• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
GardenFork - Eclectic DIY
  • Email Signup
  • Podcast
  • Articles
  • Video
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Email Signup
  • Podcast
  • Articles
  • Video
  • Follow Me Here:

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Email Signup
    • Podcast
    • Articles
    • Video
  • Follow Me Here:

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Articles » Beekeeping

    Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 1)

    by Matt · This post may contain affiliate links, its one way we pay the bills. · 1 Comment

    As a first year beekeeper, everything is new and exciting and, quite frankly, I find myself yammering on to anyone who will listen about the comings and goings around my bee yard. My intention is to capture images from in and around my hives this year and post them here for others to enjoy. I'm neither a great photographer nor a bee expert so I hope that we can exchange some tips, ideas and knowledge along the way.

    My first image is a close-up of newly drawn comb on a frame of wired wax foundation. This particular frame was installed a week earlier than this photo was taken and that itself is a testament to the industrious nature of the worker bees. All those cells you see in the picture (and those on four other frames) were created in seven days. In a week, the bees created a lot of wax and sculpted it into the comb you see here. Fascinating, huh? Nearly uniform in size and shape, this comb is the result of chemical processes within the bee's body to convert food (such as honey or sugar water) into wax and then a physical manipulation of that wax.

    I wanted to point out a couple of things from this particular image that I think are noteworthy. First, the orange-brown globs in the cells are pollen. The foraging bees collect this and bring it back to the hive in their "pollen baskets", which are located on their hind legs.

    Also you'll notice a variety of  coloration on these bees. These bees are from hive #2, which is from an established nucleus hive I purchased from my beekeeping mentor. Unlike the Italians in hive #1, which were from a package and are of more uniform coloration, the bees in this hive are bright orange, and yellow and grayish and dull yellow. The queen has mated with a number of drones and since they all have slightly different "bits" flipped in their DNA and pass a bit of that along, you get variation, which is a very good thing. I like my "mutt" bees in hive #2 and think it is interesting to examine the slight differences among them.

    Enjoy,

    Matt

    Read all of Matt’s Inside the Hive Posts here

    Matt (twitter @MattInTheGarden) slings code by day and plays the role of handyman on his family's hobby farm in Virginia. He makes his own Greek yogurt and enjoys time with his family. He is horrifically bad at the banjo, a mediocre juggler and can make a pretty good omelet. His black lab mix thinks he's pretty nifty too.

    « Power Tool FAQ GF Radio
    Inside the Hive: Views from a First Year Beekeeper (Scene 2) »

    Reader Interactions

    Trackbacks

    1. Beekeeping 101, a look back on the first year GF Radio : GardenFork.TV Cooking & DIY Videos says:
      January 15, 2013 at 1:59 pm

      [...] wrote a series of articles on beginning beekeeping for our site, as he chronicled his first year of beginning [...]

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Become a Monthly Supporter of GardenFork. Click Here To Learn More

    Pages

    • About
    • Email Signup
    • Let's Stay Connected With Each Other
    • Maple Syrup Evaporator Information
    • Pizza Oven Plans & Make Pizza Videos
    • Privacy Policy
    • Radio
    • Terms of Use & Affliate Information
    • The GF Amazon Shop
    • Want More GardenFork? Here You Go:

    My lawyer makes me do this part: Visitors agree to our Terms Of Service and Affliate Information - Use This Information At Your Own Risk

    Produced by GardenFork Media LLC, Brooklyn, NY ©2021 All Rights Reserved