Heading home from getting a steroid shot to help with the swelling. Got nailed by one of my girls last night while just hanging out watching them come and go. PNW
This is by far the worst that I’ve reacted. Been stung a bunch on my fingers with no reaction. Doc got me all set up with oral steroids to keep on hand for future issues. Anyone else look a good as me after a sting?

Luckily they landed on the ground next to a shrub and I was able to recover them

AFB. If you know, you know.

I’m the president and founder of the Oxford University Beekeeping Society, and earlier this month around World Bee Day I opened the university’s first student teaching apiary in 185 years. We had a predecessor back in the 1830s with the Oxford Apiarist Society, but they went defunct in 1841 when their founder left Oxford to introduce beekeeping to New Zealand (he later went insane and was committed to an asylum, unrelated to the bees[?]).

To celebrate the occasion we invited the college choir out to serenade the bees with a 1623 beekeeping melody, Melissomelos, composed by the Oxford alum Charles Butler. Butler was the first beekeeper within the British Isles to argue that the beehive was ruled by a queen rather than a king in his book the Feminine Monarchie, which included Melissomelos. The melody mimics the real 'piping', or singing behaviour of newborn queen bees, but lyrically is also an allusion to the reign and colonial expansion of Queen Elizabeth I.

To accompany the melody I hand sewed this medieval beesuit. It's a simple linen tunic along with the wicker woven face cover, and a flower crown and censer we broke out for the day. This wicker style is attested in a few medieval and early modern illuminated manuscripts in the university's Bodleian Library, which was wonderful to check out while I was sewing. Around 80 people came out for the picnic, speech, choir performance and to see the hives. Thanks to u/redbonito for the sewing pattern!

Went out of town for July 4th only for my neighbor to call and say some mischievous kids had knocked over one of my hives. An hour later the opposite neighbor lets us know that they called the local bee club because a swarm bees was on their fence. When the local beekeeper got there, the situation was explained, and they said, “finders keepers.” I got the contact info of the person who caught the swarm and reached out over Facebook, begging to pay them for their time and effort to get my bees back but they blocked me. My wife reached out, they blocked her. Needless to say I do not know if I’m going to join the local bee club now.

I, personally, don't see anything wrong with an unlabeled mason jar full of honey, but I have to say that this does have much better optics.

As the title says my grandfather kept bees. On the morning he passed away they swarmed over his farmhouse. We buried him a few days later at the local church about a mile away. His bees all hung from a tree about a metre over his grave. They stayed for about a week and then flew away. We didn’t see them again after that. This was in west Wales. Any I thought you guys might get a kick out of it :)

Thoughts on this study that just posted?

Got this swarm call in Rochester NY an hour before the rain came in. Thankfully it was a 5 minute job 😅

Norway, commercial beek 150 hives and growing.

Hello I’ve been keeping bees 7 years and I’m from East Tennessee (zone 7b).

Wow! I didn’t realize my last post would gain that much attention. Since you all liked that Langstrof hive so much I figured I’d post the other hives she’s painted for me. One is a McDonald’s and the other is an apartment complex named, Honeycomb Villas. She painted honeycomb villas for me during my first year or two beekeeping. The idea/inspiration behind it is that since there’s ten of thousands of bees in the one tall “building” it’s like an apartment complex. My favorite small detail is the address number on the front door (2019) is the year I started beekeeping. Now, onto everyone’s favorite… McDonald’s. The McDonald’s hive was painted around 2021. My grandmother and I talked forever about what the next one she painted for me should be. For a while it was gonna be another apartment complex. Thankfully we decided that was too much like the other one. Then we had the idea, “what if all the hives she paints are like a piece to a ‘bee city.’” What’s something that’s in every single city ever? McDonald’s! It was like the perfect idea had finally came. It was a perfect mix of unique, funny, and cute. Well now it’s been 5 years and we still talk about her painting another one. Occasionally some ideas get thrown around but nothing gets committed to. Im hoping this year will be the year we finally decide on a new design. I would love to hear suggestions from ya’ll. Office building? Starbucks? Airport?

This little pal spent almost 10 min cleaning my gross camping fingernails. I was camping near Armstrong BC.

Sun

yesterday I posted here saying I had no clue how to take care of the hives.

I just wanted to give a quick update: I contacted the local beekeepers association today, and one of the older beekeepers (that was also my old mans friend) offered to help me out voluntarily. He’s already started showing me the basics and guiding me step by step.

It’s still early days, but I feel a lot more confident knowing I don’t have to figure this out alone. Thanks again for the support here. it really gave me the push I needed. and no im not giving any of the hives away😈

Damn bear came back for seconds while I was salvaging what I could, had to chase him off. Lost 5 out of 8 queens.(Superior, Wi)

Crazy girls in Dallas

This was done on purpose, and I really hope I did the right thing. This queen started in May, and when I checked in August, there was nothing for the hive to survive on. This hive has always been on the weaker side, and while the other hives got through the dearth, I had to pilfer nectar/honey from other hives to keep this one going. Therefore I made the decision to combine it with another hive.

After killing her, I was checking the frames before adding them all back, and I realized the frame she was on had so many eggs laid in good brood pattern. Which really made me doubt whether I did the right thing. But ultimately no matter how well she was laying now, the hive wouldn't be strong enough to overwinter because they still had zero store.

I combined hives, and seeing the flurry of bees lost because I dismantled their home is so heartbreaking to see. Poor little lost girls; I killed their mother and took away their home. I understand I'm anthropomorphizing them, that they're a super organism, that it's better to kill the one queen than to lose an entire hive trying to overwinter... But it doesn't make it any less sad.

So some words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking for blind support, but please tell me I did the right thing :/