Our second Bee Buddy event of 2021 was held Saturday, July 17. We had a gorgeous, warm, sunny day! For this event, we met at an 11 acre private property in Barrington. While this property doesn’t host Bee Buddy hives, Bill manages the 12 hives at this location, and it is a beautiful area to visit next to a private lake. The homeowner was kind enough to let us take over some of his property for the afternoon and use his expansive garage space for our extraction.
Before we extracted honey, we checked on the progress of a few new hives Bill had recently installed to search for evidence of the queens or eggs. Then, we pulled some frames from an established hive so our Bee Buddies could see the inner workings of these amazing insects. While we didn’t see eggs, Kate was able to show the Bee Buddies how bees draw out wax honeycomb on the foundation and peek at some developing larva. We also witnessed the worker bee hatching out of her cell (new bees are so fuzzy and cute)!
After our time in the bee yard, we headed to spin some frames out in the 20 frame extractor. Bill uncapped the wax frames, Kate loaded the extractor, and the frames spun out while we shared additional bee facts and tasted delicious spring honey. The bees kept us so busy this time, we didn’t have time to take many photos! Thanks to all who came out. We hope to have an additional event in the fall.
