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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I am beginning my 19th year of beekeeping in April 2024. Now there are more than 1300 posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

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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.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Bee-ing with the Girl Scouts

Today I helped the Girl Scout troop in their first hive inspection. Before we inspected the hive, we got a set of frames ready for the super which we planned to add.

The girls nailed a wedge into this frame to hold a sheet of foundation. On the other frames they either glued popsicle sticks for starters or starter wax strips for the bees to use to get started building comb.


Sierra glues in the popsicle sticks.


Morgan gets the starter strips ready to be waxed into the frames.

Then we opened their hive to find that the queen is laying a lovely football shaped pattern just like one would ideally wish for. They had two purposes for their inspection: To see if the queen had laid eggs and to see if the bottom box had been fully built out.

They were able to see young brood. We didn't see eggs but saw very young brood (tiny c-larvae) so we know the queen is active and doing well. The bottom box was 90% built out. They had already put a second brood box on top of the first one and after I left, I thought perhaps we should have removed it....but we'll see how they do going forward.

Since it's the height of honey flow in Atlanta, we added the honey super that they had prepared to their hive.

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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:02 AM

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  2. Anonymous3:03 AM

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  3. Hi, Linda --

    Thanks so much for your blog. I now look forward to reading it every few days. I'm among the thousands who have watched your videos - twice - and likely again when the time comes to put them into practice!

    I am a first year beekeeper who is still somewhat overwhelmed when I check my hive; it is so very different to stand there amongst the buzz holding a frame covered with a boil of bees than to watch videos, examine photographs, and attend demonstrations. I think I know what I'm doing but I have to admit I stand there a bit stunned, hoping I am seeing what I think I am seeing. Anyway, the bees seem fine despite my inexperience.

    The honesty, enthusiasm, and clean writing style of your blog has been very encouraging to me. Thank you, keep up the good work, and congratulations on your certs!

    Jane in Chapel Hill, NC

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