Bee Log – Day 8
By Michelle | May 21st, 2012 | Category: Beekeeping | No Comments »May 20, 2011
I know I am not supposed to be opening up the hive so often, but it’s been a bit of a learning. Things today looked much the same as yesterday. I went in to replace the undrawn frames with foundationless frames – it was my intention to start that way, but in the chaos last week, I didn’t have them ready and also had to really level the hive properly. Looking forward to seeing how that goes.
I also wanted to see if I could spot the queen. I quickly pulled out the frames and found that they’ve been working remarkably fast to draw comb up – and spotted the queen too on the inner side frame closest to the right. Having that pink marker is a huge help – though she’s quite obviously different from the other bees too.
Key observations:
- I’m feeling more confident that the hive is managing ok, but am a bit worried about the foundationless frames. It’s level and the guides are in place, so we’ll just have to see what they do.
- they seem to have slowed down on the amount of feed they are eating
- flowers in bloom en masse include forget-me-nots, a big white bee bush, second-wave of dandelions and buttercups. Also plenty of wild strawberries (yum). Probably lots of the trees too according to allergic friends, but they are harder to see.