We opened both hives for the first time today. 23 days after hiving them. We started at 5pm. Some weather was supposed to be moving in but it was actually closer than I had thought. Wind was fairly calm. Smoker was working well for the first time.
We took a look in the hive with foundation first. There were a few bees that seemed to be a little aggressive. Maybe it was my nervousness or that of my husband's. Or it could have been the weather moving in? Seven frames were completely drawn out. I didn't pull out every frame. The first 3 had nothing. The 4th one had uncapped honey. The next one had uncapped brood and the next one had some drone brood. We took the frame of uncapped honey and put it in the middle of a new deep and put it on. Also decided to open the entrance reducer a little. Had my first sting from this hive today.
The second hive is the one that has no foundation. It was about halfway drawn out. This hive also had a third to a half of syrup water left in one bucket. The other hive had none, pretty much. I pulled one frame to inspect then put it back. I decided not to mess with them too much. I There was no cross comb that I could see. Looks like the hive is about 50% drawn out. These bees seemed to be more docile. Will plan on giving them another week or so and then maybe adding another deep.
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