Inspection Pics

estreya said:

JW, i'm just looking more closely at that last picture which so beautifully captures the "stores on top of the frames" that are almost a discernible stripe against the wood. I'm curious about exactly what that "stripe" consists of. In the upper right, there seems to be a collection of clear fluid, which i'm assuming is either nectar or stored syrup? Is that correct? Are the darker cells pollen, or simply nectar that's been cured enough to call it honey? Bee bread, maybe?

I SHOULD know all this, i know, and it's a little embarrassing to ask. But these are the questions of a fledgeling beekeeper! I beg your indulgence ...

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It is either nectar or syrup. We haven't fed this hive for probably about two weeks. My assumption is that it's nectar but can't be sure. There are some cells that have darker liquid and the cells they were capping looked like "honey". Otherwise it's pollen in the darker cells. The "empty" cells throughout the capped brood are filled with nectar/syrup and they're a little darker color, but that could be because they're surrounded by solid brood and less light is getting in. If you notice one side of the comb doesn't have capped brood, but it had young larva and eggs. In person it's significantly lighter than the portion that's capped (so they must have fairly recently filled it out. There was a comb in the front that was very yellow on one half and white on the other. Larva in the yellow part and eggs in the white part. It's like she's following them around laying the second they start a cell.

Seems like in the top band it's nectar topmost and pollen under then the brood starts. They do have a comb near the front that is pretty much mostly pollen with some nectar. But in the cells they didn't fill with pollen, she has laid eggs in.

And I'm a new beekeeper too, this is my first year. But I was around when my grandpa and dad were doing it. I just sent a text to my grandma to ask her what year grandpa started and if she knew when he stopped. I don't know when tracheal mites first became a major issue, but I recall dad talking about it and I believe that was the reason they'd quit. They just couldn't keep hives alive.

The smoker had an attachment that grandpa put on the back of the bellows. I assume so that he could hang it on his belt and puff it as needed without having to worry about picking it back up. My brother wears his old painter's coveralls when we inspect. We've reused some of his feeding equipment and there's a few homemade entrance feeders that he made as well. We also use grandpa's hive tool, which is just a piece of flat metal that he bent into an L and sharpened the edges of... He really really really enjoyed his bees. Dad was telling me today that he would never put two new supers on a hive at the same time. Dad said that grandpa had a reasonable explanation of why, but dad suspected it was mostly because it gave him an excuse to go check on them again sooner.

Fond memories of cool fall days spent uncapping honey and spinning frames with the wood burning stove going. His extractor is still in my grandma's basement. If we expand beyond our currently built hives (four 4' top bars with 4 matching 12 bar nucs) we will probably go with Langs and make use of his extractor.

estreya said:

What wonderful exposure to have had as a young child, and how great your grandmother must feel to see all that old equipment put to use again (And your grandmother knows how to text? Good on her!). And thanks for the explanation about the stores. I think understanding the contents of the cells is a skill i'll develop over time. Someone said on another thread here once that you have to "develop the eyes" for spotting eggs. That doesn't seem to be an issue for me, but i'll be darned if i can figure out the difference between honey, nectar, pollen, bee bread, etc. ...

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A few hours after I asked, my grandma sent me the following email:
* Hi Jake,* Nears as I can tell, your G'pa started getting interested in beekeeping around 1975.* Ordered bee things from M.C.Berry and Sons from down south.* He ordered 3 pkgs of bees/queen for $70.20 -- in 1985 he ordered pound of bees and bred queen for $19.50 and I found where he had to have single queens sent twice in one year ($5.60 & $4.90).*** I found a notation in an old check stub where I deposited $120 into checking so he could get two bee hives in 1986 -I didn't put much info there so don't know if bees included.* He purchased all new foundation in 1987 but I can remember he didn't use much of it as he burnt it when he was burning the hives as couldn't keep them alive over winter.* It looked like he helped a couple co-workers set up hives and used to go help them work the hives.* There are a*few pics in old albums of his hives on garage roof, 4 out to my Dad's farm, Sue and & Nancy's *red/white/ blue one down along side the garage and a*few pics of swarms he must of captured.* I think at one time your Dad had hives over to his house but wouldn't stay alive there either.* Your Uncle John had hives somewhere in country when he lived in Iowa City, got so many stings one morning before work, had to drive himself to ER for* treatment and never worked bees again.* Don't remember what happened to those bees.* Your Dad remembers going with us to an old beekeeper in Camanche needing help as called his bees 'killers' and believe me*they were mean.* They encased the hive with plastic till they all died.* In time, I*started reacting to stings and your G'pa had to cut my wedding ring*off my finger with a bolt cutter as really nailed me when I accidentally bumped S&N's hive with the lawnmower.** Your g'pa bought 1 complete hive with bees and queen from a keeper in Charlotte is how he got started and then the next year is when he ordered enough bees for 3 hives.* Think at his peak he might have had 7 hives but that was way too much work.* Hope this helps some.* Makes me feel good you and Nick are working bees now.* Love you G'ma Ardean*