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In the service of the queen
Jun. 7th, 2009 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doodlemaierChecking on the girls when I got home just after 7PM I discovered ants, big black ants from outer space, were in the hive top feeder glomming the girls' sugar syrup. I checked them briefly in this manner before leaving on Friday afternoon because I need only lift the outer cover to expose the feeder and can do this without suiting up or smoking them, the rain prevented a full inspection. But now there were dozens of ants where there were only a couple two days earlier. Fuck the rules (the one that says it's best to conduct a hive inspection between the hours of 11AM and 5PM when most of the workers are foraging) I cobbled together my gear and donned the white jumper and veil and I'm really glad I did.
Whew, no sign of the ants inside the hive. I went through frame by frame and saw lots of tightly patterned capped brood in the center frames with capped honey in the corners. Her majesty, with the large white spot on her back placed there by the breeders, was on the fifth frame. This is actually the first time I had ever laid eyes on her. It's well enough to see eggs and brood but she was alive and well and doing her thing! It's difficult to estimate just how many new bees the colony has added but Alpha is definitely growing. In fact everything looked text book - The few center frames heavy with bees, even their first supercedure cell. There were, in the brood box, still three frames almost devoid of bees and another that they had only just begun to draw comb on so I decided to add another super to give them something to do besides prepare to swarm for the coming two weeks until the next inspection.
The flowers are still in bloom so I have to assume that equals plenty of available pollen and nectar: Wild carrot, yarrow, hairy vetch, and clover seem to be the predominate blossoms on the highways throughout the valley. My absinthium and hyssop are also blooming now. Although I did forget to place a pollen patty in their box, I'm pretty sure they'll be okay with all the natural forage happening. This inspection was so impromptu and I was in such a hurry to get my gear together that I did without the gloves. Just as the books say, this makes a huge difference! While they're probably a good thing to keep nearby they make handling frames far less clumsy.
Whew, no sign of the ants inside the hive. I went through frame by frame and saw lots of tightly patterned capped brood in the center frames with capped honey in the corners. Her majesty, with the large white spot on her back placed there by the breeders, was on the fifth frame. This is actually the first time I had ever laid eyes on her. It's well enough to see eggs and brood but she was alive and well and doing her thing! It's difficult to estimate just how many new bees the colony has added but Alpha is definitely growing. In fact everything looked text book - The few center frames heavy with bees, even their first supercedure cell. There were, in the brood box, still three frames almost devoid of bees and another that they had only just begun to draw comb on so I decided to add another super to give them something to do besides prepare to swarm for the coming two weeks until the next inspection.
The flowers are still in bloom so I have to assume that equals plenty of available pollen and nectar: Wild carrot, yarrow, hairy vetch, and clover seem to be the predominate blossoms on the highways throughout the valley. My absinthium and hyssop are also blooming now. Although I did forget to place a pollen patty in their box, I'm pretty sure they'll be okay with all the natural forage happening. This inspection was so impromptu and I was in such a hurry to get my gear together that I did without the gloves. Just as the books say, this makes a huge difference! While they're probably a good thing to keep nearby they make handling frames far less clumsy.
