Amateur Beekeeper!

The videos don't seem to be playing very well, but I've put them on my You Tube page too - Click on links to watch.

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Forraging
The bees gather pollen and nectar from the flowers - pollinating as they go.

Link to video - HERE

If you look carefully you can see the pollen on their back legs. Link to VIDEO.

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Bee suits
Honey bees only sting to protect their brood - but of course Beekeepers regularly take the roof off to check or to add supers -
so we need to wear protective suits. We look like a bunch of aliens - especially when we get the smoker going!
The smoke makes the bees go down into the hive so it's easier to work.

The Brood Box
This is where the baby bees are - one in each cell. The cells are sealed (capped) while the babies develop.

LINK to another video HERE.

Round the edges are honey stores to feed the babies. They are also capped with wax seals.

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Supers
When the brood has built up enough and filled out the whole brood box (there can be up to 60,000 bees in a hive!) we add a 'super'.
Basically this is a shallower box that sits on top of the brood box.
Honey bees have been bred so they make more honey than they need. They store this in the super and the beekeeper can take it (leaving the stores in the brood box for the bees).

In the video I mention getting stung - this is only because I took off my protective gloves to work the small buttons on my cell phone and I was getting close to the brood box (the only time honey bees are likely to sting - to protect the brood).

The tall hive has three supers stacked on top of the brood box (a good year for us). The hive in the foreground is a recently-caught swarm, so only just building up its numbers. Probably no honey from them this year, but next year...

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Honey Harvest

A spectacular frame of honey - capped with wax seals. The caps have to be removed before the honey can be harvested.

If the video doesn't play, you can watch here