Preparation for opening the hive is always the same; gather my tools, bee brush, hive tool, smoker, veil, gloves, note pad, pen, camera, and my lovely assistant, Sue, then light the smoker, don the veil and gloves, and head for the bee yard. Once there, I gave a few puffs of smoke at the entrance and under the cover. After a minute or so, I removed the cover and puffed some smoke over the top bars.
Now I can start removing top bars and checking things out. First I removed several top bars that have no comb on them yet, giving me room to work in the hive. I used the hive tool to pry the top bars apart. The bees glue them together with propolis, but the tool makes it easy to separate them.
While I work, the bees that have been off foraging return and gather at the entrance of the hive, but because of the smoke, they're hesitant to go inside. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the full pollen baskets on their legs.
When I checked the hive two weeks ago, the bees had started to make comb on the bar in slot #14. I removed one of the top bars on the populated side of the hive to consolidate the nest, so that moved the new comb to slot #13. In this inspection, I found more comb on the bars in slots #12, #11, and a small comb between #9 & #10.
In my attempt to remove bar #10, the comb that was between it and #9 fell off and landed in the bottom of the hive. I'm not sure why the bees drew that comb in the small space between the top bars. I'll have to put a post on one of the bee forums and see what they say.
This is a lemonade from lemons situation! I wasn't sure what to do, so I took the comb out of the bottom of the hive. This gave me the opportunity to see the stored honey and the pollen,
and then, well, I think you get the idea! MMMMMMM! Warm, new honey! And the pollen was a very interesting flavor, too!
The next bar to come out is #11. I found that the bees had chewed through the string I had attached to the bottom of the top bar as a guide. The comb was attached nicely, took up about 2/3 of the length of the bar, and it was straight and well formed. This comb was about 3/4 full of pollen and honey.
Top bars #12 & 13 were fully drawn with comb, and had eggs, larvae, and capped brood. So this comb is referred to as brood comb, and the area in the hive that has brood comb is referred to as the brood nest. As the hive population grows, the brood nest will have more and more combs. If you click on the picture below and zoom in, you can see a few open cells, which have eggs or larvae in them, and you can see the capped brood.
When I was building the follower board, my angle cuts were off by about an eighth of an inch, so I attached some strips of wood to the edge so that it would fit snugly between the walls of the hive. I should have put the strips on the back side of the follower board. But I didn't, and this created a recessed area on the side of the follower board that faces the nest. The bees have completely filled it with comb! I didn't pull it out, but I assume it has pollen and honey in it. Bees usually put their food on either side of the brood nest.
So, the lessons from this hive inspection are; first, the string didn't work. In the future, I'll use something more substantial and permanent for the guide on the bottom of the top bar. Two: the side of the follower board that faces the nest has to be flat, solid, and uninviting to the bees! And C: the bees are going to do things the way they want to, not how I plan things. My plan was for them to start drawing comb on the bar in slot #1. After all, that's why I labelled it #1! And finally, if your bees love you, they don't sting!
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