Checking the Hive

Over the long weekend Matua Trigg came in to help us open up the hive to check for potential swarms and to look at the general health of our hive. What a buzz it was for me!! Our bee suits had just arrived on Friday, so I put mine on and watched what Matua Trigg did to check the hive. First he pulled all the layers off to expose the frames. I could't believe how many bees were in there! He then pulled out each frame to check them and pointed out the brood cells (where the eggs have been laid - they are the browny coloured cells), the pollen cells and nectar cells. A very healthy mix of all three. He lifted each frame until we found the queen. She is like a tank, pushing through the worker bees and much easier to spot than I thought. Can you spot her in the video? He then put the hive back together and closed it up. Apparently we are ready for 2 more frames and a honey box to put on top. Very exciting stuff. I can't wait to be confident to do it by myself with the kids helping! Thanks heaps Trigg!