Episode 5: A Mess (Amateur Hour at the Hive)

I feel like I deserve a failing blogger award. I have wanted to update more frequently, just as I have wanted to visit my bees more frequently in these recent days, but it is one of many things on a long to-do list.
I went to check on the hive this past Monday, and it had been about two weeks since my last inspection. At the last inspection, there was a definite increase in cross-combing. I was not able to pull out bars 1-3, and I had a  hard time with the rest and damaged some comb in the process.
I didn't get to the hive on Monday until the evening hours, so I was a bit worried that the bees would be unhappy. After my last experience, though, I read on a forum that if you remove a lot of bars at a time, it causes more agitation for the bees. I think that may have been part of my problem. So this time, I pulled out one bar to make a little space, and the bees seemed much happier about it. Earlier in the day, I witnessed more activity at the hive entrance than I have ever seen. There were a lot of bees that seemed to be hovering around the entrance. I wonder (and hope) that this was a group of newly born bees on an orientation flight. By the time I went to open the hive, things had calmed down, but I was a little worried that things were getting cramped and that the bees needed more space. There were still three empty bars before my follower board, so I don't think that was it. I pulled out the first bar with comb and saw some capped drone brood. Every time I see drones or drone brood, I worry a little that my hive is queenless and I have laying workers, but I don't think they would be making so much progress if that was the case. And even if it was, they will make a new queen anyway. (Right? I hope...)
The second to last bar with comb was harder to remove, and in my clumsiness, it slipped off of one side and started falling down into the hive. I had to use my hive tool to get it back out and killed a couple bees in the process. I always feel bad about that. This also made me understand why people work their bees without gloves. As much as I appreciate the security of the gloves (and the fact that I would have been stung in the hand last time had it not been for them), they are way too big for my hands and make it a lot harder for me to feel what I am touching. So far, I've managed to shed my multiple layers of clothing, and I'm down to a pair of jeans (no leggings beneath) and a tank top under my bee jacket and veil. I could probably get stung in the leg if the bees really wanted to do that, but so far, so good.
Back to that bar I almost dropped... I pulled it out and there were two separate combs on it, both at an angle. One was broken off of a bigger comb from the next bar. Nectar was dripping out. Bees were annoyed. I put the bar back in. Crap. When I went to the next bar, I saw that it had the same problem, only exponentially worse. Both pieces of comb were attached to the next bar. At that point I sort of gave it up and decided I have to get those guides on the bars as soon as possible, or pretty soon I'm not going to be able to look at anything because they'll all be stuck together. I pulled out all the bars behind my follower board and set them aside before closing up the hive.(Side note: during this inspection, there were a lot of bees poking around in this area which is technically closed off to them. Not sure what they are doing. There was no comb but there was some propolis on the bars.) Yesterday I bought 75 large popsicle sticks. I'm going to glue them to the boards and then paint them with beeswax. I think I also need to cut off some existing comb and re-attach it to one of the bars. I need to find a hair clip to do this. I think I might make a video when I do, for your amusement, of course. Maybe something like this, except I'll be wearing my oversize gloves:

I promise my video, if I make one, will be better than this. You can't see anything he actually does with the comb on camera, but the part around the 12:30 mark where he's messing with the comb and it  falls off the bar sort of made me feel better about myself. 

In summary... Sighted on this inspection: workers, drones, capped drone brood, pollen stores, nectar stores, honey (?), friendly neighbors watching me work the hive. Not sighted: the queen (hiding, or absent, as usual), worker brood of any kind (probably because I couldn't get more bars out.) Need to do: put guides on remaining bars, cut out one comb and re-attach straight, continue to beg bees to not cross comb the entire hive.
Lesson learned: need to address these things earlier. I thought I had more time, but my bees are efficient and now I have an even bigger mess.

Do I look like I know what I'm doing?

Photo by Marc D.M. Croswell

If Bach Had Been A Beekeeper

Charles Tomlinson

If Bach had been a beekeeper

he would have heard

all those notes

suspended above one another

in the air of his ear

as the differentiated swarm returning

to the exact hive,

topping up the cells

with the honey of C major,

food for the listening generations, 

key to their comfort

and solace of their distress

as they return and return

to those counterpointed levels

of hovering wings where

movement is dance

and the air itself

a scented garden