Monday, May 24, 2010

Amazing- a Bee Update

I just returned from the bee yard. It's 70 degrees, sunny, and very humid. we received 3.9" of rain last night and the forecast is for more rain and warm weather throughout the next several days. I was going to do my inspection on Wednesday but pushed it up to today because Ceili is sleeping and the sun is out. I brought my second hive body with me in case I needed to add it. It's about two weeks early but this weather has been very nice. When I arrived I smoked the entrance, and then smoked under the cover. When I removed the inner cover I could see fat drawn comb, and lots of bees! I figured they must be starting to emerge. As I inspected each frame I was looking for drawn comb, eggs, larvae, sealed brood, and honey. The first frame was undrawn with a few bees on it. the second frame was full of drawn comb on one side and the start of comb on the other. the third through eighth were completely drawn and very heavy. These frames were packed with honey along the top edges with some of it sealed. They also contained pollen, sealed brood, lots of larvae, and at least a full frame of eggs. On one frame I saw a sealed brood wiggle a bit and I paused to watch a bee chew its way out of the brood chamber and emerge as a new bee! I can't explain how incredible it was to witness this first hand. Hopefully I can figure out how to take pictures of the frames for next time. The final two frames were also undrawn. I figured that the first box was over 75% drawn and decided to add the second box. I also removed the entrance reducer and the cork from the first box. I moved a frame of broodless, drawn comb into the second box and spaced the remaining nine frames out equally. The second box containing the frame of drawn comb was placed on top, followed by the inner cover, and finally the outer cover. Good luck bees, see you in about 10 days!

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