Post winter Bee hive inspections!
Welcome! Today was an exciting day, we opened up all three hives and inspected them to see how healthy they were. Each one was different. We started by gathering materials and starting up the bee smoker. That helps drive the bees down into the hive and away from your hands and tools. The other item is the hive tool, which you can see will come in very handy for Louise. After removing the protective insulation, we looked to see what the bees were doing on each frame of beeswax. This is the video I shared on Facebook of the initial inspection. The second hive was a little different, as you can see here. The bees were staying in the top box, and not using the lower entrance, so Louise was trying to explain what happens then. This one had a bit of an infestation of ants, which apparently isn’t bothering Louise so it must be ok. In this hive, Louise moved around the brood and the feeder frames to make optimal growing space to for the bees. The bottom frames were
