It’s been just over 2 weeks since we last checked in with our bees. We wanted to make sure everyone was settled in, that the queen was healthy and that brood was successfully becoming worker bees. The frames were all lined up properly again, which supports my earlier suspicions that a certain unwelcome someone was in our hive that first week we installed the package.
Again, after opening we saw that there was some burr comb. It was still quite soft and easy to remove. I know I’ve said this before but these bees are so very docile. When we took our beekeeping class you could definitely tell when the bees were getting agitated by the buzzing they made. Ours never get over a very mild hum.
The queen is now laying eggs in the all of the brood box frames except for one on the very outside. This frame is all new brood. There is some capped brood and the uncapped cells were filled with larvae and eggs. But we weren’t done, we wanted to find the queen.
Of course she was on the very last frame. You can see her just right of center. She’s very easy to spot – black with a white dot.
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Looking good! I hope your bees remain this docile. Our first large swarm started out that way, but now the hive is up to 4 hive bodies, 3 with brood, they are a little less tolerant of us poking around under the lid. That said though, up until now we haven't used a smoker, haven't needed to, but likely will for that hive next time. You're quite fortunate that your Queen came marked. I'm tempted to mark ours, but should probably practice on some drones first
i just went into my hive two days ago and was shocked to find out how much they had expanded in only 2 weeks. when i last checked 3-4 frames were not being worked and when i went in the other day the hive was bursting and i saw some drone comb being produced. yikes. this is probably due to the fact that your unwanted hive visitor gave me a hive with short frames in a deep box. don't even get me started. anywho, i slapped on a new deep and hopefully that will keep them settled for the next few weeks.
Seriously? That's ridiculous! You should probably moves those short frames into a small super so you don't end up with a burr comb nightmare.
Yay, bees! I just had to re-queen today, and was also amazed at how easy my bees are to work with (knock on wood).