After I'd lit the smoker and sent a few puffs into the hive I removed the roof and started my inspection. From the few frames I did manage to check there were eggs, larva and capped brood present, as well as plenty of food. The amount of Bees inside the hive seems to have risen a lot since last time also, so all in all I'm happy with the progress so far of my Bees.
Once I'd checked a few frames I tried to remove as much of the wax that the Bees had made on top of the brood frames so I had room to put on a Queen excluder. The Queen excluder is used to stop the Queen getting into the supers and laying eggs as this area is meant just for honey storage and not brood rearing; no Queen, no eggs, no brood. Once I'd removed as much comb as I could I added the excluder and then put the super on top. The Bees will now, hopefully, start to draw out the comb in the super and then start making honey!
Once home I took a picture of the brace comb I'd removed and then washed it in hot water to get rid of any syrup that was in the cells. When it was nice and warm I rolled it into the ball of wax I already had. When I have enough wax I may have a go at candle making!
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| Brace comb. The ball in the corner is what I've collected already. |
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