Since this is our first year as beekeepers, we have been documenting every step of the process. We’ve read about how bees make honey and the life cycle of a bee. But reading about it and seeing it in person is a totally different experience. Each time my husband goes out to check on our bee hives, he takes some pictures. When he comes back, we all gather around the computer to see the progress in our bee hives.
Since we bought two packages of honey bees earlier this month, we have thousands of them on our property. Our lilac bushes and fruit trees are buzzing with the sound of honey bees busy at work. We see the honey bees flitting from flower to flower. Getting to see the bees at work inside their new honey bee hive is simply amazing!
My husband’s bee keeping class instructor said he should start to notice eggs in the comb after the first week. We were thrilled when we saw that our honey bees were doing what they were supposed to! The honey bee eggs look like tiny grains of rice down inside the comb.
The next phase of the honey bee’s life cycle after an egg is the larva. From day 3-9 the egg turns into a larva. They look like a little white “c” inside the comb.
At day 9, the worker bees cap the larva. In the picture below you can see some of the larva have already been capped in the comb.
Then the larva turns into a pupa from day 10-21. After that, the new honey bee emerges. My husband just happened to see this new honey bee emerging when he checked the hives.
About two weeks after we first got our honey bees, there was already honey in the comb. Obviously there wasn’t a lot since they just started living in the hive. But my husband did scoop a tiny drop onto the end of his hive tool for us to taste. That first taste of honey that our bees made was just divine! This picture shows capped honey on the outer edge of the frame. The capped larva are on the interior of the frame (not pictured)
We’ve had our honey bees for four weeks. They’re already filling up most of the frames in the bottom box. Yesterday my husband and Little A set up a new box of frames. This week my husband will add this to the honey bee hives so they will be two boxes high. The alfalfa field nearby is growing strong and soon will be in bloom. Then our honey bees will really be feasting and making honey!
Interested in beekeeping? Here are some helpful books on beekeeping:
This post shared on: Backyard Farming Connection, The HomeAcre Hop, From the Farm Blog Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,
Angi @SchneiderPeeps
May 27, 2014 at 7:36 amAnnie, these pictures are amazing! I’m so glad you are enjoying your bees.
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 5:54 pmThanks Angi! My husband always takes the camera with him when he heads out to check the bee hives. We were thrilled a bunch of them turned out so well. It really is amazing to see their life cycle!
Christina@TheHippyHomemaker
May 27, 2014 at 9:29 amThis was SOOOO informative! Thanks so much! I have never seen this process before and now I am contemplating getting my own honey bees lol
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 5:56 pmThanks for stopping by Christina! This is our first year having honey bees and I wish we had started beekeeping years ago. It really is so amazing. That’s exciting you’re thinking about getting honey bees!
janet pesaturo
May 27, 2014 at 9:30 amReally love your photos. Sharing.
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 5:56 pmThanks for stopping by and sharing Janet!
Brittany @ The Pistachio Project
May 27, 2014 at 12:32 pmThanks for sharing! I’m so curious about bees…maybe someday we’ll get some.
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 5:57 pmThanks for stopping by Brittany!
suzyhomemaker14
May 27, 2014 at 6:54 pmWow. I never thought I would be fascinated by the lifecycle of honey bees, but I am now. Those pictures are great. Thanks for sharing.
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 10:44 pmI know, it is so fascinating isn’t it? I never really knew about the life cycle of a honey bee until we got our own.
sharylove
May 27, 2014 at 9:27 pmThese photos are fabulous! I love honey bees so much! I’m quite envious of your bee farm. Let me know when you need to sell some honey!
Montana Homesteader
May 27, 2014 at 10:46 pmSince this is the first year we have honey bees, we’re hoping we can actually harvest some honey. We’re hopeful that since we live near acres and acres of alfalfa that they’ll produce a ton of honey. I guess we’ll have to wait and see in the fall!
Anna
May 28, 2014 at 8:28 amGreat post. The bees do look very busy. Hence the saying “Busy bee” 🙂 Great pictures!
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:39 pmHa, I never thought about the saying “busy bee” being so true!!
heather harris
May 28, 2014 at 8:29 amamazing pictures! talk about being in the right place at the right time! I sooo can’t wait until we get our bees!
Montana Homesteader
May 30, 2014 at 9:21 pmI didn’t know you were getting bees Heather, I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
linda spiker
May 28, 2014 at 9:08 amWow!How interesting!
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:39 pmThanks for stopping by Linda!
Tracey Black
May 28, 2014 at 10:48 amWow, that’s so interesting. Bees are absolutely amazing. I swear I use raw, local honey for everything.
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:40 pmWe do too Tracey, which is one of the big reasons why we decided to start beekeeping!
Joanthan (EcoDad)
May 28, 2014 at 10:48 amReally fascinating! I would like to raise honey bees someday, but my eldest son (9 yo) has had some bad reactions to stings and is very scared of bees.
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:42 pmI would be a little leery of raising honeybees too if we had someone in our family who had bad reactions to stings. Maybe you can find somewhere else other than your own property to keep them. There are a lot of farmers/ranchers out here that allow beekeepers to put some bee hives on their property. That way you could still raise honey bees but alleviate the issue with your son.
Karen @ Healthy Green Flamingo
May 28, 2014 at 12:10 pmI’m an environmental scientist, and I never knew this information! This is great. Your hubby took some pretty amazing pictures!
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:43 pmThanks for stopping by Karen! We were pretty amazed these pictures turned out so well considering he was holding a swarming bee frame in one hand and just quickly snapping pics with the other!
Sasha
May 28, 2014 at 8:07 pmThis really is amazing! How interesting to see. Thanks for sharing!
Montana Homesteader
June 15, 2014 at 2:44 pmThanks for stopping by Sasha!
Katie
May 29, 2014 at 5:40 pmGreat pictures! Your husband gets props for being so brave with the camera! We also keep bees and I plan on sharing how it goes throughout the season. This is when we picked up our bees in April. http://lifewiththecrew.typepad.com/my-blog/2014/04/thankful-tuesday-42214.html
WN Mama
May 31, 2014 at 3:08 pmAwesome, photos! Cannot wait to share this with my little ones.
Jennifer Guers
June 10, 2014 at 6:34 amI’ve always wanted to know about bees. Thanks for sharing.
alissia
December 15, 2014 at 12:28 pmcool pictures
Laura
May 19, 2015 at 5:07 pmVery cool to see the cycle by various days! I just got bees this year and am really excited to see all of this!
Did you feed your bees that first year?
Montana Homesteader
May 21, 2015 at 9:47 pmWe fed them the first week or two until there were more flowers blooming in our area for them to forage. We also fed them in the fall once there wasn’t a lot left around here for them to forage late in the season.
Emma Hayes
January 23, 2017 at 5:09 amThank you so much for the detailed pictures and information. I will be showing these to my Year 2 students this term during our Bee theme.