Really Busy Bees

It's 1:30 pm.

The afternoon peak of activity. 

Activity

New Larva

The boys enjoyed examining this specimen with the microscope.

I can't tell if there is anything the matter. It's too small. Everything on the outside seems to be normal.

Activity

Mini Inspection

I saw one dead larva at the entrance of the hive in the morning. I wasn't planning to get in the hive this weekend, but decided it best to make a quick look before heading out of town.

It was good to get in too, because we were able to get the camera dried out and back in focus. The weather the past week has been all rain and more is in the forecast. We raised the back of the hive so that moisture wouldn't be to blame for more dead larva. Speaking of the legs of the hive, I haven't noticed ants in the hive since I greased up the legs.

The quarter-patty inside was about one-quarter consumed, but no bees were currently eating it.

I didn't dress in a full suit, just a light colored top, taped pant cuffs, gloves and a veil, though I found it easier to fix the camera without gloves.

We videoed the short inspection. I pulled bar #8 up and we found capped brood and capped honey:

(close-up) 

bar #9 was found with open honey:

bar #10 was 1/4 new comb:

and bar #11 was empty. I did see another larva out of the cell but still on the comb edge, but later realized that the wax had torn from the side wall. There were a lot of drone roaming the comb - they're huge! There are still a lot of yellow-orange bees in the hive.

Video Camera

Loads of bees flying in front of the hive. Brood explosion? Still seeing a lot of yellow bees foraging. Took video and pictures with video camera.

Here some bees are dancing on the front of the hive.

Inspecting Comb #4

Inspection of bar #4.

I can't decipher the comb yet and so it doesn't seem to get me any advantage staring at it too long.

I pull it out, look it over quickly and return it to the hive.

Beesy Bees

Despite finding dead larva in the hive this morning, the bees seem to be in full swing this afternoon. I am still undecided whether to remove the entrance reducer or keep it until we past the last freeze date (May 1). I haven't found a straight answer for when it is appropriate in the springtime.

Heavy Laden

The bees coming in almost seem unbalanced with their loads of pollen.

Maybe they could benefit from a larger landing pad?

Late Morning Activity

Dancing Divas

Dancing for the Queen

In this video there is a worker bee dancing her abdomen up and down.  She starts about half-way into the video and crawls down the 2 by 4. Online reading describes this as a dance for the queen. Perhaps she is free?