Get ready for some pictures

Yeah, it’s been a while. I did an inspection June 24th, but I could not get hardly any pictures. The main reason I did the inspection was to check the queen cups in the Frigga hive. Spoiler alert, they’re just cups. They weren’t getting ready to swarm or anything. Though now, they have 5 cups in the hive, all on different frames. The only thing interesting from that inspection was the bumblebee who tried to get into the Frigga hive through the front door. She was a bit too big to fit through the honeybee sized openings on the hive. She’d probably fit if I had the queen door open on one of the vent sites. Good thing I don’t have those open!

Miss Bumblebee flying back to her hive. My bees ignored her except when she flew a little too close to the entrance. Thank goodness she stayed away from Galadriel! Those girls would have chewed her up and spit her out!

Yesterday, July 3rd, had the most perfect weather for inspections. We had clear, blue skies. It wasn’t overly hot, not that it matters with where our hives are located. If there’s a breeze, I rarely feel it. My son, T, played photographer yesterday. I have SOOOOOOOO many AWESOME pictures to share!! He did a fabulous job getting pictures of Frigga for me. He left before I got into the Galadriel hive. They weren’t as hateful yesterday, but they did get irritated and when they refused to move so I could put the second deep back on and, well, all Hades broke loose. I have one picture of Galadriel. Two pictures. T took a pic of the landing board.

Galadriel’s landing board prior to starting inspections. There is still pollen and I believe some nectar coming in, but I’m feeding anyway to help get the top deeps filled with comb.

Top bars of the bottom deep of the Galadriel hive. I swear 80% of the bees were in this box. I don’t know why they don’t like the top deep.

In the Frigga hive, the queen has moved into the top deep and has started laying there. They had several frames full of some gorgeous honey, but I’m leaving all of that for them this year. First year is a comb building year. Next year, they can make me some honey to share. Or not. We’ll see.

Can you SPOT the queen? Yeah, that’s her in the middle towards the bottom of the frame with the white spot on her back. Look at that brood pattern! Girlfriend is an egg laying champ!

Capped honey, in the lower left with most of the rest of the frame fill with nectar. In the middle section there *might* be some pollen.

Each deep has half plastic foundation and half foundationless frames. That comb on the right is mostly capped honey on both sides. There’s also some brood on the left. The clear comb on the bottom in the middle are bigger cells meant for raising drones. They’ll fill those cells with honey if they need to do so.

One frame of pollen stores for Frigga. There were at least 2 frames like this. This is in the bottom box. They’re slowly but surely drawing out each frame completely. Since I leveled the hive, wonky comb has stopped being made. I just hope their need to put honey along the top edge of brood comb doesn’t bite them come winter.

See what I mean? Lots of pictures. These 7, well 6 since 1 pic was from the previous inspection, are just 6 of 40+ pictures T took. I managed to look at every frame in this hive yesterday. it had been a hot minute since the last time I did that. It was needed. Seeing the pollen and how much honey they have really set my mind at ease. I’m still putting 1:1 sugar syrup in their feeders, and I’m going to get a pollen feeder set up here in the next few days. I still feel better knowing there’s still food out there for them.

This comb had some pollen stores in it, but it was mostly empty comb. There were a couple of frames of comb like this; just waiting for Queen Frigga to come by and lay eggs for some more worker bees. Not honey bound and they have lots of room for expansion.

I may not know what the heck I’m doing as far as being a beekeeper, but these girls sure know what they’re doing! I make sure they have what they need and they are doing what they were born to do!

Drone brood on the left. Worker bee brood on the right.

Worker bee brood with capped honey around the edges. Look at all my beautiful girls and future beautiful girls!

More worker bee brood with some honey around the edges. The Frigga queen is an egg laying champ!

Like I said, I have A LOT more pictures, but I won’t bore you by posting ALL of them! These are a pretty good representation of how things are going in the Frigga hive. I hope she makes it through the winter because I am very much hoping to make a split off her next spring so I can welcome Darcy Lewis to the family!

Next time I plan to inspect one hive one day and the other hive the next day. Maybe that will help my recovering after inspections because I have become so heat intolerant after all my surgeries. Maybe breaking up the chore will help with that and help me feel fresh and confident getting into the Galadriel hive. The hope is there at least!

As always, if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. If I can’t, I know a group of people who can!

Also, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all those in the United States. To everyone else, Happy Sunday! I hope the weather is perfect for whatever you have planned today! Until next time!!

