Hive Check Today

Friday, July 12th

(left hive)

Started at 9 am. 80 degrees, sunny, and it feels like 95+ in the bee suit.

Left hive. Top box. There is some brood in the 3rd frame, more in 4, 5, and 6. Some honey, pollen, and nectar as well.

Bottom, box. More brood, larva, and I think eggs (tough to see): 3, 4, 5, 6. I found the queen in the 6th frame. Yay!

Right hive. The top box is still very full and heavy with honey.

Middle box. good brood in the middle frames. I found the queen in the middle.

At this point, I have so much sweat rolling down into my eyes that I can barely see so I'm going to end the inspection here and put the hive back together. I added a 4th box. Moved 4 frames of honey from box 3 up to the new box 4. I added new frames in the middle of boxes 3 and 4 to give more room for the bees. 

Today's mistake: When I added the fourth box, I was having trouble getting the frames to fit correctly. They were oddly loose. When I lifted the new box on top, two of the full frames of honey fell out on top of the hive. Needless to say, the bees were not happy. I then looked more carefully and low and behold, I had the fourth box upside down. I reversed the box, reloaded the frames, and ended the session at 10 a.m.

Given all the brood, larvae, and eggs in the right hive, I think this population is about to explode.  I was thinking about harvesting a box of honey in 2 weeks.

Note: I was really overheated. Next time, I might only inspect 1 hive per session if it is this hot.