Summer Plan 2014

While the sweetest words of childhood are: "last day of school" to me they mean the beginning of some prime domestic training. Luckily we have a lot of fun in the process of practicing some more time- intensive projects. 
Summer Plan 2014
Chores:
Deep clean pantry
Wash windows & blinds
Weekly house and yard work

Outings:
This is the Place Heritage Park
Pioneer Trek
Bear lake family reunion
Aquarium
Monte Cristo - camping
Lagoon
Cherry Hill
Logan day trip
Vivian Park geocaching

Parties:
Emma Cafe
Americana-Rama
Luau

Projects:
Dollhouse - make some construction progress
Paint & trim out bedroom wall
Video/record Grandma Dawnie's history & memories

Homemaking Days:
Baking - cinnamon twists & starlight sugar crisps
Sewing (Nate scout patches; Emma jeans apron)
Canning - tomatoes

Beekeeping Week 5: Our 4th Hive Check

Ok, so I don't have many still photos.  Lots of burr comb which we scraped off and let sit for a day to let the bees clean anything out they wanted.  We then put it in a ziploc bag in the freezer to kill off any of the ants that were attracted to it.  I'll melt it down later on in a dedicated crockpot.   We did spot the Bluebell queen for the first time, but queen Buttercup was hiding.  New eggs were evidence that she's still around and well though.  The bees weren't ready for another brood box yet, maybe next week.  It was fun to see the newly hatched bees - lighter in color and more "fur" around their eyes.
My husband spliced together a new video of this week's check (please excuse the few seconds of repeated clip - it was late at night).  Also, it is really hard to video this since I can either help or video, but not both very well.  So it ends up being amateur in the extreme.
Nonetheless - here it is: Brimhall bees video Checking hive "bluebell"

Burr comb and hatched brood

Beekeeping Week 4: Our 3rd Hive Check

So we are anxiously awaiting the hatching of new brood in our hives.  Hopefully by next week there will be a lot more worker bees!  Highlight's from this week's hive check:

We experimented with pine needles in our smoker this week.  Lots of smoke, but short lived.

Nice full frame of brood - check out the burr comb.  

Can you spot the queen?  Also look closely at those open cells and you can see newly hatched eggs (young larva) surrounded by royal jelly.  Yep - every bee gets a dose of royal jelly - just not as much as a future queen.

Take a look at the color gradient.  Bees like to have a border of honey (light comb around the outside) then a ring of pollen (colorful cells) and then brood in the center (capped hello).

Here's the burr comb harvest.  Lip balm here we come!

Be sure to check out the youtube channel for video updates: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCky8mhDQVb37iRGv_k05Otw

Beekeeping Week 3: Our second hive check

Our second hive check was a lot less stressful, and we saw some positive signs of healthy hives.

New video clips on our second inspection, spotting one of our queens and what the hives look like during an average day: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCky8mhDQVb37iRGv_k05Otw

See those tiny white marks on the black comb foundation?  Those are eggs.  Good sign!  This means the Queen has been there within the past three days.

If you look closely into the cells, you'll see curled up white bee larva.  That is also a good sign - we could be getting new adult bees soon.  

See that bump towards the top corner of the frame?  That is a drone cell.  Kind of interesting.

This is capped brood.  See how the surface looks very uneven and pitted?  That forms an air-permeable layer that allows brood to develop.

Can you spot the queen?