Something in the Super!

Although it was late - around 7pm - I thought "let's do it then, old girl" and went off to suit up and battle with That Blasted Smoker. It's been bang on 10 days since my last inspection, and I felt a twinge of trepidation. That made me double up on the gloves and I'm glad I did.

And yet today everything went well. That Blasted Smoker behaved itself immaculately; no trouble at all with lighting it, and it lasted perfectly right through the inspection and died right at the appropriate time. The bees had been busy all day, but seemed quiet as I approached. Smoked the hive, popped the top and crownboard off and peered into the Super.

Awwww, thought I, still empty. I pulled frame 6 out and lo and behold! A little foundation has begun to appear. I had not smeared anything into the frames, like sugar water, to attract the lasses to start working in the super, and I'm glad I didn't now. As I've progressed along through the summer, I'm more and more inclined to be less interfering and simply ease along together with the bees - letting them get on with the job. So the honey harvest from the Super will indeed be a very little, but that's perfectly ok with me. (The only problem now is how to feed the masses - all my mates who've asked for honey! They're just going to have to come and share my one slice of honeyed toast, aren't they!?)

I popped the Super off and went through the Brood Box. Frame 1 is still completely empty and unworked. It's the one closest to the entrance, which surprises me. Frame 2 has some foundation on it, and Frames 3 to 11 are absolutely loaded. I could see tons of honey and pollen. I could see lots and lots of capped brood. I saw lots of fat juicy white larvae. And I saw lots of little white rice grains - brand new eggs. So the Queen is still actively laying; present, safe and busy. I never saw Her, but I know She's there.

All through this brief, smooth, calm inspection the bees buzzed and hummed around me; some stung me (I felt nothing through the double-gloves, although I found at least two stings afterwards. One stung me on my legging - I felt the heat of the sting, but no after effects). But at no stage did they feel as grumpy and peeved as they have seemed the last two visits. The only twinge of nervousness came when my nose brushed against the veil, and I felt a little exposed. This time I walked calmly into the light with each frame and was able to see absolutely clearly, with the evening light shining onto the foundation in front of me - a good idea from Ron and Mary.

The garden is looking chaotic, with the lawn covered in clover flowers, everything wildly overgrown, but the flowers are everywhere. Even my blasted hydrangea has finally flowered - four years of effort on that dang thing.

And our front porch has become a jungly greenhouse, where two of Guy's tomato plants have fruit. As yet, no chilli - Don and Tam are way ahead of us on that one!

Guy's bought a bicycle and has headed off to Tesco. I'm envious! This has been a great summer so far ...