-Spring Is Around the Corner-

Yesterday was a beautiful 'spring feeling' day outdoors! We went and checked on the bees and they were out and about working away! It won't be long now until they'll be making lots of honey! It's been cold here and the bees have survived the cold. We can't wait to see what's in store for us this honey season!

Stay tuned!

We have honey!!!

We've been anxiously awaiting the time when we would have honey.... We have been watching our bees work, work, work. Dad went to check them last night and noticed a frame that was capped. He took it out and replaced it with a new frame. This is the only frame that we will probably get this time around as the bees need the rest for themselves to survive the winter. We'll see though.

The honey is beautiful and tastes oh so good!!! Dad cut it out of the frame and we processed it. It is a beautiful amber color.

Keep checking with us as our bees continue to work.

~We have babies~

It was time for a hive check today! More importantly, Dad has to make sure the weaker hive has brood ready to hatch. The new queen just began laying and most of the worker bees have been working for weeks now. Some of them will die soon. Below you will see a bee hatching!!!

Not a really good picture but we were so surprised!

As soon as the new bees hatch out, they have a certain job. The youngest bees clean and polish the cells for the queen to lay eggs in and for honey storage. (The hive is always very clean. )
1-week old Bees feed the older larvae.
2-week old Bees make royal jelly for feeding younger worker larvae, and queen larvae. They also make wax for comb building.
3-week old Bees hunt for pollen (Adapted from westmeade.net)

Dad checking a frame with brood..... He brushed the bees off and will put the frame in hive 1 to give brood to the weaker hive so that all workers will not die before the new queen's brood will hatch.

Fresh frame of honey, bees, brood, and eggs.

~Queen Check~

Dad checked today to make sure the queen in the newest hive was ok. He saw eggs and then immediately saw the queen. She was busy working so Dad put the frame back in the hive body and closed it up.

~Hive Check~

The replacement queen finally came in today. Dad put her cage in the hive and hopefully in a few days she will be out laying eggs. He double checked the 2nd hive and it had lots of surprises for us.

You can vividly see honey capped, eggs, bee larvae, and capped cells where larvae is changing into bees.....

They are busily working on 7-8 frames. It shouldn't be too much longer before he can add another box...

It is warming up nicely here and the bees are bringing in lots of pollen and nectar:)

Will update when Dad checks later this week.

Queen for the Day!

Today Dad went and did a quick check of the hives after speaking to an apiary about queens. They believe that the queen in hive 1 is just not ready to lay eggs. Well after looking at a few frames, Dad could still not find a queen or see any signs of eggs......... Hmmmm............. So Dad needed to check in on hive 2. When he opened up the hive he could see lots of drawn out comb. The bees are pretty much working really good on 3 frames. There seemed to be little workers on all frames though! Dad decided to pull one frame out to inspect......all of a sudden............he saw the queen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep-she has silver on her head, and she is very different than the others..... Once Dad saw her, he decided to close the hive back up and let them work..........

The queen is seen below... She is longer and has the silverish/white spot on her head........

More bees filling up honeycomb with pollen and the sugar water

A Day of Work...............

Hive 1--No Eggs-Still~

Time for another check in on Hive 1. Dad is concerned that there weren't any eggs or any sign of a queen. He took every frame out for inspection......No signs of eggs............No sign of queen...

He did not open Hive 2 today as he saw eggs yesterday and they need to be left alone for a few days. Both hives were busy today as their sugar feeders were 3/4 gone by early evening.

He talked to a mentor beekeeper and he said wait a few more days...... He'll go back in Thursday to check again.... Enjoy our pictures from today....

Bees working as Dad is checking the frames.....

Bees agitated because Dad checked them out.....Tails up......Guarding their home..................

Until next time!