I finally got to open up the hive yesterday! There are a few bars of comb and I'm pretty sure there's a queen too! I didn't want to open up the hive while all the attacking was going on. Then once the activity was over with, the weather turned on me and there was nothing but rain. Even though I haven't been able to open up the hive itself, I still peeked at them from underneath - through the mesh. Therefore, I knew there were still a good amount of honey bees inside.
Yesterday was a beautiful day, which meant perfect conditions for bee checking. I was able to do all the things that I probably should have done last week.
- Removed the queen cage - No dead queen inside - Very good sign!
- Removed the ziploc bag feeder
- Check for queen - couldn't find her, but there were single eggs in cells facing straight up
- Count comb - original space was 6 bars wide, bees have added comb to 3 bars
Sorry for the super blurry photos - I don't have my camera this week and had to make do with my old one.
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| The first look at the colony - notice the ziploc bag feeder still in place from installation |
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| The beginnings of honey |
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| Beautiful, natural, white comb |
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| A view of the inside of the hive - empty bars are on the far side |
For the next inspection:
- Find my queen
- Make a bar holder for the combs so I can inspect more easily without fear of breaking them
- Take better photos!
