Another great inspection today, folks! The girls were much better behaved today. We used less smoke and it wasn't so cloudy. This is a pic of them gathering underneath the feeder in the inner cover hole. I will generally blow a tiny bit of smoke in that spot so they will go back inside the hive. Some chose to stay on the inner cover when it was taken off, and that's okay.
Victoria was elusive again, but it was clear that brood production has slowed as they have not built up the wax combs to hold more babies. They will be getting more productive this week as the newer bees will be old enough to start producing wax. I have a feeling by next week they will be building wax comb like crazy! They have filled out 5 frames at this point with the outer frames just getting started.
I thought you'd enjoy a couple closeups from inside the hive. This is a worker. I love how furry they are! A big difference between bees and wasps. Wasps have smooth bodies.
This is a drone in the center. Check out his big eyes! They are bigger bodied and have bigger eyes. It's like they have aviator shades on!
When I opened the hive, I noticed some wonky comb being built. It was built above the foundation of the frame and bees were working underneath the comb. It wasn't a good fit and it was affecting the shape of the comb in the frame next to it. It had to come out. Have a look:
You can see that they stored a bunch of the sugar water in the cells and were not giving the queen much room to lay her eggs. Egg production has definitely slowed to a crawl.
We moved into Tim's hives next. He had a great frame with an awesome laying pattern happening from his overwintered queen! He was pretty happy with the looks of this frame.
Can't say that I blame him! It looks great. We added a honey super to one of his hives plus added a brood box to another. It was a very productive day in the bee yard.
Until next time, bee kind 🐝
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