First Observations as a New Beekeeper - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 50

Isawimmediately that the sugarcorkhadbeen eaten away entirely,andpeering into
the tiny cage, I could see no one was left inside. My queen had been released into her
castle, and her attendants had joined her. I placed the empty cage, with the burr comb
stillattached,tothesidesoasnottodamageit.Itwouldbethefirstofmanybeekeeping
specimens that I would acquire and save.
Now it was time for me to remove a few frames and see if the bees had drawn out
the beeswax foundation into cells. Frames number four or six were good choices since
they were on either side of where the queen cage had hung. And, it is in the middle of
the hive body where the bees generally cluster and the queen begins laying eggs. Using
my hive tool, I first gently pried the outermost frame away from the others and placed
it on the grass. Then, gently sliding the other frames to the side, I lifted the sixth frame
fromthehiveandhelditatafive-degreeangletothesun,justlikeMr.Bhadtaughtme.
I could see that the foundation had been drawn out into beautiful, pure white cells, and
theywerealreadyfilledwithashimmering,clearliquidthatwasobviouslynectar.Bees
build the cells at a five-degree angle to the beeswax foundation, which makes it tricky
for beekeepers to spot the new eggs. But if you hold the frame at the correct angle to
the sun, you can spot the eggs, which should be sitting at the bottom of the cells. Star-
ing closely at those cells and maneuvering the frame till the sun hit it just right, I could
finally see the practically microscopic eggs. My queen had begun laying in the center
of the frame in the typical oval pattern that I recognized as the brood nest. A single egg
wasplacedinsideofeachcell,andshehadbarelymissedacellalongtheway.Thiscon-
sistency is the sign of a good, full brood pattern. Missing more than a few cells would
have created a spotty laying pattern, which could mean a queen that was old or failing.
Above the brood nest was an arc of cells that held a spectrum of colored pol-
len—yellow,gold,brown,somewithagreenishtint,andevenred—eachrepresentinga
distinctivespeciesofplant.Betweenthepollenandthetopbaroftheframewerefreshly
capped cells filled with honey.
Severalbeescrawledonmysleevesandaroundthetopoftheframeswithoutpaying
me much mind. Their faint buzzing allowed me to remain calm and work quickly. As I
wasabouttoreplacethespacewherethequeencagehungwiththefifthframe,Inoticed
a group of bees were festooning , an adorable behavior in which the bees hang on to one
another, creating a chain across the space between the two frames. I was sorry to have
to insert the missing frame, because when I did, the chain of bees disbanded. I added
my feeder box on top and refilled it with more sugar-water solution, being careful not
tospilladrop.Sugarleftaroundthehivecouldinvitevisitorslikehungryraccoonsand,
in some parts of my state, bears. Now that my inspection was complete, I closed up my
hive and let my bees return to work.