recent inspection

[neillsayers]

I tried to edit out all the boring parts but here is one of me opening the brood nest to encourage them to expand.

[riverbee]

nice video neill, loved the shot of your sweet dog lucy nappin'.............

[Les]

Thanks for the video Neil.  I gasped when I saw that comb start to crack, whew!

[neillsayers]

Les,

So did I.  This is the biggest down side of top bar hives. One has to be very careful with center of gravity when handling the combs. Hive is growing, just too slowly for my "plans". They are Russians and start off very small and grow according to the flow. I look for them to explode any day.

[riverbee]

neil, russians are a bit of a different 'breed'..........in the spring you will find that they will build slowly, once they do, they really do kick in and can 'explode' before you know it.....all it takes is nectar and pollen coming in. are you seeing drones?

[neillsayers]

RB,

What a difference in a couple days. Many drones and population has seemingly doubled. Today foragers are bringing in gobs of blackberry and raspberry pollen. Two months ago I wondered if I had a deadout-so few bees in the cluster.

[riverbee]

yes, a couple days, or within a week, it is amazing.  what you will find with russians as you described, a cluster so small you wonder how they made it, but they do.