First Peek at 2nd Brood Box

It is just amazing the progress that has occurred in only 9 days time! Not only is the hive noticeably busier with more and more of the bees now being the darker Russians, but they are going gang-busters in the second brood box with so many more bees to get the job done. Here is a lovely frame from the lower box that has capped brood, pollen and honey. :-)

I did not spot the queen today but there are plenty of eggs in both boxes and the brood has moved from being on the inner-most 3-4 frames out to nearly both sides of 5 frames.

While checking for queen cells I did spot this huge burr comb. Hated to remove as it sure is a thing of beauty but I know it will cause problems later if I don't. Nice brood pattern on this frame.

It was a textbook inspection. All looks good. Happy hive!

Second Brood Box Added

Its been 31 days since I installed the hive. While it was late this afternoon on a cool and cloudy day, tomorrow's forecast is for scattered showers so I needed to check the hive now. Otherwise I would need to wait over a week and I knew I was very close to needing the second brood box.

When I opened the hive it was very apparent how well the queen had been doing as the population sure had increased! A queen is capable of producing more than 1,500 eggs a day and it takes 21 days for a worker bee to hatch. With the hive hatching for 8-9 days now, that makes for potentially another 12,000 more bees than when installed! :-)

The four inner most frames have brood, the next two frames are loaded with pollen, nectar and now capped honey stores. The bees are just now starting to draw out the two outer most frames so it is definitely time for another brood box.

Here is a lovely picture of the third frame with the queen. She's been easy to spot not only because of the marking painted on her back and her larger size, but because of her darker coloring. She's my lovely Russian Queen! Looking around the hive you can easily spot the darker Russians that have hatched since installation. Eventually, the entire hive will be darker in color.

I started my inspection without wearing gloves but there were so many bees that they would walk right up my hands, which is really neat. But it becomes not so neat as the hive got agitated when I would scrape off the burr comb. Once I put on the gloves I was much more relaxed and could enjoy the experience of the bees walking all over me.

I didn't intend to spend too much time in the hive but while checking for supercedure cells I spotted this large burr comb hanging underneath a frame. This frame was the very first to have eggs. Look closely underneath all those bees and you will see the empty cells where they hatched. Some now have eggs and larvae, beginning the cycle all over again.

Once finished with the inspection and away from the hive, I could study the burr comb. You can see in the photo that the queen layed eggs on one side of the comb! No wonder the bees were not happy that I removed it!

Overall, I am really quite pleased with the progress of the hive. So far, the only thing different that I notice in using all medium supers is that the pollen and nectar on the brood frames seems to be a smaller area than how it is typically found on the deep frames. Will have to consult with those more experienced than I on this difference.

Second Inspection

Checked the hive this afternoon. The day was warm, humid and sunny with just a slight breeze. I had on a new white one-piece coverall utility suit that worked real fine as a beekeeping suit.

Smoked the girls, took off the cover and feeder, smoked again and peaked inside to see how things are going. The center three frames are full of eggs, larva and capped brood with nectar and honey above as in the picture here. Three more frames are nearly full with nectar and pollen with the outer four frames just starting to have drawn comb. I did have a bit of burr comb to remove from a spot on the frame and from the underside of the feeder.

This was also my first experience letting a bee crawl up from the hive onto my hand. A gentle urging with my finger turned her around and back into the hive she went. I applied the wiggling finger a few times to move a bee out of the way and enjoyed the gentle contact with them.

I did notice that the left side of the hive has more frames with drawn comb than the right side. Could that be due to the one side getting the late day sun where as the other doesn't? Because of this imbalance I did move the outer most empty frame from the right side of the hive to the left to give the girls a chance to work on it, added more sugar water to the feeder and closed up the hive.

Here is a nice picture of my pretty, dark Russian queen (She is marked by the white dot on her back.) I am so proud of how well she is doing!

Overall, I am very pleased with the progress of the hive and will probably be ready to add on the second super next week. While I am very comfortable with the amount of girls currently in the hive, I can't wait to see the expanded population next week as some are due to hatch any day now!

Busy as a Bee - The Days of the Life of a Honey Bee

The life span of the worker bee is just six weeks (42 days). Every one of those days, from the moment the bee emerges it has specific tasks. Initially, the responsibilities include tasks performed within the hive. At this point, the bees are referred to as house bees. As they get older and their duties involve work outside of the hive, the bees are known as field bees. In some instances, the occupations change within minutes and they sometimes overlap.

Days	Task
1 - 3	Housekeeping - Cleans and polishes cells in preparation of new eggs and for storing nectar and pollen.
3 - 16	Undertaking - Removes any dead bees and disposes of the corpses as far away from the hive as possible.
4 - 12	Working in the Nursery - Feeds and cares for the developing larvae.
7 - 12	Attending to the Queen - Groom and feed the queen.
12 - 18	Nectar and Pollen Placement - Deposits the nectar and pollen from the returning field bees into the cells.
12 - 18	Fanning - Controls the temperature and humidity of the hive while evaporating the moistures from the curing honey. Is also a form of communication
12 - 35	Comb Builders - Produces beeswax for making new comb and for capping cells.
18 - 21	Guarding the Hive - Stationed at the entrance of the hive to make sure returning bees are, in fact, family.
22 - 42	Foraging Bees - Orientation flights help the bees learn the landmarks to help find their way home before joining the ranks of the field bees.

First Inspection of the Hive

It was a real treat checking the hive for the first time today! The girls were quite calm and busily doing their thing while I checked each frame. The center most where the queen cage had been now has eggs, larva and covered brood! The comb is pretty much drawn out on the inner most frames with pollen and nectar (or is is sugar water?) stored in them. The outer six frames (three on each side) have not yet been drawn out.

We could easily spot the queen, thanks to her marking but even without the mark, her size gives her away. I was really surprised at the amount of eggs and larva present. The industrious bees get right to work when installed in their new home.

Enjoyed watching a couple of bees doing the waggle dance which is used as a means to communicate the location of a good source of nectar or pollen. The waggle dance is performed by first shaking quickly from side to side and then doing one half of a figure eight, returning to the starting point and pausing to shake again before doing the other half of the figure eight. The shaking, direction of the figure eight and length of the dance transmit to the field bees exactly where they can find this particular source of food.