Enneahive Three

Our summer of Enneahive (yep I just made up a word!) takes us to the Enneagram 3 this week who is known as The Achiever. According to the Enneagram Institute, this type is ambitious, competent and highly-driven for advancement. They are hard working and it’s not difficult at all to see how the beehive has characteristics of a type 3. I mean, the phrase “Busy as a Bee” is a saying for a reason! I love watching my bees work and can almost get caught up in it sometimes. It’s fun to identify the role each one is playing and it’s almost mesmerizing to watch. I love when I spot something that I haven’t seen before, like the first time I saw a bee producing wax from her wax gland, I felt like I was being let in on secret.

Honeybees are incredibly efficient and highly organized. It seems like they never stop moving or working and I’m amazing each time I do a hive inspection at how much progress they have made from the last time I peeked in on them. When the nectar is flowing they can easily fill up a honey box of 8 frames in just a couple of weeks. That’s one reason why it’s important to do hive inspections every 2 weeks in the summer, because they can run out of room pretty quickly and need more boxes for space.

A honeybee can visit up to 500 flowers in one single day! And, let’s not forget that it takes the nectar from at least 2,000 flowers for bees to make one pound of honey (that is 10.67 fl oz!). They work hard for that liquid gold! An entire beehive can make anywhere from 60-100 pounds of honey during a season. Now that’s some major achieving!