Our lovely colony in our top bar hive is thriving. Calm is now the norm for me when opening the hive and refilling the feeder. You feed new colonies because they need the help getting started off well. This is because the new set up happens between big blooms, and without a lot of blooming plants close-by, the colony might starve before it can get things rolling.

I discovered the right sort of canning jars for the feeder at Tractor Supply. I did not know that Tractor Supply carried supplies for canning! This gives me plenty of jars for the bee feeders and I can make up bulk amounts of the feed, fill the jars, seal them, put them in the refrigerator, and speed up refills of the feeder! I am VERY happy with this.

Learning curve is steep. I know to leave the comb alone now that we know the queen is good and laying well. I have photos of comb!

Our colony is considered a very gentle one. There is no hostility at all when I open up the hive to inspect. A couple of puffs of smoke at their door to be sure, and easy work.

I’m starting to enjoy my forays into the bee yard. This is mostly due to our bees being amazingly gentle.

Now, I have found a couple of beetles between the roof of the top bars and the rain lid. I need to find out what sort of trap I need to place in that space to handle the problem. The little beekeeper squashed one of the beetles– so there is one less for the bees to have to manage.

Dear Lord, thank You for the bees. +Amen.