You may have noticed my handy new hive stand in the photo from last week’s post. I could barely contain my excitement when I found the boxes from Dadant on my doorstep! Usually, their shipments arrive within a week, but due to the apocalypse things are delayed and they indicate on their site a delivery time of up to three weeks. My shipment took just under that.

The hive stand was super easy to assemble: two sides that form the legs and are joined by two crossbars, one in front and another in back, by a bolt on each side. I simply attached the bolts, tightened with a wrench, and it was ready to use. It’s very lightweight and looks nice. I painted a little Tanglefoot around each of the legs and haven’t had a problem with ants since.

Along with the stand, I had ordered a smoker, bee brush, and a beesuit with helmet and veil. Or had I? The site clearly states that a helmet does not come with all versions of the suit, but I had wavered a number of times on the exact one that I wanted and I apparently forgot about the helmet in my excitement over finally reaching a decision. To those who know me well, this will not come as a surprise since I tend to over-research and over-analyse many decisions, particularly those with a monetary cost.

I suppose this demonstrates one of the disadvantages of online ordering. Had I been in a brick and mortar shop, I like to think that I would have noticed the missing of this from my basket. As it was, here I was with no helmet to hold the veil in place, which I wanted to wear while moving the bees since I thought this the action that was most likely to infuriate them and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be stung in the face. I once swam into a jellyfish and had tentacles all across the left side of my face; it was neither an enjoyable experience nor one I’d like to have again, so I’m a little cautious when it comes to things that might sting me there.

I’m also not one to let a minor equipment issue keep me from my plan, so I decided that a baseball cap would work just as well for the time being as a helmet for holding the veil in place. I discovered that it worked fine for simple tasks like moving the hive, but not so well when doing more extensive work like a hive inspection. So a quick trip to City Farmers Nursery, who carries an array of beekeeping supplies, including a small selection of suits and helmets, was placed onto the weekend agenda.