Beaver Creek Bees

Mid-Winter Brood

2012-01-31T22:53:00.000-05:00

Winter has been very mild this year. Some of the colonies may not have had a brood break. Today i checked the small hives brood nests. The bees are bringing in Maple pollen now along with Nectar. So stores are increasing. Due to such the brood nests seem to be slowly growing in size. A month ago the queen were laying eggs in small patches. Today i saw eggs in much larger areas around the older patches. There is still a month and a half of Winter but the bees seem to be starting their year Now.

Mary's Top Box

It was nice to see that Mary's cluster hasn't made it up to the top bars yet. She has plenty of stores left on the sides. Those frames can be moved to the middle if she needs a boost.

The small colonies; Myrina, Mab, & Gumption, are OK in the stores department too. Though i added a full honey frame to Gumption. Her few bees get all the help i can spare. Barring any prolonged deeply cold weather the bee populations in the Apiary are going to explode in another month.

The weather wasn't the only thing that was calm. Varroa populations are down since the Mite-Away treatment last Fall. There has been no signs of Nosema either. There are a few SHB hanging around still in Mary & Myrina but much less now. It has been a good Winter. Hopefully that will lead to a productive Spring (population increase & splits) then to a honey filled Summer. I will keep you posted.

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Fumagilin & Screened Bottom Boards

2011-10-19T19:57:00.001-04:00

Today the colonies received their last treatment of Fumagilin. Fumagilin-b is an antibiotic that controls the disease Nosema, or bee dysentery. The disease usually occurs during Winter while the bees are unable to release bodily waste each day. The weather is too cold for the bees to fly outside to relieve themselves. So they stay in the cluster and must hold it in for months sometimes. If they get Nosema the bees can no longer hold it in and can make a big mess inside the hive. Plus the stress of the disease can weaken the colony and lead to it's demise.

In Fall each full hive gets 2 gallons of medicated syrup per twenty frames. Last week they all got their first gallon. Two colonies were given only one gallon since they are only ten frames in size; Myrina & Nuc #5. The Fumagilin is put in a heavy sugar syrup, 2:1 sugar to water. That's eight pounds of sugar in about two quarts of water.

Crystallized sugar after one gallon of 2:1 syrup

This time of year the bees will take it down in one to two days. There is some crystallization of the sugar in the Hive Top Feeder. To fix that i toss a quart of warm water into the feeder afterward. It dissolves the sugar and the bees then take it down too.

Also it's time to close all the Screened Bottom Boards (SBB). Some beeks leave them open but i close mine. I think it helps the bees brood lower in the hive. Slatted Racks aid that as well. Myrina's SBB was replaced with a regular BB with a solid bottom. Mary & Nuc #5 also have the solid BB now. Heléna & Melissa both have the closed off SBB. As does that little September swarm i haven't been talking about.

The next steps toward Winterization will be the final Varroa check & treatment if necessary.

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Hive Inspection 10/17/11

2011-10-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

NUC #5
Sunny
75°F

The only nuc i have left and the first one i have ever tried to take through Winter. She is from a wild hive and may be Survivor bees. They have about finished their one gallon of 2:1 syrup medicated with Fumagilin. Since they are a nuc that's all they get.

Top Box DNB2: frames
1 - Backfill, honey, empty
2 - Mostly drawn, backfill, SHB (1)
3 - Mostly drawn, backfill
4 - Backfill, honey, SHB (1)
5 - Mostly drawn, honey, backfill

Bottom Box DNB1: frames
1 - Solid Honey
2 - Honey, backfill, brood, pollen
3 - Honey, backfill, brood (eggs) - QUEEN (marked)
4 - Honey, backfill, brood
5 - Honey, brood, pollen, backfill

Bees on all the frames of the bottom box

Population seems to only be fair. I'd like to see more bees in here. They have four frames with brood and that's a good thing. Honey stores could be higher too. There are a couple of feedings left so hopefully that will do it.

Queen of Nuc #5 (Mab). Sorry for the blurry pict

At least these bees know to move the brood nest to the bottom box. I wont have to manually move them down like the others. I will also need to insulate this nuc and get a HTF for warm weather feeding.

