We Peeked

We've had the bees since Thursday the 25th of March--just under two weeks. From outside they seem to be thriving, numerous and active, and certainly tucking away plenty of sugar syrup. (I actually hurt myself, pouring large batches of syrup into jars, and now have a stubborn case of tendonitis in my right elbow. I know what Neil would say--bee therapy! but I can't bring myself to commit apicide...) This evening, we took a peek inside the hive.
First of all, the weather has turned nice and warm. I've had a few days off to hang here at the house, planting veggies and herbs and observing Beedicca's habits, and I've noticed the bees get decidedly more active during the long hot afternoons. When we approached the hive tonight, they were all over the place. Our plan was to pull some of the bars to see if the bees had filled them all with comb, and if so, were they raising brood yet. We started at the last bar in the back. It had a large, beautiful comb built and partially filled with honey and pollen, but no brood. We eventually found a comb with larvae toward the front, not a lot but enough to let us know the queen is alive and well, although we never got a look at Beedicca herself. We ended up pulling out 5 or 6 combs; the first bar had no comb, the second only a small one; next, one of mostly honey and pollen, then a large but mostly empty comb, partially capped, and then the brood. We left the centermost bars undisturbed--we surmise that's were most of the brood probably is, and thought it best not to disrupt the nursery. Altogether, we found substantial comb on 8 bars, and everything just full of bees. Absolutely covered in bees. All the combs were sturdy, and straight, and gracefully symmetrical, with an interesting series of buttresses tying the whole thing securely to the bars. In addition to the uncapped larvae, we saw some capped cells and a few cells from which new bees had already emerged. We inserted two new bars at the back so the ladies can expand, and closed everything up.
Despite the hive's bustling activity and a lot of bees in the air while we messed about--and a smudge stick that's burned down to twigs and not smoking very much--again, neither of us were stung. I have slightly mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, that single sting on my earlobe actually ended up hurting for several days, with aches and swelling down my neck that persisted nearly a week (and still itches!). On the other hand, a keeper needs to be stung ten to twenty times a year to develop an immunity to the venom. These bees are so pacific, we'd have to do something terribly rude and unwise to get stung that much.
Everything I've read about establishing a new hive suggests feeding sugar syrup for two to three weeks. It keeps the hive from starving while they learn their territory, build comb, and start stashing honey and pollen. Beedicca has been eating a substantial amount of syrup, up to a peak of about 2 quarts a day, but yesterday and today a quart has lasted all day. After opening the hive today, it's clear they are prospering--they've drawn a prodigious amount of comb, and they seem more numerous. I'm hoping the slower syrup consumption means everything's working as well as it appears: the hive has found some good nectar sources and will soon be self sufficient.
A book I have renamed the Incomplete guide to Beekeeping for its failure to answer many questions says we should expect a bit of a die off around three weeks, as one generation gives way to the new. It takes 21 days to hatch a worker, so the larvae we saw today are about two weeks from maturity; meanwhile, the hard work of establishing the spring nectar flow means the bees I brought home may only live a month. Those original bees will begin to die in a week or two, just as the new bees, Beedicca's first children, begin to emerge.