After 2 weeks

I have now had my two hives for just over two weeks and I had to open them and check that things were going OK. First thing to note, I have NOT mastered the use of the smoker! But even without smoke, I could look into the hives and move the frames around:

Apparently, bees start building the comb, laying eggs and storing food on the frames in the center of the hive. So to speed things up, once they have been working on the 4-5 frames in the middle, it is a good idea to take one frame from the side and put it in the middle.

That is what I did in both hives. I did not see the queens but saw eggs, larvae, capped brood (which is when cells have been closed with wax for a larva to turn into a bee. She will have to chew the wax cap to get out)...so apparently things are the way they should be! I wish I could have taken pictures of what I saw, but it is kind of tricky to hold a frame covered with bees in one hand and hold the camera to take a picture with the other. It would not be a good idea to drop that frame!!!

What I could photograph though were pieces of comb that were sticking out over the frames (I had left too much space between frames in the first place, now I know better!) and these pieces had to be removed. Some of the cells were already filled with pollen (something with dark yellow pollen must be blooming right now) .

Other cells were filled with nectar (see the shiny stuff in the lower left corner?)

In any case, I will keep these pieces of wax until I have more and can do something with it. I was very surprised to see how white it is!

At the end of the class I took earlier this year at our local agricultural extension office, I had won a hive and its colony! So two days ago, I went to pick up the colony for that third hive from Mr. Holbert (Holbert Bee Supplies in Saluda, NC), who taught the class and gave away the hive.

Instead of being in a box like the other bees, these were already in a small hive (called a nuc, if you want to hear to proper term!)

So I had to take the frames (with the bees) and put them in the larger hive, among 5 other new frames. It was quite exciting.

The box was closed with some wire mesh to keep the bees in during transport. Those little guys were ready to get out!

Some of the bees were gathered on the lig of the small box. On the right of the photo, you can see the frames I have removed from the big box.

These are the bees on the frames in the small box. (phot above)

And now they are in the big hive.... (photo below)

Most of them anyway! I left the small box by the hive and by dusk, they were all in the hive. Good girls!