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Hive Inspection 10/16/11

2011-10-18T00:26:00.000-04:00

HELÉNA & MELISSA
Sunny
73°F

Heléna looks great. Lots of brood, honey, & pollen. A few SHB's but they're everywhere now. Heléna was the last Georgia package i will ever buy. Lots of people around here are blaming the Georgia apiaries for transporting the SHB to us in out bees.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - Solid honey
2 - Honey & backfill
3 - Honey , backfill, brood
4 - Honey & brood (eggs) - QUEEN (marked)
5 - Honey & brood
6 - Honey & brood
7 - Honey & backfill
8 - Honey & backfill
9 - Honey, backfill, pollen
10 - Honey & backfill

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - ½ Drawn, honey, backfill, empty
2 - 4/5 Drawn, honey, backfill, SHB (2)
3 - Honey & backfill
4 - Honey, backfill, pollen
5 - Honey & backfill
6 - Honey & backfill
7 - Honey, pollen, backfill
8 - Honey, pollen, backfill
9 - Pollen, honey, drone cells (2)
10 - Pollen & drone cells (2)

Heléna's Bottom box

Her population is where i like to see it at this time of year. It was mighty high a month ago but they never got honey bound then swarmed. This is actually the only package i have. The previous one didn't make to last Winter. She requeen via swarm a while back. The new (local) queen has done well. This colony also had Myrina's nuc combined into it. Which did well and really helped the Georgia girl.

Queen Heléna - She's a quick one, hard to photograph

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Melissa has a mother and sister in the neighbor's apiary. Both are doing very well. Melissa could be doing better though. Too many empty frames. These frames weren't empty before. It happened as the bees relocated the stores around the brood nest and the cool weather has caused some clustering. Which may have used up some the stores.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - empty, backfill, honey
2 - Honey & backfill
3 - Honey & backfill
4 - Backfill, honey, brood
5 - Brood (eggs), honey, backfill
6 - Brood, honey, backfill
7 - Brood (eggs), honey, backfill- QUEEN (marked)
8 - Brood, honey, backfill
9 - Honey, backfill, some brood
10 - Honey, pollen, backfill

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - empty
2 - empty, ½ drawn
3 - empty
4 - empty, ½ drawn
5 - empty, ½ drawn
6 - empty & backfill
7 - Backfill, empty, 3/4 drawn
8 - Backfill, pollen, brood
9 - Pollen, backfill, 3/4 drawn
10 - Pollen, honey, backfill

Empty frames but lots of bees

Her population seems fine. The bees are busy every day. Why the bottom box is so light i don't know. I don't want to break her down like i did Myrina. Nor do i want to combine the two of them. I'm in this stage where i want to maintain the most amount of genetic diversity in the yard. I think I'm in denial about losing a strain. To combine Myrina & Melissa would mean one of the queens has to go; it would be Myrina.

To remedy her issues i will exchange her empty frames with ones that have been filled with syrup. It will add some moisture to the hive in cold weather but that location is a dry one.

The framed comb from beneath a medium frame

The bare comb that was framed with rubber bands did OK i guess. All of it was attached to the frames but none of it was completely drawn out. It worked but the bees ran out of time it seems.

Queen Melissa

Seven frames of brood is the best in the yard. She really means to make it. With enough stores i wouldn't worry but she'll need some help.

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Hive Inspection 10/15/2011

2011-10-15T23:05:00.001-04:00

MARY & MYRINA
Sunny
67°F
Slight Breeze

Mid-October is the traditional time for final inspections before Winter. Both colonies have received one gallon of 2:1 syrup medicated with Fumagilin. The second gallon will be fed to them in the next day or two.

Starting with Mary. Last inspection she had little brood and i never saw the queen. After checking records I learned i have no record of seeing Mary at all this year.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - Solid honey
2 - Solid honey
3 - Honey & brood (eggs)
4 - Honey & brood (eggs)
5 - Brood & honey (eggs) - QUEEN (unmarked!)
6 - Backfill & pollen
7 - Backfill & pollen
8 - Backfill & pollen
9 - Backfill & pollen
10 - Solid honey

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - Honey & backfill
2 - Honey & backfill
3 - Honey, pollen, backfill
4 - Pollen, backfill, brood
5 - Pollen & backfill
6 - Backfill - most
7 - Pollen, backfill, honey - most
8 - Honey & backfill - most
9 - Honey - most
10 - Honey - most

Three weeks ago this colony had nine brood frames. Now it has only four. The brood frames it does have are beautiful with solid laying patterns. Brood production always falls off at the end of the year. Usually the Queen completely stops laying eggs around mid-December. It may be that these bees have slowed down a little early but the last week has been cool and solid rain. The nightly lows have also been in the high forties since the first of October. Which might lessen the queen's urge to lay, maybe. The population is good but not high. I would have liked to see more bees in this colony.

