Hi, my name is Maura, and I'm addicted to beekeeping....

What an incredible weekend. The weather here in the ATL is nothing but georgous with sunshine and cool breezes. It's almost been like living at the beach.

Celo and I spent the entire weekend outdoors doing yardwork, grilling (yes, even breakfast), playing with the pups and cats, or just sitting and soaking it all in.

Our Saturday was busy, busy, busy. We had some good friends over- one who has just "retired" after 7 years of beekeeping.Well, he says he's retired, but I don't see how one could ever really give up beekeeping. Yeah, you can  physically stop beekeeping, but how can you ever stop thinking about them?  Once you start, you can't stop, folks. Beekeeping is addicting. I am an addict.

Anyway, we decided to perform hive inspections on both of my hives (mostly because I've never actually had another beekeeper present when I do this, but also because my "new" hive was not near as active as my "old" hive and I was getting concerned). We cracked open the new hive and it was a bustle of activity. We spotted few Small Hive Beetles, and lots of brood. There wasn't much capped honey yet, but the flow has begun and the bees are just getting started. We were looking for any signs of disease or distress, but thankfully found none. My worries were for naught.

We opened up the old hive and holy cow! Bees everywhere! Lot of congestion, nice tight brood cells, not many drones. Perfect, perfect, perfect. The honey supers on this hive are getting pretty full already! Jason said to expect at least 20lbs of honey this season. The best part was watching the bees being born. Yes, you read that correctly. We watched bees being born.

Witness: 
















 Bees have to chew their way out of the cell that they've been growing in. Then, they spend a few weeks as a "house bee" doing chores, nursing other developing bees and allowing their wings to strengthen. Then, as soon as they are strong enough, they become foragers and guard bees. Bee development is so amazing that it's really a whole other topic unto itself.



 I'm still not sure why there are discrepancies between the two hives-it could just be one faired better over the winter, but it doesn't really matter to me as long as they are both healthy and thriving.