

A: Don’t mind it too much. What I am saying is don’t get worked up yourself. Pumping out fear pheromones with an open hive all around you is not going to help the situation. Stay calm and deliberate in you motions. Dropping a frame, or worse yet a full hive box, is not going to calm things down.

Make sure the stinger is removed if you are stung by a honeybee. Most other stinging insects like wasps and hornets don’t leave a stinger behind. Sometimes a honeybee will hit you and will not leave a stinger behind, but it is rare. Keep in mind the bee died to deliver the warning to you. Take it seriously.

Try not to mash the base of the stinger as you remove it. Try brushing it off with the edge of your hand or your hive tool. Grabbing the base of the stinger mashes the poison sacs and squirts it through the stinger into the wound. It works just like depressing a hypodermic needle. Move quickly (but calmly,  see above) to brush off the stinger because the sacs will constrict, pumping the poison in by themselves even if you don’t help them along.

Analyze what just happened. Did you mash the bee? Did you step into their flyway? They might not really have intended to sting you at all. The real problem may be that you are not paying attention. Are you slamming hive bodies around? Is your smoker too hot, turning to ash, or are you using too much smoke? You are probably to blame there as well. Lighten up or take a few minutes to repack your smoker and they likely the hive will relax as well.

I have talked before about having a nearly zen calm approach while working the bees. They pick up what you put out. I find it helpful to have someone along to take photographs or just to watch. If I am explaining things to the other person, I forget to be nervous. Also, if the unprotected person 10 feet away is getting buzzed, then I need to step away and assess what is going on for a minute. It can be easy to feel invulnerable behind gloves and a veil. Be respectful and cautious and the hive will respond the same way.

Sit down in a shady spot near the hives and watch them for a few minutes before you get the smoker going or open up a hive. Talk to your helper/observer/photographer about what you are going to do and why you are doing it. Get your game face on. Calm beekeeper equals calm bees.

I prefer to work a hive in the late afternoon, on a warm sunny day with minimal wind. Most of the more experienced bees will be out of the hive gathering nectar and pollen. The hive as a whole will have a good attitude. Grumpy bees on a cold, cloudy, or windy day are not bees you want to interact with. Don’t ever allow yourself to be in a position where you have to do something to the hive today. You don’t. You are not that important to their continued existence. Nothing else really matters long term.

The bees react to your smell. Scent is a powerful communicator in the darkness of the hive. Think about what you are communicating to them by the way you smell. Before you ever even approach the hive, you should take a shower if possible and wear fresh clean clothes laundered without scents. Natalie will be posting shortly about the soap nuts we use for laundry. I really think they make a difference in minimizing odors that might set the bees off. Yes, you will probably get hot and sweaty, but it will be fresh clean sweat. Make sure you don’t bring chemical smells to the hive with you like gasoline, aftershave or paint.

Sometimes you just need to move away from the hive for a minute, or run off if things are really hot. If some of the bees are ramming or popping your veil, it is probably time to move off for a bit, even if no one has been stung. If you are working bees in the backyard, run to the front door. You probably won’t have anyone with you by the time you get there or you will be down to one or two really ornery ones. You can handle one or two once you are inside. Really, they are quite small. You can take them.

Ease back into the hive area a few minutes later. If both you and the bees are calm now, then keep working. If not, close things up and try again another day.

I have successfully used Benadryl and ice for swelling, and Ibuprofen for pain, in the very few instances when I have an unusual reaction to a sting or stings. This should be enough as long as your breathing is not restricted. If your breathing is restricted beyond a slightly tight feeling in the throat, then you should call an ambulance or go to a nearby urgent care. I can’t make a judgment call for you as far as where the line is for you. I have noticed that most medical professionals don’t like it when I mention that sometimes I react to honeybee stings. They certainly take it seriously and so should you. In extreme cases where a sting can result in Anaphylactic shock, your life could be at stake.  Natalie who takes all the photos and video of the bees has this reaction to stings, you probably shouldn’t work hives if this is your reaction, but you should not live in fear either.

If you have a reaction which involves a rash, hives, or the slight tight feeling in the throat, you should discontinue working the bees to avoid any additional stings until all symptoms have disappeared for at least a week, longer would be better.

I almost never get stung, and my reaction to getting stung is not predictable. It does seem to be worse if it has been a really long time since the last time I was stung or if I get stung several times in the same visit to the hives. It doesn’t keep me from working hives, but it does make me a little more careful next time I open a hive.

