Serwis Ekologiczny

No one likes being embarrassed. We have our egos and our reputations to protect. We want people to like us and value our advice and opinions so we hide those embarrassing moments. When we slip on the ice we get up wondering if anyone saw us. 

I want to share some embarrassing beekeeping moments I’ve experienced over the years. Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. None of us are without flaws, right?

Before I tell you my bigger mistakes, let me tell you of some of my smaller mistakes. For many years, I tried to keep bees without being concerned about mites. I ignored mites and felt I could dodge the bullet and mites would never be an issue. WRONG! It took me years of losing hives to finally learn that if I want my hives to survive, I had to battle mites. I use to think that if my bees were strong all summer and had honey in the hive, they’d make it through winter. WRONG

AGAIN! It took me years of research, trial and error to finally figure out that colonies need protein all winter, not just sugar.  

I’ve done every embarrassing thing possible. I’ve accidently dropped a frame full of bees, accidently killed a queen, knocked over a hive while mowing, left a door open into the extraction room during lunch, forgot to close the extractor gate, etc. 

One of my more embarrassing moments was during one of my beekeeping classes. We were out in the field inspecting a hive and it was going really well. Sometimes when I remove a deep or a super I place it on the ground on the short side, usually the front side on the ground. The handles on this super were in the middle. I had just explained to the class that before you pick up a super from this position, make sure you know which way is up. I did it wrong, and picked up the super upside down and all the frames with the bees fell out of my super. I grabbed my smoker and started picking up all the frames and bees were everywhere.

Another embarrassing moment happened when Sheri and I were inspecting our hives that were about 30 miles a part. These hives were pollinating pumpkins. During the drive between yards, I failed to block off my smoker and it burned out and I was completely out of fuel from my first inspection. 

We were in a really old F150 and I parked it near the hives. Our son, Christian, was in his car seat between me and Sheri. I got out and decided to just remove the supers without smoking the colony. This did not go well. The drivers door could not be opened from the outside. So I threw the lids back on the hive and I couldn’t open the truck door because we had rolled up the windows. I had parked in an area of tall brush. I had to get away from those bees by getting into the truck, the Sheri was having trouble opening my door from the inside because the car seat was in the way. Meanwhile I kept running around the truck, lifting my legs really high to hurdle the tall brush so I could run faster. Sheri said it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. Even I know you should be still and that you can’t out run bees, but I had to do something!

As beekeepers we do some pretty embarrassing things. But that’s how we learn not to do that again. When beekeepers ask me questions, most of them start by saying they did something embarrassing. Some beekeepers make some embarrassing mistakes storing their honey supers. They store them in trash bags only to find that wax moths have destroyed the supers by spring time. They place them in their moist basement only to find them covered in mildew and mold.