Beekeeping Apprentice

I love it when someone wants to know more about beekeeping,  I can bore for England when it comes to talking about beekeeping! but I LOVE it even more when someone wants to come and have a look through a hive....particularly when there is work to be done.

Its fair to say I leaped at the chance to have an apprentice to help bring in the spring harvest!!

Jenny (who I work with) has a son who calls me the "the bee lady" and he wanted to come and see for himself what the inside of a hive is like, so ..time to suit up...

Mum came too - which is a major achievement as she is distinctly skittish about the idea of being close to bees... 

It must be something about the confidence, or fearlessness of the young, but a quick squirt of smoke and a demo from me...

 

and  he was straight into my smallest hive and looking for the queen within minutes...

 

I had a small side bet with Jenny that they'd be half way home before she got that predictable question; "Mum....can we get some bees?"
I was wrong..... big time.....

We were just over half way through the first hive!!!

I'd better disillusion him and work him harder...onto hive number 2...

 

Maybe an afternoon of extracting will get him sooo sticky he'll go off the idea...

 

oh dear.....apparently not...

I may have found someone who is as happy with a jar of honey in their hands as I am!!