Most of what I am talking about here is preventing stings before they ever happen. Stings will always happen if you work with bees long enough. When they do happen, assess the situation and respond appropriately, even if it means closing up and returning on a day when conditions are better.

Don’t worry, be happy, and so will your bees.

-Kevin

2 parts reposado tequila
1 part cointreau
1 part fresh squeezed lime juice
stir gently, add ice

“Skinny” Margarita

2 parts reposada tequila
1 part cointreau
1/2 part fresh squeezed lime juice
stir gently,  add ice
add sparkling water till volume is doubled

Notes:

Fresh lime juice is key. Get a good lime squeezer. We have destroyed many (we suffer so you don’t have to™). The Norpro Stainless Steel Lime Press  is the best so far. We will keep you posted but this one may be indestructible. If you are going to use crap from a bottle you will get what you deserve, a crappy margarita. Don’t even think about it.

Mid range tequila has been declining in quality. You may need to pay a little more than you did a few years back to get a decent tequila. This means moving into the premium category. Just pay a little extra, you cheap bastard. It will make a real difference in the final product.

Reposada means rested. It is a moderately aged tequila and perfect for adding real character to your margarita. We recommend the following:  Gran Centenario Reposado,  Herradura Reposado, and for something a little different Gran Centenario  Rosangel Reposado. The Rosangel is infused with hibiscus during maturation. The hibiscus gives your margarita a smokey and slightly floral flavor.

Use actual ice cubes. You are making an adult beverage here, not a slushy for children. Blenders are for sissies.

Triple Sec is an acceptable substitute for Cointreau. None of the other orange liqueurs on the market are acceptable. (We suffer so you don’t have to™).

The skinny version is lighter but contains the exact same amount of alcohol. Don’t let it fool you. Give your keys to someone who isn’t drinking.

My dad likes to say “Tequila makes your clothes fall off”.  You have been warned.

What do you do when you make a margarita?

1 pound ground 85% grass fed beef

1 pound ground organic pork

1-2 Tablespoons Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

1-2 Tablespoons Lea & Perrins Thick Worcestershire Sauce

Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning (we use the lower salt version) or  Savory Spice Shop Hudson Bay Beef Spice

Grill Mates Fiery 5 Pepper Seasoning or Savory Spice Shop Peruvian Chile Lime

Using your hands mix the pork, beef, Worchestershire, and Sriracha in a large bowl. You want the pork and beef to be throughly combined but don’t overdo it.

Gently shape the combined meat into patties about 4 1/2″ across x 5/8″ thick.

Sprinkle one side of the patties with Montreal Steak Seasoning, pat it in slightly so it will stick. Flip and sprinkle the other side the Fiery 5 Pepper and pat to help it stick.

Let them sit for a few minutes while you fire up the grill. With a gas or electric grill you want it on high with the cover on for ten minutes before adding the burgers. With a charcoal grill you should have started about an hour ago. Either way you want the grill temperature to be 450 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit for good exterior browning. Oil the grill grate with an oil soaked paper towel held with tongs.

I have made this recipe successfully indoors using a large well seasoned cast iron pan (See this post!) The pan should be hot and well oiled. You will probably need to cook in two batches in a pan. Clean the pan between batches for best results on the second batch.

Place the burgers on the grill grate Montreal Steak Side down. I don’t know why this works better but it does. When juices start to seep out on the top side you can turn. This should be at about four minutes if the grill is hot enough. The patties should have released from the grate. Don’t move the patties from where you set them down until they are ready to turn. The first side needs to be down until it starts to get a nice brown crust. Do not squeeze the burgers with your spatula while they are cooking, you are literally squeezing out the flavor.

After four minutes on the second side you can remove the burgers from the grill. Let them sit on your serving platter for at least five minutes before you cut into them. If you cut them too soon all the juices will run out taking away flavor and juiciness. Allowing them to sit allows the interior to finish cooking and the juices to fully reabsorb for a full flavored juicy burger.

You could serve them on a nice toasted sourdough bun with some thinly sliced raw onion. I can never be bothered. They taste so good I just eat them straight with a fork. I like them with a nice side dish of steamed or grilled vegetables like asparagus or broccoli. Skipping the bun and adding a side of lentils makes this a valid slow carb diet meal.

Notes on Sourcing of ingredients.

