Our first Inspection of the Hives.

Well, Erin and I just came back from inspecting the bees for the first time.  We've been out between the install and now to remove the queen cages and fill the feeders, but this was the first in depth inspection.  It doesn't look like very many bees when you're just looking down from the top, but as you can see when you get in a little closer and look between the frames, there are even more.

Working our way farther into the hive, we could see quite a bit of new comb being built.  Some of it is a little bit messed up, because the spacing of the frames was different when we had the queen cage stuck in there, but now that we have that out and all ten frames in, they should start to build a little bit better, and hopefully we'll see some more uniform, good looking comb.

We were able to find the queen in both of our hives, and find quite a few eggs in both, though I think the queen in hive two (pictured at left) was doing a slightly better job, and we saw a lot more eggs in hive 2.  See if you can spot the queen in this picture (Hint: She's the one with the white spot!)  You can also see a bit of the comb being drawn here, in perfect hexagons, and pearly white.  The picture below gives you a much better idea of just how many bees there are on the frames.  This frame is pretty typical for any of the frames with a multitude of bees, though the frames closer to the outside of the box don't have nearly so many bees on them.  In fact, the 2 or 3 closest to each end don't have any bees on them at all, as they are all busily working on building comb for the queen to lay eggs in, and won't move out to those frames until they fill up the ones in the middle, closer to where the queen is at.  Hopefully, by early next week they'll have built enough that we will need to get our second hive body back on and full of frames to let them start working their way up as well as out.  At the rate they're going now, I'm hopeful that we will have at least a little bit of surplus honey by the end of the season.  Inspecting each one of the frames takes a bit of time, and work, and it will only start taking more and more time as the frames fill out with more comb and brood, and the population of the hive begins to increase.  I'm not minding it very much at this point, and I am already at the stage where I look forward to when I get to go out and inspect the hives and see how my girls are doing.  The joy of looking into the hive and seeing a bunch of eggs being tended to, and watching how the bees interact is truly amazing.

Installing the Bees!

 Well, after what seemed like a very long wait, we finally got our bees.  We were really hoping to get them on Wednesday, so that Erin would be home, but they came on Thursday, so we had to do it a little later in the evening, and as you can see, it's getting a bit dark.  We did manage to get them all installed, with only one sting apiece for Erin and I.  It was an incredibly interesting experience, and I don't mind telling you, a little intimidating.  It took a lot of willpower to not run away, screaming "Bees, bees, bees!" when I shook them out of their crates into the hives, but we managed.  I did a lot of reading about how to install them before they got here, but nothing compares to the real thing!  Erin learned she needs to

close up the ends of her shirt sleeves (that's how she got stung) and I learned I need to tuck my shirt in (that's how I got stung.)  As with all things, with practice comes more confidence, and I'm looking forward to learning more about these little ladies over the years, and expanding the apiary to have more hives. 



 For now, however, we've got some waiting to do, as the hives can't be opened for five days, or the workers will kill the queen, thinking she is the cause of the disturbance.  I am hoping to find some time today to head out there and just watch from a little ways off to see what the girls are doing.  I'm sure there won't be much to talk about until the next inspection, nor will I have time to write, as we're heading up to Lake City camping for the Memorial Day weekend.

Opening Salvo

So, I've decided to finally take the plunge and start a Blog.  I plan to write mostly about what's going on behind my house, whether that's hunting, family times, bees, or the things we do to enhance and enjoy our own little piece of this country.  With any luck, I'll find the time to write often, and with a little more luck, hopefully many people will find the time to read and enjoy.