Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mothers day and baby chicks

I didn't plan for the chicks to hatch on Mother's Day, but it seems fitting. Yesterday, I could hear peeping coming from under Goldie, when I would listen carefully. I read that you could hear them before hatching, but was still surprised. Today I lifted her up (quickly and gently, and yeah I know I shouldn't) and found four hatched chicks. This one was already dry and didn't have a milk tooth. Maybe she had already hatched yesterday, and that is what I was hearing. Three more were brand new, wet chicks. One doesn't look like it's going to make it, but maybe it had just hatched and weak from the fight with the shell. It's been nerve wracking not being able to see what's going on.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Wild comb

I ran into this wild comb today when I was on a consultation job. The owner had put a quart feeder jar on the frames of the the deep below and then added 3 frames of foundation. The bees, for whatever reason, didn't like the frames and had only started to work one side of one frame. There was signs of a recent supersedure, no eggs were spotted, so I'm hoping that a virgin queen is there and just hasn't laid yet. I looked for her, but just didn't see her. The box below contained some capped brood and honey. Lots of empty, drawn comb they could have used.