Hive Inspection #2- Day 25

OUR HIVE INSPECTION in photos

1st Hive Inspection- Pollen filled cells

We inspected the hive for the second time today- just shy of 2 weeks since our first inspection.  I have been so eager to get inside the hive, but have patiently waited until today.  After our last inspection we looked up what we saw and found out that the dark yellow, half filled cells were pollen stores.  I thought that I saw eggs in the bottom of the cells, though I wasn't sure if they were eggs or my eyes were playing tricks on me.










Second hive inspection today (day 25 since we installed the swarm) was very exciting.  We saw the queen again, though our photos were blurry, so we have nothing to show.  Next time.  We saw lots and lots of capped brood.  White, squishy larvae inside some cells.  Tiny little white eggs.  Capped honey cells at the top of the comb.  It was a full compliment of the honey bee stages of life.

Removing top bar #9

Top Bar within the hive

This bar of comb demonstrates capped honey- light capped cells along the top of comb.  The dark cells below the capped honey are stores of pollen.  Then a few uncapped cells.  The bottom half of comb, covered with bees is capped brood.  The dark cells amidst the capped brood, are vacated brood cells (where bees have matured and left their cell).

Within the darker cells, there is a tiny light colored tic-tack- that is the egg.  This observation means that our queen is mated and laying eggs.  Success!!

At the center of this photo, one row above the capped brood, are 5 open cells containing larvae.  They look like little white packmen.  The dark cells below, are already emerged bee cells.  The cells at top of photo are also cells where bees have previously emerged.  What you see within the cell is the junk left behind from the bees growth and transformation.  The bees on those cells are likely cleaning the cells up and getting them ready for a new egg.

This much anticipated hive inspection lived up to my hopes.  During and after the inspection I was high with excitement about how fascinating and cool bees are.  Observing them in action is so wonderful.  I visit our hive multiple times a day to see what I can see.  I have actually observed the queen pass by the window twice.  Though not a lot changes from visit to visit, I still love counting the bars of comb and watching what they are up too.  Hopefully we will get a photo of that queen.  Maybe next inspection we will try to get a photo of the different members of the hive: the Queen, the worker & the drone bees.  I absolutely love photographing our bees, as so much more can be appreciated from the photos after the fact.  They are beautiful creatures indeed.

HoneyBees- week 2 update & 1st Hive Inspection

Memorial Day marked 2 weeks since we welcomed our swarm to the Top Bar Hive at Redwoodshire.  We've been watching them daily through our observation window, and they have been very busy.  At day 12, we did our first hive inspection.  Unfortunately we only took a couple photos, because we were focused on inspecting the comb- which was territory completely unknown to us.  And it seems as though we probably made a few mistakes in the process- though nothing hugely detrimental.  The inspection went well and was so fascinating.  We were blindly going about it, as we noted what we saw, but were not entirely sure what everything we observed was.
Check it out:  The dark golden filled cells are stores of pollen.  The light cells are filled with a clear liquid, or empty.
DAY 12- Hive Inspection

And the Laird spotted the QUEEN!!  He's been talking about needing to find the queen, to which I always responded with cynicism because there are thousands of bees in the hive.  But sure enough he spotted her-- which made us both quite pleased.  We have a queen!  I think we spotted some eggs within the empty cells, though we are not entirely sure.  On our next inspection, hopefully we will spot some larvae or capped brood cells.  

DAY 15:  Observation- Spotted the queen through the observation window- though I didn't have my camera to take photos.  Check out the bee entering the hive-- notice the pollen filled back legs!  I can't believe I got such a cool photo.  The bees are quite active today.

There are 9 good sized bars of comb visible.  I spotted 2 smaller combs started on bars 10 & 11.  About 1/3 the length of the hive is filled with comb- as our TBH can fit 30 top bars.  

  

In other news, our Queen Anne Golden Raspberries survived the transplant and have sprouted leaves.  Of them, 9 out of 11 plants are thriving!  The red raspberry row is growing like crazy, and is covered with blossoms and berries.  And the blueberry blossoms have started becoming berries as well.  It's our third season, and it's going to be the best one yet!

News in chickens:  One of our little Amerucana chicks, Belle appears to be sick with Wry Neck.  We're researching in on the internet and doing our best to remedy her condition-isolation from other chicks,  baby vitamins & tuna in water.  She seems to be doing slightly better, but is still under the weather.  Queen Mother & Diana have been enjoying their days free ranging in the yard, while the 4 little Marans are getting used to the coop.  We finally finished securing the run below the coop, and they are utilizing that as well.  The Laird is trying so hard to get that garden planted, but with re-fencing the garden, finishing up the chicken coop, bee business, yard clean up....  he's a bit behind.  The garden is taking a toll due to all the other projects before us.  Hopefully this weekend we will get everything in and planted.

This is all the news fit to print at Redwoodshire.  Bees, chickens and berries.