I suspect that she's actually someone's Italian worker bee. The body shape, size, and coloring match my girls to a T, Russians I know are darker, and she's much bigger than the wild bees that are in the area. But it was really neat to find her and get a good picture of her while she was sipping from a flower. I like that her pollen sacs have a few grains in them.
Sadly, when I came home from our trip to Seattle, I found out that the long boards for the supers, were actually the front and back boards for a 10-frame box. I emailed Corky, and he promised to send me the long boards. He did, but he only sent two instead of four, for both my supers.
So I have sent another email to him about that, and I know that he was in a hurry when he sent them. I also know that he's been great about correcting the problem, so far. He just said that he'd send the boards and not to worry about returning the ones I have. I have, however, been able to build one super, and I'm painting it right now. I'm hoping to get into the hive tomorrow or the day after and see how my girls are doing since I left for Seattle, and see if they need another super.
The keepers here are having a sort of mixed year. Our spring started late because of the late snow, but a lot of things have been blooming and are still blooming. The linden trees were late, the Russian sage is early, and the alfalfa is blooming everywhere. Hay's doing well this year, and when they let it bloom before they mow it, the bees can get a lot of honey from them.
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