Our honeybees have been hard at work for the last few weeks, and the honey is coming on strong! The weather has been warm and dry (except for the last two days), and even our volunteer sunflower has started to bloom. I’ve fallen so in love with this sunflower, that I plan to plant a whole row of them in the yard next summer.

But before I get too distracted talking about flowers, let’s get back to the bees.

Since my last update, you’ll notice that The Renaissance Man has added another honey super (the top box) to the Noir Hive. The Noir hive has a much larger bee population and has almost completely filled the bottom honey super.

Don’t you just love a man in a bee suit?

Speaking of bee suit, I’ve had a few folks ask if I wear one when taking pictures. I’ve thought about getting one, but I also like living on the edge. Although, our bees are pretty docile, so it’s more like living on the sidewalk. I typically just stay on the backside of the hives when The Renaissance Man is pulling frames, and I back off if the hive starts to get agitated.

If you were watching in person you’d hear me calling out “Can you bring that frame closer?” or “Move that way, I need better light.” I owe a thanks to The Renaissance Man for being patient and indulging my photography.

When we take off the roof to check on the frames, The Renaissance Man always removes one frame and sits it on the ground outside the hive while he carefully lifts out each one of the remaining frames.

The process goes something like this…lift out a frame, check it front and back for irregularities, set it back in the box and slide it over. You have to be carful when pulling out the frames so that you don’t “peel off” the bees that are working away on the honeycomb. We don’t want any smooshed bees!

The frame below is about half full with honey. The cells at the top of the frame have been capped, and the rest will be capped once they’re full. The smell of honey is intoxicating, all I want to do is breath deep and I can hardly wait to bite into some fresh honeycomb!

I think this might be one of my favorite pictures. It has capped honey cells on the left, and honeycomb being filled up on the right. Just look at our beautiful ladies working away!

After checking the honey supers, The Renaissance Man removed the top box, and moved down to the brood boxes where the larva production takes place. In addition to producing more honeybees, the worker bees are also storing honey in the brood frames. They’ll use this honey to sustain themselves through the winter. Almost a third of all brood frames are filled with honey.

Taking a hard look…where is that Queen Bee anyway?

Did you happen to see our new addition? We owe a big thank you to The Renaissance Man’s Grandparents who sent us this fantastic sign. Bee crossing indeed!

Stats to Date:

• Noir Hive (On the Left) – two brood boxes, two honey supers
• Gris Hive (On the Right) – two brood boxes, one honey super
• Bee Stings – Two, both received by The Renaissance Man
• Friends and Family that want Honey – Too many to count!