8/16

Everyone had a late start today because we were all tired from yesterday's bee fair. Emma and I made feed after lunch by mixing cane sugar with water in a 1:1 ratio. We need to feed the bees because it is dearth period right now and they are having trouble finding food. Then later in the afternoon, Kwao, Emma, Joshua and I took what we made to one of the upper apiaries to feed the bees and to inspect them. During inspection, we look to see if te queen is laying eggs, because if there is no queen, the hive will die out. We also add spacers in the brood nest so that there is enough space for the bees to keep building new combs. This prevents crosscombing, which happens when the bees draw their combs at wierd angles to the top bars, which then causes the combs to drop and break when the hives are opened. We also inspect to see if the population in any of the hive is getting too large. If the population becomes too large, the bees in the hive can make a new queen and warm. The bees in the upper apiaries are doing better than the ones in the lower apiary. Their hives have a lot more honey that are ready to be harvested and their brood nests (part of the hive with eggs, larvae, and capped cells that houses pupae) are bigger. This is partly due to the fact that there are more fruit trees higher up in the mountains. It is also partly due to the fact that since Kwao hurt his leg, the upper apiaries have not been inspected in a while, allowing the bees to keep their honey and use it however they see fit. During the inspection, Joshua spotted a swarm and we caught it in one of the empty top bar hives. At first I was afraid to disturb the clump of bees on the tree, but I learned that bees hardly ever stings people when they are trying to catch a warm because they want to find a new home quickly. On our way back, Joshua wanted to eat ginnips so we stopped at a ginnip tree to pick the juicy fruits off of it.