My goals for the 4th of July weekend were:
1) go to the beach
2) eat lobster
3) do a hive inspection
We nailed it. After a breathtaking beach day and the most legit lobster dinner ever, I got out and opened the hive to check on my bees. The guy came along to help out, but he was mostly there to take these photos.
It’s been five weeks with my hive. This was my third hive inspection, and it’s been so great to watch the colony grow. I’ve gone three for three hive inspections without getting stung and with a queen sighting, which is even better. The frames that had new eggs and young brood two weeks ago are now either holding large larvae or capped pupae, and there was a half of a frame of brand new eggs. Queen Victoria is busy.
My biggest concern is how slow they are expanding space wise. I put on a second box three weeks ago, which was probably too soon, but the girls are hardly up there. They get up there to feed–their feeder sits on top of the hive boxes–but they aren’t drawing out very much honeycomb on the 10 frames they need to fill. I need to continue to feed them until they draw out all of the frames, and at this rate, I’ll be feeding them until it’s time for fall feeding! A whole first season of sugar syrup doesn’t sound very good, does it? The good news is that they are bringing in lots of pollen, and there’s finally some capped honey in the hive. I’m hopeful they’ll gather enough to sustain them through the winter. I’m less hopeful the honeycomb will be completed by then!
I have such a mix of bees–blonde, brown, and black–and I love watching them mingle as they go about their business. My bees are also really calm. I have a tiny second hand smoker that I cannot for the damn life of me keep lit, but thankfully I hardly have to use it. They’re such sweet bees.
I could hang out with my hive all the time, but I have to do the bee thing at work, too. I’m back out this week on my second round of wild bee sampling (where is the summer going??!?), and I am seeing so many wonderful wild bees out there. Bees for days.
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