Another super
Alison and I went to visit our hive on Yashresh this morning to add a super. When we got there we cleaned up the mess from the ants. I am told that feeding the bees will not be necessary if a super is going on the brood box. There were thousands of ants that had drowned in the feeder and there was still lots of syrup. I dumped the syrup and inspected the hive. Alison is great at getting those frames out of the box. It requires a little skill and the ability to work in those spacesuits. First you have to use the J hive tool to lift one side up, then prop the other hive tool under the side of the frame. Pull the J tool out and start on the other side of the frame. They make a tool that allows you to grab the center of the frame and pull it straight up but I have not seen it sold in Israel. Maybe when we have someone visiting (David Zvi & Yael, come on home!), I will ask for them to bring it.
The bees are doing great at Yashresh. I just wish we had started earlier in the season. I figure that if they continue at this pace we will have just a jar or two from Yashresh, in time for Rosh Hashana. The good thing is that they will have drawn their comb and we will be ready to catch the flow in the spring. It is tempting to scratch the capped honey with the hive tools and taste the honey but that veil gets in the way.
Capped honey
On this trip Alison and I pulled a few frames and photographed the pollen. The frame I chose to display here actually has three types of cells on it. On the left is capped honey, then to the right of that is capped brood, and beyond that is the pollen. We did not look for eggs. Can someone verify that this is indeed pollen?
It was VERY hot today and we were wearing our bees suits wich make it worse, so we did not stay long. I did manage to photograph some capped honey and some open cells. It is pretty neat seeing the little cells glistening with honey before is is dried and capped.
Uncategorized | Stephen | 
June 19, 2009 4:29 pm