Fresh Egg's Farm...Population 35,062

Well, it appears that, for now, the gang is all here. We've had our honeybees here for just over a week and they seem to be settling well. One hive is doing significantly better than the other. It does make me worried that we may have lost the queen in the one that isn't doing so well. Twice we've taken the frames out of the hives, one by one, searching for her and cleaning as we go - today we even took photos of the frames and some of the bees to show what we are seeing - I'll share those below. Just because we haven't seen her, doesn't mean that she isn't there - it just means that we haven't spotted her, that said, I don't notice much of a brood pattern either. Unfortunately we aren't going to be able to go to our beekeeping meeting this Thurs because we are going to Drake's concert (which is VERY fortunate) - so I think that to ease my mind, I'll write an email to our association leader and see if he has any input. If any of you keep bees and have any suggestions, that would be wonderful.

As first time beekeepers, everything is new to us. That said, this looks strange. Rather than each cell being individually capped, There is like a blanket of capping material.

Same frame as above - notice that lighter colored bee?? I don't know if that is normal or not...could it be a baby bee?

Same hive, different frame...notice anything? If you are a beekeeper, you'll likely notice that there isn't much brood (babies) - just a few scattered capped cells. AND there aren't many bees. I mean, there is a decent amount, it's just not loaded with bees (like some of the other frames from our other hive). I feel like this hive needs some help...I'm just not sure how to give it the boost that it needs. This is a question for our beekeeping veterans.

As we got closer to the center of the hive we saw more and more bees...but still did not compare to the other hive.

Here is a frame, from the same hive - more brood is on there, more bees too. Hopefully it just needs to build itself up a bit.

I love this picture - you can see capped cells, bees working and feeding the larva, see the white larva in there? Future honey makers...LOVE

Here is a picture from the second hive that is doing SO much better. The queen is in here...do you spot her? Hint :: she is golden in color...longer and thinner than the others...on the right of the picture, half way between the top and bottom.

Now, this is what I'm talking about! Look at all those bees. COVERING the frame. Go bees go!

It might be hard to tell, but this hive has already started to build out the cells on the frames we put in there. Love it. So strong.

Look at all of those bees, covering one of the frames that we put in there.

Hmmmm not sure if this photo does this justice - but you can see lots of different colors - yellows, oranges...so neat.

So the bees are kinda a big deal around here...but they just kinda do their thing. We check on them (and get stung by them...ouch! I got a stung on my head and Mark got one on his arm last time and another on his leg today)...but we let them be, unless they are in need of intervention. Hopefully, the hive that doesn't seem to be doing well will get stronger and we'll just reap the benefits of eating their honey.
There are still SO many other awesome things happening around here. Blossoms and gobbles...Spring is good.

Here is our first strawberry blossom - unfortunately, we needed to pull the blossoms off today, since these are new plants, we aren't supposed to let them grow until after June 1st. We are strawberry blossom killers.

...and with that, I'll leave you with a photo of our turkeys - Well, we now know that at least one of them is a Tom-turkey. Look at him strutting around, feathers all ruffled...and he gobbles REALLY loud. I love having them here...but look forward to eating them.