weirdmarsupial

[weirdmarsupial]

Took a few frames of honey out of both hives' brood boxes. They're doing better drawing out their supers, but they're storing a lot of the nectar they bring in in the brood boxes, which is not what I want. So I'm emptying a few frames each that I can put back in for the queens to lay eggs in and hopefully help prevent them from swarming

Also took a whole ass photo shoot with this gorgeous drone I found. I'm a little nervous still handling the ladies without gloves, but the boys don't have stingers. They're just big, harmless cuties.

[weirdmarsupial]

Hive inspection today had its ups and downs. Both hives are still looking great, plenty of brood, healthy looking bees. They're drawing out new wax, just not a lot still in the honey supers. They've each got one or two fully drawn out frames, but the rest are either started just a bit or barely touched. And right at the end I caught a sting on my second favorite hand :(

Worker bee loaded with pollen drinking honey off my hand

Drone bee I saw, they're just such cuties. I love their fuzzy little butts

Box full of bees

And my sting :( it managed to get me twice. It looks bad, but after a few minutes it barely hurt, now it pretty much just hurts a bit when I move my hand a lot. The bumps'll fade in the next few hours and that part of my hand will probably just be a bit red and swollen for a few days

[weirdmarsupial]

Been thinking of doing some fun little art and this idea from @hellenhighwater is perfect. I'm just using brown cardstock I had on hand, gonna do some more detailed ones of animals and stuff, but I'm also just really digging these ones.

[weirdmarsupial]

Gorgeous frame filled wall to wall with brood I saw during my inspection today. Both hives are booming. And just starting to draw out their supers!

[weirdmarsupial]

Hive inspections today, no pictures bc it was hot out and the flies had them a little grumpy. Both hives are still building up nicely, lots of brood, more bees every time I check on them. They're still not very interested in the supers, I shouldn'tve put the queen excluders on so early. They're off now, so hopefully the bees are more willing to go up into the supers. I did get stung once, on my stomach. That's two now this year, I had four last year. This, so far, has been about my least painful sting so far, probably because I've got a good fat layer there. I've also been stung on my upper arm, forearm, eyebrow, and both hands. The worst by far was the forearm, which swelled up more than the others and was very itchy, and took a couple weeks to go away. I've heard some beekeepers say that after like two hundred stings you don't even react anymore, so six down, a hundred and ninety-four to go

[weirdmarsupial]

Bees are very active today after a bit of rain, I peeked in the top of both hives and saw a lot more in both supers, so I think they're starting to work on drawing them out 👀

[weirdmarsupial]

Bee update, both hives are looking good. I saw plenty of eggs and brood, both queens, and pollen and nectar being brought in. Not much activity in either honey super yet, but if they keep this up, I think they'll start working on them in the next couple weeks. I did taste the honey they're working on and it's very good, maybe even better than last year.

I got pictures today and even caught an emerging bee on video

[weirdmarsupial]

Look at her ❤️

[weirdmarsupial]

Speaking of arthropods, two of my snowball shrimp are carrying eggs. One has had hers just over a month now, the other just laid hers in the last day. I'm very excited to have baby shrimp again because I let my tanks go for a while, and they weren't breeding

[weirdmarsupial]

Checked on my bees today, I usually check on them weekly. Last inspection the hive with the new queen, which will henceforth be referred to as the blue hive, was looking good, plenty of eggs and brood, drawing out new comb. Today they are still making good progress, I'm very happy with their improvement so far, hopefully in a couple weeks they'll be about ready for a super. The other hive, the green hive, has been doing well all season. Last inspection I didn't really see any eggs, but I did see the queen, so that was a situation I needed to check in on today. The first couple frames I checked were full of eggs, so maybe I missed the eggs last time, or maybe she took a break. Either way they are looking great this week, they've got both of their brood boxes mostly filled. I've given them a super, no progress on it yet, but I think they'll start drawing it out and filling it this week.

Pictured is the queen of the green hive

[weirdmarsupial]

Outrageous that the more you love doing a project the more you work on it, but the more you work on it the sooner it's over

[weirdmarsupial]

Success! The new queen is out and laying nicely!

[weirdmarsupial]

Bee update: Did some musical chairs with frames between hives to deter laying workers and make the second hive more receptive to a new queen last week. Installed the queen on Thursday, checked on them today. Looking good so far, there were almost no eggs from workers and the hive definitely had a more purposeful, queened vibe. They hadn't quite gotten her out of her cage, but it was still a little on the early side. She was still looking good, and the bees were taking care of her and showing zero aggression, so I put her cage back between a couple frames to let them finish freeing her. I expect them to have her out tonight, I'll be checking on them again in a couple days to make sure she gets out alright and starts laying. Thinking I ought to name the hives because referring to them as the first hive, the second hive, the better hive, the hive that's been struggling, is going to become confusing for me. I could refer to them as the eight frame hive and the ten frame hive, because that's what they are, but there will inevitably be more hives, any and all of which will most likely be either eight or ten frames. Food for thought at least

[weirdmarsupial]

Still no sign of a queen in that second hive, so we're getting a new one tomorrow. The first hive has capped brood now though! I didn't take a picture because I was just checking on them briefly when I fed them, but the brood pattern is looking pretty good.

Spring is here and so are my bees! Neither hive made it through winter, it was a rough winter for bees, and I probably didn't do a good enough job preparing them. But that means the packages I got last week are starting off with a lot of drawn out comb and some honey and pollen already stored, which should give them a pretty good boost. They freed their queens within the first couple days and have been active all week. Today I checked in to see if the queens have started laying. Both hives had very good temperaments so far, very chill and easy to work with. One hive is looking good, saw the queen and most of a frame full of eggs, pictured here except the eggs are covered by bees

The other hive is looking alright, except that 1. I didn't see the queen, and 2. I saw this frame full of eggs that is a complete mess. Most of these cells have two or even three eggs each, laid haphazardly, which is a pretty good sign they were laid by a worker.

So I'll be checking on these ladies again in a few days for evidence of a queen. If they've lost her, I'll have to buy a new one. Neither hive is established enough to support raising a queen. I'm really looking forward to beekeeping this summer though, I think it's gonna be a good season

[weirdmarsupial]

Imagine you've got a big family and your house is too small. So one day mom loads up everyone into the car and you start driving around looking for a new house. A little while later you're chilling at a rest stop just outside the city and a giant comes and drops you into a newly built high rise.

I captured a swarm of bees today.

[weirdmarsupial]

Spring is here and so are my bees! Neither hive made it through winter, it was a rough winter for bees, and I probably didn't do a good enough job preparing them. But that means the packages I got last week are starting off with a lot of drawn out comb and some honey and pollen already stored, which should give them a pretty good boost. They freed their queens within the first couple days and have been active all week. Today I checked in to see if the queens have started laying. Both hives had very good temperaments so far, very chill and easy to work with. One hive is looking good, saw the queen and most of a frame full of eggs, pictured here except the eggs are covered by bees

The other hive is looking alright, except that 1. I didn't see the queen, and 2. I saw this frame full of eggs that is a complete mess. Most of these cells have two or even three eggs each, laid haphazardly, which is a pretty good sign they were laid by a worker.

So I'll be checking on these ladies again in a few days for evidence of a queen. If they've lost her, I'll have to buy a new one. Neither hive is established enough to support raising a queen. I'm really looking forward to beekeeping this summer though, I think it's gonna be a good season