Finally!

 Note to readers, this post is way overdue!

 I love leaving my volunteer job with propolis on my hands.

Propolis is the sticky substance that bees collect from tree buds and sap flows which they use to seal cracks in the hive. According to wikipedia (yes, I'm not in school now, I can cite wikipedia), propolis can also contain natural pesticides that deter mites, and mites are a big problem for bees.

But the fact that I am still scraping it off my palms means that the after weeks of waiting, the spring weather finally was kind enough to let me play with bees!

I am signed up to be a volunteer beekeeper, and today was the first time the weather was warm and sunny enough to actually open up the hives and do some serious beekeeping. And...it was awesome!
The hives are mostly for pollination and educational purposes at the Garfield Park Conservatory. As a side note, this is their fountain currently:

One of the many reasons this organization is so cool. 

We took a look at several hives today, including two named (wait for it) Bee-owulf and Risky Beesness. Yup. There are several remaining to be named, so if any readers have a flair for puns, lets hear em'. A few of the struggling hives had had new bees added, so we needed to see how they were doing and whether they needed room to grow. 

The guy with no gloves or headnet, seemingly oblivious to the bees swarming about, is Marcin the beekeeper. He prefers to handle bees with no gloves because gloves are bulky, and you can't feel the ones trying to escape from getting squished. I tried out the no gloves approach somewhat anxiously, and escaped unstung. The bees are amazingly docile and most are totally fixated on the frames, especially once you give them a little smoke...

First step was checking for varroa mites on the boards under the hives. The mites, aptly named Varroa destructor for their habit of destroying bees, can be a huge problem. They latch on to the bees and feed off of the hemolymph (insect version of blood). Imagine going about your day wearing a small, blood-sucking backpack or two!

                                                            thewildlifenews.com

Honeybees with round, red varroa mites.

Fortunately, the hives didn't look too bad, so next we examined the frames for brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and honey cells. Its difficult to identify what was what at first, particularly with the frames completely covered in bees! Its very interesting how the hives are structured: honey cells and drone (male bees) cells towards the outside, with most of the worker larvae towards the middle. We found a second queen cell in one hive, which had to be destroyed, because if another queen is made, she will leave and take much of the hive with her! There must be no challenges to the honeybee throne.

Examining the frames

Foragers! See the little yellow pollen baskets?

Cool fact:  bees feed their larvae "bee bread", which is a mixture of pollen and honey which is stored and fermented with lactic acid bacteria from the bees digestive fluids! Bee bread has also been shown to host beneficial fungi and are an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and other nutrients for the bees. 

However, bee bread is not my favorite fermented thing that can be found at the Garfield Park Conservatory...

Bees and beers

That distinction goes to the Burnt City beers that I helped serve at Beer Under Glass, the Conservatory's most delicious fundraiser. Over a hundred regional breweries pour their wares throughout the beautiful grounds and among the plants under the glass roofs.  Really, I cannot say enough about how cool this place is! Check out 
https://www.google.com/#q=Garfield+Park+Conservatory to learn more about the GPCA.