Had a large swarm of bees airborn above the hives, close to the timberline, late morning on June 12th, making me anxious, thinking that one of the hives was swarming...Things settled down after 15 minutes of observing and talking with a visitor in close proximity to the hives. The numbers now seem to be OK after visual checks over the past two days. Hive A seems to have bees that have moved into the first honey super, after three weeks of no interest. I'll now be anxious to see if comb is being drawn and honey produced over the past week...Hive B is still active and a brief visual check through the inner cover shows good comb with some honey being produced. Will want to smoke both hives and check more thoroughly within the next 48 hours. New experiences and lots of fun with anxious concerns being part of the program. TW

July 4, 2008

Checked on both hives yesterday and acitivity seems to have slowed over the past two weeks...some comb drawn on one honey frame in hive B with a some brood noted on it as well. Hive A has no comb drawn in the honey super but some egg laying noted in both hive bodies with capped brood cells and bee activity. I wish I noted a higher percentage of bees with full pollen baskets returning to the hives, but as a rookie, I don't have much experience to compare too...Will continue:

Main questions at this point:
Did I feed them well enough and long enough after installation?
Did I medicate them appropriately?
Should I be checking and finding the queen more often?
Should I have done more with mite control?
How are my hives compared to other newly intalled colonies?
Enough for now...Will simply continue and hopefully learn and get better as mistakes (as well as successes) are realized and addressed:) TW