Using Your Senses
When you think of bees you will quite possibly think about the buzz they make as they go about their business but did you know that the buzzing sounds can change depending on the mood of the bee and colony?
When you think of honey you may think of the sweet smell of with delicate floral notes but did you know that scent is another way the bees communicate with one another and with their beekeeper.
Using our senses when beekeeping is an important element that’s often overlooked when we first start out. I know during my first year keeping bees I was often stung and overwhelmed because I was trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing, striving to recall what I was looking for in the hive and how to ‘manipulate’ the frames so I could see everything properly. Although I cared for the bees I perhaps didn’t realise that I could be more considerate and would often bump bees accidentally as I was trying to carry out a taught procedure or I’d unintentionally wind them up trying to move them out of the way to see if they were healthy!
The start of my change came just a month or so into keeping bees when I had been stung so many times that a visit to the hives was becoming a daunting experience. I vividly remember opening the hive to inspect it under the watchful eye of my mentor and I froze. I think it was a blind panic but I could barely lift my arms let alone lift a frame. I was given a moment to gather myself whilst I observed the frames being easily removed and checked one by one, the bees became calmer than they were with me.
Today I like to engage my senses when working with the bees as I find it of benefit for my beekeeping, for the bees but a pleasant extra, also for my mental health; grounding me in their world.
Listening to the bees can help me gauge what could be happening inside the hive by listening to them and then observing the environment both in and outside the hive - are they content and happy, is there a problem with the queen or have they gone queenless, are they pissed off because there are wasps intruding for example.
Watching the bees is of course one of the main elements of beekeeping. I like to spend some time observing them coming and going from the hive entrance before opening up. I get excited when I see a steady stream of bees with big blobs of pollen on their legs, concerned when the front door is quiet.
Once inside the hive I try not to disturb them too much. I will watch them on the tops of the frames and if it’s just me carrying out an inspection (ie not hosting a bee experience or training) then I’ll quickly and calmly do my checks and then leave them be.
The scent of the hive can be quite intoxicating. On a warm summers day it will typically smell of a mixture of wood and wax. If they’ve been foraging something highly scented that can emanate from the hive too. The bees have their own smell - given to them by their queen - and can communicate using scents such as an alarm pheromone that to me smells like an aniseed / banana combo.
Observing the hive, listening to it and breathing in the hive’s scent can help me work with the bees, I can try to match my mood to theirs and if something changes I can take note and make the appropriate changes myself- for example if they have a calm hum when I start my inspection but that hum increases in noise as I progress and perhaps also changes in tone, I know that next I will see more bees coming out of the hive to suggest I leave them alone. If I can pre-empt this then the bees won’t get as stressed, and neither will I as closing up a hive of angry bees isn’t as much fun as closing one of content bees!
I think that we live in a world where we don’t feel the need to engage our senses as much anymore. So much of life is viewed through a screen, leaving us without the tactile 3d elements or the abundance of sensations that ‘real life’ brings and we miss out on so much, I’m sure this is one of the reasons why anxiety is on the rise. Life in the apiary brings feelings of warmth on our skin from the summer sunshine, the scents of the blossoms around the hives, the hum of bees and the flutter of butterfly wings. There are so many vibrant colours outside, some that seem unnatural but are the most beautiful strong shades of blue, pink, green and yellow. Stepping outside on a summers day to truly take in the beauty and wonder of nature that lives around us is a humbling experience that brings joy and a sense of calm. Just writing about it I can imagine those warm days, I can hear the sounds and almost smell the flowers….. roll on summer!
