Today we inspected Hive #2. This hive is the larger one, with a new package of bees. They have been in the hive for a few weeks. The bees released the queen in a few days, and have taken well to their new environment. The hive is growing quickly and seems to be doing well in the cool and rainy Ohio spring.
What are looking for:
- Brood: Are there Capped, Larva, and/or Eggs?
- Comb: Comb drawn on all frames?
- Nectar, Honey, Pollen: Have they started filling the comb?
- Pattern: Does it have they typical brood in the middle with food at the edges?
- Crowding: How many frames have bees?
- Temperament and Sound: Calm, Angry, Quiet, Loud?
What we found:
- Brood: Yes to all! We have capped brood, with a few new bees emerging, larva in some cells, and eggs found on a few of the frames.
- Comb: Nearly all of comb is drawn out. The bees are apparently learning to build comb on the plastic supports and have been struggling to find a good pattern. They instead decided to build upwards into the box where the feeder was located.
- Nectar and/or honey: Yes, nectar is present on the frames. The bees are actively brining back pollen to feed the new baby bees.
- Pattern: Looks typical, with some spots open where bees have emerged from the cells. These open cells have yet to be repopulated.
- Crowing: Yes!
- Bees are occupying 7 of the 10 frames.
- They are actively building comb and down off the frames into open spaces.
- We are removing the top feeder box and placing on a honey super to allow them more room to move around. This should also help convince them to build on the frames.
- Temperament: Mostly calm during the inspection.
- Notes:
- The queen was NOT spotted in the hive. However, there were eggs present, which indicates she is there and laying.
- Removed empty feed syrup, as the nectar flow in the area is good, with lots of flowers and rain.
- Removed top empty box used to house the feeder
- Removed burr comb, or comb that was built off of the frames.
- Added a queen excluder to the top of the brood box (the lower deep frames)
- Added a honey super to the top of the hive. This honey super has mostly drawn comb from last season and will be easy for them to repair and start to fill with nectar.
- Will check in 2-3 weeks for progress
