Better Lucky than Good

Lefty Gomez, a pitcher for the Yankees in the 30's, once said he'd rather be lucky than good.  Lefty had a lot of good quotes, that you can read here.  Anyway, I feel that way about beekeeping this morning.  One of the first worries for a beekeeper using the type of hive I have is that the bees will build honeycomb in nice clean rows.  This kind of hive doesnt have a guide, or foundation, comb for the bees to follow.  You want the comb to be built along the bars, perpendicular to the observation window.  The danger is that they will build it across the bars, parallel to the window, which makes it very very difficult to work with.  Even if they build it they way they are supposed to, you want it to be very straight.  There are lots of strategies for making this happen.  First, you want a level hive.  I took some extra time before putting the bees in the hive to make it level.  Second, you can paint your bars with beeswax in the direction you want them to build comb.  I read this after the bees were in the hive, a little late.  Third, you can pray, which is essentially what I did!

When I checked on the hive this morning. I could see the honeycomb peeking out of the bee cluster perpendicular to the observation window, just like its supposed to be.  I changed out the feeder jar for a new one and noticed it was too close to where they are building comb.  The bees had turned the last comb and attached it to the jar!  I took that piece off and moved the feeder jar to the other side of the divider board so they wouldnt build comb next to it.  Hopefully the comb there will be built straight now that I've corrected it!

So this is what the comb I removed looks like:

Its very white and clean right now.  I left it sitting on the counter, and when I came back and moved it, I noticed there was a little drop of honey left behind.  Tastes good!  There's no doubt I am not yet a good beekeeper.  At this point, I'm happy to be lucky and having the bees build the comb right without my help!