I just returned from a long weekend trip to visit Monta's mom and drive our station wagon back home after its "extended stay" in Indiana. I must admit I experienced a bit of anxiety leaving the new hives with no one at home to really observe them carefully but I bravely left the hives, reading Laidlaw's Contemporary Queen Rearing along the way.
This morning I did my third inspection and am happy to report both hives seem to be thriving.
I first inspected Metpropolis and can report that the bees have drawn comb on fifteen bars already. The comb on the bars to the right of the one open entrance hole are straight and strong with both capped worker brood, capped drone brood, some pollen and uncapped honey. To the left of the entrance, the bees have drawn comb on 4 or 5 combs but, unfortunately, not as straight. I had to do some careful removal bars for examination and a bit of cutting with all the cross comb. I will slowly move this comb out as I add more bars. (I added two bars this inspection) Overall, though, the hive is strong!
Bee Glad... is thriving as well. A good four frames have been totally drawn and another two frames are very close. Plenty of capped brood was observed. Although the bees aren't using the feeder all that much now, I am leaving it on for one more week. I added a "shim" I bought from better Betterbee.com. It has a plugged hole I will eventually open as a top entrance. If all goes well, I should be adding a second deep next week.
By the way, no stings this week!
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