It's nicer to keep friendly bees

Bees came into our lives uninvited and unexpectedly about 10 years ago when my mother-in-law asked if one of her hives could move to our yard. She had kept bees herself for a couple of years, and the intention was to keep the hobby small-scale. In the fall, a swarm that had been left hanging on the branches of a spruce in the yard was captured, and now she needed a place to relocate it.

After observing beekeeping from a distance and listening to stories about their activities, they eventually began to interest us as well. We decided to take a beekeeping course and read through books on beekeeping. We had previous experience caring for various animals, such as dogs, cats, horses, sheep, pigs, cows, gerbils, fish, and chickens, but neither of us knew anything about bees.

Unlike other pets and domestic animals, bees cannot be trained, rewarded, or bribed. It is the caretaker's task to understand their bees and learn their ways. The course was held in early spring and at the beginning of May, soon after the cleansing flight, a bee hive moved into our yard. Now we would see if the lessons had been learned.

Going through the hive, frame by frame

The first hive visit was a truly memorable experience. Since we had taken the course early in the spring when the bees were still in their winter clusters, it did not include hive visits. So we opened our backyard hive for the first time based solely on theoretical studies.

Do you know that feeling when you've studied for the whole week for a test, made notes, and reviewed the material late into the night? You sit at your desk, take out your pen, and look at the test paper in front of you. You read the first question, and everything you've read about the topic disappears from your memory as if by magic.

That was exactly the feeling we had during our first hive visit.

In the hive, hundreds of bees buzzed between the frames, and dozens took to the air. There was buzzing everywhere, and all the knowledge that had seemed so clear just a moment ago from the course and books was completely gone. We went to check the hive and hoped that at least something would come to mind.

We lifted the frames one by one into the air with specially purchased cake tongs. Are those brood frames? Or these? Do you remember what a honeycomb should look like and should these be raising drones? Is there any laying on that side? How should we find a queen from here?

Are bees always this grumpy?

We tried to act as calmly as possible despite the confusion. The course had emphasized moving slowly enough so that bees wouldn't accidentally get caught in between, and there wouldn't be any banging of frames or the hive. Despite our caution, the bees in the hive seemed irritated.

As the summer progressed, we reviewed the lessons from the course and the book, began to recognize what each cell looked like, and learned to find the queen among the other bees. However, as the number of bees in the hive increased, their grumpiness seemed to grow, even though our handling of the frames and boxes became more confident.

Since we had no prior experience with bees, we didn't yet know at this stage that the bees didn't have to be so grumpy. We didn't know that, for example, bees that had been crossed might often be more temperamental. Since it was a captured swarm, there was no precise information about its origin or breed.

By the time fall came, we had learned to operate with this long-tempered community somewhat. However, the thought began to creep in that should this hobby really be this challenging.

The queen is the head of the hive

In the fall, the harvest was gathered, and about twenty kilos of honey were extracted with a hand-operated extractor. The grumpy hive was successfully prepared for winter with its winter feed and mite treatments, and now there was time until spring to think about how to proceed from here. Despite the care challenges, we were not planning to quit the hobby right from the start.

The next summer, it was decided to buy a queen from a domestic breeder and make a split from the grumpy hive. The old queen would remain in one hive, and the other would get a new one. The splitting and giving of the new queen went perfectly according to the beekeeping book's instructions and with a beginner's luck. Fortunately!

The effect of the new queen was quickly visible. In the old hive, there were still some grumpy bees, but in the new hive, the bees finally behaved in a beginner-friendly manner. It was realized how incredibly significant the queen is to the temperament of the entire hive. Can beekeeping really be this pleasant and peaceful?

Purchased or homegrown queens?

The queen of the angry hive was only replaced the following summer with a purchased queen. In hindsight, it should have been replaced immediately when we noticed how big the difference was between the hives. Although the first summers with the angry hive taught us a lot, we do not miss those hive visits at all.

Sometimes there are claims that angrier bees collect honey better, but we completely disagree with this. Gentle hives focus on nectar collection instead of being aggressive, and they are significantly easier to manage well. It is also true that the hive responds to how it is treated, but this only applies when the bees are fundamentally friendly.

Over the years, we have purchased queens from domestic queen breeders, allowed the bees to raise their own queen, and also tried queens raised abroad in a couple of springs. Queens raised by domestic professionals have almost invariably laid the best foragers, and the hives have been the easiest to manage.

Gentle bees still give you feedback

Now that we have been taking care of only gentle bees for almost ten years, we immediately notice if we make a mistake. With a gentle and calm hive, it is easier to observe our own blunders when there isn't an angry crowd buzzing all around the hive and our heads.

Calmly moving and staying on the frames, bees rarely get stuck between hive sections or frames. Sometimes, when moving a frame inside the hive, a bee may get momentarily trapped. In this case, the loud buzzing sound from the hive immediately indicates that the bee needs to be freed.

Another sign of annoyance is a few bees flying out of the hive directly in front of the beekeeper's face net. Unlike in an angry hive, these guards are not immediately ready to sting. They express their opinion with a stern gaze and usually calm down quickly.

It is generally easier to notice if something is amiss with gentle bees. For example, the number of mites in the hive, the absence of the queen, robbing wasps, an ant attack, or an approaching thunderstorm can also irritate the bees. It is easier to start investigating the causes of annoyance when you know that management practices do not normally cause irritation in the bees.

The nature of the queens and the bees they lay is particularly important to us. Smokers are now used very rarely, and harvesting goes smoothly without stings. We do not have personal experience with other bee breeds, but it can be said that Italian queens purchased from domestic breeders have been worth their price.

Winter ball? Drone? Frame tongs?

Did you come across words in the text whose meaning was not entirely clear? Read the explanations on the Beekeeping Vocabulary page.