July 9th 2023

Jul 9

Beekeepers Wife (Officially!!) Log: The bees are happy and active. We didn’t bug them very much but we did check on honey production. The top box is mostly capped which means they’ve sealed honey into the honey comb. The middle box is about a quarter sealed and they seem to be filling from the back of the box to the front instead of from the center out like we expected.

These ladies are pretty saucy, they flew around our faces whenever we moved the boxes or frames. No stings or anything, but they definitely buzzed at us to let us know they didn’t appreciate our nosiness.

We added an insulating spacer to the top which will help with ventilation in the heat of July and August. In the winter we will fill the spacer with wood shavings to help keep them warm.

That’s all until August. The bees won’t need us to check on them so the next time we see them is probably around harvest time! I’m excited to try our honey and experiment with beeswax candle making

Some of the frames have cross comb on them. I always enjoy the free form building and I’m curious to see a free form hive, even if Mason says it’s a bad idea from a management perspective.

One of the empty frames is almost entirely full! They’re beginning to cap it in the middle but I want to see if they will fill the whole frame with honeycomb by the end of the summer.

Close up of the empty frame

This frame is almost entirely capped! The boxes are getting heavier and harder to lift will all this honey inside. Mason guesses the top box is around 40lbs now