Apiary Day 5

 It's a rainy day in the apiary and the bees aren't flying around too much,

so I decided to check the monitor boards we keep beneath the screened bottom boards

to see if the bees had cast off any varroa mites.

This is from the southern hive.

My untrained eyes didn't note any mites,

but I was fascinated to see the ridge patterns of cast off

something or another.   The ridge pattern slightly above the midline

corresponds with approximately where we placed the queen.

There is another ridge pattern on the bottom edge of the board.

I can only surmise the bees are busy there, too.

We can't inspect inside the hive for a couple more weeks, 

so I guess we'll find out then.

This is the monitor board from the northern hive.

Blogger insisted on flipping it.

Anyway, the heavy ridging seen on the southern hive isn't present.

There is somewhat of an accumulation of material on the left side

and also toward the right edge.

I also didn't notice any varroa mites on this board.