First Spring Inspection

Michigan beekeeping

from JoeUser Forums

My son and I did our first inspection of our two new hives.  Hive 1 looks pretty good with lots of capped brood and we found a healthy queen running around.  Hive 2, on the other hand, seems a lot less populated and we couldn't find the queen.  Only 3 of the frames in Hive 2 are drawn with comb (about 5 are drawn in hive 1).

Hive 2 was so tame that I was able to work with it without smoking the bees or a head net on.


Hive 2 has some drone cells, couldn't find the queen.

 


Hive 2 (the one I couldn't find a queen) does have some capped brood.

 


Hive 1 has a healthy queen and a lot of capped brood in a nice pattern.

 


Hive 1

 


Nearby spectators

The point of the first inspection is to see how well the hives are doing.  Do they have a queen? Any diseases? Is there capped brood?  I didn't get stung and in fact it was a lot easier than I thought.  It was the first time I'd ever used a smoker.  I waited 9 days from the time I got the starter hives to do the inspection in order to give them time to settle in.  I plan to do another inspection next weekend depending on the weather to see how hive 2 is progressing (I probably won't mess with hive 1 since it's clearly doing fine).

This week I should also be receiving a Nuc from the SEMBA President (who's also a Canton police officer which is pretty cool).  I don't know how many hives I'll have eventually. If I could, I'd go with 4 or 5 hives total for this year. 

I was surprised how much I sweated doing this. The bee hat stuff really makes the sweat go.  But for now, I was just thankful I didn't get stung. ;)

beekeeping
8,140 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Capped brood - are they like the larva?
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yea.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

Was it loud?  Could you hear them buzzing around when you approached, or when you pulled them out?

I think the noise would freak me a little more than actually handling them.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
It wasn't too loud. There aren't that many bees yet.  By end of June, it should (hopefully) get pretty loud.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
You are brave handling them without a suit on. It certainly looks like they are quick to get settled in and get started (the bees that is.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Way to go Drag, interesting hobby.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
I buy a honey called Bevelini from Southern Greece and it is Thyme flavoured honey, the taste and the after taste is very pleasant.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Reminds me of Eddie Izzard's beekeeper flirting... "I like my women like I like my coffee... covered in bees!"