From the Bee Scribe
July 26, 2008
This photo that Rob has included is proof that, as with some rearview mirrors, objects near hives may be closer than they appear. It’s just another of those mysteries of the hive.
Okay, perhaps I was standing back a little farther than the other people in the picture, but then again, I believe I may be newer to beekeeping than most of the other people in the picture. There are many adjustments for the fledgling beekeeper. And while veteran beekeepers may be accustomed to standing at the center of a humming cloud, it was a new experience for me to be that near that many bees. I would guess that most people reading Rob’s blog are beekeepers. If you have been working with honeybees for years, you may not be able to remember back to the first time you first stood among 20 or 30 vibrating boxes teeming with bees, or tried not to react the first time you heard a bee buzzingthisclose to your ear. But if your sense memory does stretch back that far, you might recall that as much as you loved bees, and as privileged as you felt to me initiated into the order of the honeybee steward, it took a little adjusting, a little self-reeducating, to overcome the impulse to swat at something flying right toward your face.
Rob says:
I agree with Bethany, at first it is a little intimidating having numerous bees buzzing all up in your grill. Definitely resist swatting. I find dodging, twisting, ducking, jabbing, and blowing all the while staying calm, cool, and collected is paramount in bee sting prevention. It gets less daunting the more time you spend around bees. Plus, that was one fired up colony of bees April Lance was showing the class. I was standing back too!
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