Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy

The observation hive is doing great.  The queen busily laid the frames full of beautiful brood as the initial brood hatched out, and in June, they filled & capped the top 2 frames with honey in a quick week.  Basswood honey.  We added the honey super, and although a couple of bees went up & checked it out, they have not gone up there to work yet.  They are using the middle 4 medium frames for brood, and the queen and her court are not bashful about going along laying eggs while we watch.  They have drawn comb in the lower deeps, and had those filled with nectar last week.  This week they have hit a dearth, and have eaten all that nectar!  While that does give the queen the opportunity to move down there and lay eggs, it also gives me an indication that the hives in the bee yard are hungry now too, and not producing.

The queen looks smaller.  I am wondering what that bodes for the future.  She is just over a year old, but was raised as an emergency replacement when I first loaded the bees and frames of brood last March, and barely had one day to go out for a mating flight.  It was snowing on the days around that one sunny one!  She has done a beautiful job, considering, and still has lovely brood.