A little smoke helps mask any attack scent that bees may send if they feel we are invading their hive. Smoke a little, wait a few minutes for them to pass the scent around, then open and go in.
















We removed the queen's cage and were quite pleased to see that she and her attendants had escaped. The workers ate their way to the queen through a block of hard sugar candy. During the time that they were working to free her they were also "bonding." She passed on her pheromones which are now the scent of the colony. They will identify one another with this scent. Hopefully she is now busy laying ~1500 eggs a day.












This is the Feeder that contains several gallons of sugar water. The bees will feed on this until they can build up their own stores of nectar and pollen. They crawl up into the area with the screen to access the sugar water, then carry it back into the hive body.










This is some wax comb that the honey bees built near the queen. We removed it so they will build in the frames. Very nice wax and it had some sugar water in it and the beginning of honey.



We have two new hives. The one in these pictures has fewer bees and is not as strong and the other hive. The bees are building comb and we see them bringing pollen into the hive. It is our hope that both hives will be strong.

Next look will be in about one week and we will look for eggs and larvae.