Last year was my first year with bees. I was a little nervous and didn't want to bother them too much. A friend of mine hasn't had bees make it through the winter and thought he disturbed them too much so I didn't want to make that mistake.
My bees made it through the winter and seem to be doing great, they swarmed 3 times, I kept two swarms and had to pass the last one along due to not wanting to scare the neighbors.
My original hive consistyed of 2 deeps, and I had planned to have a second hive of 2 deeps as well. I didn't have frames and was totally unprepared for swarming so the first swarm went into 2 mediums. The third and fourth both went into single deepd, its all the equipment I had and was scrambling to find something to put them in.
I checked the original hive last week, opening up the bottom for the first time, there is a lot of what I will call irregular comb, almost like tunnels and ripples on some of the frames. There appears to be quite a bit of honey and some good brood patterns in both deeps. I pulled two outside frames that were loaded with honey, capped and there was still a lot of honey between the two boxes. I didn't see any eggs but there was some larva and an awful lot of bees.
Yesterday I looked at the two other hives and they have almost filled every frame, I have new ones ordered and am expecting them any day now, looking forward to having a good harvest this year.
My questions are how often should I look at a hive? Is the rippled comb normal? What are swarm cells? I am sure there are more, but I don't always know what to ask.
Great Day
My bees made it through the winter and seem to be doing great, they swarmed 3 times, I kept two swarms and had to pass the last one along due to not wanting to scare the neighbors.
My original hive consistyed of 2 deeps, and I had planned to have a second hive of 2 deeps as well. I didn't have frames and was totally unprepared for swarming so the first swarm went into 2 mediums. The third and fourth both went into single deepd, its all the equipment I had and was scrambling to find something to put them in.
I checked the original hive last week, opening up the bottom for the first time, there is a lot of what I will call irregular comb, almost like tunnels and ripples on some of the frames. There appears to be quite a bit of honey and some good brood patterns in both deeps. I pulled two outside frames that were loaded with honey, capped and there was still a lot of honey between the two boxes. I didn't see any eggs but there was some larva and an awful lot of bees.
Yesterday I looked at the two other hives and they have almost filled every frame, I have new ones ordered and am expecting them any day now, looking forward to having a good harvest this year.
My questions are how often should I look at a hive? Is the rippled comb normal? What are swarm cells? I am sure there are more, but I don't always know what to ask.
Great Day