I opened the hive today. I wanted to see if the emergency queen cells had been opened. I was amazed and impressed how much honey/nectar the bees had put up in the last week. I don't know where they are getting it. I was under the impression that, in my area, there is a Spring flow and a Fall flow with a dearth in the middle. I think being across from a field and fairly close to a brook and pond causes a better situation for the bees. One week ago, they had some nectar filled frames in the second box, but hadn't touched the third box much at all. I had rearranged the frames in the lower boxes. My intent was to move the emergency queen cells down to the bottom and move the nectar up. Ideally, I want the upper two boxes to be mostly full of honey and the lower two boxes mostly open for brood with some pollen and honey. This would (in my opinion) be the best situation for the bees as they get ready to cluster for the winter. Of course, I am not a bee.
Today, the first frame I pulled was mostly empty and still waiting to be drawn out. The second frame, however, was drawn and filled to the brim with nectar. The third frame was draw, filled and beginning to be capped. In fact, every frame all the way to the last frame in the box was full and beginning to be capped. It's simply amazing what bees can do in a week.
Moving on to the next box, I saw more of the same. This box had been previously used for brood so there were many dark cells with honey/nectar and a bunch of pollen. There were almost no open cells. When pulling a frame about half way though this box, I was rewarded with my first sting. I was uncertain how I would react to this. I got stung right on the pad of my index finger. It felt a bit like getting shocked by household wall current (aka, 110 A.C.).* I quite literally brushed it off and continued.
The bottom box was much the same as the top two boxes. There was actually a very small patch of capped brood. I'm guessing this was the very last brood laid by the queen. Based on my best guesstimate, I figure I will have no brood left by next weekend. I plan to inspect and if I don't have a laying queen, I will order one post haste.
Speaking of the queen, during the last inspection I noted a few emergency queen cells. I had moved these to the bottom box. One of them was being cleaned out by a worker and had been totally broken down, except for the larger base. The other one was empty, but looked shredded. I'm not exactly sure what happened. From what I read, the first queen to emerge will seek out all other queen cells, rip through the side and sting the potential competition to death. I guess this may be what happened here, except that the cell was fully shredded.
I didn't get many photos because I wanted to make things quick and, other than nectar and honey, there was nothing much to see. Also, as I was trying to finish up the inspection, the bees started getting really testy. This is an unwelcome development for my previously docile-to-a-fault bees. As I was adding a fourth box and moving in some of the outer frames, I was granted my second sting. This one was on the outside of my pinkie and it hurt like hell. Instinctively, I yanked my hand and shook it which is a bad thing to do when standing in a swirl of hundreds of irritated bees. I quickly finished putting things back together and closed up the hive. Maybe next time, I will have to actually use a bit more smoke if they haven't requeened successfully.
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| A full frame of nectar. |
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| Closeup shot of the same frame. I expect this to be capped in a week or two. |
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| An Asiatic lily because I was taking photos of flowers since I had few of the bees. |
* - I can't count the number of times I have been shocked by wall current. Something to do with changing outlets while they're still powered, I guess. That or the fact that I used to deliberately shock myself on the nightlight as a kid.
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