August 24: Full Hive Inspection

August 24, 2014:

We opened up the whole hive again today to see what progress the bees have made on filling the honey supers, and what the brood nest is looking like now.

The answer for the supers is...not much progress.  About a week and a half ago I switched the honey supers, hoping that the closer proximity of the nearly-empty super would encourage the bees to start filling it.  Alas, everything has slowed way down.  The top super is full of nectar, with a few patches of capping here and there; the bottom super is fully drawn comb, but no nectar.

I decided mid-inspection to remove that empty super, so as to let the bees concentrate on getting the nectar capped on the other one.  I knocked the bees off the frames one by one, and carried them out of range of the hive--and the bees pretty much just let it all go.  That surprised me, but then there's no honey or brood in that comb.  I'll save it, and use it next year.

The two hive bodies look great.  The top is packed full of capped honey and a bit of pollen.  The bottom is about 1/2 brood, plus more honey and pollen.  I think they'll be in good shape for the fall and the upcoming winter.

I'm only about 90% sure I'll need it, but my honey extractor and supply kit arrived in the mail this week.  THAT is quite exciting.  I do hope I get to use it, not just for the honey itself, but for the adventure of that process.  The beekeeping blogs all say that people get into beekeeping for the bees, but leave it because of the honey.  It's supposed to be a difficult and messy process.  But since I do so much home canning, I'm up for the challenge.