O.P.H.

I had an opportunity yesterday to go to the bee yard with the scientist who allows me to keep my bees next to his. It is always fun to peek at other people's hives. Every time I visit my bees, I am amazed at how many bees are at the entrance of his hives and was excited to be able to see inside.

This hive is 6 boxes tall and is one that survived last winter in great condition. The top two supers are full of capped honey, which he's planning to harvest next week.*



This frame is full of capped honey. I thought that the honey was dark but he said that it looks that way because the frame had previously been used for brood.



His other hives were started from packages a few weeks before I started mine and have much more capped honey. The late start for my bees probably meant that they weren't ready to take advantage of the early nectar flow. Hopefully the droogies will be ready for next year and will be able to keep up with the Joneses' bees.


*I didn't actually go back in time to take those photos- just didn't know how to work the time-stamp feature on a borrowed camera.