Bee updates!

Being Sunday, it was hive inspection day! Phil was back, dosed up on painkillers due to his back injury and was put in charge of hive inspection by Steve. Steve has led the previous hive inspections and decided it was time for Phil to get some practice. 

Hive 1 on Phil’s plot has been massively productive, with more honey frames filled this week. Soon it will need a new super (with 12 new frames) to keep them busy and at a lower risk of swarming. 

The brood box is busy, full of frames of eggs and larvae of worker bees and drones. I spotted the Queen today – she is significantly longer than the others and is usually surrounded by lots of worker bees.

 This is Phil removing brace comb – the bees have built it to stick the frames together. Building this on top of the brood frames means the Queen excluder is often stuck to the frames requiring prising open with a hive tool.

The number of bees in the colony has dramatically increased.

Hive 2 is much larger and requires more careful handling. We learnt the number 1 Bee keeping rule today – don’t flap at bees. Chris found this out whilst one Bee took strenuous objection to Steve, stinging him on the lip. A warning to always wear a veil when opening a hive…

The hive is extreme busy and will definitely need a new super by next week! Steve is busy making 4 more hives and now that people on site are getting used to them, there is a queue forming to get a hive. I can’t wait to get one on ours!