The Queen Reigns!

Saturday afternoon we visited the hive with two goals: to check the sugar water level (to see if the bees have been eating) and to see if the queen had been released from her cage.

I wore my veil and gloves, but decided against tucking my pants into my socks (much better!), and my dad headed out to the hive without any protective gear. My mom and Jeremy watched from a safe distance, but within a few minutes they were right beside us at the hive. Wearing a veil and gloves is optional, especially now while the weather is cool and there are (only) about 10,000 bees. However, as the temperature heats up and the hive grows, the bees get cranky and protective of their hive and the veil becomes more necessary. We used the smoker for the first time, although I'm not sure we really needed to - the bees were pretty docile.

The bees drank about 8 ounces of the sugar water from the containter that had been filled with a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water. I'm really not sure if that's a good amount or not. Something to ask Jodi about.

I pulled out the frame that the queen's cage was hanging on, and removed the cage to see if the queen has been released - she was! (thanks to Jeremy for taking a picture of the empty cage). We decided not to bother them too much by poking around trying to find the queen, but with the bees working and the queen cage empty, we knew that she was in there somewhere, ruling her hive of 10,000 workers with her phermones. At this point, she will be busy laying eggs and helping the hive grow.

We spent the rest of the visit watching the workers go in and out of the front door of the hive. Bees are really neurotic little creatures. Even with the top off of the hive, the bees only used the front door to enter and exit the hive. Crazy. The best part is watching for the worker bees that are returning to the hive with full pollen sacs. The pollen sacs look like big yellow pouches on each side of the bees' bodies (will get a better picture next time). Carrying the pollen makes them a lot heavier, and they actually sound much louder than the other bees as they are batting their wings much harder and faster to fly with that excess weight. As they head to the door, they are really unsteady and have a difficult time landing smoothly. It's hilarious.

Now it's time to leave the hive alone for a few days and let them do what they do best!