Two Week Inspection

Day 14     So I have hit the two week mark. So far everything seems to be going well. I have been refilling the feeders as needed and checking the comb development. It has been overcast and rainy the past three days and the bees were a bit more defensive than normal. They weren't aggressive but they sure came out more to check on me. Today was clear and about 82. I opened the hive and refilled the feeders. The bees were back to their normal selves and hardly gave me a notice. That is except one that was particularly curious. She kept buzzing around in front of me, sometimes landing on my arm or on my hair and just hanging out there for a bit before flying around some more.

One thing I noticed was they are starting to cap the honey cells on several combs. They seem to be starting at the top and working their way down. Most had about an inch on each side capped. There were also some worker cells and drone cells. My concern though is the appearance of what may be a queen cell. It is on the lower right edge. Not having seen one before I'm not absolutely sure that is what it is but it was larger than the other capped cells. I'll keep an eye on it and see what develops. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it but I will try to next time.

What follows is a picture of each bar to show how they are doing after two weeks. They are in order starting with bar 1, which has no guide and they were supposed to leave empty (I've really got to find a good book on How to Train Your Bees).





Below is bar 5 which is where the queen cage was attached. The hole where I had to cut out the cage is now completely repaired.



Below is bar 7. Just five days ago, the comb was about the size of a sausage patty.


As I was removing the bars, I was looking for the queen to make sure she was still doing okay. I always start at the rear of their compartment so bar 7 was the first comb I came to. I checked both sides, no queen. Bar 6, no queen. As I worked my way down, she was not on any of them. I got to the last bar to remove, bar 1. I always check thoroughly while holding the bars over the hive before I move them over the grass, or so I thought. Had I missed her and dropped her on the ground? I looked on my side before removing the bar, no queen. I was pretty worried when I turned the bar around to look at the back side (which was the side facing the entrance hole). There she was, wandering around doing her thing. Whew, what a relief!

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