Week Three: A Stingless Inspection

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!

"Bee Glad...For the Hum Has No Ending"

I've been writing so much about the construction of the top bar hive "Metpropolis", I've failed to mention the piecing together of my more conventional hive -- "Bee Glad...For the Hum Has No Ending." It's a 10 frame Langstroth hive I've been purchasing bit by bit from betterbee.com. I will use starter strips rather than foundation, a screen bottom board, and a top hive feeder. I will locate the hive, along with "Metropolis, near our house surrounded by an 8 foot wooden fence with a locked gate.

Before you ask, this hive's name is a play on a 1960s movie title: Be Glad for the Song Has no Ending. The movie centered around my favorite group of all-time: The Incredible String Band.

Even with the cold and all the snow here in Minnesota, I've started some herb plants which I will be planting in this "gated (apiary) community".

Happenings today

Two bee-related activities went on today before lunch was even served. I ordered two packages of bees (Minnesota Hygenic) from B & B Honey Farm in Houston, Minnesota. I have to say I was a bit nervous about making this call. Even when I am the most confident, I do not do well over the phone to begin with and had further anxiety because I was essentially making my first "bee order". The woman who took my order put me right at ease though. She explained things clearly, and was very knowledgable. She knew my "newbie" status and made me feel quite comfortable through the whole process. I want to visit their "showroom" in the near future.

As soon as I finished my phonecall to B & B and conducted my Public Policy class, I went to the university mailboxes and found that Betterbee had sent me my order of unassembled deep frames. Monta is planning to make a Langstroth hive as well and wanted to get an idea about how frames were structured before she built the boxes using some plans we found online. The wood smelled so fine.

By the end of next week, the Top Bar Hive should be constructed as well.