Checking my hive

Yesterday I checked my bees for the first time since I moved them from their small "loft" into the "two bedroom" hive. It was a beautiful day and I smoked them just a touch and then started into the hive. I was pleased to see that all the girls were busy and lots of new comb had been drawn out and there was even a fair amount of honey in the brood chamber (the bottom box). There was plenty of brood and eggs, so the queen is doing her job well.

I broke from tradition and didn't paint my hive white, I decided to just paint the front in such a way that it would make me smile and hopefully make the bees happy. The hive is beautiful cypress and I hated to cover it up. After I painted it I put two coats of polyurethane over everything.