27 April 2011

another bee update

We checked on the bees today, and while there was more comb failure (falling off the top bar), the new comb they were building and tied-on comb they were reattaching seemed much straighter and more parallel to the bars! We left the fallen comb in the hive for now, but will retrieve it on Friday when we plan to inspect again.

As for why they're building crooked, it was suggested to me that we needed taller guides on our top bars, as much as 1/2 inch high. Paul and his dad made the bars with a small channel cut into the middle of each one, for us to fill with a small strip of wax. The wax is basically flush to the wood, but I guess it needs to stick out more to give the bees an idea. We have some extra bars, so I'm going to either add more wax or somehow remove the wax from the channel and glue in a thin strip of wood, maybe popsicle sticks, and then coat that with wax.

Still not positive we have a living queen, but we're going to wait another week or so before taking action in that department...

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