Look at my Photos? 1st Inspection

[mtnb]

Hi 

I got my bees this past Saturday. It was only 37 degrees and rainy. I thought you're not supposed to open them at that temp but I supposed they knew what they were doing. lol There were so many and I wasn't afraid at all. lol When we got home I put them on their stand and gave them a gallon baggie with syrup. Then went camping til this Wednesday so I wouldn't peek, well, and to look for a bear. ;) My son said the weather was rainy and he didn't see much of the bees. When we got home Wednesday, the sun was peeking out and there definitely was activity. Some were bringing in red and yellow pollen and it seems like the number carrying pollen has doubled daily since. I'm guessing everything is well.

Today I opened the hive for my first inspection. They were all very nice and didn't mind me at all. They had used all of the syrup. I have 2 medium 8 frames supers for the brood with an additional one on top for the feeder. Frame 1 (my own medium foundationless frame) was untouched. Frames 2-6 are the deep nuc frames and were full of bees. I saw some pollen and uncapped honey on the inner side of #2. I saw covered brood on frames 3 and 4, weather it was drone or worker I couldn't say for sure. It all looks so different in real life. haha Plus the comb is so dark it was hard to see anything and all of the bees! I wasn't sure how to move them out of the way. Same for frames 5 and 6. Plus, since the deeps are hanging down into the bottom medium, they're building what I'm guessing are drone cells on the bottom of 3 of them. There were no queen or swarm cells and I didn't find the Queen. Frame 7, my own foundationless had a cluster of bees hanging from the top and it felt very fragile. I figured they were building new comb. Nothing happening on frame 8.
...What a pain in the @#% it is to get to the bottom box with the 5 deep frames hanging down. I have 3 foundationless medium frames down in there, one on one end and two on the other end. I'm going to change that. I'll cut down one of my supers so it will be the size of a deep when a medium is on top. Then the other half I'll use as the feeder. Just remove those bottom frames completely. So just have the bottom board, the wedge, the medium with all the 8 frames and then the other wedge for the feeder. Does that sound ok?

I was able to get some pictures but it was hard. I really don't know what to make of them so I hope you all can see them and tell me what you see. I really appreciate it!

http://s284.photobucket.com/user/MTBeeGirl/library/?sort=3&page=1

[Colobee]

Well, the pictures sure show a healthy looking bunch! It's hard to be certain, with all the bees, but there are quite a few glimpses of evenly capped brood, which is good. No queen cells, lots & lots of bees. Other than that it's kind of hard to make much of them.

Without getting a peek at some nice even patterns of open brood, it's just a bit hard to say anything more than they look good, and you & they are doing a pretty good job. You might be able to push them around with a light puff of smoke, & get a few more pics of what's going on under there, under all those bees...

[biggraham610]

Nice packed box, wait till the next batch of brood emerges. Going to explode. No signs of swarm impulse? G

[mtnb]

Thanks for looking guys. No, I didn't see any supersedure cells on any part of the frames. I couldn't make out any anyway under all those bees. lol Are there so many that they may swarm, G?
Colobee, I'll take that. It also looked pretty good to me (from the little that I know) and it didn't sound like they were mad or upset. I wish I would have seen the queen but I'll just go with the fact that she's there and doing her job. I really didn't know how scary it is to open the box and constantly worry about crushing her. Even now, worrying that I crushed her yesterday.

[mtnb]

Ok, so now I've had a few days to stew on what happened during inspection. I know you guys will help me and not make fun of me, right? 

In regards to all the bees on the frames, I was just watching a video of WallsBeeManDurham and he took out each frame and said to just shake the bees off into the hive. He shook them and his frames were beeless. He then also had the opportunity to clean off the frames of propolis.

Which brings me to my other issue...(So it's ok to just shake each frame like that?)...when you take out each frame and look at them, how do you remember which way they go back into a hive? After thinking about it, I tried to look at the frames and turned them and took puctures and such and when I put them all back together again, it seems like it was hard to do and now I'm wondering if I put them back in backwards or something and as I pushed them together, I may have squashed my Queen. ? Oh man, I'm so worried now that I messed it up. I now realize the nuc frames do have writing on them. LASV or something like that. I guess you would make sure all the writing is facing in the same direction? On my own frames without writing, maybe I should make a little mark on one side so I'll know which direction they're supposed to face? Have any of you had this same dilema in the beginning? Should I be worried?

[iddee]

1.. When you shake them off the frames, be sure you are suited up. They get downright mean when bounced like that.

2.. I put my frames back in all sorts of ways to get them shaped like I want them. Don't worry about keeping them in order.

3.. If you really want to know how they were, number them 1-10, or 8 if that's the case. Put all the numbers to the front.

[GSF]

"I put my frames back in all sorts of ways to get them shaped like I want them. Don't worry about keeping them in order."

That's interesting. It conflicts with the internet teachings which says "Don't move the furniture around." I'll keep that in mind, thanks iddee.

