First inspection . . . EVER!!

I'm so happy to see significant activity at the hive entrance.  The bees are bringing back loads of pollen.  It's really interesting to see how some of it is really orange and some of the pollen is a much more pale yellow. 

I stand and watch the hive from about 5 feet away at the edge of our lilacs, and it feels like you're in the airspace of a busy airport as the bees lumber right past your ears.

I was finally able to get my veils and my smoker came, so I've been anxiously awaiting a warm dry day that I'd be able to do my first hive inspection.  I smoked the entrance and the feeder, then cracked open the hive and gave it a few puffs before closing it again.  They reacted angrily, but I think it was really more to the disturbance of air, than they actually recognized me as a threat.

I was thrilled with what I found in the hive.  None of the frames were completely filled out, but the girls had made a good start on 6 of the 10.  I'd say they probably have 4 completely full if you could consolidate them all.  Pretty impressive considering these are all still package bees.  They won't have reinforcements for at least another week and a half.

It's really important that you can confirm that the queen is laying eggs and the colony is off to a good start.  In this picture (click it for a larger view) you can actually see larvae growing (lower left half)!  This was a huge relief for me just to know things are going well so far.

The bees were super tolerant and even though my smoker died, I was able to pull out each frame and inspect it without any guard bees getting angry.  And I took the time to take pictures.

In this picture you can see orange pollen in the comb (in the middle).  Below the pollen you can see the shine of new uncapped honey.  They bees will wait for it to dehydrate before capping it off to preserve it.  If you look closely above the pollen, you can see eggs in comb!  This is another great indicator that the queen is doing well.  In fact, that might be her at the top left three bees down.  Carniolan queens are notoriously hard to spot because they have slightly darker bodies and are nearly the same size as the worker bees.  When I first saw her in her package my first thought was "Really?! I'll never be able to find her again."

I'm sure as I'm able to spend more time with them, she'll reveal herself either in photos or in the behavior of the bees.  I try to work quickly to keep from stressing them, but I do check them every day, mostly because I'm excited about them.