Well, that wasn't fun at all.

The weather cleared and we headed out to look at the remaining hives, Clover and the SG Hive, as we didn't have a chance to inspect them on Friday.

We suited up, lit the smoker and were good to go.

Charlie popped the cover on Clover.

The colony had made quick work of the two winter pattys we placed last week and had made a start on the pollen patty added Friday. The picture above shows the top of the hive after Charlie had smoked it, lot of bees eating.

Charlie popped off the top box and, wow, look at all those bees! These Carniolans are amazing! Hard to believe this is early March!

At this point Charlie popped off the second box. The third box looked just like the second, full of bees. I went to snap a picture and suddenly we were engulfed in a cloud of angry bees.

It quickly became the shortest hive inspection EVER!

I was stung almost immediately on the finger and quickly walked away to remove the stinger. The bees followed me across the pasture and jabbed me two more times, once on the elbow and once on the back of the leg. I kept walking as the bees bounced off my veil and back.  I pulled my sleeves over my hands to protect them but one girl was determined to get me, I watched as she attempted to sting my shirt over and over again, until I was apparently far enough from the hive to no longer be a threat.

Charlie was in his full suit and put the hive back together, fed them a winter patty and pulled the wagon of gear to safety. My Hero!

We will have to find (the hard part) and squish that queen. I am so impressed at how fast the colony has built up this spring, but I refuse to have a colony this aggressive in the bee yard.

This is ~15min after the sting, the swelling
is all the way down my finger about an hour later.