Today was sunny and gorgeous, perfect weather for my third hive inspection. As usual, I was little nervous at first, but it is amazing how "docile" these bees are. Sure their buzzing increases in volume when I take out a frame full of brood and they all fly up and about, but no one stings. And the girls are doing fantastic. They are averaging construction of two frames per week; next Sunday I will need to add more foundation with a second hive body. Lots of capped brood too - the queen is busy. Of course the field bees have one main focus, gathering nectar and pollen. I tried to get a photo but they move too fast so I took a few seconds of video instead. I was able to stand within a foot of the side of the hive without being bothered. Loved the last bee in the video; she left the hive so fast she flipped over before takeoff.
I don't know where they go. I expected they would be all over the wildflower border directly west of the hive, but it seems to be more attractive to butterflies. I haven't seen many bees in the clover either, but I have seen more than usual. I left the clover as long as I could, but the grass eventually got too tall to ignore. We'll see how they like the echinacea when it blooms next.
It was also a perfect day to get the young silkies out on grass. The two pictured below are from show stock. I think one is a boy and the other a girl. I've named the girl "Priscilla" and the boy is "Chardonnay." Chardonnay is the bigger of the two.
Our mouser had to get in on the act too. Supervising.
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