Quick Peek

Day 9     I arrived at the hive around 4:00 p.m. to top off the feeders. The first two were about 3/4 full and the rear had about an inch used. Filling them emptied what was left in the pitcher from when I mixed up the sugar water on Wednesday. I peeked inside to check on them and to get some pictures.

This first one shows what they do when you are separating the bars. They hold onto each other and form chains from one comb to the other. This is separating bar 6 and bar 7.

There are five bars with about this much comb. Bar 1 was not made with a guide. I left it blank so they wouldn't build on it and I could remove it for easy checking on the front of the hive. They had other ideas and have started building on it anyway. The comb is small right now because they just started on it. The bar was empty two days ago. Bar 7 also has a small starter comb on it. Here you can see them working on building all the way out to the end of the guide. This is bar 6.

Here is where the cage had to be cut out. After two days, they have almost repaired the hole. This is bar 5.

And finally, here is the queen making her rounds. She is the big one in the middle of the comb. This is on bar 4.

It was about 80 degrees and overcast with high humidity. It looked like it could rain at any time. The bees were more agitated acting than the previous days. Still not aggressive, there were just more of them out of the hive checking on me and giving me the impression they wanted me to leave them alone. After taking these quick shots I was more than happy to accommodate them. No need in forcing my presence on them just because I'm nosy.