Newbees

As promised, here's a picture of the of the newbies.

1. is a young bee.  They are slightly smaller and fuzzier.  They also seem a little bit grey to me.

2. is two tiny holes in the capping that a baby bee is chewing through to get out.

3. is a bee that has just chewed through her whole cap and is emerging into the hive.

So awesome to see!  It's exciting and brand new for me each time I open the hive.

Adding a second hive body

I also added my second hive body today.  The bees have filled out 8 of their frames, so I decided it was time to go ahead and double their space.

Grey & Black Mold inside the Outer Cover. (Notice the condensation from the Inner Cover)

I'm also going to try to deal with the mold today.  This can't be good for the bees.  The top feeder I'm using has caused a great deal of evaporation.  The water then condenses on the hive lid, and being in such close proximity to the sugar water, it's been growing mold on the sides of the feeding and the lid.  I've cleaned the feeder, and left the lid out to dry for a while, but the mold has persisted.  So today I'm going to scrub the lid and bleach it to hopefully kill the mold.  Then I'm going to paint it.  This way if I do get mold again, it will at least be easy to wipe off.

Hopefully this will not become a health issue for my colony.