Busy Bee?

I guess. It seems like there are so many of them and they still haven’t finished drawing out the original eight frames in the first brood box. What is taking so long??? I guess it’s only been two and a half weeks since we moved them into their hives. We thought we might get to add the second brood box and eight new frames of foundation to each hive today but upon inspection it looks like they still have room in the first brood box. So we will try to be patient. My understanding is they will work up. So if I add the foundation on top before they finish what is in bottom there will be an incomplete/unfinished job near the bottom. We want them to utilize all the space but also need to keep watch to ensure they don’t run out of space! It feels like baking a cake for the first time with no instructions on how long to bake it – don’t take it out too early as it won’t be done, but don’t wait too long as it will burn. It has been cool and we have had rain…with more in the forecast. They seem to be taking the sugar water from the feeders but not at any extraordinary pace. Time will tell…I guess you can’t rush a good thing. We’ll continue to keep an eye on them. 

Today was the first day we opened and inspected frames without our mentor. I think we did ok. The bees did seem more “buzzy” today but I think that’s in part to a growing population. Maybe?!?!? I had planned to take a lot of pictures but my phone doesn’t respond to my touch with bee gloves on. I really like pictures but having to take off my glove to get them was a little intimidating for this rookie beekeeper. I only ended up with two photos because this frame looked odd to me. I’m not sure what is going on with it or if there is any reason for concern but I wanted to send it to our mentor for his take on it. If you look in the middle of the frame at the top, it appears that the bees are building comb in a bubble like pattern in one spot. I’ve never seen this before and am anxious to hear if it means anything. 

So in desperation and curiosity I did remove my glove for a picture of this. Maybe as time goes on and we build confidence there will be more bee pics (I hope). I’ll let you know what we find out. In the mean time we’re hoping for warmer temps and sunny weather…so the bees can stay busy!

-Worker Bee 2021