I have been worried! And...people who know me KNOW that I am a heck of a great worrier. I have not been able to find my QUEEN! Well, actually, I don't know where to look for her. Most of my bees stayed in the cage and I thought that must be where the queen has decided to stay. So, during the time these bees stayed in the cage, they were building honeycomb and I couldn't get the bees out of the entrance because it was blocked with honeycomb. When I read my blogger-friend's blog, she had a bee-friend come over and look at her hive. I decided that was a terrific idea and invited Ben (of Bengela's Bee Hive) over to take a look.
Ben says "YOUR HIVE IS DOING TERRIFIC! IT IS THRIVING!!"
They have eaten all the food we made and are busy building honeycomb INSIDE their cage.
Ben took a piece of honeycomb and put it in my mouth (ick) and said "chew it". It was wonderful. My first mouthful of my own Italian Honeybees' Honey. I loved it.
Ben said that it looks like they have been working so much we should clean the bottom of the hives from all the comb-making activities. So, he did it for me and just about everything else I should have been doing myself, but don't know how to do. ;(
So, it is now evening and all the bees left the cage and have gone into the hive to hang with the Queen that is not lost and has, in fact, inspired her bees to work so hard they will build honeycomb anywhere they can. We brought the cage in and scooped out the comb and are now heating it on a very low heat because in the morning we are making our first beeswax candles and having our first mornings' toast and honey. We can hardly sleep we are so excited.
Thanks again, Ben!
Angie
