Company

Tracy visited the bees, even poked her head in to see the comb. She's so brave!
No new comb, just more honey.
I replaced a moldy quarter patty with a previously used half patty from earlier in the season.

Feeding

I made up a new 1:1 syrup, putting it in a pint jar this time around and cut a new patty out. Then placed those in he back of the hive just before heading out of town.

Overflow

This evening we noticed the bees spilling out of the entrance as if there was not enough room in the hive. I know there are at least six empty bars of room at the back of the hive.

In an attempt to fix the problem, I slid all the bars back and inserted an empty bar in front, we call it bar #0. It didn't take long for the bees to move inside. I finally removed the old pollen patty substitute and the empty syrup jar that is over a month old with mildew.

6:30 pm, clear skies with a storm on the horizon, still warm outside from the heat of the day.

Plan to check syrup and move hive-cam and false wall back to make more room for the bees building comb. I taped the cuffs of my shorts closed for good measure, put on a light-colored long-sleeved shirt and my veil. Not getting fully suited up is one step closer to getting comfortable with the bees - the baby steps.

After opening the cover, I labeled all the bars; starting with #1 at the entrance and trying to alternate brown and white bars towards the end.

Once opening the bars, I found comb as far as bar #10 or #11. The sugar syrup was three-quarters full and there were lots of bees on that old pollen patty. I got a few nice pictures then closed it up.

Now the bees have another six or seven bars to build from before the false wall. No time for a full-blown inspection for at least three weeks. If we get in in the meantime it will be for minor adjustments.

Routine Feeding

I decided to go out, even though it was only 46 degrees. Skies were clear and sunny.

I took out some bars, took a photo, replaced the syrup and decided against trying to remove the old unused patty (see pic, middle-bottom).  The combs are very deep and I would have to disturb them as a whole just to reach it. I don't remember seeing ants on the cover when I opened the hive.

Installing the Webcam

Last night was too cold and gloomy to open the hive. We went for a look this morning at 9:00 am. I suited up while my husband got the hive cam and smoker ready. Several ants were on the top bars between the cover. I also found a big black spider which I happily killed.

I carefully opened the hive, starting at the back bars, removing the package box and feeder can which was almost empty. With the dead bees we found after installation and the dead ones in the box, we only lost about 60 bees from the package. We set the feeder can on top of the blue (pet) water jug (pictured full with rocks) to finish draining. Perhaps the bees will still drink it? The bottom of the hive was a little messy. A little wet from the syrups and crumby looking (from ants?). The half patty that was set on the box was soggy and little was eaten, though I did see a few bees on it. I could not find the quarter-patty that I had set at the back of the hive. I later found it in a photo and most was consumed. But the quarter-patty that was set below bar #1 was barely touched and soggy looking. I left the quarter-patties in the hive.

The jar I put in on the 9th was completely empty. I replaced it with new syrup. Lastly, I needed to remove the queen cage between bars #4 and #5. The bees were clustered in the southeast corner near the front and near the queen cage. I slid the bars open where the cage was at (expecting the cage to suddenly fall) and I found the bees were building comb around the cage. I cut it out with a putty knife. The queen was not in her cage, but other bees were. We tasted some runny "honey" from the cells on the cage. I did not pull any frames out and I did not look for the queen. I did get to see some festooning when I moved the bars open to get the queen cage out.

The bees were very docile during the 10 minute inspection.

It was light overcast, about 47 degrees with light sprinkles.

This photo was taken from the webcam at 10:00 am.

The syrup jar can be seen on the right side of the picture.

Pollen Patty Substitute

Shipment arrived. I plan to stick a few quarter-patties in with the bees, move the syrup to the front and sprinkle ground cinnamon on the bars to discourage ants. I tried the ground cinnamon in the house to combat our existing sugar ant problem, but it only attracted more ants and so I decided against putting it on the hive. By 1:00 pm quite a few bees were flying around the hive. By 5:00 pm one bee would leave before another would appear. They are either empty or it is curfew time. Here is a picture of the apiary orientation:

I stood north of the hive and the evening sun shone through the back fence. The south wall of the hive is parallel with the south side of our house, but lies a few feet further south, allowing the bees to get the morning sunshine and not be in the shadow of the house.

By 6:00 - 7:00 pm most of the foragers were in for the night. I was hoping my husband would be home to give me moral support while I would have the hive open, but I got restless and went out alone at 7:30 pm. We are still experiencing 40 degree temperatures at night in our area. I started up the smoker with the help from the gas stove in the kitchen. We haven't had much luck keeping it burning very long.

While I was out, two bees harassed me. I would step back and they would back off. I dropped a quarter-patty between the front of the hive and bar #1 and put a second quarter in the back. Moving the syrup to the front was not going to be an option - too many bees on the front bars. Again, I did not want to be a nuisance. The bees hadn't even been in the hive a week together yet. I was in the hive about five minutes.

At 8:00 pm, my husband went out to have a look for himself. He added another patty on top of the package box, added more holes to the feeders, and moved the feeders closer to the cluster near the queen cage. Then he met our first martyr, but handled it very well, despite getting stung on the upper lip. After the visit, we chose to leave the bees alone for at least 24 hours. I'd rather not disturb them until day seven or nine. I wish we had been prepared to feed them before they arrived. We still need to check to make sure the syrups are dripping enough and to replace patties as they run out.