“We’ll try to hold off as long as we can. We’re crossing our fingers.” Mark Sexton

Bee Log: Day 3

Inspection

Weather: 75

Blooming: Roses, Dewberry

Combs: Comb on Bars 1 & 2.  Large 6×6 on bar 1 (angled), smaller 4×2 on bar 2.  Queen is not out of cage yet although they are definitely freeing her, should be out by next weekend. Because I didn’t follow instruction (or at least misunderstood) when installing the queen cage, they build the larger comb at an angle parallel to the queen cage, so I cut that down. Had problems reattaching the comb (it’s like jello) so properly attached queen cage so that comb is built straight and put the cut comb on the hive floor for reuse. Comb on bar 2 is straight

No brood yet since queen is not out, comb is being filled with nectar, comb is completely white since it’s being built with the sugar that I’m feeding them. Bees were pretty ticked off that I was fooling around with the hive. I still haven’t smoked any of them. Haven’t been stung yet, haven’t even seen evidence that the suit has been stung. Refilled feeder once, they had emptied completely after installation while I was at work yesterday.

Also marked the ends of all bars on one side to designate direction of installation.

Swarming: N/A

Queen Issues: None, she’s still in the cage, confirmed that they’ve almost freed her. There’s a bee in there with her which must be a caretaker bee, but I didn’t see him in there before. The hole in the plug may be big enough that one could have gotten in?

Celebratory Beer: Abita Purple Haze