Monday, May 02, 2011

And the bees go marching in - 10 abreast.

I was going to talk about something other than the bees, but here I am - about to talk bees to you, people.

Because YAY I finally uploaded some photos of the girls actually at work rather than milling around my yard unproductively harassing the dog and terrorizing poor Bubba.

Thank god the new Boss Lady is so bossy. In two week's time, she has kicked some major ass.

A few gals hauling pollen. GET TO WORK.

A whole team that was clearly told - GET OUT THERE AND FAN THE HIVE DAMN IT. And so, they are.
You may have also noticed that their front door has gotten bigger. And that is because I saw evidence of babies (therefore, increased ranks in the hive and the ability to defend a larger entrance) and so flipped the entrance reducer over to go from Single File Only to 10 Abreast so the poor little fanners could do their jobs without getting crushed every time another bee came in for a landing. (FYI: They fan the smell of the hive out into the wind in order to direct their bees back to the hive. It's very technical and special.)

Which was happening often.

I mean, poor gals were getting trampled, like, one hundred times a minute as they stood out there, butts to the wind, just fanning to their heart's content meanwhile getting smushed every five seconds by some pollen-laden sister girl who couldn't gauge the landing properly.

It was like watching prop planes landing on the beach in Costa Rica - not graceful.

Hey! Watch the fuck out! I'm trying to get in there, too, you know!

So, because I'm all nice like that, I decided they were grown up enough for the Big Girl entrance and opened it up a little bit meanwhile hoping I didn't re-ignite the apocalypse in my yard.

Which, thankfully, I did not.

They've behaved well and have taken full advantage of the newly widened entrance much like commuters would if given another lane during rush hour. Except you won't catch these ladies flipping the bird or laying on the horn if another bee cuts them off. No, they'll just collide and roll and pick themselves up again because THEY MUST GET TO WORK IF IT KILLS THEM.

It took them nearly half a day to realize that there was more space to get in, but once they did - WHOA - they were on it.

And sometimes it does. But let's not go into that now. Instead, let's enjoy this moment of bee peace and harmony in between the terrifying scenes that unfold in my yard. Hooray.

5 comments:

  1. Pictures of bees make me so happy! I will never tire of them. Also I read that the work does actually kill the bees. Those born during the summer only live like 6 weeks, while those born in the fall (when there's less work) live closer to 6 months. (I'm pretty sure those were the numbers, but don't quote me or anything.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like all is humming along successfully. Now refresh my memory -- if the queen is a girl and all those bees flying around are girls, where are the boys? Being lazy in front of the tv???

    ReplyDelete
  3. Woohoo look at those big ol' pollen sacks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nooooo, DO NOT stop the "bee talk"...I bee lovin' it! Truly this so interesting to me.
    Trbh

    ps...also loved, "Hey! Watch the fuck out! I'm trying to get in there, too, you know!"....you KNOW that is exactly what they were saying too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. We had a few traffic pile ups at the entrance to our primary swarm hive before we enlarged the entrance reducer. The bees do seem to appreciate it, but there's also something rather satisfying knowing they're doing well enough to need a larger doorway! Glad to see your new Queen is working out, and that your hive is now all a-buzz!

    ReplyDelete

[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.