...beware of the robbers

My full honey super...35 lbs!

Last Sunday, we went to bee school.  It had been very dry and very HOT here in Chattanooga.  The clover surrounding our hives is pitiful.  Marcus explained that this is a prime time for bees to rob other nearby hives.  Because of this, we needed to be very quick when we opened our hives.  As we approached the hives, Marcus pointed out a hive 2 down from Rachel's.  The hive had thousands of dead bees laying outside the entrance.  So many that when Marcus reached down, he was able to completely fill his palm so that it was spilling over and there were still several hand-fulls left on the ground.  So sad!  The hive had been robbed!  Robbing of a hive means that bees from another colony attack a hive to steal the food supply....honey.  The bees will fight to the death to defend their food causing the dead bees at the entrance.  If the attacking colony succeeds, they will take the hive's food supply for their own hive.  Marcus informed us that by revealing our honey supply for any extended amount of time would encourage and almost invite robbers.  Bees are very sensitive to the smell of sweet honey and by uncovering it makes your hive very enticing.  Therefore, we spent only minutes in our hives to estimate our total honey production. 

Both of our colonies have been very successful this year.  Marcus estimated that I have about 2.5 gallons of honey.  I have an entire super that is full of capped honeycomb.  When I picked the box up, I could not believe how heavy it was.  The box was almost difficult to lift.  Because the bottom honey super was full of honey, Marcus suggested that I undersuper my boxes.  This means that I take the unfilled honey super and place it under the full honey super.  This encourages the bees to fill the empty space.  Rachel has a significant amount of honey as well.  We estimate 1.5 gallons of honey.  We will be extracting together soon, and we can't wait to taste our honey!

Inside Rachel's honey super.  You can see the comb and bees.  On the left, the comb is capped for preservation.  You can tell because it is covered in a white layer.  On the right, the comb is uncapped or open.  The bees are still filling these cells with honey.

Undersupering.  Rachel moved her top box down and put the full honey super on the top. 

Full honey super moved to the top to encourage the bees to produce more honey.