Questions fron a new bekeeper.

[dmiller]

Ok, I opened up the hive today to see how hings are going. Here is what I found. I have 4 - med, 8 frame boxes.
The lowest, 1st box, is about 60-70% full. There are 3 frames that have either been cleaned out or were not used. This has been consitant from the first month ofthe spring season. A few cells are capped and you can see brood in other cells. The bee count is slightly less that the 2nd , 3rd and 4th supers which are just packes with bees. There is a dark brown half moon shape pattern to the frames. The weight of the brood box is probably half of the honey super.

The 2nd box is 75% brood. All the frames are filled out with activity. Again you can see the 1/2 moon shape with dark brown brood in various stages. This box is vigirous with bees. About 50% are capped the rest uncapped. There were a lot of bees with thier heads in the cells. I suppose they were cleaning them for future use.

The 3rd super has 75% of the frames filled with uncapped honey. There were 2 frames that were way behind in production. There was a a silver-white covering over 50% of the frames surface. About 25% of the surface were open cells with honey and 25% were capped cells. The weight increased in this box but not too heavy.

The top honey super is full and quite heavy. I would say 95% filled with honey. The surface of the frames is a silver -white over 50% of the frame surface, which I assume is new wax to start capping it off. The other 50% surface space is open honey. It's beautiful.

I had SHB a few weeks ago. Placed some traps in but today saw very little evidece they are present. The traps had only 5-8 beetles in them for a months time. I guess they are working.

Does this sound typical for a first year hive? Do you see any problems that I don't see from my descriptions?

dmiller

[Jacobs]

Things sound good from what I am reading. Have you thought about having one of us GCBA "mentors" go through your hive with you? That's what we are here for.

[ski]

It does sound ok. It would be nice to hear that eggs and or larvae were seen indicating that the queen is still present. Would echo what Rob wrote about taking advantage of the available mentors.

[dmiller]

I would love for someone to visit with me. I'm around the house this week due to some time off. But what is your schedule?
You can reach me at 336-601-1503.

dmiller

[Jacobs]

How is Friday morning for you (weather permitting)?

[dmiller]

Friday morning would be perfect. Let me know what time would be good for you. You can call me for directions.

dmiller