All is Good Under the Sun!

We visited the bees Monday May 24th. I have to say that I have a positive report from our three hives. In Chanhassen, the colony is thriving and healthy. I located the queen, she is laying eggs fabulously, and new bees are born every day now. The honey bees seemed content and happy. No need to replenish the sugary water nor the pollen patty. I noticed that the bees do not eat and drink from our gallons of sugary water or the pollen patty. Suburbia seems to benefit our bees! When I look around the apiary, it is plain to see, trees ,wild flowers, clover and so on, are abundant and easily accessible to all our honey bees.

Then Ben and I drove to Shakopee. We were prepared and had loaded into our car, 2 hive bodies to add on top of the single box for each beehive. The purple colony was calm and busy. There were lots of brood, and a lot of new smaller honey bees. They are so cute, all golden first, then as they age, brownish bands appear on their thorax. We had refilled the 1:1 sugar syrup 4 days ago, so the buckets were still full. I did not spot the queen, but since we saw eggs..it was enough. It was getting crowded in there, and 7 out of 10 frames were already filled. We decided to add another box on top of the first one. I took a brood less frame from the bottom hive body, leaving 9 frames below. I placed it in the center of the new hive body that will be on top. This helps the colony to expand into the second box quickly.

The green hive had been "transformed" on May 20th, when we combined the nuc and the former residents. I am very happy and relived to announced that the Italians honey bees are back home and sharing it with the newcomers. This seemed to be our most populous colony. Since, we adopted a Carniolan queen, she is supposed to be black; I thought that it would be easy to see her...I did not. The frames were very heavy loaded with brood, nectar , pollen and the bees were extremely busy... we could not see the foundation of the frames! We also added a second hive body using the same technique. As I had mentioned before, there is not a lot of food available for our bees, so we are very vigilant and pay extra attention to their supplies, but after only four days, everything seemed fine. I am convinced that when we return next week, we will have to feed them. I also would like to see with my two eyes the queens, I know they are there because I can see eggs, but I would just feel better!

PS: I am sorry I don't have any pictures this time...I had forgotten my camera at home