Spring Thaw

On Saturday, I went into the hive for the first time this year. After getting all suited up and getting the smoker going, I removed the hive lid. The honey super was the top box because I did not have a chance to remove it prior to the cold weather coming in suddenly last fall.

Looking in, I saw nothing had been touched. Removing it, I could see a couple dead bees on the queen extractor. This metal grate prevent the queen from entering the honey super and laying eggs. Under the queen extractor in the next box, the first frame was not full sized, is called a drone frame. It is designed to leave space for the bees to create their own deeper cell cone for laying eggs for drone bees. The entire bottom of the frame had been build out with uniform honey cone (shallow cells) rather than the deeper drone cells. I guess the girls did not get the memo on what the purpose of the frame was. I See now why a number of bee keepers do not bother with drone frames. This frame also had a good amount of honey on it. The heft of the honey laden frame was quite satisfying hold.

As I continued moving through the hive, I found more frames with honey. I found a few dead bees. Probably 30 total around the hive. I also found several swarm cells. these cells protrude from the frame and hang down. This shape give plenty of room for a new queen to grow. So it would see that at some point in mid August the girls just picked up and moved out.

It was actually quite creepy just how vacant the hive was. So many bees simply gone. The thoroughness of the departure is startling.

What can a guy do? I brought the one frame of honey inside an made toast with what else, but fresh honey. I also called Beez Needz and ordered another package of bees and a marked queen. The marked queen will be easier for me to find when I am doing future inspection of the hive.

I did enjoy being able to look inside the hive without the bees stressing me out. It may actually be a very therapeutic experience to have had.

So on April 15th, Tax Day, I pickup my new shipment, and start the process again. Net cost $120, net gain 2 slices of toast with fresh honey!