We buy our beef from Trader Joes and our pork from a local farm near Charlotte called Grateful Growers.  Sriracha can be found in the Asian section of a grocery store or any Asian grocery store. The Thick Worcestershire and McCormick Grill Mates spice mixes should be available in any grocery store as well. We often make our own low salt spice mixes, but I wanted this to be easy for anyone to put together. I have updated the recipe to include two alternate spice mixes available from Savory Spice Shop. We really love this place and discovered it thanks to the amazing aroma wafting out of the front door of the location in Boulder CO. We now have two here in Charlotte NC area. You can order online from them as well.

I cannot emphasize the importance of the quality of the beef and pork. Grass fed beef is completely different nutritionally than grain finished cow lot beef. The fat content is not the problem, it is the chemicals and hormones that causes you body to react differently to the fat. Don’t skimp and buy the off brand Worcestershire either, your taste buds will know.

Heat the glass or mug with hot water.

Add the vanilla syrup to the heavy whipping cream. Whip the heavy whipping cream by hand or in a blender till it is solid, but not frothy.

Use 1 cup piping hot coffee, we use cold brew coffee heated in the microwave until steaming but not boiling. The better the coffee, the better the finished product. Don’t skimp.

Empty the preheated water from the glass or mug.

Pour in the hot coffee gently.

Stir in 2-3 teaspoons of raw sugar.

Gently add 2 oz Bourbon. Use 3 oz if the relatives are really getting on your nerves. We recommend Booker’s or Prichard’s Double Barreled. Go all out on the quality of the Bourbon, it makes a huge difference in the final product.

Add the whipped cream. I like to stir in about two thirds and let the other third rest on the top.

This recipe makes enough for two.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Kevin and Natalie.

I have an upright electric smoker with two grill grates and two pans. This recipe is based on that smoker but should be adaptable to other models.

Total preparation time roughly 4.5 hours including soaking the wood chips. Total cooking time about 2.5 hours including 25 minutes in paper bag.

Needed Ingredients

1 rack of spare ribs

1.5 to 2 oz of spice rub

1/2 cup of dry vermouth

double handful of hickory wood chips or chunks

Needed Equipment

Smoker, a sheet of food grade plastic,  a large paper grocery bag, a basting brush, a sharp knife, and long tongs.

Step 1 Soak wood chips: I do this in the pan from the smoker and use hickory chunks. I sometimes add fruit wood like apple or cherry. I save and dry any wood pruned from fruit trees for this purpose. I soak for a minimum of two hours turning the wood periodically.

Step 2  Prepare the ribs: I use spare ribs sourced from a local organic farmer. Spare ribs have far more meat than baby back ribs which are often trimmed too close by butchers trying to maximize other more expensive cuts. Remove the membrane from the bony side by slipping a butter knife under it along the center bone. Lift gently until you can work you fingers underneath and pull it off first in one direction and then the other. Cut the rack into two roughly equal sections. Keep in mind the area available in your smoker and slice alongside one of the bones to separate.

Step 3 Apply the spice rub: Pat the ribs dry with a paper towel and then work a generous amount of spice rub into both sides of the ribs. I have used rubs intended for fish and chicken as well as those intended for pork. The rub does need to be fairly aggressive to compete with the smoke, anything with a hot pepper component should work. Some of our favorite mixes have been tequila lime and a sweet chipotle, but experiment to find what works for you. I often make my own spice rubs but don’t be afraid to use a prepackaged one, just check the ingredients and make sure it isn’t mostly salt or contains ingredients you can’t pronounce. I like to work on a sheet of plastic so that the spices which fall off can be reapplied. I then wrap everything up in the sheet of plastic and either refrigerate or just leave them at room temperature depending on how long I need to get the smoker going.

Step 4 Start the smoker and add the ribs: I get the smoker going and add the ribs as soon as it begins to smoke. Place the ribs so that the two sections do not touch the sides or each other, bone side down. You want the smoker to be at 225-250 degrees.

Step 5 Baste with alcohol and turn: At about 45 minutes generously cover the meaty side with a sprinkle of alcohol. I like to use dry vermouth which we keep on hand as a substitute for white wine in recipes. Rum, bourbon, and tequila could also be excellent choices. As with any recipe using alcohol, use something you would be willing to drink. Substandard liquor has off flavors which will carry over to the finished product. Turn the ribs and baste the bone side as well. I use a small basting brush to sprinkle vermouth onto the ribs. To minimize the amount of time with the smoker open one person can baste while the other turns. Repeat the basting in another 45 minutes.  At the second turn take a good look at the ribs. If the ribs are are a crusty brown and the meat is starting to pull away from the ends of the bones you are almost there. Let them cook for another 15-20 minutes and remove to a plate. Please note your exact cooking times will vary depending on your smoker, elevation above sea level, and current outdoor temperatures. The times I give are guidelines.

