First Real Hive Inspection
Today was my first real hive inspection and add more sugar water. I carefully removed each frame one by one, beginning from one end and working my way to the other. The first frame I pulled out didn’t have much activity going on it, so I set it aside on a rack outside the hive to create more room for handling the remaining frames. My focus was on spotting the queen, any eggs, and anything that seemed out of the ordinary. However, I’m still unfamiliar with what might be considered “out of the ordinary,” and without a second hive for reference, it’s challenging to assess. One lesson I learned too late is that having two hives is beneficial for making comparisons. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to order a second hive in time, leaving me without anything to compare my hive with other than what I can find on the internet.
During the initial examination, I noticed the larvae, but I struggled to find any eggs and couldn’t identify the queen. Luckily, I captured images of several frames during this inspection, which allowed me to examine and find what I think look like new eggs. Hopefully this helps me spot them during my next inspection. I plan to continue to examine the photos in effort to find the queen.
The first two photos are of a couple brood frames. The photos below them are the larvae and what I think are the eggs. Click on the photos to zoom in.
As for my learning moments during this inspection, I need to improve how I place the frames back into the box. My current gloves are too big for my little hands, which makes it difficult to avoid pinching the gloves under the frames so I was putting the frames in then and pushing them together. In the process the bees kept trying to get in between the frames so I’m afraid I may have squished a couple. In the future I will hopefully have smaller gloves which should make it easier to handle the frames in straight down or I will have to try it without gloves. The bees seem to move aside when they inserted vertically vs pushing them horizontally.
