Observation Hive Update

Our Observation Hive is Back.

   I put a new colony of bees into our observation hive today.  It was an awkward day to do it as it was a rather cool day.  I had to wait until 2:00 p.m. for the temperature to get up to just 58 degrees.  I would have preferred a warmer day but I didn't want to leave the bees confined in their hive until the following day.   I love having the bees in the shop and they are a big hit with the customers.  I just have to exercise some self discipline and limit the time I spend watching the bees..

Note the newly installed connecting comb in the center of the photo

   The colony came from one of my earlier queen banks and consisted of a little more than 5 frames of bees.  I put four frames of bees in the observation portion of the hive and the rest of the bees went into the lower portion.  The bees seemed to acclimate to their new home quickly and found both the feeder and the exit to the outdoors.  I took some photos several hours later and found the bees had already made some connecting comb to attach one of the frames to the window of the observation hive.

Note the open brood visible between the bees.

   The observation hive currently has two frames of capped brood and two frames of empty drawn comb.  Two of the frames in the lower unit are drawn, but the other eight frames are just foundation.  The weather will change dramatically starting tomorrow.  The fourth of July is expected to be in the high sixties.  After that the temperature climbs into the high seventies and low eighties.  That should cause the blackberry nectar flow to take off.  It will be interesting to watch and see how fast the population of the observation hive will grow with the emergence of the capped brood and the start of a serious honey flow. I put a jar of sugar syrup in the feeder but I don't expect to have to feed them much after that jar of syrup is gone.

    I took these photos with my iPhone. I was surprised that they turned out that well. I am going to have to figure out how to disable the flash.