Lessons learned...

7:30a.m. 65° overcast sky no breeze. Probably the best weather I’ve experienced for getting into the hive to work. Actually quite pleasant—I’ve been a bit nervous about my reception since the guard bees defended their territory so well last time. Used the water spray twice but generally all was calm; the bees at the entrance area kept flying out and in and didn’t seem to know anything was happening at the back. Picked a stem of oregano to move bees out of the way and found it worked better than the wooden herder.

Had seen at last peek that comb on B12 seemed to extend into B13 space. Felt the need to investigate because I don’t want a repeat of B10/11 where the two bars have to be handled together for fear of having them crash. Until they are removed for harvesting next spring, we won’t know for sure if they are cross combed or if B10 is just built to curve around B11.

Removed B16 and B15 set them aside; they had bees but no comb drawn. Slid B14 and B13  next to the follower and moved in. B12 comb had two separate combs: the full one centered on the bar and a small one attached to the side. The center comb was curving under B13. I lifted B12 and placed it on the bar cradle Ken had made. The cradle met my expectations in that it provided a safe place to park the bar while looking further into the hive and taking pictures as well as served as a very secure holder when I cut and removed the comb protruding into B13 space. (Thank you Ken!)

Bar cradle developed and built by Ken

There was a small section of comb on the far side of B12 connecting to the hive wall. I cut the comb from the wall by using a serrated knife.

Comb attached to hive wall from B12

The hive tool worked fine for levering open the top bars where propolis had sealed them and for cutting between comb and hive sides. However, the serrated knife worked much better when cutting through comb. This small comb had unsealed honey—quite fresh tasting—very sticky. Everything I handled from the first cut until the end got the honey touch…camera, knife, water bottle, pail, veiling, etc. An extra person to hold and move some things would have been helpful. We will have our first taste of honey from this hive—not really honey but rather nectar being processed to honey stage.


Next, B11 had comb near the center extending into B12 space so I removed that small section.

B11 with spacer top view

Back to B12 hanging on the cradle. Cut away the small piece of comb extending into B13 space but did not remove the large curving comb…should I have? Will know the answer when we do the hive check in September or at honey harvest next spring.

B12 on cradle left side

Why did they skip a space on the bar and draw comb from the top bar to the side connecting to the hive wall? Don’t know but here are pictures:

B12 comb attached to wall





B12 bottom view right side




B12 on cradle left side



  

B13 has small amount of comb drawn. Many, many bees on B13 and B14. Closed hive, leaving bars in same position. Ahh, but not before a persistent guard bee stung me on a finger…just landed and stung, no movement or back touching from me. Not too hurtful and I scraped the stinger off with the hive tool blade…a good thing to have. Third sting and as I write these notes a few minutes later, no swelling or pain.

Nectar from my work was scattered across the top of the bars so I left the roof off temporarily to allow bees to reach that area to clean it away. Why waste their work and provide ants a food source by the hive.