It’s been unseasonably warm the past few days at FrogPondAcres, and our bee hives are active gathering pollen, and hopefully creating new bees.

Bee hives need room to grow. Queen bees move upwards in a hive, so as the lower part of the hive gets filled with pollen stores or brood, the queen moves up to the next ‘super’ and starts laying more eggs. So, the upper supers must have room for her to lay.

Supers are filled with frames. Frames are made out of wood, and are reusable.

Comb is then put into the frame. Comb is a cell-like structure that gives the bees a stable platform to lay and hatch eggs, and store pollen and honey. It is made out of beeswax or plastic.

Comb is then put into the frame. The small wires on the comb are held into each frame by a piece of wood and a couple small nails. Wires in the frame are embedded into the comb for more stability.

And after preparing several frames, they are put into an empty super and added to the hive.