Wooooo hoooo we are excited it's the first opening of our hive.  Not sure if it is the same kind of excitement that a footy fan feels but after living in Melbourne and having to see two weekends of crazy footy fever on the street - I am glad to say I was not part of it.  Happy to see some good friends stay in the last couple of weeks Glenn Baker (who was sorely disappointed at the outcome of Collingwood vs St Kilda) as well the ever so cheeky Nick Mortimer - who we always enjoy the company of... like the 'good olde days'.

To be honest I was not sure what to expect.  I had visions of a Winnie the Pooh scene.  Us being Winnie, running from the angry bees chasing us around the backyard.  But no, they were calm... somewhat passive even.  There seems to be a great fear amongst many people I know, fair enough if you are allergic but it seems that a lot of people put bees and wasps in the same category... crazy in  my eyes as they are totally different, for starters wasps are carnivorous and nasty.  Bees though on the other hand only eat honey.. well a mixture of nectar and water which will become what we know as honey.  They don't go out of their way to annoy you, they are just happy doing their thing... being busy. 

The smoker and protective equipment came out. All ready to go, we opened the hive to find them busily and happily building their comb, there were also lots of brood cells (bees in the making) and of course honey.  Quite a lot of sticky, glistening but not all capped honey!

Oh and for all those pessimists who said... 'good luck with the stings'.... FYI no stings thus far :)