Bees on every frame of the top box

Long live the Queen. We found her walking around frame #3 in the Top box; and she was unmarked to boot! I thought this colony had requeened in Spring but i could not find anything in the records about it. The last entry involving Queen Mary Actual was last year and stated she was marked blue. So my record keeping needs some honing. This pretty Queen was treated to a quick marking with white paint and released.

2011's Queen Mary about to be marked

The bees are nicely backfilling the brood nest. One or two more feedings should top them off. They are still up in the top box. I hope they plan to move down to the bottom box soon. Last year one of the colonies Wintered in the top box and did fine.

Backfilling the Brood nest

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Myrina was a surprise. Her population is in the tank. SHB all over the place. Only as much stores as so few bees can muster. She couldn't even finish off her Fumagilin syrup before it crystallized. What a mess.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - Backfill & fresh brood (eggs)
2 - Backfill, pollen, honey, brood
3 - Honey & backfill
4 - Honey, backfill, pollen
5 - Backfill, honey, SHB (10)
6 - 1/2 Backfilled
7 - empty
8 - Mostly backfilled
9 - Empty & SHB
10 - Mostly backfilled

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - Pollen & backfill
2 - Brood, backfill, pollen - QUEEN (marked white)
3 - Backfill & pollen (dropped & placed in 4th position)
4 - Backfill & pollen (placed in 3rd position)
5 - Some pollen
6 - empty
7 - empty
8 - empty
9 - empty
10 - empty

Whoa! Not at all what one wants to see at this time of year. This is the first time since i got Myrina in 2008 that she isn't the strongest colony. In fact she's a wreck. I had to add two more SHB traps for now.

Choices are few but at least we have some. To address her small population she will be broken down to a single Deep box. A better fit there will help her deal with the cold Winter temps. It will also help her control the Small Hive Beetles. If her population is big enough i can add a Medium Honey Supper filled with honey. Then they would be in great shape going into Winter. I hope to do all of this tomorrow. Plus I'll add a regular Bottom Board to replace the Screened one she has now.

I could also combine the extra swarm into her. That would boost the population but not by the amount she needs to stay in the Double Deep. I'll have to think that over some more first.

For what it's Worth, there were no drone cells on any of the frames i saw today. That's the first time that's happened going into this Winter.

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Nuc'ed September Swarm

2011-10-04T22:54:00.040-04:00

Here's an update for that swarm from Sept 21.

They have since been given a Hive Top Feeder from Brushy Mtn. It was filled with a gallon of 1:1 Syrup with a drop of Thyme & Peppermint oils each plus a tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar. The bees took to it quickly. Their population is so small that after a week they still haven't finished the gallon of syrup. They did, however start drawing comb IN the feeder. All of which was removed.

One nuc box & a HTF

They are drawing out comb and filling it up with nectar & pollen like champs. If it were April or May these bees would be able to establish a full hive before Winter. Sadly it's October. They would have to go through Winter in a 2 or 3 frame nuc. They might be able too but I've not the experience to set them up for it. I still plan to combine them into another hive but we'll see. So I'm not counting them amongst the other colonies yet.

Eggs, Larva, & Pupae

The Best news is that the queen is laying in every good cell she can find. There's even a few capped worker cells. The bees must like her since there are no Supersedure cells to be found. She not the biggest queen I've seen but the attitude of the bees and their productivity do rate well.

New Good Queen

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Hive Inspection 9/22/11

2011-09-22T21:09:00.009-04:00

MARY
Mostly Cloudy
74°F

Mary doesn't seem to have any problems but it has been a while since she has been inspected. Mary is one of two colonies i had going into 2011. She produced honey and has not been combined with anyone.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - Solid honey
2 - Solid honey
3 - Good brood & honey ring, a few drone cells
4 - Good brood & honey ring, a few drone cells
5 - Eggs, brood & honey ring
6 - Brood & honey ring
7 - Brood & honey ring
8 - Empty brood & honey ring
9 - Back filling with Nectar
10 - Solid honey

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - Mostly honey
2 - Mostly honey
3 - ½ Honey, ½ pollen
4 - Mostly empty, some brood & honey
5 - Some brood, pollen, honey
6 - Some eggs & brood, pollen, honey
7 - Pollen
8 - ½ honey
9 - Mostly honey
10 - Mostly honey

Her population seemed OK but not great. I also counted 4 SHB's; all of which were killed. Her stores need to be better. Feeding should fix that. Next month switches to 2:1 syrup from the 1:1 I'm using now. More sugar and less water. All the colonies will get Fumagilin next month too.

