I couldn’t get out at lunch, but the weather was so nice in Central Virginia (when I got home from work) that I decided to give them a quick, late afternoon check. I was only going to break a few frames out of the top deep, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.

The swarm has definitely started to make a little progress on the top deep. They had tear drop-shaped sections of about 3 frames (both sides) drawn and capped with honey. Although the Albo hive had started to work on their honey super at the bottom of the super, this hive started at the top (of the Deep). The sections probably take up about a third of each frame face. Also, a fair amount of each frame also had a lot of area that they were just starting to draw out and (rarely) store a little nectar in.

Once again, these bees did not sting me, but they are definitely on edge. They are nowhere near as gentle as my two purchased, 1 year old hives. There is always a bee checking me out and she rarely bores of this task (unlike the two other hives, where they go back to work after buzzing around me for 15 seconds or so.) I did not use any smoke this time, but was a bit nervous with my shorts on. I am probably being too paranoid about these bees, but they keep the adrenaline flowing!

Put a gallon and a half of syrup in the top feeder and left them be. I must say, they have a ton of bees inside the hive, although they do not have anywhere near the amount of traffic that I see at the Albo and Geronimo hives. I’ll check them again next week. I would sort of like to actually find the queen, just to get a look at her (some folks claimed that the reason that the swarm was on the ground was because the old gal couldn’t fly – I’d like to see if I can actually see some evidence of this problem.)