Beekeeper Beginner - A Few Thoughts - Part 18 - Bee scouts

Greetings, friends!

A couple of weeks ago, I began to publish a series of posts in which I expressed my thoughts regarding my dream of becoming a beekeeper.

Then, I did not know that I, very close to my dream, very close.

Today is a wonderful day. Exactly, eighteen years ago, my daughter was born. And, today, another event will happen, the birth of a new community - the Hive.

I like this idea, and the name, which carries a deep meaning, and, this meaning, smells of honey.

Since we, the hive, means, as in any other hive, there is a division of labor.

Today, I want to be in the role of a scout bee.

The first spring days and the first heat make the bees go on the first flyby.

Bees need to find melliferous herbs, for winter stocks of honey have begun to dry out.

The first, in the work of the hive, in the spring, are included scouts who tirelessly look for sources of nectar and pollen.

Today, my son and I were in the role of such bees - scouts who decided to find honey plants in the vicinity of the city, to be precise, in the swamps that surround the Ukrainian city of Rivne, the northwestern part of Ukraine.

This post may seem like a joke, but it shows one of the principles of the bee family in the spring and during the whole season of collecting nectar.

With the first rays of the rising sun, the scouts left their hive house, and flew towards the swamps.

In the beginning, they were greeted by a dull picture, decay and decay of the past year.

At such moments, I wanted to turn back, but the view of the city, with chimneys, depressed, even more.

We began our search and began to look for everything that can store moisture and nectar in ourselves.

I must say that the bee family really needs clean water.

When the nurse bees feed the larvae with bee bread and honey, but that's all, it is diluted with some of the water.

Sources of water are just as necessary as sources of nectar.

But, today, it was dry.

The shell of the old pumpkin turned out to be useless, we flew on.

Dry grass blocked our view.

The stalks of tall grass beat on the cheeks, especially of my son, who was walking behind me. I asked him to stay at a safe distance.

Here, we saw signs of the presence of people. People can be friends, and enemies of bees. One has to be careful. Sometimes, when processing land from weeds, chemicals are used that can destroy the entire bee family.

We found a possible source of water. A small stream, almost dried up, but, at its bottom, one could see thin streams of water.

We admired the beauty of dry dill, but today it is. us, not interested.

Wow! It seems we found what we were looking for! But no. this is a lie. The grass, which got its name from the bird - the Hawk, was dead, in it there is no nectar and pollen. But, we managed to rejoice.

We were upset, but, not for long, ahead, we saw what we were looking for!

Blooming buds on willow branches, this is the first source of nectar and pollen for the bee family. But, these kidneys need several days to mature.

Having flown a few hundred meters more, we found ripe kidneys, which, overflowing with pollen, would be a feast!

To celebrate, we flew home, tell the bee family the place where the working bees will be able to collect nectar and, almost, we did not miss another honey plant!

In the dry grass, the flowers of the plant mother and stepmother lurked.

Returning home to the hive, the bees scouts, using gestures of the legs and body, buzzing and flapping the wings, will explain to other bees where the source of nectar is.

To be continued!

Author @barski
Ukraine

For my publications, I do not use stock photographs, it is fundamentally important for me to use photographs that I have made with my own hands for publication and I can name them - authorial work.