I didn't see the queen but there were fresh eggs. I would like to see tons more eggs though. For some reason this colony isn't producing much stores or brood. We'll keep on eye on them.

The HTF was filled with ants again. Not an issue but an annoyance.

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Another Swarm??

2011-09-21T21:47:00.002-04:00

The size of a grapefruit

We all checked our hives and this swarm doesn't seem to belong to any of us. However, i might have missed a queen in Nuc #5 after its last swarm. idunno? It was in a tree at eye level 15 feet behind Heléna & Nuc #5. It has been raining for several days; cool & wet. We don't know when it showed up. For all i know these could be the bees from Nuc #5's original swarm (link here).

I Nuc'ed the Swarm

Well, since i could reach them they were tossed into a empty nuc. I have no plans to keep them. They will likely be combined with whoever needs a population boost. The Queen will be evaluated. If shes a good Queen she might have a future. I'll keep the nuc going as long as i can as a spare queen if needed.

Not fully elongated yet but growing

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Nuc #5 Swarmed

2011-09-13T21:44:00.001-04:00

This year has been the worst swarming year since I've started beekeeping. At this point I'm more of a bee-releaser than a beekeeper.

We noticed a swarm yesterday coming from the direction of the neighbors apiary. We banged some pots together to get them to ball up. It was a very small swarm and it settled in a tree overhanging my side apiary. The neighbor checked her hive but found nothing to indicate the swarm came from her bees. I was confident it wasn't from my yard as all the hive have plenty of open space in them (Ha!). There are three other apiaries within a mile of our two. We all thought the bees came from somewhere else.

Swarm in a Sourwood tree

Today i went to look into the Nuc & Mary. I've not been in them for a while and i wanted to make sure the swarm didn't come from my yard. As soon as i opened up the Nuc i saw an unmarked queen running around the top frames. She was on top of two frames in the top box that have brood. The brood on those frames is very young. I wasn't wearing my glasses so i don't know if there were any eggs in there. Again the larva were very young looking.

I need to find out when an existing queen swarms in relation to the emergence of the new stay behind queen.

The brood patterns in the nest was weak & spotty but that's the nature of brood during a swarm event. I'll check in a week to see if i can find eggs. The new queen was enlarged and good size. It may be her that made the larva i saw.

New Queen ready to be marked

The clincher was the three used swarm cells on the fourth frame in the bottom box. I have been peeking in this hive almost each week. There has been plenty of room for the combined bees to live on. The two nucs together equal only ten frames yet i gave then another five with foundation. Which they've been drawing on. The frames were not honey bound either. idunno!

The culprit cell

It is late in the year for queens to be mating. Not a lot of drones out there. Yet this queen my have made it under the wire. The population isn't actually low now after this swarm. If this queen is fertile she has two months left of laying before normal cluster time. Their population can be on track to get them through winter. That and after all it's a nuc. They only need to have ten frames of bees and they almost have it now.

This should not have been a surprise AND I should have bee looking out for this. Both nucs that were combined to make this large nuc were from swarms! So I essentially Doubled Down on the swarming bet. I'm going to start keeping better, visual, track of how my colonies formed. These aren't bees. They're swarm monkeys.


...and then there was this guy

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Fixed Comb

2011-09-08T21:39:00.000-04:00

It's been a few days. So I took a quick look into Melissa yesterday to check on the progress of the divided comb frames. That story can be read by clicking on this link, (Divided Frames). I'm happy to say it worked. The bees have secured the lose comb to the top bar on all the frames. They continue to draw the rest of the comb out as well.

Rubber bands held the comb in place

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You can see where they chewed the rubber bands

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Almost completely drawn out

The bees are supposed to secure the comb to the bar before they chew through the rubber bands. That definitely seems to be the case here. Though they are drawing out Drone comb I'm sure that will be fixed in the coming weeks. Once the comb is drawn out I'll remove the rubber bands; either from the frames or the bottom of the hive.

It's fun to learn a new trick.

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Hive Inspection 9/7/11

2011-09-07T21:12:00.000-04:00

HELÉNA
Mostly Cloudy
80°F

It's the first time I've been in Heléna since the Combinations. Her population is Very High. There are bees everywhere. I can't even see the frames through the bees. The population going into winter is supposed to be as high as one can get it but i wonder if there are too many. A swarm this late would leave too few bees in the hive. Plus the swarm itself would never make it.

