Happy Bees

We did the first inspection of our hive today.  It was a little late.  We were supposed to inspect it in a week after we set up a new hive, but we let it go for a week and a half.   We wanted to do it within the time frame of one week, but either we came home after dark or the weather was bad.   We’ve been checking on them every day, though.  Actually, it has been more like feeding them everyday.  We have gone through 15 pounds of sugar in  a week and a half.

Everything has gone according to plan.  It was an uneventful inspection for novices; Bill decided to take part in raising this family of thousands.  No one got stung.  I did test the smoker on my skin first as I was instructed to make sure that it was not hot.  I think a beekeeper has to love the bees in order to do the test on himself first.  Our Italian bees were very friendly and weren’t upset when we were disturbing their peaceful life.   Come to think of it, the smoker wasn’t even necessary.

The cells in one of the frames were almost full with new brood larvae.  Two more frames were half full and they had also started to fill some cells on the third and forth frames, outwardly from the middle.   All eight frames have been worked on in various degrees.  The cells were either sealed, or filled with larvae and sugar syrup.  This is good news for us in that we know the queen is hard at work reproducing and the workers are doing their job.

There are plenty of trees and water sources in the neighborhood for them to forage since we live in a watershed area.  We also have plenty of birdbaths and a large variety of flowers, all organically grown.  The only thing that works against them is having to mow the lawn, so go the dandelions and clover.  I think the environment helps them build up their colony at an impressive rate.  Not to mention 15 pounds of sugar.  But as long as they are happy, we’re happy.

I added one more super on, just in case they need more room in a week or so.