chas_
in
beekeeping
Morgan and the bee
So I was outside with my youngest child. While he rode his tricycle, I was working on a wood project. Mainly I was just sanding down some wood to prep it for giving it a coat of polyurethane.
Morgan rode around a bit, but eventually settled in to watch Dad work on his project and see if he could help. While I was there, a couple of bees dropped in. I'm not sure what attracted them. At that point I was only sanding and Morgan was covered in sweat from riding his trike in the heat. We didn't have any sweet drinks or anything like that out for them to be attracted to, but they hung around quite a while. Morgan left his helmet on and I watched one of the ladies buzz around his helmet quite a bit, eventually even going into one of the holes of it for a little while. I figured that, at the least, they were thirsty enough to try and get the sweat of of Morgan. They buzzed me a little, but nothing like him.
Having been a beekeeper in my youth, I told Morgan to just relax. I also advised him that as long as he didn't make any sudden moves or run around screaming and flailing, then he wouldn't get stung. After a while he really lost his fear. Eventually one of them even landed on his chest, just below his neck. She was there for quite a bit and he just sat there like it was pretty much a normal event. I fumbled in my pants for my phone, but by the time I was ready to snap a photo, she'd flown off.
Some time later, he was still wearing his helmet and the girls were still buzzing us. I'd left my phone out in order to snap a pic in case one of the bees landed on him again. Lo and behold one did and this time I got a few pics. He squeezed his eyes shut because I'd told him to, so that the bee might not accidentally go over his eye(I don't care how calm you are, it takes a lot of calmness to not freak at seeing a bug crawling over your eye - I didn't care to find out if he had that much calmness).
So here are the pics:
From Morgan and the bee
From Morgan and the bee
From Morgan and the bee
He's now been bitten by the bee bug and wants to keep bees(he wanted to keep the two who buzzed us, but I convinced him that we shouldn't). Of course, he's four, so we'll see if it really lasts. I need to see if my sister-in-law will allow me to put hives in her yard as we live in an apartment. It's probably too late to get a package of bees, but I can start buying all the bits we'll need to do the job as well as building the supers for next year. I've really been wanting to get back into keeping, but living in apartments really puts a damper on that.
EDIT: The pics should work now.
Morgan rode around a bit, but eventually settled in to watch Dad work on his project and see if he could help. While I was there, a couple of bees dropped in. I'm not sure what attracted them. At that point I was only sanding and Morgan was covered in sweat from riding his trike in the heat. We didn't have any sweet drinks or anything like that out for them to be attracted to, but they hung around quite a while. Morgan left his helmet on and I watched one of the ladies buzz around his helmet quite a bit, eventually even going into one of the holes of it for a little while. I figured that, at the least, they were thirsty enough to try and get the sweat of of Morgan. They buzzed me a little, but nothing like him.
Having been a beekeeper in my youth, I told Morgan to just relax. I also advised him that as long as he didn't make any sudden moves or run around screaming and flailing, then he wouldn't get stung. After a while he really lost his fear. Eventually one of them even landed on his chest, just below his neck. She was there for quite a bit and he just sat there like it was pretty much a normal event. I fumbled in my pants for my phone, but by the time I was ready to snap a photo, she'd flown off.
Some time later, he was still wearing his helmet and the girls were still buzzing us. I'd left my phone out in order to snap a pic in case one of the bees landed on him again. Lo and behold one did and this time I got a few pics. He squeezed his eyes shut because I'd told him to, so that the bee might not accidentally go over his eye(I don't care how calm you are, it takes a lot of calmness to not freak at seeing a bug crawling over your eye - I didn't care to find out if he had that much calmness).
So here are the pics:
From Morgan and the bee
From Morgan and the bee
From Morgan and the bee
He's now been bitten by the bee bug and wants to keep bees(he wanted to keep the two who buzzed us, but I convinced him that we shouldn't). Of course, he's four, so we'll see if it really lasts. I need to see if my sister-in-law will allow me to put hives in her yard as we live in an apartment. It's probably too late to get a package of bees, but I can start buying all the bits we'll need to do the job as well as building the supers for next year. I've really been wanting to get back into keeping, but living in apartments really puts a damper on that.
EDIT: The pics should work now.