On the 27th of April 2018, we checked our hives with the help of Mrs. Sander. In this hive check we expected to see an empty queen cage, partly built out comb, and maybe eggs.
This is what Bethany’s hive, Lakti, and Maylyn Sorority looked like before we checked the hives.
This is what my hive, Green Gables looked like before we inspected it.
This is what one of the outside frames looked like. The bees had not built out very much on the outside three frames.
As we got closer to the middle of the hive more and more of the frames were built out. There were a lot of bees on the middle three frames.
At the bottom of my hive some bees were by a weird chunk of something. When we pulled it out of the hive it was beeswax! The bees had to have either made this beeswax while they were in the package or it may have come from the hive they came out of.
Here I am looking at a frame. Notice the white wax the bees have drawn out on the frame.
My queen, Anne, is on this frame. She is two inches down and four inches from the left. She has lots of stripes so she blends in with the other bees.
Here is Bethany beginning her hive check.
Bethany’s bees had built out their frames a little faster then my bees did.
This is a picture of Bethany looking for eggs on a frame. Bethany found eggs in her hive. I did not see eggs, but we think the queen had lain eggs.
As we checked the hive, most of the bees continued doing their normal jobs.
Here we are crowding around Bethany to see the eggs on the frame.
The bees built the middle frames out first then the outside frames.
At the end of the inspection, Bethany fed her bees.
Here we are cleaning off the top of Maylyn Sorority. We removed all of the sugar because the bees were not eating it.
After a few minutes, the bees that left the hive during the inspection began returning.
Here we are getting ready to pull the first frame.
Olivia searched for the eggs. Because Maylyn Sorority is a established hive they had lots of brood in all stages.
Here is a picture of one of the frames in the top box. The bees were mostly in the top box. Because bees do not move down, we switched the boxes around so that the box with the bees in it is on the bottom and the box without bees is on the top. This gives the bees plenty of space to grow.
Here is Olivia and me looking for eggs on a frame.
This frame has lots of capped brood on it. One of the decisions that had to be made concerning Maylyn Sorority was if the queen should be kept or replaced. Because the brood pattern was so good, we decided to keep her.
Here we are closing up the hives. We put ratchet straps around mine and Bethany’s hive to ensure the hive would stay together. Maylyn Sorority has a concrete block on top.
Here is Mrs. Sander, Olivia, Bethany, and me after the hive inspection confident that the hives are doing well.
Abigail