Both Heléna & Melissa have high populations from the combining. Neither colony had drawn out a second Deep box. The supplemental bees from the nucs only added ten frames into each big hive. Which just equals another Deep box. The two big hives should then only be the size of regularly seasoned hives. However these two colonies seem to have more bees than anticipated.

Bottom box loaded with bees

On Melissa I added a undrawn Honey Super to give the bees a little more room. She has now drawn out two frames and filled them. She continues to draw more frames too. I've been feeding them so the stores on these frames are the Adulterated stuff. Which works great for me. I'll take off the super when they go into Winter Cluster and feed it back to them come Spring. Once the bees have emptied the frame they'll have more drawn Honey frames for next Summer. So I'll put a Super on Heléna too since it seems to work.

We are in a Nectar dearth but pollen is plenty available. The bees are sucking down the Syrup. They'll take a gallon in a day. When i looked into Heléna i saw no empty cells. Either nectar or brood filled them all with a frame or two of pollen. It concerns me that they may become honey bound inciting a swarm. At some point the the queen begins to lay fewer eggs. Those cells are then back filled with honey.

I did see nectar in brood areas. Though, i don't know if the bees are back filling or they had nowhere else to store the syrup. I plan to feed next week then hold off 'till October when I give them a Fumagilin treatment. I'll be looking for a reduction of the brood nest.

Back to the inspection.

Top Box DHB2: frames
1 - Solid honey
2 - Solid honey
3 - Beautiful, solid capped brood
4 - Beautiful, solid uncapped brood
5 - Honey, Nectar, fresh brood
6 - Brood, honey, some back fill
7 - Brood, Drone cells, nectar, honey, back fill
8 - Brood, Drone cells, nectar, honey, back fill
9 - Back filling with Nectar & pollen
10 - Solid honey

Bottom Box DHB1: frames
1 - Not fully drawn nectar
2 - Mostly drawn honey
3 - Fully drawn nectar & honey
4 - Nectar & honey, some back filling
5 - Solid capped brood & Queen
6 - Solid capped brood & some honey
7 - Brood, Drone Cells, honey
8 - Pollen & honey, little brood
9 - Pollen, brood, little honey
10 - Solid pollen

Which gives them eleven frames of brood. The colony looks to be doing well and is very strong. Pests are at a minimum. I did find a single SHB on the outside of the hive afterward. It was dispatched.

We never used to see these here

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Dividing Melissa's Medium frames

2011-08-29T22:42:00.000-04:00

As planned, today the Medium frames in Melissa were removed. First the four frames were removed from the hive (bottom box). Then the extended comb attached to the bottom bar was cut off. After which the comb was set in to a deep frame. In the end the neighbor got her frames back with brood, stores, & bees. Melissa got four frames reduced in size giving her bees more room to expand. Which i hope will reduce the colony's need to swarm.


Beautifully extended comb on a Medium frame

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Back to a Medium Frame

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Extended comb placed into a Deep Frame

I used rubber bands to secure the comb. They had to be tied off in the middle to keep the comb on top. From what I have read the bees will eventually chew through the the rubber. By then the comb should be attached to the top bar.

Don't let the pictures fool you. The frames were swept of bees before the surgery took place. So there were plenty of bees flying around. Add to that the honey spilled cutting the comb and there were Tons of bees flying around!

Here's an exercise everybody should try to improve their bee handling skills. Tie a square knot in a single rubber band with your gloves ON!

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Hive inspection 8/28/2011

2011-08-28T23:59:00.001-04:00

MELISSA
Sunny
85°F

Going into Melissa to check on the handful of Swarm cups i saw the other day. Swarm Cups are what I call the little queen cups formed on the bottom of the frames, or in Swarm Position. She seems to have many bees now. I would say her population is High. I need to know if she is honey bound or just has no room left on the comb for the bees.

DHB2: frames
1 - Back filling with Nectar
2 - Back filling with Nectar
3 - Back filling with Nectar
4 - Solid eggs & larva
5 - Honey & Nectar
6 - Brood & some Drone cells, 4 swarm cups removed
7 - Brood & eggs, 3 swarm cups removed
8 - Solid eggs & larva
9 - Back filling with Nectar
10 - Back filling with Nectar, mostly full

DHB1: frames
1 - Back filling with Nectar, broken frame is fixed
2 - Medium Frame, mostly honey & back filling
3 - 1/2 Brood
4 - Medium Frame, brood & 2 swarm cups, drone cells
5 - Not fully drawn, 4 swarm cups, some pollen
6 - Brood, some pollen
7 - Medium Frame, brood & 2 swarm cups
8 - Pollen, little brood & honey
9 - Medium Frame, mostly pollen & honey
10 - Pollen, mostly honey

All the cups in the top box (DHB2) were removed. That way i can tip up the box later this week to see if the bees made more swarm cups. If they do it will be strong evidence of an intent to swarm. Which may lead to a Fall Split; that I really don't want to do. Fortunately the queen has yet to cease laying; a sign the colony is preparing to swarm. This, then, may be a false alarm.

