First bee check

June 4:  Hail the size of peas and dimes this morning!  But then the sun came out and I decided I'd better check on the sugar syrup consumption of the bees.  I also cannot contain some of my curiosity on how they are doing in general though I am not planning on opening up the frames at all.

So on with the jacket, start the smoker, off with the jacket while starting the smoker since it's so hot, on with the jacket and to the beeyard!

Opened up Queen Elizabeth first after a little smoke in the entrance.  The lid was stuck down with wax comb so had to use the hive tool a bit.  Beautiful comb...scraped it off with hive tool (handy tool) and put it in a bucket.  The feeder had about 1/2" of syrup left in it but I decided to dump it and replace it with a frame so I hope that was a good decision.  It is sunny and we are surrounded by blooming gardens and trees everywhere.  We are hoping that the bees are travelling up and down the railway tracks nearby and taking advantage of the wild flowers there.  I then replaced the lid.

Opened up Queen Hippolyta and found the lid stuck down not just with wax but with HONEY!   Scraped it into the bucket and left the bucket of bees, wax and honey in between the two hives to let the bees sort it out themselves...not before tasting a bit of it...mmmm...sweet1  Hippolyta had used up all the syrup and I took it out and replaced it with frame #10 (there are 10 frames in these hives).  I then replaced the lid and will leave them both alone for a week before I do a full inspection.  I retrieved the bucket and the bees had indeed taken care of all the honey and taken it back to the hives.

Side note:  I spotted my bees in my gardens!  Would love to know where they are all going each day.

Here are pics of today and close ups of the drawings on the hives.

Queen Elizabeth I

Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons

My bee on our clematis!

Wax buildup under lid

New frame to take place of feeder