Looking Good

Well it finally warmed up into the mid to high 60's so I decided to remove the empty packages from the hives and insert the 5 remaining frames. I used the smoker for the first time but barely used it. I didn't know what they would do since they don't have any honey to eat. They say when you use the smoker they start eating a lot of honey thinking that their hive might be on fire and they may need to escape the fire. Since they eat a lot of honey they become lazy - just like us at Thanksgiving. This allows the bees to stay calm while the beekeeper works them. Even though I used the smoke sparingly they were very docile. Hopefully I have some very non aggressive bees. Both hives seem to be doing very well - They are both very active and actually Maddy is a little more active than Sam is. They are both drinking their sugar water and are going through 3/4 of a quart per day. When I looked into the hive I couldn't tell if they had started making wax yet but I will check it out this Saturday. That will give them 1 whole week since I inserted the bees. Hopefuly I will be able to see the queen and make sure she has escaped the container she came in. The place I bought the bees from did not mark the quees so it is going to be tough. I may get my instructor to come out to my house and see if he can find her and mark her for me.