June is Here, and full of Promisses

As Ben and I walked back from the Shakopee apiary along the edge of the field; we saw those wild roses and bees gathering nectar. It gave me hope that our honey bees will do well too!

The purple hive is doing fine, everyone is active collecting pollen, and nectar. We observed the foraging bees with their hind legs full of yellow and orange pollen. The queen is still strong and laying eggs beautifully. She must have been really busy because I did not spot her during the inspection! The frames are filling up rapidly, and are becoming heavy. Ben added about one gallon of sugar syrup, and 1/4 of the pollen patty was left.

The "Challenging" green hive is absolutely gorgeous! The population is enormous since we combined it with the nuc. The frames are very heavy, and harder to lift with our fingers! Which is a good thing. There is some honey, brood and nectar. The honey bees are hard at work in the second box, making wax. This box is about 20% drawn out, therefore we have time before placing the third box.

We also stopped by the Chanhassen colony, the laying pattern is still solid and uniform. The queen is very active, and the whole colony looks fantastic. We are seeing a population explosion, in the past few days. Honey, nectar and brood are present and abundant. However, I did not spot our Italian queen this time, we saw few lazy fat drones with their big eyes, doing what they do best... being bums!!! I may add a third body hive within a week or so, as the honey bees seem to be on a "roll", and very productive.

Ben and I are finally more confident and optimistic in the survival of the Green Shakopee beehive. For a while, we were both very worried that we would lose the entire colony. Seeing them, active and very quiet; letting us work the hive without minding us at all; made us happy. The Italian and Russian honey bees have worked very hard to accept each other, building more combs and foraging. We feel relieved that all our "work", and multiple tries have finally paid off. Maybe our little darlings figured out that all the "fuss" coming from us, was actually to save them...and they are thanking us... their way!