Friday, May 6, 2011

The Queen Has Emerged...

...long live the queen.


Yesterday I finally got a chance to open my hive and see how they were doing. I wanted to do it Wednesday, when the weather was nicer, but I was waiting for my bee mentor to have a free moment to be present. I was terrified to get in there on my own. NOT because I'm afraid of the bees. But I'm afraid of doing something stupid and hurting them. My mentor is like my security blanket. She stands by while I work the hive and offers helpful advice. We got a perfectly timed break in the drizzle, and in we went. How exciting to see that first lovely white comb being drawn out. My girls had been very busy. I didn't search for the queen, but made sure the cage was empty. We added another hive box and will check them again in 2 weeks and look for brood. I noticed that they've been bringing in lots of pollen. Go bees!

This is a bit of comb that they were building in a wonky shape. Kristine had me cut it out. Isn't it gorgeous? I think so.


Singha and Reggie have been very well behaved and don't seem to bother the bees at all. Sometimes Singha will sit in front of the hive and watch the activity. We call it kitty TV. He did the same thing when I had my fish tank set up. I found him his very own bee to play with. He seems to enjoy it.




No comments: