November 16, 2009 - 1pm

Temps were about 72º, breezy, clear skies.

Alpha Hive

The feeder jar installed on the Alpha hive Wednesday (11 Nov) was empty on Sunday (15 Nov). A new jar was immediately installed.

Today a quick check on the feeder jar on the Alpha hive revealed that half the jar had been consumed(2 cups) since this Sunday (11 Nov).


Beta Hive

Didn't disturb the hive.

November 13, 2009 - 11 am

It was clear, slightly breezy, and 72º at the bee yard.

Alpha Hive

Since I put a jar of sugar water on the Alpha hive wednesday of this week I thought I should check it today. The jar is a four cup mason jar. The bees have consumed two cups as of today. I didn't open the hive. Weather permitting I'll do that tomorrow.



Beta Hive

I opened up the hive today just to look around. I found the queen on the second frame I removed, so I carefully put that one back in the hive. This hive looks like they have alot more honey and pollen stored than the Alpha hive.

I didn't look around too much after finding the queen. Closed it all up. Took a few pictures and movies of the hives. I will post them when time permits.

November 11, 2009 3 pm

The weather was cloudy, cool and windy with a temperature of 63º.

Mixed a batch of 2:1 sugar water for the bees. It was enough for four, 1 quart mason jars.

The Alpha hive seemed like it needed to be fed so today was the day.

When I removed the top lid cover where the mason jar goes, the bees started to boil out of the opening. I had to quickly put the full mason jar in the opening to stop the exodus.

The Beta hive seems to have quite a bit of stored honey so I did not give them any extra food.

November 7, 2009 - 1 pm

It was a clear, sunny day, temp was 82º.

Alpha Hive

There are 4 full frames of honey in the top hive body. I did not check the bottom hive body. While looking through the frames I found the queen! I also found eggs!



















Beta Hive

The top hive body has 6 full frames of honey! They are storing more honey in the remaining frames.

The population is very large in this hive. The bees cover all frames in the top hive body and appear to cover all frames in the bottom hive body.

October 30, 2009 - 12:30 pm

Its been about three weeks since I have visited the bees. It was 83º, breezy with scattered clouds.

Alpha Hive

There was a lot of activity at the hive entrance. The bees were bringing in white/yellow colored pollen.

Inside the hive: at first it didn't seem as though there were many bees, but they were packed in the frames on the top hive body. I removed three frames from the top hive body and peered down into the bottom hive body. There were as many bees in the bottom box as the top. I counted six frames of honey/pollen as of today.

Found eggs, larva of various stages


Beta Hive

This hive has alot more bees in both hive bodies than the Alpha hive. The bees are still storing honey and pollen. I removed a couple of frames from the top body and looked through to the bottom and things seem okay, I didn't really want to disturb the girls too much.

Found eggs, larva of various stages

September 13, 2009 - 1:30pm

It was about 85º at the bee yard, very little wind, cloudy skies.

Alpha Hive

Opened up the honey super to see how they girls were doing. They are storing a lot of honey in there, about 6 frames have honey!!!

September 5, 2009 - 10:30 AM

It was honey harvest day for the Beta Hive! The girls capped eight and a half frames out of nine!

Extracted about 35 pounds of honey from 9 frames of a medium honey super.

Returned the empty honey super to the hive so the girls can clean it up. I'll check on that in a couple of days or so.

Looked through the honey super frames on the Alpha hive. Didn't see that many hive beetles. There were hundreds more bees up in the honey super. They have repaired damaged comb and have been storing honey!!

So, for this year the total honey harvest has been 130 pounds(95lbs from Alpha, 35 lbs from Beta).