Fall Splits are common and used by many beeks. I am unfamiliar with them, though, and don't want to learn about it offhandedly. To that end i have talked to the neighbor and she will take the four Medium frames back and use them to bolster two of her colonies. These were the original frames used to make the Spring Split that became Melissa. They came from one of my neighbors colonies back in May.

The bees took a Medium frame and made it a Deep frame

The bees need more room. Normally one can add an empty frame in the brood nest. Then the bees perceive extra room. That can quell the urge to swarm. These Medium frames offer more than just empty frames. I will cut the extended comb off the bottom of the frames. Then rubber band the comb to the empty frames. This way the frames will already be accepted by the bees and provide additional space to build comb on to complete the frame. We'll try to get it done this week.

News just as big is the dramatic lessening of Drone Cells. There were very few left in the hive. I do not recall seeing any that were uncapped. I didn't have my glasses on so couldn't tell if any adult drones were walking around. It appears Mating season is coming to a close. This is another reason I'm not fond of creating a Fall Split at this time. The possibility of too few drones left to properly breed a new queen formed from a new split. A Virgin queen, or badly mated one, will not be able to take a colony through Winter. They'll all die off after a few freezes. If i were to make Fall Splits I would have done it at the beginning of the month.

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Afterward the news paper in Nuc #5 was removed. I didn't look through the colony but did see where the bees might be drawing out comb.

Additionally every Colony was feed one gallon of 1:1 syrup today. Each gallon also had 1 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar and a drop each of thyme & peppermint essential oils.

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Beekeepers are NUTS!

2011-08-27T17:00:00.006-04:00

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(Click on image for Readable size)

One Bee in your Bonnet can get anyone to 'Drop Trou' instantly

Today featured a Category 1 Hurricane (Irene). We are a few hours inland but were subjected to some damaging winds and a good bit a rain. Most people might consider that 'Bad weather'. To be honest i too thought it to be in fact 'Bad Weather'.

NOT that it stopped me from donning my veil & gloves to sneak a peek inside my hives between bands of tropical rain. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Especially since my Beekeeping neighbor did the same thing later in the day.

Oh well...what can i say?

Anyway, I looked QUICKLY into Melissa. I wanted to see if maybe her screened Bottom Board was stopped up with dead bees & newspaper from the Combination. Thinking that may be the reason she is bearding so much; not enough ventilation. The SBB was clean though so it's something else. She might have more bees than she can deal with from the combination. I'll inspect her as soon as the weather turns 'Good'.

Since I was there I removed what newspaper was left around the edges of the hive. While doing so I saw a handful of Queen Cups on the bottoms of a few frames in the top box (DHB2). The bees might be making Swarm Cells. Something else that will need to be checked and soon!

...And the neighbor? She check to see if the queen i gave her, from Nuc #2, was laying. She was.

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Melissa's Beard

2011-08-24T23:04:00.012-04:00

We have noticed that Melissa is bearding much more than the other colonies. She doesn't have a Slatted Rack and that definitely contributes to bearding. However, she is bearding down into the 60°F range we are now seeing at night.

Post Combination Melissa

What i wonder is if she has too many bees. Since the TWO colonies next to her were combined she may have gotten all the drift. One of those went into her so the only extra drift she would have gotten was from Nuc #2. Who had a ton of bees.

There is nothing wrong with bearding. As a matter of fact it is both natural and helpful the the bees. I'm not trying to tone down the bearding. I do, however, look at Melissa's unique bearding as an indicator there may be a population or ventilation issue.

I'll try to check Melissa this weekend; depending on the hurricane. Until then we added to her an undrawn super filled with foundation. That will give any extra bees a place to hang out. It will allow the bees more space for heat regulation. Plus, if they draw it out some, good!

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Hive Inspection 8/24/2011

2011-08-24T22:36:00.000-04:00

MYRINA
Mostly Sunny
84°F

When feeding Myrina the other day I saw a Wax Moth & a SHB in her. I wanted to see if she was in bad shape or not.

Not what you want to see but they did a great job a cleaning it!

