My hands smell of bee hive fragrance and all is right in the bee world in our backyard. While taking pictures of the comb, we saw the queen at the center of the comb on B7 right. She’s 50% larger than the other bees and has a much larger abdomen. She was supposed to have been marked with a white spot when the package was delivered in April, but I don’t see it. (click on photo to enlarge)
Also, there is what looks to be uncapped brood at the lower left side on B6 left…or it’s pollen or it’s reflection on the nectar, but I think it is brood. (Later...wishful thinking--it's nectar reflecting light.)
And then because I accidently crushed a bee while moving two bars together and bees became agitated, we decided to close the hive. One really has to go very, very slowly when moving bars together to give the bees a chance to move out of the way…I slipped and could feel and hear the crunch—a most unhappy thing. We did get pictures of both sides of B9.5, B9, B8, B7, and B6. No pictures of B12, B11, and B10 which looked similar to a few days ago. Bars are feeling heavier with honey than at last hive check; we still have weeks of honey flow here in the Oregon Willamette Valley so I am confident they will have enough stores to survive the winter.
Nothing happening with the feeding system in the attic.
Because of leaving the hive before moving through all the bars, I did not place the new bar into the brood area between B2 and B3 as planned. I will check B6 left in a week to see if what I think is brood is capped. Other than that I think I’ll leave them to their bee work…now that I know for certain a queen is present.
Never knew all that went on with bees, always something new to learn.
ReplyDelete