Carolina Dreams - Florence South Carolina

The crew surveys the work while trucks and trailers wait to be loaded.                               

That's my dad.  Dad manages the hives at our 2 winter bee yards?  Light colored bee suits help keep bees calm!

That's Steve!  He's the one keeps everything moving in the right direction. (Where's my hive tool?)

Where's the Hammer ? Hey Joel, Aren't you going to wear gloves? Pass me that box of staples behind you.  Lets go guys we're burning daylight!

We nail the bottoms and tops on with hive staples. Then the entrances are screened to allow ventilation.

Smoke helps calm the bee's by masking alarm odors and causing the bee's to gorge on honey. (See the bees coming out under the lid?)

Steve tacks a special screened top on a crowded hive to help the bee's stay cool.           

Sometimes you have to lay on a hive full of bees to keep it from flying away !  It helps reach those hard to staple bottom boards too !

With only 2-3 hrs sleep in the last day the crew tires around 7:00 p.m.  We still have 5 hours to go before we are loaded and on the road !  Then it's only 15 hrs. of driving to reach our yards in N.Y. and another 3-4 hrs to unload.