The first thing i saw were bees in the HTF. So there must be a hole in the screening in put in but i couldn't find it. I'll make some more and scrap the ones in here soon.

DHB2: frames
1 - Filled with brood & eggs
2 - Brood, eggs, some stores. Spotty pattern. Queen (marked)
3 - Brood, eggs, some stores
4 - Pollen & uncapped honey
5 - empty. Starting to add honey
6 - Uncapped Honey
7 - empty
8 - Full of uncapped honey
9 - some Honey
10 - Full of uncapped honey

DHB1: frames
1 - 1/2 pollen
2 - Brood & eggs. Spotty pattern
3 - Brood eggs, pollen
4 - light pollen & honey
5 - pollen
6 - empty. little honey
7 - empty
8 - empty
9 - Some honey (SHB x3)
10 - some uncapped honey

Her population is smaller than i like and her stores are light too. She is, however, adding brood & stores at an acceptable speed. Plus, this inspection includes the first feeding. A spotty brood pattern is typical for Fall yet she has several frames filled with eggs. Interesting to note that there didn't seem to be ANY Drone Cells. Though I did see a few drones walking around. Another check in a week or so will confirm the end of Summer drones.

Filthy Rotten Bug! - Small Hive Beetle

The presence of the SHB is troubling. fortunately i only found three of them. I added a beetle trap to help the bees out. I might put more in later. No Wax moth were present.

The Slatted Racks are a Big Hit with the Ladies!

There wasn't any bridge comb and the frames looked clean. The bees were calm and moved off nicely from the smoke. I'll keep an eye on this queen hoping she can belt out a bunch of brood soon.

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First Fall Feeding

2011-08-21T21:05:00.003-04:00

The remaining colonies received their first feeding of the Fall today. Last year there were only two colonies to feed this year there are five. So i made five gallons of syrup which isn't cheap. We paid around 58¢ per pound for this sugar. Since we made 1:1 syrup we used 30lbs. of it, or $17.40 worth. We plan to only feed once a week until the bees have ample reserves. More if the colony is having trouble.

The syrup for this batch was just sugar and no Bee Tea. I did add a Tbsp of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to it along with a drop of White Thyme & Peppermint Oils each. The bees took to it immediately.

I want to keep the top entrances in this Winter (via the Imirie shims) but i took them out for the feedings. The entrance would be up against the HTF's and would likely cause robing. I'll put then back on once feeding season is done; Late November or December.

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Pre-Winter Combinations

2011-08-20T21:41:00.001-04:00

The honey year is over and it's time to get ready for Winter. First on my list of things to do is make sure the colonies going into Winter have the strength to get through Winter. By that I mean population. Time to move the weak colonies in with the dependable colonies.

As it was

At most this year we had nine colonies; four double-deeps, two double-deep nucs, two single-deep nucs, and one wild log.

Mary - double-deep, twenty full frames & good population, strong
Myrina - double-deep, twenty full frames & good population, strong
Heléna - double-deep, ten full frames & fair population, slow
Melissa - double-deep, nine full frames & fair population, slow
Nuc#1 - double-deep nuc, ten full frames & OK population, slow
Nuc#2 - double-deep nuc, ten full frames & good population, productive
Nuc#4 - single-deep nuc, five full frames & fair population, unproductive
Nuc#5 - single-deep nuc, 5 full frames & good population, productive
The wild log's bees are gone or going

It was decided to combine the colonies in a way that maximizes the amount of genetics in the yard. So queens from my yard will be pinched in favor of queens from somewhere else for these combinations.

Melissa came from the neighbors yard with a history of comb & honey production. We combined her with Nuc#1 who is from Mary and kept Melissa's Queen.
Heléna was from Georgia but requeened herself and is now a local girl. She was combined with Nuc#2 from Myrina. Nuc#2 was a powerful colony I should have hived first thing in Spring. A lost opportunity but i know better now. Anyway her bees should easily rocket Heléna's bees through Winter. Heléna's queen was kept. (The Queen from Nuc#2 went to my neighbor who had to requeen a weak hive. Yay!)
Nuc#5 was a wild swarm from the next county. They might be ferals and seem to have enough want-to. Very calm bees too. They were combined with Nuc#4, a swarm from Myrina. The growth in Nuc#4 stalled early and remained unimpressive. Here Nuc#5's Queen was kept. These two Nucs together still only make up a large Nuc; ten frames. I put them together with a third nuc box. If they utilize it then great. If not, no loss. Either way these bees need to get through Winter as a Nuc.

This means we go into Winter with four Double-Deep hives and One Nuc. All of them are filled with good bee populations and plenty of potential.

