Apiary Day

Apiary Day is the time when beekeeper associations conduct regular maintenance and demonstration of the colonies they keep.  Observers will see how beekeepers inspect a colony and how maintenance of the colonies changes with the seasons. Apiary Days are an unstructured learning unity for people new to beekeeping to get up close and personal with bees.  

The Davie County Bee Association had an Apiary Day on Saturday, April 6th. During this day, participants in the Davie County Beekeeping course spent time in a local bee yard to gain hands-on experience in working with bees. Here are some things we learned:

1. Key items to wear when interacting with bees - a veil for your face and clothing that will protect you from stings. Some beekeepers forgo gloves in order to manipulate the inside of the hive better.
2. Demonstration and use of a bee smoker - a tool used by beekeepers to blow smoke into a beehive before inspecting, manipulating or handling the hive.
3. We learned how to hold and inspect an individual frame the proper way by standing with your back to the sun, with the light shining over your shoulder and onto the frame. The sun illuminates details deep in the cells and helps you to better see eggs and small larvae. 
4. An easy way to inspect both sides of the frame is to hold the frame firmly by the tabs at either end of the top bar and turn the frame vertically. Then turn the frame like a page of a book. Now smoothly return it to the horizontal position, and you’ll be viewing the opposite side of the frame.
5. We then looked for brood: capped and uncapped larvae and eggs and also checked to see how many frames are drawn out.
6. Students identified the types of bees - drone, worker, and Queen. We tried to find the queen  - it is easier if she's marked, but still possible. We were successful.

The bees were busy on this beautiful day bringing pollen into the hive. The pollen was very sweet when I tasted it. I had fun at Apiary day and felt confident and comfortable being around the bees and handling the hive. It was a great day and learned a lot about bees and beekeeping!