Step 6: : Immediately place the plate inside a large paper grocery bag, fold the open end to keep it shut and let the ribs sit for as long as you can stand it or 25  minutes. The ribs will come out of the bag in the fall off the bone state everyone craves and still quite warm and ready to eat. Slice the ribs apart and enjoy!

Since sensationalized stories about aggressive bees seem to be hitting the news lately, I thought it would be a good idea to post about dealing with an aggressive hive. The first step is to do nothing. Refer to the previous post about observation and management. Maybe the “Mean Hive” is all in your head. Then come back and read the rest of this post.

So I have an aggressive hive and I need to do something about it. I am zen calm when I open them up under ideal conditions and they are still very defensive when I open the hive. Perhaps I have guards and field bees “protecting” the hive out to a unreasonable distance. The answer is requeening.

Requeening changes hive behavior several ways. The new queen introduces new (theoretically less aggressive) genes. Over time, the newly hatched workers replace the older more aggressive ones and the hive calms down.

Just having a new queen can calm a hive down if they are without a queen or if you have deliberately killed the existing queen, perhaps because it refocuses the hive on survival rather than defense. Queen replacement is always a precarious moment in the survival of the hive even when initiated by the hive.

Just killing a queen could end up killing the hive. Not to mention, the hive is going to be very cranky till it has a new queen. To requeen itself, the hive needs fresh eggs that can be re-purposed to make an emergency queen. Emergency queens are weaker in many ways than born queens and you should avoid having one if you can.

The best solution is to bring in queen cells from another natural hive which will hatch out into a born replacement. This means that most deliberate requeening should be in the spring when you have a supply of replacement queens from your own hives or other local natural beekeepers. The hive will not calm down until the queen hatches out, but things should improve rapidly at that point.

You could also separate a frame with queen cells into a nuc and let them form a small new hive that can be combined with the aggressive hive when you are ready. Once the new queen hatches and is producing brood, you kill the old queen and combine the hives by placing the new box on top separated by a sheet of newspaper. The bees will remove the newspaper but it takes a while and they should be adapted to the smell of the introduced workers and queen by the time the groups can begin to mix.

Bringing in mail order queens should be your last resort. They are not adapted for your environment and you may be introducing the very aggressive genes you are trying to avoid. Keep in mind most commercial queen breeders are in southern states that have at least some permanent Africanized Bee presence.

Some tips on handling an aggressive hive or cut out. Many of these come from areas of Latin America where Africanized bees are what the beekeepers manage in their hives. Also, check out the excellent advice from Bush Bees (one of the oldest links in our resources page).

• Wear as much white as possible. Hive predators like bears and skunks tend to be dark. Avoid looking like a predator.
• Get a white mesh veil instead of a black mesh one, aggressive workers can cover a dark veil to the point where it is hard to see out of your veil. The white mesh minimizes this response.
• Break the hive into separate boxes as far apart as possible and requeen each one, or combine the queenless ones with calm hives using a newspaper combine.
• Do things in stages, over multiple days if necessary. Do not let yourself be is a position of having to rush. If the hive gets too hot to handle, break off and come back another day.
• Leave an empty box on the original hive site to gather up loose workers and field bees, do a newspaper combine with this box and an existing hive or nuc to integrate the most aggressive component of the original hive into a calm hive.
• Try a sugar water or kombucha misting spray instead of smoking the hive. Misted bees are busy cleaning and grooming instead of harassing you. Try this first on a normal hive if you haven’t tried it before. You might decide to get rid of your smoker.

First off, if you are in doubt, do nothing. You can’t make the bees do anything. What you can do is provide an environment which will encourage them to behave in a way that meets both your goals and theirs. Try not to forget they will always try to meet their own goals first. Stop messing with them while they are trying to do it. Stop trying to stimulate them to produce brood when current conditions don’t suport it. Stop trying to prevent them from swarming. Stop trying to run things by the beekeeper agenda rather than the bee agenda. You and the bees will be much happier and more productive.

