Workers, drones, and queens… this is getting interesting. This beekeeping experience truly is “learning by doing.” Seeing the hive in action is more educational than reading about it or listening to a speaker.
I went to my first beekeeper’s association meeting this past Thursday and was overwhelmed with how much there is to know. The group was quite welcoming. They answered all my questions. Some of them even graciously gave me their contact information – without my asking- in case I had more questions arise before the next meeting. Everyone there stressed the importance of getting into the hive regularly to see what is going on. (I also bought some handmade soap made by the beekeepers at Landav Soap Company – a great gift idea for upcoming birthdays.)
Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a peek and see what my workers, drones, and queen have been up to.
In the picture above toward the top right you can see the larvae within the cells of this frame. The bumpy, pebble like tops of these cells indicate that these are drone cells.
In this picture you can see how the cells near the edge of the frame at the bottom and to the right have a smooth cap. This type of cell is that of a worker bee.
Lastly, I have this frame that I found. You can see the four places at the bottom that have been built out further from the frame. I am not completely sure… but I think these are queen cells. Either my hive is thinking about swarming or these are simply being built in case the current queen is unable to keep up with the demands of the hive.
When we first started I knew bees had different roles of workers, drones, and queens. I just didn’t realize just how it would look inside the hive.
We still have a wooden entrance reducer in place. We are continuing with two quarts of nectar infused with Honey B Healthy. The bees are still munching on the protein patty that is on the frames of the top deep box within an empty honey super.
Little Gift Shop OH 
wow! that is so cool that you are doing this! I’d love top learn how to do this if I had a larger area but I’m content for now growing flowers for bees. how many hives do you have? are you going to have more? did you make your own hives or did you buy them?
Sorry Jim… I’m such a loser for not seeing your comments sooner (I have no good excuse for myself)
We bought a prebuilt hive at the local farm store – just have one hive to start. If it doesn’t go well I’ll be content with my flower garden too 🙂
So far they haven’t put any honey in the supers, but first year beekeepers aren’t supposed to expect honey. I was hoping though. Thanks for reading – I’ll try to be more alert for comments.