Shawn’s got a package and TBH also. He’s using a baggie feeder. Here are shots from his hive this evening:
After this quick look, we pulled out the bars and checked the queen cage. The queen was in the cage and the way out was blocked by a dead bee. The bees seemed to be on friendly terms with the queen and we let her out. She walked right up onto the comb. Good news!
This is the cluster from the back:
Based on some advice from Art and Shawn’s experience, I went out this morning and took a look. As Art said, the bees were working that perpendicular comb that I pulled off, so I moved it outside the hive.
I also took out the can of syrup and put it in front of the hive.
I noticed a bit of comb being built on bars without wax wedges, so I’m feeling more compelled to make some more wedges.
I used the ZR-90 with SD card to take some low-res video and made my first YouTube video.
The comb that you see at the bottom of the hive starting about 4:25 is the one that was on the bottom of the queen cage perpendicular to the bars. I think that it’s the cause of the bulge in one comb and the split in another. I took it out:
Comb moved to top of hive.
I hope that the bees will recover the wax and nectar and build it into the hanging comb.
My good camera ran out of electricity after only a few shots. I’ve charged it up and extracted the pictures. The resolution is good enough that the pollen bags can be seen:
Here’s a picture of the hive:
Here’s the feeder in the back of the hive:
It’s still quite far from the bees. My first impression of the top bar hive (TBH) is that it’s easier to work than a Langstroth hive.