Two weeks in and looking good!

I checked the hives on Thursday June 7, 2018. We had a field day scheduled for Saturday the 9th, but the weather was looking not so good for Saturday, so I checked on Thursday just in case. I scythed down the tall grass and weeds in front of the hives. Both hives were looking really good. The Long Hive had pretty much doubled in size in three weeks' time. It had only three frames of brood and one empty frame of drawn comb to start. All the rest of the frames were empty foundationless frames. It had seven drawn frames, some honey, lots of brood and had also added comb to the bottom of the original medium nuc frames. I didn't see the queen, but her evidence was there. That hive is a bit grumpy, so I try not to keep it open too long. In about three to four weeks all the bees will be the daughters of my new Saskatraz queen, so I will see if they calm down a little then.

The vertical hive had also doubled in size in two weeks' time. It had the advantage of mostly drawn comb to start. It had wet nectar, lots of worker brood and lots of bees. I added an empty medium on top to give them room in case I can't get over soon enough for them. I put alternating drawn comb and empty foundationless frames in that box.

The next day a man from Indiana came and wanted to see the Long Hive, so we opened it again. They were still grumpy and he did get stung, so we closed it up. On Saturday, I cancelled the field day due to rain, but a couple of ladies didn't get the message in time and showed up. Since the rain stopped just around one, we did open the hives briefly. The Long Hive struck again and one of the ladies got stung. Like I said, I hope it will be a little calmer in a few weeks. I didn't have my smoker either time, I was in a hurry. I will bring it next time.