After all that depressing info about mites and viruses, I had to get into my hive. It's been so cold, rainy, or windy, I couldn't do it before today. When the sun finally came out, I put my bee hat on and tried to light the smoker.
Sucker wouldn't stay smokin'.
Went in without it.
Oh! The girls are so busy! Three frames were full of bees back and front. They were building comb. I pulled out only 2 and saw pollen stored in the lower part of the frames and either honey or water stored at the top. I was so excited about seeing all that wax comb, I forgot to check for the most important things! Eggs and/or Queen.
When Bill came home, we tried again. He couldn't get the $*&@ smoker lit either. This time I looked at all the frames. The center one (I'm supposed to number these, I guess) was full of capped brood!!!!! That means bees will hatch (probably not the right term).
While I was looking at one side with all the capped brood,Bill spotted the Queen on the other side. He gets a badge for that! I flipped over the frame, and there she was running around, longer and pointier than her workers. If the Queen is alive, there are eggs. I just didn't see them.
I'll go back in next week.
With or without t
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