Earlier this morning, I realized that I hadn’t looked inside my hive since I went inside the Warre hive five days ago. Which is fine by me, I want the bees to do their own thing. I observe them daily, I’m just not inside their hive.
Since I know the queen has been busily laying eggs, I decided to check to see how they were faring. While opening up the top box of my Warre hive, I noticed a large amount of honeybees inside the first box. They were nurse bee and they were busily tending to the larvae. Oh that’s a good sign! The nurse bees were milling about feeding the larvae. I must say it was quite fascinating to watch them.
I did notice that two combs (in the top box) were merged at the end and so I took a butter knife to gently pry them apart. I have pictures, I’ll try to post them later today.
In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that the honeybees have found a great nectar source, so they have been ignoring the feeders. I did add water to one of the feeders so they can have a steady supply of water, but I won’t be adding any more sugar water.
Angry Honeybees
While checking the comb I banged one of the bars that the comb is attached too. Whoops, sorry honeybees! Naturally they didn’t like that and I had a small swarm of highly pissed honeybees checking me out to see what the heck I was doing. I was safe inside my bee suit, and after a bit of bouncing on my head and a few squirts from my spray bottle that contained water, they were fine. They went about grooming themselves. I looked at them a bit more before closing up the Warre hive and trudging back to the house.
Fun Fact: Did you know that the honeybee queen has a smooth stinger? Unlike the worker honeybees that have a barbed stinger, so they’ll die after they sting, she won’t die since her stinger is smooth. You might wonder why she’s different? The newly emerged queen kills other queens (by stinging them) before they come out of their queen cells. Remember, there’s normally only one queen per hive.
Edited to add: I’ve posted a few of the photos I took of our honeybees this morning.
Looking forward to the photos but love the info you already posted! I bet that was a shock to them but it seems like they ‘forgave and forgot’ quickly. I know they know you don’t mean them harm! There’s the difference right there!!!!
Jennifer recently posted..Random Shout-Outs, Mini-Goals, Product Reviews
@Jennifer, I think so Jennifer. I’d have been upset to getting jarred like that. I’m sure I’d have flown out to see if I was dealing with a potential threat. In there case, I’m not. I’m just trying to be a good “bee guardian”. First time beekeeper, so I’ll be checking the inside a bit more to make sure they’re healthy. Thus far they are, the poor critter that brazenly goes inside their hive doesn’t survive. I saw a dead insect at the entrance of their hive this morning.
Aynaria recently posted..Adventures in Beekeeping; Inside our Warre Hive
I’ve seen the photos before but I don’t know if I read it or not – how far (how many feet) is it away from your house? Just curious!
Jennifer recently posted..Chocolate Chia Pudding OR Triple Thick Vegan Milk Shake, Tahini Veggie Stir Fry, Black Bean & Corn Salad, Tomato Cucumber Salad, Jalapeno Italian Dressing, Jalapeno Corn, Farmers Markets, Superman!
@Jennifer, I’d say it’s about an acre away, some beekeepers have them right near their homes. I figured, given a choice, they would like to be in a place that was quiet and not in a high traffic area. Since we have the space, I can do that. I believe I found the perfect spot for them.
Aynaria recently posted..Hive Building; Tanzanian Top Bar Beehive