Pictures Speak Louder Than Words

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah

Sitting here typing, it's challenging to put today's experience with the bees into words. The light gray mist everywhere gave an air of calm to all the grounds at the Amma Canada Centre. The images we took capture some of that atmosphere, so I'm going to let them do most of the talking.

Nigama walking out to the hive on a calm and misty day

All week, we watched forecasts of showers with concern. We didn't know how much we could get done and had some pressing tasks we hoped to complete. But when we arrived at the centre in the morning, there was no rain. We suited up and got out to the hive as quickly as possible.

Opening Hive 2

I always hold my breath when we open the hive for a check. Even though everything may look fine from the outside, you just never know what's happening inside. The first peek revealed that this hive is as strong as ever.

Does the video above look like a horrid mess to you? What you see are the bees hard at work doing some spring cleaning on the bottom board from the hive. This one has been in place all winter, so it's collected a lot of debris. This includes things like wax droppings, pests, and the bodies of dead bees.

Bees are extremely hygienic creatures, and these ones have been assigned the task of removing this unwanted filth from their home. I was very interested to see that they had completely cleared an area in front of the space where the entrance was.

Nigama puts a clean bottom board in place

One of the important jobs for us was to install a clean bottom board. This new one has a screen that is small enough for mites to fall through and get trapped in the grease applied to a sheet of paper in the bottom. However, it is too small for bees to go through. We also drew squares on the paper to help us with mite counts throughout the warm season.

A frame from inside the hive

We checked frames in both the top and bottom boxes of the hive. They looked fantastic. The outer frames were full of capped honey. On others, we found the "rainbow pattern" of brood, pollen and honey.

Larva and eggs in some of the cells from Hive 2

Short of seeing the queen herself, the indication that she is alive is to find eggs and young larva. We found several of these tiny shrimp-like beings and heaved a sigh of relief.

Rajeswari's new BF - bee friend

The best part of my time involved a tiny friend who decided to hang out with me. I looked down to find a bee sitting calmly over my breastbone, occasionally wiggling her attenna. Each time I checked, I thought she'd be gone, but there she was. She was with me for at least half an hour! In fact, when we were getting ready to leave, we had to use a feather to gently place her back in the hive. We didn't want her to come with me all the way to the farmhouse. She might not find her way back to the hive.

This bee really didn't want to leave Rajeswari

Later in the evening, I was telling my BFF Uma about it. She is seven and infinitely wise. She simply said, "Oh. That was probably just Amma in the form of a bee."

By the way, as soon as Nigama and I had returned all the equipment to the shed, a downpour started.

Om Parashaktiye Namah!