We began the top bar hive with a new package of bees on April 12, 2015. I checked on them today and the queen is released from her queen cage and all looks well. It has been very cold yet at night (last night down to 28 degrees), so I have been worried about them. I had placed a few pieces of comb honey, cut from a misshaped comb frame from another hive I have, propped up on the back following board of the top bar hive. Today when I went to check to see if the queen was released, all of the honey in the comb was gone. The bees had cleaned out the pieces of honey comb so I removed them so that brood wouldn’t be moved into them. The queen looked great. She is sporting a bright blue dot on her Carnolian black back.
Wild Rose Honey Farm is located in Deer Park, Washington; 10 miles north of the city of Spokane, Washington. We are on 10 acres of alfalfa with an organic garden full of fruit trees, berries, and wonderful vegetables. We have also built a meadow of wildflowers for the bees and hummingbirds. I am Letitia, my husband is Michael. (He is the one responsible for the beautiful hives which are finished in a surf-board type fiberglass resin!) We hope you enjoy these posts.