Yesterday we did our first full inspection of the hive and I feel I am now really a beekeeper. The bees arrived on April 18th, unfortunately, due to another commitment I was unable to be there to put them in the hive. My bee buddy Lynn, assisted by a friend who has kept bees before put them in the hive.
We had already made the syrup using a recipe I found
2 quarts (8 cups) of white sugar (do not use brown sugar or other substitute)3 cups of almost boiling water1 cup of chamomile tea (can use chamomile flowers or tea bags)2 tablespoons of your own honey½ teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juicea healthy pinch of sea salt3-4 drops of lemongrass essential oil1 teaspoon vegetable glycerine
The syrup smelt great and we both wanted to be sure we gave the bees a good start.
The hiving process went well I understand, but we had a problem with one of the feeders leaking and Lynn had to refill it several times. The other hive was good and the bees set out feeding greedily , it seems they liked the syrup as much as I did.
We opened the hive on the Thursday the 23rd, to make sure the queen had been released from the cage. Both queens were out and we left the hives to do their work. Unfortunately the feeder was still having issues and Lynn had to refill it again.
So yesterday, May 2nd was our first full inspection. We were both very excited, and as we had not seen any evidence of laying hopeful that the queens were alive and well and doing their job.
After a few puffs of smoke Lynn opened the first hive and the first sight was the bees crowding round the feeder where they had built a huge amount of burr comb. She removed the feeder and the super surrounding it and then we could clearly see the bees working. The first frame came out fairly easily and she then proceeded to check each frame. There was a little burr comb between some of the frame which she removed, after finding a technique that worked. All of the burr comb was put in a bowl which she we sat outside the respective hives once we had finished the inspections. All of the frames had some evidence of work and when we got to the middle we were rewarded with not only a sight of eggs and larva but the queen bee herself.
Then I proceeded to inspect the second hive. I had decided to try the inspection without gloves. The book had recommended this and whilst Lynn was inspecting the first hive I had bare hands, several bees had landed on my hands and I was interested to see that they were carrying LOTS of pollen on their legs. They were happy walking on my hand and if I blew gently they flew away.
This was the hive that had had the feeder issues. There was not as much activity round the feeder and it removed easily. This hive was a lot less busier than the first and the first few frames had no evidence of any work. Once we got to the middle there was a large piece of burr comb between the middle frames. There was a big gap between these frames , where the queen cage and been and the bees had filled it with a piece of burr comb almost as big as the frame. We were able to remove it in 2 pieces and put this in the bowl. The burr comb had a lot of pollen, nectar, eggs and larva and we were both sad that we have to remove so much work that the bees had done. The frame after this we saw the queen. I put the frames back and tried to make the gaps between them a little more even and the inspection was done.
Although it was a little earlier than the book suggests we added a new super to the first hive. It was clear that they were way ahead of the second hive, and as we are using medium supers, not deeps we were expecting to do this earlier anyway. We didn't replace either feeder as there is now plenty of flowers in bloom in the area.
For the rest of the day ( after a nice lunch made by Lynn) we built more supers and frames. Lynn had bought cedar supers which we had left au naturel. Lynn waxed the new supers that we built to see if that makes any difference to the look and how well they wear. We also built additional frames so that we have enough supers and frames for 3 boxes on each hive. After that we will have 2 honey supers on each hive. But that is not until much later in the year.
We had already made the syrup using a recipe I found
2 quarts (8 cups) of white sugar (do not use brown sugar or other substitute)3 cups of almost boiling water1 cup of chamomile tea (can use chamomile flowers or tea bags)2 tablespoons of your own honey½ teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon juicea healthy pinch of sea salt3-4 drops of lemongrass essential oil1 teaspoon vegetable glycerine
The syrup smelt great and we both wanted to be sure we gave the bees a good start.
The hiving process went well I understand, but we had a problem with one of the feeders leaking and Lynn had to refill it several times. The other hive was good and the bees set out feeding greedily , it seems they liked the syrup as much as I did.
We opened the hive on the Thursday the 23rd, to make sure the queen had been released from the cage. Both queens were out and we left the hives to do their work. Unfortunately the feeder was still having issues and Lynn had to refill it again.
So yesterday, May 2nd was our first full inspection. We were both very excited, and as we had not seen any evidence of laying hopeful that the queens were alive and well and doing their job.
After a few puffs of smoke Lynn opened the first hive and the first sight was the bees crowding round the feeder where they had built a huge amount of burr comb. She removed the feeder and the super surrounding it and then we could clearly see the bees working. The first frame came out fairly easily and she then proceeded to check each frame. There was a little burr comb between some of the frame which she removed, after finding a technique that worked. All of the burr comb was put in a bowl which she we sat outside the respective hives once we had finished the inspections. All of the frames had some evidence of work and when we got to the middle we were rewarded with not only a sight of eggs and larva but the queen bee herself.
Then I proceeded to inspect the second hive. I had decided to try the inspection without gloves. The book had recommended this and whilst Lynn was inspecting the first hive I had bare hands, several bees had landed on my hands and I was interested to see that they were carrying LOTS of pollen on their legs. They were happy walking on my hand and if I blew gently they flew away.
This was the hive that had had the feeder issues. There was not as much activity round the feeder and it removed easily. This hive was a lot less busier than the first and the first few frames had no evidence of any work. Once we got to the middle there was a large piece of burr comb between the middle frames. There was a big gap between these frames , where the queen cage and been and the bees had filled it with a piece of burr comb almost as big as the frame. We were able to remove it in 2 pieces and put this in the bowl. The burr comb had a lot of pollen, nectar, eggs and larva and we were both sad that we have to remove so much work that the bees had done. The frame after this we saw the queen. I put the frames back and tried to make the gaps between them a little more even and the inspection was done.
Although it was a little earlier than the book suggests we added a new super to the first hive. It was clear that they were way ahead of the second hive, and as we are using medium supers, not deeps we were expecting to do this earlier anyway. We didn't replace either feeder as there is now plenty of flowers in bloom in the area.
For the rest of the day ( after a nice lunch made by Lynn) we built more supers and frames. Lynn had bought cedar supers which we had left au naturel. Lynn waxed the new supers that we built to see if that makes any difference to the look and how well they wear. We also built additional frames so that we have enough supers and frames for 3 boxes on each hive. After that we will have 2 honey supers on each hive. But that is not until much later in the year.
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