>i had my first bee sting two days ago. we had been worried that something had happened to the bees, since the hives were not as buzzy as they had been, so when our neighbor, omer amca, came by, we all took a look into the hives. he opened them up, as calm as anything, and as we stood there peering in, he poked around here and there, proclaiming our bees absolutely fine. the bees had had enough of our scrutiny, though, and flew right at our heads. one stung me on the cheek, so it felt a bit like a toothache. it was not so bad, but it is still swollen, a bit itchy, and hot two days later.
we did a bit of shopping for the bees as well. we went to buy some second stories for the hives, and this brought us to the beehive man. there is a workshop just on the outskirts of kumluca where a man makes beehives out of cedar. it is wedged between some furniture workshops. it is an airy, open space that smells of cedar and nothing else — the hives are sold unfinished, and do not require paint or varnish. two young men pounded away at thick planks of cedar as we got pre-cut pieces of wood for honeycomb frames. out back, there was an orange orchard. baki saw a dog house and poked his head in. the dog made a real noise, and baki came running in, totally freaked out. the beehive man laughed as he counted wood pieces into a big sack. on a table under an orange tree sat his smoker and bee suit, and off to the side were the hives, stacked on top of one another. “learn from your friends who are keeping bees,” he said, “watch what they do.”
after that, we went to a hardware store in town where they sell some bee stuff, easily identifiable by the bee suit hanging outside. there, we bought sheets of beeswax embossed with a honeycomb pattern for our frames. the bees will build up the comb on that foundation. baki peered up at lengths of chain that hung from the rafters, the store owner’s children watching him shyly. a spool of wire, a packet of nails, and we had everything we needed to start making frames to put in the empty hives. in a week or so, the bees will multiply and swarm. when they do, we need to be ready to capture the swarm and induce it to enter a new hive.
i spent the morning yesterday nailing frames together, threading the wire on to them, and putting the wax sheets on. pictures will follow, including one that baki took!