August's Hive Inspection

After a summer's worth of bees buzzing, I finally wrangled Stewart and Rick to assist with my monthly hive inspection. The first box to remove, my honey super, was heavy. There were a few full frames of honey but not enough for me to harvest any...at least not yet. I will give it time.

Stewart preparing to smoke the hive entrance.

The top two brood boxes. There was some honey on top of those frames, which the bees quickly collected.

There is still room for my colony to grow as they are using this frame for water storage.

The Queen has been here, as evidenced by the capped brood. The bottom box has a better brood pattern though.

Stewart was armed and ready with the smoker in case the bees were overly aggitated with my fumbling of the hive.

About to check the deep brood box. We did find the Queen and that was cool.

After a long week of daytime heat, the bees were working hard trying to cool their hive. It's a bee beard!