Honey Comb

Better than the cereal...

Honey Comb

Even Muttley liked it!

A little taste...

The bees have been building bridge comb on the lid and filling it with honey. You want to scrape off this wax to encourage them to build on the frames. But it meant that we got to have a first taste of honey.

Hives 1&2

Yesterday we checked the two established hives, 1 & 2 (the swarm is #3). They're almost ready for a honey super. Probably in the next week, we'll put one on each hive, which means we'll most likely get to harvest some honey this fall!

Swarm

So, it's been a while since we last posted and a lot has happened... About a week after we got the two hives established, a friend called and said that she had a swarm of bees in her backyard on an apple tree. We weren't about to pass up free bees, so we went over and go them and set up another hive.

Shown here is the swarm, about the size of a basketball. The queen is probably in the center of the ball. They generally won't sting when they're swarming, but I put on my suit...

Swarm

The swarm is in the hive. We left the hive at the tree overnight, so the stragglers could get in. Then we moved them to our house.

Swarm

Here is the swarm at it's new home, below our bathroom window. It's not the most ideal spot, because it doesn't get too much sun, but it works and they seem happy.