Regrets and Fear

Last Thursday, June 3rd, I checked on my hives after leveling them on May 31st. They were level to begin with, but settling and the amount of rain we’ve received made one side of my hive stand sink a bit. I think that has had a lot to do with the wonky comb they’ve been building. The new stuff seems to be better. Yay. I will periodically check on that. Now, on to Thursday. I opened the top to check the feeders. Everything is sticky, so sometimes when I check the feed levels, it moves the feeder and the inside of the hive see sunlight. This does not bother Frigga, my Italian queen hive. Galadriel, on the other hand, has a conniption fit if they see sunlight. Even after getting Galadriel closed up, one girl would not let up on chasing me. She ended up stinging me on my left hand, less than a centimeter from my pinky knuckle. It hurt so much that I could not wash my hands or bend that finger without screaming in pain for the day. It wasn’t pleasant.

That little red dot is where that persistent girl got me.

I was hoping to do a hive inspection on both hives this past weekend. However, that did not happen. When the weather makes you believe it’s going to rain any second now, you just don’t want to risk it. However, since I didn’t see my Frigga queen during my last inspection, I really wanted to get out there. Also, I need to make sure I get second deeps on the hives if they’re needed and boy howdy are they needed!! I always start with my hot hive. I don’t know why. Probably because getting into it and over with means it’s not hanging over my head that I have to get into that hive next. They’re doing well. Galadriel isn’t bringing in as much pollen, but they’re building comb and doing well. They just hate me for daring to do what I can to take care of them.

Somewhere in the middle of that red area is where another Galadriel girl popped me. Also 2 more got the tip of my left thumb, but I think my callouses saved me as the entire thumb isn’t hurting.

At least once I had the hive closed up and their feeders filled, those girls stopped going after me this time. They calmed down and returned to business as usual. Thank goodness. Sometimes I get a real hot headed one who won’t quit until she’s gotten me, i.e. the girl who popped me on Thursday.

Now, Frigga is a completely different story. Those girls don’t get spicy unless I do something stupid like jostle a frame and hurt some bees or make them think they’re under attack. That anger I understand. Silly human upset the bees. No worries. I deserve their ire. That was definitely the case on my last inspection. This inspection, those girls were a complete dream!

The Frigga girls are propolising a lot! I had to pry the feeders off the hive with a hive tool. It is everywhere! On the upside, it smells like cinnamon and spice. I got it all over my hands today.

I was careful about moving the feeders so no bees got caught underneath them. That is one thing I do not like about these Apimaye hives; there is no other cover to put over the frames except the feeders and then the cover. I’d really like for there to be something else I could cover the frames with. In my inspection, I found the queen. There was so much brood! Both hives have started having some drone brood. Not sure they’re going to be useful at this time of year, but they’re both doing it. I didn’t find eggs in either hive, but I found the queens and saw larva in different stages of development. I couldn’t see out of my glasses due to sweat dripping on them, so I didn’t even have them on during the Frigga inspection. I’m not worried. Everything was in order.

My only other worry was finding queen cups. Queen cups are usually just the bees practicing to making a queen cell just in case something happens to the queen. Neither cup was sealed, but they make me a bit nervous. There were enough bees in the hive that six frames were solidly covered with bees. One side of the seventh frame was covered and was being drawn out. I don’t know how many foragers were still foraging, but there was a frenzy of returning to the hive as I was writing my notes. It started to rain about half an hour after my inspection was complete.

The queen cups are circled in red. I tried to get the girls to move so I could get a clearer picture, but it’s hard when you’re both the photographer and the inspector. At the bottom of the frame, you can see the tail of the queen. Isn’t she pretty?

Also in the above picture, you can see a close up of the worker bee brood. There is going to be yet another population explosion in the next week or so. In the bottom left hand corner you can see the drone brood. Drones are the biggest bees in the hive. The bees make comb that’s bigger in diameter than worker bee comb. When the queen lays an egg, she first measures the size of the hole she’s about to lay in to determine whether she needs to lay a fertilized egg, which results in a worker bee, or an unfertilized egg, which results in a drone. The comb doesn’t get drawn out deeper, so when they go into their cocoon stage, they bulge away from the comb instead of being relatively flat like the worker bee brood.

I never imagined either of these hives would be this far along and ready for more room a mere two months after starting from a mix of unrelated bees with a queen they were introduced to when they were all dumped in the bee bus. I don’t care for the temperament of one of my hives, but I went into it with eyes wide open. I was told Russian bees tend to be hotter, but produce more honey. I guess next year, hopefully, I’ll get to put that one to the test. At least I have one hive that doesn’t want to light me up every time sunlight enters the hive. Frigga is getting another deep on the next rain-free day. Galadriel is going to wait until after the next inspection. If enough bees go after me and die stinging me, the hive might not need more space!

As always, if you have any questions, just ask! I’ll do my best to answer. If I can’t, I know how to find someone who can!

Two Inspections Later…

I know I can swear up and down to update here more, but I received my second CoVid vaccine the week after my last post and spent a good week feeling miserable. I’m glad to be past it. I’m even more glad to have received it. Enough about the state of the world currently and on to the reason anyone visits this page, BEES!!

