Extending the hive...

The bees use two boxes of ten frames each to store honey, water, pollen, nectar, propolis, and larvae. Yesterday I ventured out to the hive in order to add the second box of ten frames. This will give the bees enough space to store enough supplies to last through next winter.



Entering the hive was much like before. Preparing the smoker. Still a bit tricky getting the right combination of materials in there to smoke for a long time. Approaching the hive from the rear with a couple puffs of smoke under the outer cover, a few more into the inner cover. Removing the inner cover I put a few puffs downward into the frames.



The bees seem quite unconcerned that I am there, and rather uninterested in me. I removed a few frames to see how they are progressing. As you can see from this image the cells on this frame are filled almost completely.


To take this picture I walked with the frame over to where Rhonda was standing. While we were moving the frame around to take different pictures, I noticed a sudden shift in the audible tone and behaviour of the bees. An increasing number began to fly off the frame and buzz around me. There was a distinct difference on the sound the bees made flying around my head, like a more angry and panicked beating of their wings. At least is seemed that way. I quickly returned to the hive and used a little smoke to calm them back down.


After replacing the frames, stacking the second box with the 10 frames onto the first box, I closed the hive to let them begin to explore the new space.


I then removed the sliding board from beneath the bottom screen. This board collects everything that the bees drop. Examining the board, it contains mostly bits if wax and clumps of pollen. It is also used to collect and count the number of mites that fall off of the bees. Rhonda and I look for some time, but did not find any mites. We did see a little black beetle sort of critter. There were also a couple clumps of dead bees in there. This surprised me since there is not way for them to get there from inside of the hive. So they must have gotten confused and entered from outside.


Next time I enter the hive, I will do a more thorough inspection of each frame and estimate how much of it is used for each purpose. I will also check the bottom board more frequently to see if I can spot any mites.