Jay came over and we looked at the hive and talked for a while about bees. The video is 14 minutes which I know is way too long for you to watch, so I sped it up to 4X. You get a full inspection in only three and a half minutes. Enjoy!
Today I took the two funny shaped combs and moved them to the back of the hive with some space around them. My hope is that the brood will hatch and the bees will clean out this comb and replace it with straighter comb.
I’ve noticed that the comb curves off the guide at one end of the bar. You can see a corner of unsupported comb falling off in the video. I put it on top of the hive then brought it in and put it on a plate. John said it tasted very nice. What I’m wondering is whether I made my triangle guides too short.
I also noticed that the bees are resisting the guides and building farther out. Maybe they’ve finished with brood and want to move to honey spacing? I’ve also noticed that they started two combs on the bar at the back (the first one you see in the video). Maybe I need to paint the triangles with wax. It seemed to work for the center bars.
I still need to number the bars for reference. I saw three large hive beetles. I got one of them with the hive tool. Maybe I need a real roof?
The last time I took a quick look at the hive, there were two combs stuck together. I took all the combs out today and separated them. I wonder whether I should take the two funny combs and put them off at the back to encourage the bees to clean them out and abandon them.
I still need to number the combs for better tracking. I removed the cleaned out comb that I had dropped some time ago. There were a few hive beetles hiding underneath it. They are now deceased and the hive appears to be quite free of SHB.
I opened up the hive today. Two days ago I took off the back bar and squashed a small hive beetle (SHB). I’m a bit worried that they’ll be back this year, so I went in for a look.
Here’s a shot from the back of the hive.
I took a bit of video and you’ll see that there’s good brood and that the bees are attaching the comb on the right side (looking from the back). You’ll also notice that some of the front combs are stuck together. I didn’t pull the front comb out as I didn’t want to drop it. It’s time to number frames for better note keeping.
Here’s a shot of the stuck combs from the top.
Here’s a look at the comb from the front of the hive.
Today is the feast of Saint Peter Celestine who was Pope Celestine V.
Why the sudden interest in the calendar? Today is a very happy day for the nervous beekeeper. Art was right. There’s sealed brood, larvae curled up, capped honey, nectar, pollen… and somewhere there’s a queen! This image is linked to the original on which you may see much more detail.
Here’s a view from the back of the undisturbed hive:
Here’s a look at the combs:
Magnificent!
Remember those combs that I knocked off last time?
Here they are:
The bees have attached them to the side of the hive, but have pretty well drained the comb. Maybe this is a good way to get wax?
I am nervous about hive 2. I last opened it up 5 days ago and did see no brood. I also knocked off some comb, so I’m worried about the strength of the combs. Art says everything will be fine and I’m waiting. Here are pictures from the 14th.
I hope to make some time today to go into the hive and look about again today.
I’ll be looking for brood or some other sign of laying.
Shawn’s got a package and TBH also. He’s using a baggie feeder. Here are shots from his hive this evening:
After this quick look, we pulled out the bars and checked the queen cage. The queen was in the cage and the way out was blocked by a dead bee. The bees seemed to be on friendly terms with the queen and we let her out. She walked right up onto the comb. Good news!
