Thought I would post my latest “a good idea gone bad”
This past spring I was lucky enough to purchase a garage freezer from an estate sale that is large enough to accommodate a full 8 frame box. Great for cycling frames through to kill any pests before storing or putting back onto the hives.
So come honey harvest time, there were a couple of flow frames that still had a mixture of honey & nectar on them and I thought, “Why not harvest this mixture, store it in the freezer and feed it back to the bees next spring when they need it most?” I put the mix in a plastic pail on the bottom shelf of the freezer.
Two weeks later doing a hive inspection I saw some SHB larvae in some frames. So being in a near panic rush to remove them from the hive I ran the frames to the freezer but to make enough room on my last available shelf decided to tip the bucket over onto its side. I knew the lid was not spill proof but no problem, right? After all, the honey/nectar had been in the freezer for two weeks and was surely thoroughly frozen.
Four day later I found a rivulet of honey, seeping between the seal, running across the garage floor. Yanked the door open and, yep, a literal pool of honey on the bottom of the freezer with the added bonus of bugs and larva which had fallen into it from the frames on the shelf above. What a mess! Sticky, sticky everywhere.
Oh no!
I was pouring some 1kg tubs last weekend and got distracted mid pour… Needless to say I was kicking myself as I cleaned up a couple of kilos from the carpet in the shed… Doh…
The other day I put a nuc into a broccoli box because it worked well 15 years ago when I tried it.
About 2 hours later the colony was all bearded up ready to abscond. I noticed inside all fine particles of polystyrene everywhere & all through the brood. Other bees were hard at work chewing it.
I quickly found a bee box to transfer them into. An hour later the bees were back inside cleaning up the brood etc. That was a lesson learned.
I guess they don’t make broccoli boxes like they used to. Not all polystyrene’s are equal.
Oh my! Good thing you checked on them when you did.
During my first year of beekeeping someone told me if I had trouble putting the boxes back onto the hive without mashing a lot of bees I could try sliding it. So I tried it, pulling the box toward me. Worked like a champ till all the bees dropped directly onto my ankles and promptly began an intense sting session. Push the box away…away
I have been looking after an elderly ladies hive in her back yard. It is a really steep site and I have been thinking of re-queening the colony because they have always been a bit hot to handle.
So muggins lift the super off which is roughly the same as my weight, turned to put it on the lid and my legs went from under me, the super, well I didn’t have time to let go of it so it landed on my chest. I was so winded I just lay there while all the bees decided I was the problem. A few stings got through my full bee suit. I got the super box off and just lay there while I tried to figure out my injuries, just some lost skin and bleeding.
Figured the re-queening was off for the day and the lady realized I was in a bit of trouble but stayed inside, got to a hose and drenched myself with water and was able to get up to the house and help. The lady has even offered to buy me spiked boots to continue to look after her hive…
It really left me knocked rotten, while I was laying there winded I was hoping the lady wan’t watching from her kitchen window. She was and saw all the bees flying about but had the sense to not come to my aid. Lucky I was just winded and some grazes on my arms and elsewhere, the lady patched up my arms but I didn’t mention the other grazes.
All is good now but nervous about going back to the hive.
I can laugh about it now but at the time it was surreal with angry bees almost blocking out the sky. I guess it took a minute before I was confident I had no broken bones or injuries and had to figure out what to do. I have a wild sense of humor.
Regards
My story wasn’t really about having a laugh at myself. More about something I learned a few days ago. I’ve done plenty is things to do with bees that made me think “what an idiotic thing to do”.
One thing I did do that’s not bee related that makes me laugh at myself. Last night while splitting firewood in thongs (flip flops), I thought of how I made a video, showing how to split really hard wood (while wearing thongs) to put on Youtube. I got quite a few comments about me wearing thongs while splitting firewood.
I can smile at myself about it while still able to count 10 toes
Honey does freeze.
I freeze heather honey and cut comb every year till I need it. What temperature was your freezer at?
Sorry I haven’t a funny story I’m a boring sort of person really. The worse I’ve ever done is lifted a frame out of a super which was stuck to another which then fell off into my boots.
I keep honey in my freezer too, and it is -18C in there (checked with a Thermapen thermometer stuck in a jar of isopropanol in the freezer).
The honey doesn’t actually go solid or develop ice crystals in it. Instead, it gets incredibly thick, a bit like cooling toffee, if you have ever made your own. If I put a jar on its side, I bet mine would gradually flow and level off sideways in the jar. I can take it out of the freezer and immediately push a spoon into it to take some honey out. It is hard work, because the viscosity is so high, but it can be done. The divot left behind in the surface of the honey levels itself again over the following few days. Maybe it is some characteristic of American honey?
The freezer is cold enough to make ice and keep meat in solid blocks. I don’t have a thermometer in it. The honey was very thick but not solid. Maybe there wasn’t as much nectar in it as I thought…
It’s 7:00am here and I’m sitting off to the side of my hive watching the bees beginning their day, I’m also planning what needs doing when I go into the hive in a few hours time (weather permitting).
My face is probably only 50cm from the entrance when a bee exits, flies straight at me and lands on me.
Usually I’m pretty cool when this occurs and either leave her or gently brush her off. But on this occasion she landed right at the entrance of my nostril. I’ll admit to some arm flailing and snorting, finishing with some not so delicate fingers trying to grab her. So I got stung
Interestingly most of the pain came not from the sting but instead from me blindly trying to pinch the stinger between fingernails and instead ripping out nostril hairs.
Who needs Botox anyway.