Sit and watch the hive over several days before opening it up. Natalie has spent so much time watching the hive, casually and actively, that many times she’ll spot irregular behavior (like an pending swarm) before I will. This happen because she loves to watch the hives from her studio window. If the hive is busy, they are probably doing fine. If you do need to open them, it might just be to add another box. Hives with a top entrance seem to be bothered less by being opened up. My theory is that airflow doesn’t change as dramatically. Adding a box to a top entrance hive could take less than five minutes including pulling up a couple of full frames to serves as guides in the new box.

If your area is prone to a particular pest or disease, the best thing you can do to protect the bees is help them stay strong. This means leaving them plenty of honey stores, keeping chemicals away from the hive and rotating out old wax so the bees can build fresh natural comb. Feeding sugar promotes disease. Chemicals reduce fertility and hurt the bees as much or more than the pests or diseases they supposedly prevent or cure. Contaminated wax promotes disease, reduces fertility and damages the bee’s long term survival prospects. When I say chemicals I also mean so called medications. Medications have no place in a healthy hive with natural comb.

It can be useful to move frames within the hive or between hives. Keeping all boxes the same depth (all mediums) supports this. You might want to shift brood into a super to draw bees into a new box they have been hesitant to enter. Or possibly bring in brood from another hive to allow the bees to requeen. Maybe you’d like to open up the brood chamber to encourage the bees to focus on expansion rather than swarming. Sliding empty frames between full frames encourages the bees to keep it straight as the hive draws new comb. These options for hive management are only available if all boxes are the same depth. Forget the deeps. Go for medium boxes. Easier to handle all around and will save you expensive back repair long term.*

Don’t waste time hunting for the queen. Sure it is nice if you spot her, great for a photo op or to show a new beekeeper you are mentoring. But the hive is open longer and disrupted more. Look for brood, Look for eggs. If you have brood, you have a queen. Keep going. Keep your time in the hive to a minimum. Do only what you need to do and get out of there.

Stay calm. I cannot overstate this. If you are calm, then the bees will be calm. Zen beekeeper equals zen bees. The bees react to pheromones. If you are fearful, they can smell it. If you are calm and focused, so are they. The best advice I can give you is to bring someone else along. If you are focused on showing them the bees, you will forget to be nervous yourself. If they can stand just a few feet behind the hive without a suit and veil, then everything is great. If they are getting buzzed, then you are upsetting the bees and need to try again another day. The bees will warn you. They will ram your veil if they are irritated. If they are irritated, back off and try another day.

I don’t have a suit. I tuck my jeans into my socks, wear a white long sleeve shirt, my bee gloves, and my veil. Sometimes I only wear one glove, especially if doing something fussy. If I had short hair I might be able to do without the veil but they get tangled in my hair if I don’t wear it.

Choose your day to open the hive. It should be sunny. There should be very little to no wind. It should be fairly warm, too warm for the long sleeves and jeans. If most of the bees are out gathering honey and pollen, there are fewer bees to cope with during your inspection. The field bees tend to be the most agressive component of the hive. I like late afternoon because I am not disrupting the hive during the most productive part of the day. I get the smoker going in the shade before suiting up. I don’t want to spend any longer in the full outfit than necessary. If it is too hot for the outfit, it might be too hot to mess with the hive anyway. Disrupting the temperature controls of the hive can be a disaster if it is too hot or too cold out when you open the hive.

The best proof of all this I can give you is the so called “mean hive”. Every beekeeper I have ever known has a mean hive story. This hive will sting at the drop of the hat, but always produces loads of honey. Mostly because the beekeeper stays away from them and lets them do their thing. They also probably have a stronger reaction to the beekeeper than other hives because the beekeeper “knows” they are mean and is nervous when dealing with them. This becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Deal with the hive on a different day than other hives in the same yard. Try not to open more than two hives a visit unless everything is just going swimmingly. This would never work in a commercial operation, but you are not in this for the money, so what is your hurry? Maybe the mean hive is all in your head. If it really is mean, requeen from a gentle hive. You don’t want a truly agressive hive in your backyard anyway.

More thoughts on natural hive management to come.

Incredible photo used with permission of Michael Azar a begining beekeeper who is a fan of Backyard Ecosystem.

*I think that the first place I ever saw going to all mediums suggested was Bush Bees. I have a link in the resources if you want to learn more from this excellent website.