Sunday, March 29, 2009

Bee Inspection (3/28/09)

We opened up the hive this weekend to find all of the things we we hoping to find: honey storage, new brood and our queen. There should be quite an explosion in our bee population in the next couple of weeks. We are also patiently waiting for our neighbor's bees to swarm so we can start a second hive. Steve and Floyd (the neighbors) have been keeping bees for years, but do not harvest honey. They enjoy having bees in their large vegetable garden. You can see our queen easily in the photo below.

The bees love the wildflowers that have recently bloomed.

Here are a couple of our ladies getting a drink.

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6 comments:

  1. Bee Magic Chronicles for KidsMarch 30, 2009 at 7:36 AM

    Great photo of your queen - I bet it's reassuring that you can see her when you opened the hive, even if you see eggs too.

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  2. The Beneficial BeeMarch 30, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    Barbara-
    Thanks, yes, we were very happy to see her!

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  3. JuliaMarch 30, 2009 at 2:56 PM

    Jess, beautiful photos! I'm very jealous that you have flowers, pollen, and active bees so early in the year. We are still struggling to get our bees through winter temps after being hit with two long, cold snowstorms! Julia

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  4. AmyMarch 30, 2009 at 9:56 PM

    Amazing little creatures! How neat that you can see the queen so easily. Insects are beginning to stir here in NW Ohio too. No sign of honeybees yet though.

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  5. The Beneficial BeeMarch 30, 2009 at 10:05 PM

    Julia- I saw your pics of the snow. I remember feeling very stir crazy at the beginning of Spring when I lived in New England. I'm sending warm weather vibes your way!

    Amy-Yeah, it's really neat when we can find her-most of the time we can't! Jess

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  6. Doris SturmMarch 31, 2009 at 10:33 AM

    How sweet...I love the first photo of the bee drinking. I must be blind because I can't identify your Queen on the first photo. I guess for me, you'd have to put a big bull's eye circle around her ;-)

    Thanks for sharing. I enjoy reading about your bees (and everything else too.)

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