[mtnb]

Oh thank you iddee! That makes me feel better. Good idea with the numbers! I'll do that. And not to worry, I'm not brave enough to open them unsuited. lol

[biggraham610]

If you dont want to shake them all off, alot of times if Im looking for eggs while holding a bee covered frame, I will just blow lightly at an area on the frame and they will move enough so I usually can see what I need to see. I only shake them off like that if im making a nuc and want the nurse bees. I also make sure my queen is not on that frame, by spotting her on another frame that is already put back in the box. I dont guess you stand a real big chance of hurting the Q when you shake em down like that just for insp. but, Im not going to take a chance if I dont have to. G

[mtnb]

I will try to blow om them next time. Not knowing where the queen is, is freaky. The video I watched, the guy did say that if he had seen the queen, he would have given her special attention, but he never did say what he would do special.

[GSF]

Mt Bee Girl, make sure you have a veil on if you go to blowing on them. Sometimes they will pretty ticked when that carbon dioxide hits them.

[biggraham610]

Oh yeah, good point, I figured she was wearing a veil. Funny, mine don't really get that angry, they do however get out of the way and let me know with the buzzing. I usually only have to do it once to see what I'm after, and I did say, "Lightly" blow on them. I'm sure if I felt I needed to inspect the whole frame for some reason, this would not be my approach. I usually can see what I'm looking for in a 3-4 inch circle once they scatter. G

[GSF]

G, some of mine are the same way, gently blow on them and they ease out of the way. Others act like metal flakes attaching to a magnet. Takes about a split second and they're on my veil.

[mtnb]

G, some of mine are the same way, gently blow on them and they ease out of the way. Others act like metal flakes attaching to a magnet. Takes about a split second and they're on my veil.

Oh great. lol What do you do then? Can you smoke yourself to get them off? I've been smoking myself before I open the top. Believe me, I do wear a veil. I'm not that confident yet. I do go and sit within feet of them during the day without a veil and they are very nice actually. Haven't gotten stung yet. I'll try the blowing GENTLY lol today when I take my second look.

[GSF]

It's usually about a half dozen. For the most part they'll leave on their own. Some stick around for a while though. Another tip, if you're out there without a veil and one starts buzzing the area around your face - hold your breath and/or exhale away from them.

[drjeseuss]

Rather than blow on them, I usually just put a finger (gloved) gently where I want to see...  kind of 'tickling' the bees.  They don't get too mad about that, just run off.  Mine are of the variety that get quite fussy when I even breath too much near them, so maybe others will take less kindly to being tickled.  Still, worth a try to see what works best.  If trying this, do be gentle.  The goal is to wiggle them out of your way, not to force or push them down or around any.  They often flow back in once my finger is gone if there's a queen cell or open brood there, otherwise they'll stay clear a bit longer.  If I'm not yet content, I'll do this several times as needed until I've seen what I want.

[Roborep1]

I use back of my hand. Just place down gently. They move. Same as finger.


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[mtnb]

Thanks guys. I'll try all that today. Need to wait a couple of hours for it to warm up a bit more. Can't WAIT to look in again!    

[mtnb]

My 2nd Inspection went awesome today! That finger trick really works! I slowly moved it across the frame and was able to see what was underneath. Thanks for that tip! I didn't try the breathing on them today but by the time I was getting to #5 frame, they were getting pretty agitated, I could tell. Their sound changed and they were buzzing me more. I'm pretty sure I breathed on some and then I remembered your words and tried to exhale away from those buzzers. lol

#1 frame, my foundationless frame had three little combs started. My #2 fl frame was almost fully completed with lots of bees on it! #3 frame, the first deep nuc frame, facing the #2 frame, is WHERE I FOUND MY QUEEN!!!  I was SOOOOO happy when I saw her! She is a BEAUTIFUL Queen! I'm so happy I didn't kill her last time! lol She was working the frame methodically and all the bees were enthralled by her. All throughout #3, #4, #5, #6 I saw plenty of larvae in various stages, capped brood, some drone brood along the edges, but I still wasn't able to make out any brand new eggs. I even put on my reading glasses under my veil. lol But I'm confident everything is going as it should.  #7 frame had very little activity and contained some uncapped honey and my fl frame, #8, had nothing going on at all. I moved things around by putting a 3" wedge under the medium body, thus creating a deep. I took out that bottom medium and 3 frames. What a nuisance they were. The other half of the medium I cut to make the 3" wedge, I'm using as a feeder for my baggie. It's the yellow one on top in the picture.

I cleaned off the frames of propolis which were getting very built up. I scraped three combs off the bottom of the nuc where they were hanging down into the lower medium before. (They also contained uncapped drone brood.) It is difficult to hold the frame and scrape at the same time. I was sweating by the end. lol I can see why they sell sweatbands in the catalogs! lol I've so far found that very funny. Now I understand. lol Can you guys give me some tips on cleaning the frames while trying to hold it?

What an awesome experience! AND I found the Queen! That makes me so happy!
Here's the link to my 2nd Hive Inspection Pictures:
http://s284.photobucket.com/user/MTBeeGirl/library/2nd%20Hive%20Inspection%205-29-15?sort=2&page=1

[biggraham610]

  Good job. Pretty queen, looks like most of my Open mated x VSH daughters. Congrats. G