I set out to do the 4th hive inspection today accompanied by my dear friend Christopher, after too much rum from the night before. Since it was his wife was the one who got me interested in this unusual hobby, I thought it was only fitting to drag him along, for his photographic skills if nothing else.
Upon opening up the inner cover, I was trilled to see the ladies building new comb on the upper super I had added two weeks ago. While I have always been told that bees build comb down from the top, and usually along the lines of the frame, they are building it up from the bottom, and across the frames as the picture shows. Since I don’t plan on harvesting any honey from the new super, leaving it instead to fill with honey and brood, having this crazy comb design seems fine by me. As long as the bees think it’s a good idea, who am I to question their logic?
Unfortunately this means I can’t pull apart the frames for a full inspection without tearing their newly minted comb, so this means the inspection was a short, but positive one. I was able to pull out just two frames to let Christopher take a few pictures of their progress. And yes, they were busy as bees.