Hive Update....

It was time to make another trip to the hive today. I needed to once again check on my "queen status" and replace their sugar water. Today it was Zach's turn to be my helper.

 This was only the second chance I've had to use my smoker....I think I need more practice. Each time it goes out on me before I get done with my first hive.

Here I am putting the smoker to use, well I'm trying to anyway, it's not really smoking well.

I took out the case that's holding the queen and Zach is holding her while I take out the old sugar water container. He likes checking her out. Neither of my queens were out yet....I cleaned out a little of that "candy" I told you about and she should be out by today I'm hoping.

Here we are taking out the old sugar water container (which was empty) and replacing it with a new one. The bees needed a little convincing from my brush to get off of it. Zach wanted to be right in on the action. I love that all the kids seem to be very interested in helping at the hive.

After replacing the sugar water, I went to put the queen holder back in and it dropped all the way to the bottom....opps! In order to get it out I had to remove two frames and then grab it. It actually worked out great because I got to admire all this beautiful white comb they have been busy making! (It's not the best shot but I was trying to juggle the camera, not smash any bees, and take picture while thinking about how to fish my queen out of the bottom of the hive.) You get the idea , right?

I will need to check once again tomorrow, just to be sure my queens are out, if not I help them out by removing all the "candy" that is left. I'm ready for her to be out in both hives and start growing the hives. ONE QUICK NOTE: I was so excited that I got to see one of the honeybees from the first hive I checked had came back to the hive with it's little pollen pocket full. Zach got to see him too!
What a thrill that was! I got to see it on a Documentary called "Tales of the Hive", but it was way more thrilling to see it in person! Great in detail documentary by the way..I would highly recommend it
it to a new beekeeper or to show to your kids for schooling purposes. I got a copy from my local library.