Went into the Hive Today!

But, big surprise, I forgot to take pictures! I was too excited to open up that hive and start looking around. Will take pictures next time!!! (If I remember...lol) It was 80 degrees F out. Well, I saw ALOT! I smoked the entrance, then I removed to the first, outer frame, which had no comb in it. I took out the second frame, and examined it. It had comb 1/2 way through, and lots of nectar and pollen. The next few frames were the same, except the whole frame was filled with comb. I saw lots of drone cell, here and there, on these frames, and I started to get worried. I think that I even saw 4 eggs in one cell! (I was probably imaging things though=P) I started to freak that I had a laying worker and my queen was dead. Then the next frame, lo and behold, there was the queen! And oh my, she was pretty easy to spot because she was big! She was very long and skinny and easy to spot. I watched her for a few seconds, and actually saw her lay an egg! There was brood on this frame too. It was a small cluster of brood, with lots of larvae, and eggs (this time only 1 egg per cell). The brood was pretty spread out and was sort of spotty to me, probably because most of the empty cells had eggs and larvae! Hehe. I did scrape some propolis off the frames, and its pretty neat and sticky stuff! I do wish I had a hive tool, for easier scraping, than a screwdriver! I closed things back up, and that's when the bees started to realize someone was intruding in their home. They headbutted me, and buzzed loudly and angrily.
Then around 8pm, I went to a retired beekeeper's house and bought all of his boxes and frames. And, boy does he have alot of stuff! I think I will trade some of this stuff for a nuc from my supplier. Yes, I want to get a 3-frame nuc! =D I left all the boxes out, stacked up, to let the rain wash them up. There were frames that were old and used, with comb on the edges. I don't think I will use those. I did get some new, unused frames with all the stuff. There were 4 entrance reducers, and I used one of them, instead of continuing to use a block of wood that blocked half of the entrance. I don't think that they are necessary for this hive though, since it's pretty much established already. I'll probably remove that tomorrow.
Instead of using all mediums, I've decided to just use one deep box for the bottom brood chamber, and the rest all mediums. I'm not planning on using a queen excluder, because I think that the queen should have the liberty to lay her eggs wherever she wants them. Besides, queens rarely lay eggs in the honey chambers of the hive. And I'm doing the crush&strain method, so I can just cut out and brood in the combs. No biggie.
I want to name the hive something else besides 'the hive'. Will have to think up of a good one...
Well, time for bed!
Kris