Hive inspection today. Purpose: Powdered sugar shake and determination if new frames or boxes are needed on either hive and to see how the feeding is going.
I opened Bermuda and there were scads of bees. They have brood in both boxes and I SAW EGGS! I saw them with my own eyes - not inside with the camera transferred to the computer. Isn't that the best? But I don't have pictures of the eggs I saw, however, I did see them in both hives. Maybe getting the sun behind me happened at just the right angle, maybe I was lucky, but I saw EGGS.
It's nice to know that there is a functioning queen in both hives.
Of course the price for this was that an angry bee from Bermuda stung me on the right side of my neck, right through my veil. It hurt worse than past stings. I immediately came inside, leaving the hive open, scraped out the stinger and put toothpaste on it. Plantain is supposed to be the best, but I don't have any in my yard, and I had read on the Internet that toothpaste helps. I also put one of the melt-in-your-mouth Benadryl strips in my mouth. I then quickly returned to the beehive to put the hive back together.
I did a powdered sugar shake on both hives. Here is a picture of the bees at the front of the hive after the shake. You can see the ones who had been powdered! There is also abee with big pollen baskets all full at the bee-end of the entrance reducer.
Miracle of miracles, I only saw a total of ONE hive beetle. The last few times I've seen lots of them. Now the hives are both much stronger and have probably invited the SHB to find another home. I certainly hope so!
This is the tale that began in 2006 in my first year of beekeeping in Atlanta, GA. ...there's still so much to learn.
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I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.
I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here.Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.
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Thats pretty awesome , cant wait to get my bee's
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