2010-12-13 The Girls are workin'....

It's been awhile since I last checked the hive, but I was sure the girls had been working hard. The weather had been tropical and rainy for the last few weekends, but the girls had been out and about.

 This is the Melaleuca (?) in the back yard , which has just started flowering, and the tree was buzzing with bees all day.

Not the most cooperative subject to photograph,,,

The ball of bees that had been hanging around at the entry had thinned out, I was a little worried that they may have swarmed, but there were still loads of bees in there.

Jazmina helped me out this time. Thanks !

 Some weird grainy stuff under the hive mat at the very top, I thought it was some kind of grubs, but I could see no holes. Propolis? dunno. hmmmm.

 Top box had lots of honey, probably could harvest about 5 or 6 of the frames right now..... if a had a spinner...
The top box weighed an absolute ton, that honey sure is heavy.

 The other side of the same frame. This one was right on the side of the box, almost completely capped one side, almost completely uncapped on the other side.

 Burr comb vetween the two top boxes.

 The girls having a last snack before I took way the burrs.

 All that work welding those frames together, about to come undone...

 Down in the brood box, lots of bees

 Same frame, with bees shaken off.

On this frame only we found some swarm cells, scraped them off.

 Behold the newborn drones. Welcome to Metropolis, boys!
You can see some of the grubs here, at the top of the picture and in the middle.
We didn't see the queen, and I couldn't be sure if I saw eggs, the light was not great.

I took some spoons out, we scooped out a spoon each off the frame, put them in a bee-tight container, and ate it straight away, or at least as soon as we'd de-suited and got inside. Still warm. Sweet  Northcote honey, quite mild, awesome.

Can't wait for a proper harvest.