6/01/07 I went to visit the girls today and was even rewarded with a sighting of Her Royal Majesty. Unfortunately, she is camera shy and by the time I had the camera ready to photograph her, her court had closed ranks to protect her from this paparazzi. Here's what I did get. The court can be seen in the upper part of the picture. There were a couple that even climbed on top of her. Oh well.
The hive seems to be doing well and it looks like they are even starting to make a small amount of comb in the super finally. The frames below are getting heavy again with honey and I am seeing some of it capped off down there. I did see a couple of cells in some of the new comb with something black down inside. Not a mite, but maybe a larva? I will keep an eye on that to see if there is more of it. It could be in the other frames too, but the comb is older and dark so it would not be as easy to see it as it is in the new comb. I tried to get a picture of it, but haven't got the knack for taking pics through a bee veil yet. The display screen on the camera is small and I can't see very well what I am shooting. I need to get better with the camera. This is the best picture I got while trying to shoot the black cell.
5/15/07 Back in the bees this morning. The hive seems the same as it was a couple of weeks ago. I feel like it is bursting at the seams, but it's probably not. The frames at either end of the hive always seem to have a lot fewer bees on them than the frames closer to the center, so I guess they've got room. They still don't seem to be up in the super, but they aren't chewing holes in the foundation either. I can about get through the whole hive without getting them agitated. There is plenty of brood and it all looks good and healthy.
I added some more sugar syrup to the entrance feeder today. They sure go through it fast. Makes me think I'm raising pigs instead of bees. Keith thinks they are lazy, but I don't want to take any chances on them starving.
5/01/07 I went in to the hive this morning and the bees are all busy and humming along. The supercedure cells from last week are gone and some new ones seem to have been built. I'll keep my eye on them. This time I got through looking at all the frames without getting them stirred up. I see lots of capped brood and larvae and I think I saw eggs (although my eyes are not good for seeing little things). I did notice that the two frames that had seemed pretty heavy with honey the first time I went in seem pretty light and empty now. I put some food in the entrance feeder for them. I only have one super on still and they still aren't doing anything in it, although I checked to make sure they aren't chewing holes in the foundation either. I want to be sure they have plenty of room so I haven't wanted to take it off, and the comb in the hive body seems to all be pretty well drawn out to me. That super will be their food this winter when they get around to it. I'll plan to go back in over the weekend and check those cells again.
4/21/07 I got my first hive of Russians on April 5th, just before the unseasonable record-breaking cold snap. I am a little nervous about this, but so far, so good. Here's a picture of a frame from the hive:
The picture quality isn't great because I was using the camera on my cell phone. I didn't want to lug my bigger digi cam out to the bee yard and then have to keep up with it. The cell phone clips to my jacket pocket. Here are a few more pics:
I think the above picture may be a queen cell, but I'm not sure. The hive seems to be just full of bees and I have added a super to give them more room. I am hoping some of them will move up there and stay busy. I'm also thinking about making a split this week. I don't want them to swarm on me. I don't know if the photo below is burr comb or something more ominous on the bottom of this frame. It has several of these things going across the bottom of the entire frame:
They are also building these little mounds of comb on the floor of the hive as well. I would have tried to get more pictures, but they were getting tired of me poking around and let me know it. I closed 'em as quick as I could and left the bee yard. |
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