No – seriously – if these dead bees clog the mouse guard in front of the entrance, it can already have negative effects on regulated flight operations.
{multithumb enable_thumbs=0}
But before we can get started, of course the smoker has to be lit first. Nothing works without a smoker, Horst always says. Without a smoker, the mean guard bees come and do what they have to do. STING!
For everyone who has never seen a smoker being lit (so for us novice beekeepers) here’s a video. (Click and off you go)
Then came the hive draw. I drew number three and so N. and I will be responsible for hive number three this year. Here’s a video with the two important actions:
- Smoke in
- Dead bees out.
{multithumb default}
And this is what the dead bee tray in hive 2 looked like, which accumulated during the winter of 2009/2010.
.jpg)
Here a dead bee from the dead bee tray (the width of the photo corresponds to approximately 3 cm).
Here another dead bee from the dead bee tray. The proboscis is clearly visible. The yellowish crumb between the front and middle pair of legs on the right side of the bee is probably capping wax (the width of the photo corresponds to approximately 3 cm).
Here the end of the proboscis of a third dead bee from the dead bee tray (the width of the photo corresponds to approximately 3.5 mm).