Busy bees

Bees are buzzing, sun is shining, wind is whistling - a glorious day in the Bay. A lovely 18 degrees ☀ It's been 2 weeks since we put our nucleus into our hives. Lots has happened. They have expanded into 3 new frames, total of 8 frames now. I have 4.5 frames of brood, some open, some capped, nectar, honey & an amazing frame of pollen. I saw my queen, she moves very fast & is as busy as ever. Topped up the internal feeder with another 2L of 66% inverted sugar syrup. Being a growing colony I opened up the entrance futher blocking about 1/3 with grass - it's open to 2/3 now. No sign of diseases in my hive which is brilliant. I am expecing to be able to super up in about 2-3 weeks.

I am getting the hang of the smoker.. there have been no fires! Dried Pine needles are fantastic to light and burn and pine cones are brilliant to pack in between the pine needles to keep it burning longer. You will often find the smoke will be too hot which is harmful to the bees. That's easily fixed, add some grass ontop & this cools it down. Although not too much grass because it can kill the smoker - oops!!