This little girl from I believe my Galadriel hive decided I needed help making my hive notes. She was very sweet.

My hive inspections last Sunday, 5/23, went well. I found both queens and the bees are building comb and bringing in pollen and just doing really well. They were both finally moving off the five frames they’ve been working on since installation in April. I was excited and decided to do another check in 7 days so I don’t miss my window for adding another box and frames for them to expand into. This bring me to my inspection yesterday, 5/30.

My Frigga hive have taken to propolising (pretty sure NOT a word, but I don’t care.) everything they can. It has a sweet smell that was very strong when I opened this hive.

Galadriel is doing well. Lots of different stages of larva and some capped brood. I swear, the second I move one of the feeders just a smidge, those girls start dive bombing my head. If I smoke them, they behave. If I walk a few feet away, they stop, so I know it’s simply defense of their hive, but wow, the second they see sunlight, they are in fight or fight mode. And yes, I did mean to say fight twice because those girls are itching for a fight! I don’t get many pictures inside the hive of them because I’m too busy trying to see what I need to see and close up the hive again.

My Frigga girls working on building comb on empty frames. The hive isn’t level at the moment because the supports have settled. Hopefully fixing that will fix the wonky comb they like to build.

Opening up my Frigga hive yesterday, 5/30, was a different experience from normal. They are usually laid back girls. I’ve done inspections where I forgot to put my bee suit veil back up to cover my head. The Galadriel girls were still kinda spicy toward me and dive bombing my head since I was still close to their home, so I made sure I had my veil on while I was going through the Frigga hive.

Frigga’s brood frame. If you look close, you can larva in different stages of growth as well as the capped brood.

I didn’t see the queen during my inspection and that makes me a bit nervous. However, I did find eggs, so she’s been there recently. This hive has a lot of wonky comb that I know I should fix, but I just can’t make myself purposely kill developing bees when it’s not hurting anyone. I suspect, and hope, she was in the wonky comb where I couldn’t see her. Frigga is going to need another box in the next week or so. Galadriel might take another week or two beyond that, but she might also surprise me.

Now, to the part where I was VERY glad I had to keep that veil up. In order to put the hive back together, I have to put the two frames in I take out so I can get into the hive. As I was moving those back to their spots based on the propolis, the girls lost their minds and got revved up. I didn’t smell bananas, which is what you’ll smell if the girls start putting out danger pheromones when they feel they’re under attack. I’m not sure what happened, so I got everything situated and closed up the hive. I might do small checks by moving the one feeder over the side of the hive they are only just now starting to get working on, but I won’t do a full inspection until next weekend. I really don’t want to miss giving them more space.

Honestly, I am still loving having my hives. They keep life interesting. They’re also exposing me to a plethora of ticks, but I’m slowly learning how to keep those little devils off me. Okay, well, any questions, just ask! If I can’t answer, I know how to find someone who can answer them!

Been a while…

I’m still here! Bees are still here! Honestly, everything is going great. Mostly. Mostly. If I say mostly great enough, maybe I’ll begin to believe it. I feel like a first time mom all over again, only I’m not getting up in the middle of the night for diaper changes and feedings. The worry about my girls (and a few guys) feels very similar. NOT at the same level, but similar.

I have a good reason to worry about them. On Thursday, May 13th, I went out to put some food in their feeders because we’re in for eight, twelve, eighteen days of rain. I don’t know, but I do know we are getting April rain in May since we got snow in April. Get your head on straight, weather. Anyway, when I entered the apiary, there were bee parts all over Galadriel and several of the cement blocks. I kinda panicked. What would do this to my girls?

Bee parts on Galadriel. You’ll notice the headless body on the i and c of ergonomic. My poor girls!

I sent a message to these fabulous people on the book of many faces. They assured me it sounds like a bird discovered the hives and had a little snack. It might look like a massacre, but it probably enjoyed, at most, ten bees. I don’t want ANY of my girls to become a snack for any birds! When I went out there moments ago, carnage is still gone! Yeah, so it rained yesterday, but I’m confident no more bees have become food.

Since the feeders are right above my frames, when I check if they need food, I move the feeder over and look down into the hives to see if they’ve started building comb because both hives are sticking to just one side of the hive. It’s odd, but they’re thriving. I’m not too worried about it, yet.

Look at these Galadriel girls working hard!

There are a lot of blond fuzzy bees in both of my hives. All that capped brood (bee larva in their cocoon in the comb) I saw in my inspection on the 13th is starting to hatch and I am so freaking excited! We have rain on the forecast every day for the next ten days, so I don’t know when I’ll get to do an inspection to see if I’m right about all the baby bees hatching. It’s one of those deals where I’ll just have to see what the radar tells me for that day.

I am really enjoying this new hobby! Any question, just ask! If I can’t answer them (and there are good odds I won’t know the answer) there are people I can ask!