Gnarly Girls

So...where do I start? Last week I decided to harvest some frames from the vineyard hives. I brought a family friend, John M. and introduced him to beekeeping. Didn't have much time so was unable to harvest more than one hive. They weren't to happy and one got me through my jeans.

Here's a pic from that visit of a nice garden spider that was camped out in front of the hive.

So today Alex an I went down near Sidney, Iowa to help out fellow keeper Mike G. Checked his bees and gave him some tips. Again one girl got me through my suit on my stomach.

After that, it was getting close to 6 which should have been my clue. Normally you do not do major checking or harvesting typically in the evening.

Guess what I tried anyway. Went through smaller hive without much issue which was a small MoValley swarm. Doing well, but there will not be any harvesting this year. Moved on to next hive which I recall was a split from orchard hive. First few minutes were fine as I smoked but slowly the hive became more irritated and the hum more intent. Focusing the soldiers on my being their pheromonal stings brought more and more to my suit and head gear. So many in fact they began stinging through my suit. Of course finally unnerving me allowing some to creep up under my jacket and inside my head gear. Trying to keep my head as they began stinging the side of my head. I quickly closed hive after only harvesting 2 small frames but only with the help of Alex as he picked up some tools and dispatched a couple on my head as I took off my garb. Thanks for my helper.

Hopefully will be back at it tomorrow.