Beekeeping Fashion Tips and Other Hive News

I made an amazing discovery today. Maternity jeans make for excellent beekeeping pants. I was able to tuck my shirt in with ease, the cinch the waist just tight enough to keep bees out. I felt very proud of my outfit until Glenn made a snide remark about looking like I belonged in the 1980s. Apparently men do not find this look "sexy" anymore. So, I wouldn't recommend wearing this outfit on a first date, but maternity jeans do come in handy when checking the hives with no one else around.

Yellow and orange pollen made for some beautiful bee shots today. I believe the orange pollen was collected from our blossoming pluot tree. We saw the bee in the second picture doing the "waggle dance" to show the other bees how to get to the pluot tree. Bees are so smart!


Glenn had a tough day today. While inspecting hive number two (our previously stronger hive) he was attacked by ants. His smoker then went out in the middle of the inspection. Here he is trying to light the smoker and fight off an ant at the same time. Keep in mind, this is the same man who made fun of MY beekeeping outfit.

You can see Glenn freaking out a bit about the health of hive number two in the picture below. Glenn thinks the hive has chalkbrood, a fungal brood disease. The brood looks spotty, and the whole bottom part of the hive was empty. The second picture shows what we found in the cells in the bottom part of the hive. Can any beekeepers tell us what we are looking at? We will keep you updated about the health of hive two.