Fourth Week Inspection
Day 28 "So, how are your bees doing?"
Glad you asked. After a pretty significant drop in the population, the next generation has begun to fill the hive. There are a lot more bees in there than last week and if you look at the photos from last week and compare them to this week, you will notice how many brood cells have opened up. The weather has been pretty rainy with afternoon downpours the last five days.
I only checked on them to check on the feeders. They have all but stopped using them. I did notice some tiny flecks floating in the water last week and my observant wife pointed out that it looked like it might be mold, which it was. After reading various people's opinions on the matter, I decided to leave it alone for now. Apparently moldy water doesn't affect them at all unless it gets really bad and sours the water. I may mix up some more sugar water and clean the jars and put one clean jar back in and see if they start taking it anymore.
Starting from the back and working to the front, here is Bar 7. Not much expansion from last week.
Bar 6
Bar 5
Glad you asked. After a pretty significant drop in the population, the next generation has begun to fill the hive. There are a lot more bees in there than last week and if you look at the photos from last week and compare them to this week, you will notice how many brood cells have opened up. The weather has been pretty rainy with afternoon downpours the last five days.
I only checked on them to check on the feeders. They have all but stopped using them. I did notice some tiny flecks floating in the water last week and my observant wife pointed out that it looked like it might be mold, which it was. After reading various people's opinions on the matter, I decided to leave it alone for now. Apparently moldy water doesn't affect them at all unless it gets really bad and sours the water. I may mix up some more sugar water and clean the jars and put one clean jar back in and see if they start taking it anymore.
Starting from the back and working to the front, here is Bar 7. Not much expansion from last week.
Bar 4 - You can really see how many empty cells there are now.
Bar 3
Bar 2 - Still a lot of cells to hatch out.
Bar 1
One thing that has me concerned is the lack of capped honey. It is only on the top edge three of the seven comb that has been produced. I am hoping now that the population is increasing that things start progressing again.
I don't know if it's because of the weather the last few days or if this new group of bees are just a little testy, but I had a few of them really checking me out this time. One of them was rather persistent and I had to actually back up from the hive a few times while I was putting the bars back in place so she would calm down. She seemed especially agitated about my watch. Maybe I should take it off next time.
One shot inside the hive between Bars 1 and 2
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