Single Honeybee on Honeycomb

A single worker honeybee on top of her honeycomb. The beekeeper is doing his first hive inspection of the season. This gives me the opportunity to take some macro photographs of the hive. I have to be careful to time it just right and take the picture at the beginning of the inspection. The bees are just a little disoriented and do not bother me. However, if the beekeeper gets close to the hive queen they might become aggressive and go after anything standing in range. Their sole instinct is to protect their queen. Only the female worker bee can sting. The male drones do not have stingers.

Some of the tasks of a beekeeper are to look for the health of the hive. Bees have a few enemies who can compromise their hives. Hive beetles and mites can kill a bee hive. The beekeepers' inspection ensures that those pests are illuminated and the honeybees make it through the seasons. Another thing the beekeepers look for is honeycombs not built right. Comb where it does not belong makes the hive suspect to other problems. Extra comb gets removed for the bees to rebuild that section. Lastly, a healthy hive can get too big and needs to be split.
This is done to prevent the honeybees to swarm and look for another place to call home.

As gardeners, we respect our honeybees and take great care to ensure they remain healthy.