Busy bees

The first hive is about three days behind the second in terms of baby bee development. We saw eggs and larvae on multiple combs, and managed to spot the queen before putting the hive back together.

The second hive has eggs, larvae, and capped brood. It has a tiny bit of a bend in the comb, but we can still separate the bars; they just tend to spoon each other a little more than would be ideal. Ideally, I’ll be able to rotate straight comb through both hives to correct the second hive’s curve by the winter.

Both hives are getting sugar water on a regular basis since they started from scratch with no comb. We should be able to stop feeding them in a few weeks once they’ve drawn enough comb to have a surplus of foraged nectar.