Well, it's been another full day. After walking the dog and taking S. and myself to our friend the chiropractor, I went to a "bee cafe" with the southern contingent of the local beekeeper's association. That was a two hour meeting and greeting, followed by a hive dive into three hives owned by fellow association members not too far from my house.
While we were there, a call came in about a swarm a few blocks away. So after we'd inspected the three hives (a Warre and two Langstroths that represented a swam, an extraction and a split), four of us continued on to catch the swarm. The young mom who'd reported the swarm, which had settled in a low rose bush next to her driveway, watched us from her window with two small children at her side. They seemed amazed by our lack of fear of the bees (we wore veils but no gloves), and grateful at our responsiveness.
After we secured the swarm, three of us went back to my house to examine the Margo hive. I was very excited to see that it was doing very well: we saw the queen, larvae in all stages, capped brood, nectar, bee bread, and even some capped honey. The workers were festooning and drawing fresh comb on the empty frames, and we added a frame on each side for them to expand. My consultant (our kids went to school together from 3rd to 7th grade) said I should prepare for a population explosion. I couldn't be happier to see how well they're doing. Hooray!
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