Bees: My hands smell like honey

OK, more accurately, my hands smell like beeswax and propolis which have a slight smell of honey. I did a hive inspection today (June 18th) and all the frames were stuck together. As things stand right now, the last inspection was two weeks ago. I also added a third box a week ago. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't added the third box.

The bees seemed to slow down with our rain and cool/cold weather. We had one day where the temperature never crossed 60 and a couple others where it only just barely got above that point. As such, the bees were only minimally flying and trying to draw comb and everything else that they do. They seemed to have only just barely started to draw out the top box. I know it's only been a week, but they hadn't even drawn out a full frame. What they had drawn out was totally empty. In addition, the last frames in the second box were almost in the same condition as they were two weeks prior.

One interesting thing I noticed in this inspection... During the last inspection, I found a bunch of burr comb connecting the top and bottom frames which was full of brood. It looks like the bees were making space for the larger cells needed by the drones. When using foundation, the cells are a certain size, based on the size of the embossed honeycomb shape. In nature, bees will build smaller cells for workers and some larger ones for drones. I'm guessing that the bees felt they needed the drone comb. In the bottom box half the foundation are pure wax. It appears that the bees removed the previously drawn comb, foundation and all, and reconfigured the comb as larger drone cells. The bottom inch or two is now bigger drone comb and there are now a couple gaps on the bottom of the frame.

I didn't see the queen, but I did see lots of young larvae. Looking back at the photos, there are also eggs, which means her majesty is doing just fine. There was lots of capped brood. In another 1-2 weeks, this hive will be boiling over with bees. Hopefully, the town will get ambitious and mow the field across the street which is full of clover. It will give me a second summer flow if they cut it down and it blooms again. At the very least, there is a ton of jewelweed in my yard which must have good nectar because the hummingbirds love it. Plus, there is a ton of purple loosestrife around the pond and brook near my house. Oh, and they have all those veggie and flower gardens which should be overflowing with blooms in a month or so. If they can build up the third and fourth boxes before the end of July, I think there is a chance of getting a fall flow of honey. A whole lot of ducks will have to line up for that though.

Here is some eye candy for those that are interested:

Get to work lazy bees!

That's more like it!

Capped brood and uncapped larvae

Now that's a good queen!

You can just barely see eggs in some cells

A new bee chewing her way out of her cell (top center)