Look at the Sting Count Go

March has not been good to me, three stings in the last two weeks. If bee stings are truly good arthritis treatment, then I'm going to be the most limber 80 year old. Luckily the more stings I get the less reaction my body experiences. They still hurt like "H" - "E" - double sticks. (For those of you with no kids that can’t speak “Spell language”, that means HELL) All three stings courtesy of my Moody hive. This hive is making me feel like a parent making excuses for a misbehaving child.
The Moody hive has been fed so it is not low on resources; it has plenty of capped and uncapped brood so its queen must be fine. Last I looked it had a Small hive Beetle problem but steps have been taken to control them. It is the only hive that I have not placed a super on because I was waiting for it to expand from its original Nuc size (5 frames) to the new ten frame body, but maybe it wants more space ?

This past weekend, after I took down a dead Oak on my property, I went over to the bee yard to relax and observe the ladies at work. Some people gaze at fish in tanks to relax and release stress, I look at my beehives. It hadn't been more than 2 minutes when two bees came after me and one stung me in my forearm. I was sitting down on my bench so I was not in their flight path, it was definitely an intentional assault. I have read in beekeeping literature how bees don’t like bad smells, I was still in my work clothes so maybe …………………….. No, no more excuses, time for some tough love. As all good parents should now and then, it is time to put my foot down. An order for 3 new queens from gabees.com has been place, and they should be here by the end of March. Since1 queen bee or 3 queen bees cost the same for shipping, might as well take care of all 3 hives, and begin the new year with new queens. If I play my cards right, changing the queens should set the hives back just a few days. No biggie!!!!

Spring flow should be here any week now. I have planned a full inspection for all the hives this weekend, I’ll get to use my new inspection Hat and jacket pull over.

Here is Old Faithfull, this group has a full supper that is partially being used for brood right now. What you see the bees doing in the picture is call bearding; everyone has an opinion on why they do it. It is completely normal event on a late afternoon for a good strong beehive.

This is my Eager hive.
And this is the Moody Hive.

Requeening made me think that my choice of names will be out dated; an attitude change for better or for worse is one of the main reasons to introduce a new queen.