I did the first bee hive inspection this morning. What a fun task on the cool of the morning surrounded by happily buzzing bees. It truly is a pleasant sound.
The breakdown is this:
One hive is going like gang busters I've had to open the entire hive to fit them. One was about half open and all but one bar had comb. The comb were so big that most were attached to the front of the box. It was a little messy but I managed to get the hang if the hive tool to scrape the comb loose before moving the bar. I did break three or four in the process. A few were crooked and had a corner attached to the next bar. In the end I damaged maybe 6 combs slightly. Theses I kept in a clean bucket as our first fruits.
Two other hives are expanding but not as fast. In these I opened about half the hive more.
The other two hives are struggling. They don't seem to have grown and one seems to be lightly populated I fear these may not make it through the winter. I didn't add any space to them as the comb is only on about 5 bars and only about half of each bar.
Bees are certainly the most fascinating critters we have on the farm. Sure glad we decided to add them!
I must add.. this honey is Y-U-M-M-Y!!!!! There is nothing like totally unheated fresh from the hive honey.
The breakdown is this:
One hive is going like gang busters I've had to open the entire hive to fit them. One was about half open and all but one bar had comb. The comb were so big that most were attached to the front of the box. It was a little messy but I managed to get the hang if the hive tool to scrape the comb loose before moving the bar. I did break three or four in the process. A few were crooked and had a corner attached to the next bar. In the end I damaged maybe 6 combs slightly. Theses I kept in a clean bucket as our first fruits.
Two other hives are expanding but not as fast. In these I opened about half the hive more.
The other two hives are struggling. They don't seem to have grown and one seems to be lightly populated I fear these may not make it through the winter. I didn't add any space to them as the comb is only on about 5 bars and only about half of each bar.
Bees are certainly the most fascinating critters we have on the farm. Sure glad we decided to add them!
I must add.. this honey is Y-U-M-M-Y!!!!! There is nothing like totally unheated fresh from the hive honey.
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