When I first lifted off the hive cover and exposed the top honey super, I noticed that the bees remained fairly calm, and were extremely tolerant of my inquisitiveness as I inspected the tops of the frames with my hand. Barry showed me how to use the hive tool to break the propolis seal that was securing the frame to the rest of the hive body. Propolis is a sticky, sap-like substance that the bees collect from trees in order to seal up any cracks in the hive. This substance also acts as an anti-bacterial agent and is used to insure that the hive is kept clean and free of mold and mildew that could potentially harm the colony.
I was given an opportunity to hold a frame with bees on it, which was a very enlightening experience for me, as I realized that the bees were so busy working the frame, that my presence didn’t affect them too much. We tried looking for the queen to insure she was laying properly, but unfortunately we had no such luck finding her. However, we did find some eggs that were layed recently, which led us to believe that the queen is alive and well. After our basic hive inspection was concluded, and I put back the frame that I was holding, I noticed that the bees were buzzing vigorously, which made red flags go up in my mind and encouraged me to close up the hive as quickly as possible. We were able to close the hive without killing too many bees and got the job done with Barry receiving only one sting!
To conclude the bees were extremely happy today, and the colony is doing extremely well!
Here are some photos - you can click on them to enlarge them:
"The Watering Hole"
"Bees Coming and Going"
"Paul and the Ladies"
"Getting Down to the Bees"
"Paul Working His Magic"
"Working Hands"
"Taking Out the Frames"
"Looking for the Queen"
~Paul Dosen
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