July 9, 2011 Part II

3:00 pm  Big Bee Inspection

I am inspecting both hives today.  I decided to wait until after the bee chat at Oxford Honey and Supplies so that I would have just a little more information to add to my own understanding of the bees.  Earlier in the week I had bought 4 bee keeping books from another bee keeper from the NW part of London with 125 hives, Rich.  He is very generous with his advice and is quickly becoming an e-mail friend.

I have spent a fair bit of time gazing at the bees these days since I am on holidays.  The weather as been glorious and the bees are working around the clock.  The other morning I noticed a bee dropping something white in front of the hive.  A passing hornet pounced on it but I grabbed it, photographed it and sent the picture to Rich with the subject line:  What is it?  He sent back a treatise on the possibilities and a specific list of things to look for when I open up the hives:
1.  Look for the queen...ha! easy for him to say!
2.  Look for queen cells with larvae in them
3.  Check for all stages of brood and a consistent pattern
4.  Larvae should be plump and pearly white

So into the hives I went.  Queen Hippolyta First.

The top super had every single frame drawn and honey in all cells.  The centre frames are capped already...she is so amazing!  This honey is probably surplus, which means that I can have some of it as long as I make sure the hive has at least 60 pounds of honey to feed on through winter.  When the honey is capped it means that is completely ripened and has most of the moisture taken out of it.  Honey must have a 16% to 18% moisture content and no more or it will ferment.  To put this into perspective, the nectar that the bees bring back to the hive is about 80% water so they have to ventilate it until it is at the correct moisture content. Much like boiling down maple syrup except that we have fossil fuels to help us out instead of tiny wings whirring like mad.  Here's a pic of the lovely honey partially capped with wax.

Capped honey top half and uncapped below

I took that super (box) off and set it on the ground on edge.  The bees just stay with it.  I have wood chip around the hives and the chips stuck to the boxes and got stuck between the boxes when I put the hive back together so next time I will put down a piece of ply wood. All the frames in the next super were completely drawn and the centre frames have brood and honey in them.  The brood looks great and I have no concerns about this hive at all.  Here are a couple of pictures of the brood frames.  One is capped brood with a thin band of pollen and then honey around to feed the larvae and one has capped brood and larvae (the white cells) and honey.

Capped brood with honey around edges

Capped brood and larvae

I didn't find Her Majesty during this check but all seemed to be in order so I pronounced Hippolyta happy and healthy and added another super on top for more honey production.