We passed a big milestone this weekend; we added the honey supers. The honey supers are the third tier of the hive, and with the help of the queen excluder only the worker bees can enter them. Without the queen in there, there can be no eggs laid so the only thing that the bees can produce in there is honey. The will first draw out the comb foundation into proper honey comb, then start filling with honey. They will then fan the comb with their wings to evaporate the water level in the honey down to 14 -18% before capping it for long term storage. I hope my bees get it right!
Pete made his first appearance to the hives since the first week of May, and was astonished at how the bees have multiplied. At this point in the summer the hive is probably at it's peak as far as bee population. When we opened the first hive and began the inspection, I removed an end frame to make room to work in the hive, that frame was filled with capped honey, and it was shocking how heavy it was. All seemed well in the hive, and Pete was stung twice on the hand! The first stings really do hurt a ton, and you can see Pete's reaction below in the pic where he's running for the woods (as well as Ben's reaction to this). It seems that running for the woods is everyones reaction to the first sting; I did it and so did Nicole.
His reactions to the bees were very much how I reacted at the beginning of the season: approach the hives with a sense of excitement... open the hives and realize there are tens of thousands of bees in there... wonder aloud if this is worth it... get stung and decide it's not worth it... continue on anyway... get stung again and step back and seriously contemplate saying F••K it all... realize that even if you do decide that, the bees are still there... come to the realization that you're screwed either way so it's best to finish the inspection as planned... finish inspection, close up hives, and walk away realizing that it is all actually worth it. Pete was a great help though as the hives are getting very heavy. Oh - and he got stung a third time while inspecting the second hive!
So there's not much to do at this point except wait... wait and put up some barbed wire. On our way home we noticed a house with a huge bee yard in it, so we stopped. The owner's name was Burt, and he had 43 hives! He warned me that the electric fence I have will not stop a hungry bear, so it's best to make three rows of barbed wire around the hives asap. I can pretty much guarantee you this will not be accomplished without incident, so stay tuned!
The latest pics:
Inspecting hive A
We took too long and the smoker crapped out on us!
That's capped honey!
Pete running for the woods.
Bee stings are always a crowd pleaser.
A frame of nectar being turned into honey and capped.
Hive B entrance activity.
Hive A entrance congestion.
Both hives with honey supers.
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