Bee Update

The First 20 Days Post-Installation

5/20/25 - Propolis (dark orange) and honey (uneven, light yellow/white) cells. Photos: L.Weikel

While this isn’t an up-to-date update (yeah, I agree, sounds oxymoronic), I want to be accurate in documenting how our beehive has progressed. So let me provide you with a timeline that will help make these posts make sense, while documenting the progression of how the bees ‘buildout’ their hive.

I didn’t even reveal to you that we had embarked on this beekeeping adventure until June. So I was already a good seven weeks ‘behind,’ right from the start. (And I promise I’ll try to resist all temptations to make dumb little ‘bee’ references when I use words that contain ‘be’ in them. But no guarantees. Every once in a while, I may succumb. I’m human.)

To quickly recap:

Tuesday, 4/29/25: Purchase the materials to build the boxes to make a hive (brood box and supers).

Wednesday, 4/30/25: Build the boxes and paint the outside of the hive boxes with special boat paint recommended by our ‘bee guy’. Also pick up our ‘bee package’ and bring it home, keeping it in the back of the car overnight.

Thursday, 5/1/25: Install the bee package into the hive.

We were told to let the bees do their bee thing and not pester them by checking on them too soon or too often (overall). So we refrained from checking on them.

Tuesday, 5/6/25: Check on the bees and feed them 2 quarts of nectar (a 1:1 concoction of sugar and boiled water). All looks good, queen is laying eggs and making babies. Bees seem happy.

The weather is awful (for bees, especially) this week. So much rain. So much wind. Temperatures sometimes in low 40s and 50s - are definitely unpleasant for bees, who prefer 60 degrees and higher. They also dislike wind.

Friday, 5/16/25: Quick check on the bees to make sure the queen is still laying eggs. They look great – although I can’t find the queen. Feed them another 2 quarts of nectar. I still haven’t mastered how to ‘smoke’ them – not sure of the best materials to use to get the smoker going and I’m just overall nervous about adding that aspect to a hive check. However, I get my first sting that day (just one), which tells me I need to figure it out.

Tuesday, 5/20/25: 20 days post-installation of the bee package.

Feed the bees again – another 2 qts. of syrup. Today is the first day of really warm sunshine and little wind, and I managed to snag some photos of what the bees are doing in the hive. They looked great to me:

5/20/25 - Propolis (dark orange) and honey (whitish capped cells at the bottom of the frame).

5/20/25 - Closeup of propolis storage, plus I believe those are eggs in the cells toward the top. For reference, the foundation of the frame upon which the bees are building their hive cells is black, which makes it a bit easier to see what’s happening inside the cells.

5/20/25 - Excited to see ‘capped brood’ (yellowish brown capped cells). These contain the pupae that transform into adult bees, which then emerge from the cells. White at top of frame (by my gloved thumb) is honey.

5/20/25 - View of frame from another angle. Odd shaped thing on left is ‘burr comb”

5/20/25 - Closeup of everything on this particular frame. I *think* the bright dots inside the cells toward the top of the photo (beside the honey cells and above the propolis) are eggs. While I don’t see larvae in any of these cells, the darker yellow/brown capped cells have developing pupae in them.

I can’t stress enough how challenging it is to try to take photos up close while handling the frames. They’re heavier than you might expect - and it’s just a tad unnerving to have all these bees walking around on the frame and not worry that I’m going to upset them.

Hopefully these photos give you an idea of what our hive looked like after 20 days of the bees getting acclimated to their new home.