Unwanted Pests!

Today I started at the Orchard Hive and I got an unpleasant surprise when I got there. There were several large paper wasps starting to nest in the lid area of the hive. There is empty space between the lid and the top of the bars and they decided they wanted it to be theirs. Of course, I do not want them there or anywhere near me.

After running scared from the wasps, I headed over to the Willow Hive. They were very grumpy today. The weather was not ideal, but I was hoping that a quick inspection would be okay. Grumpy bees are not that fun to deal with, they spend a lot of time slamming into my veil.

Going through the hive, I found five queen cups. Two of the queen cups were on one bar and they were capped. It’s obvious that they are working to replace the current queen. I was able to find the queen, but the hive does not seem right. I am not sure what is going on, but there seems to be something.

I went back to the Orchard Hive to see how they were and I brought reinforcement to take care of the wasps. Once the wasps were removed from the hive it was time to open it up and see how they are doing. It looked as if it would start raining at any moment, so I moved somewhat quickly. I did remain careful, I did not want to damage any of the comb in the hive.

The colony is looking good, but I only added one bar since the weather was not cooperating. Right as I closed the lid on the hive, it began to rain. The bees were very calm through the inspection, but at the end they were getting a little annoyed with my presence and as soon as I closed the lid I knew why.

Things are looking good with the Orchard Hive. I will need to come back in about a week to check in on the queen and if she is laying. The Willow Hive is also going to need a check up, I need to see if I can figure out what is going on in there. Hopefully things are fine.