Bees Day 7

On day 7, you must inspect your bee hive for egg production. So, we did. Steve used the smoker for the first time and as the book says, the smoker is the essential tool in beekeeping. First, you smoke the hive from behind, give it a couple of puffs. Never approach the bee hive from the front. This is very important. In one minute you could have hundreds of bees trying to enter and exit the hive.  Smoke a couple puffs to the front and take the top off. Take the inside lid off as well smoking a couple puffs as you go. Smoking makes the bees go inside and stick their head in the comb and eat honey.

When you see the bees staring at you, give them a puff. It works very well. Then you pull out the frames to check. Look and see if the queen is making eggs. Bee eggs are small, white cylinders on the bottom of the cells. The queen lays between 1,00 and 2,000 eggs per day.   If she is you should have hundreds. If she is not you need to have one air mailed to you and replace her. Our bees are doing great, and the Queen is making many eggs. This is great news!

Beeman and the smoker

Taking off the Cover and Lid

Pulling out the frame

Inspecting Frame

Look at all those bees!

Tomatillos

Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

We planted all morning and afternoon today. It is kind of hard to see in the photos but the plants are there. We now have 5 rows of tomatoes and peppers companion planted. 500 Brandywine Heirloom Tomatoes and 500 California Wonder Bell Peppers. 100 Tomatillo Verde and Purple de Milpa plants were added as well. It feels amazing to be out working in the soil underneath the sun. Our future began a week ago when school ended. Nowhere else to be but here at home and at work. Life is good.