Back From Vacation

Just got back from 2 weeks in Ireland. Some work, some play.

It was cloudy and rainy the first few days home and today was the first day I had to check the bees.

Hive 2008-B has really slowed down. I still can't imagine the 2-4 mites I see each time I open the hive being the problem. I had put a honey super on before I left in anticipation of them needing the room but they haven't drawn any comb out on the new foundation and it looks like what little space was left in the deep box to draw out hasn't bee touched either. Didn't see the queen, but saw lots of larva in many stages. Placed a beetle trap, the kind that hangs between two frames, in this hive.

Hive 2008-A is doing a little better. The second deep body is almost all the way drawn out and there is lots of activity throughout the three bodies. Some of the honey in the honey super is capped, but it's looking more like I won't get a crop this year. Didn't see this queen either, but plenty of other signs she's been there recently.




To the right you can see a couple girls coming into the world. Look carefully, just below the center.

As I was taking off the honey super the queen excluder fell on the ground--sending a bunch of the girls a buzzin'. I had to back away for a couple of minutes after a few of them were hitting my veil pretty hard.

I also took this time to remove the Hood beetle trap from the bottom deep body. Replaced it with a new frame. There were Zero beetles in the trap. Hmm. Still mostly drone comb on that frame so I broke it off and froze it.

Sting Counter: 4
left pinky finger just below the nail.
This one was interesting. I was checking a frame and it felt like a bee was crawling on my finger. I let her go and kept working and after a little while I began to wonder why she was just sitting there. I looked down at my hand and there was just a barb. The only pain came when I scratched it out and even that subsided within seconds. Least painful so far!