The Combination went as follows:
Nuc#1 into Melissa - 8/15/11
Nuc#4 into Nuc#5 - 8/17/11
Nuc#2 into Heléna - 8/19/11

Melissa Combined & Nuc#1's box left for the homeless field bees

All combinations were 'News paper combinations'. The introduced colonies went on top of the resident colonies. I will check them each next week. It appears that all went well. Only Melissa had a pile of dead bees outside of her front door but it was very small. I may have cut too big of a slit into her paper (4 inches) when i did her. The others only had slits of one inch put in their paper.

Nuc#5 combined with the extra box

Since no one moved more than twelve feet many field bees were displaced. In each case we left a single frameless box at the original location of the lost hives. These boxes stayed for a few days. Long enough for the bees to drift to whichever hive of their choosing.


Moving Nuc#2's frames into a ten frame box

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Heléna Combined

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Queen of Nuc#2 on her way to the Neighbors Yard

By odd coincidence the white hives were merged with the white hives and the yellow hives were merged with the yellow hives.

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Summer Update #3 - Heléna Swarmed

2011-08-19T21:07:00.075-04:00

The bees hadn't been checked for a month. In that time they were very busy; not making comb in the empty Deep above them but making Swarm cells instead. They had become honey bound on the ten frames out of the twenty they had drawn out.

So without much adieu on July 15th they took off. Though not far. About forty feet into a small pine tree. Which we found soon enough. I had no interest in getting them back and offered them to the neighbor. She wanted them but could not get up into the tree to get them. So i had to go get them anyway. Grrrrr...

That's me in the tree maybe 20 feet up

The swarm we captured was around 2lbs. worth of bees. The Queen was not marked so it was a new one. No telling what ever happened to the original Georgia queen. An inspection of Heléna found eight swarm cells and one supersedure cell.

How to keep your Neighbor Happy...

The neighbor put the bees in a spare box on her deck and named them 'Maybee'. They are doing fine and taking down the syrup.

The best part is i now have a local queen in Heléna. All the better to get her through Winter with.

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Summer Update #2 - A Bee Log

2011-08-18T00:59:00.004-04:00

In late July a logger buddy of mine told me they had found a bee tree. Unfortunately they didn't know what it was until it had been cut down and dragged to the deck. He said they moved it off to one side. I was able to check on it and saw lots bees still working. It looked like the colony wasn't too badly damaged. It was a week before i had the time to get the bees. During that week a skidder operator dragged it across the clearcut before being told to take it back to where he had found it. A lesson in MARKING a bee tree so people leave it alone!

These poor bees had been cut down then dragged twice across the mountain. If you've ever been dragged by a skidder up & down a mountain twice you'd know how bad that is for the integrity of wax comb not to mention the loss of field bees. When i finally went to get them, July 29th, their activity was greatly reduced. There were tons of hornets working the hive too. Still we cut the nest out and took it home. Best to try.

They looked good for the beating they had taken

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Cutting out the nest from an old Virginia pine tree. The nest was around 20ft up when the tree was standing

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Had to guess where to make the bottom cut. The nest went a lot lower than i thought it did. Shaved a foot off the bottom. The comb in this area was soaked with honey and blocked with nest debris. The bees weren't getting down here at all.

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Some of the mashed comb i inadvertently cut from the bottom of the nest.

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You can see how big the entrance hole is. Not sure how to plug it for the drive home so we wrapped it in a bed sheet instead.

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First we VERY slowly rolled it and the sheet into one. Then we tied rope around the folded ends and middle to hold the sheet in place.

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The log weighed over a 150 lbs. so it took a little to 'ease' it into the truck.

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Long & slow 23 mile ride back home and we set it up in the yard that night

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The next day with an obstacle at the entrance to induce reorientation.

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Had to cover the big original entrance due to constant robing by other bees & hornets. A bunch of flashing and roofing tar with a wood entrance in the middle. Can you see the half gallon mason jar stuck in the top of the log. The jar fit perfectly into the tree cavity when feeding.

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It took the bees a while to find the new front door but they did. Sadly the robing continued as these bees weren't defending the entrance. The only times these bees would fly was during feeding. They took a half gallon each day.

Today there is almost no activity. The bees act as if they have no queen. Which is a Very good possibility considering what they went through. I can still see some bees in the log when i look but they're not doing anything. There is comb in the nest but i don't see the bees working it. I also feel that when i feed them most the bees i see are robbers. I think this colony is done for. If I had some extra brood come i could cut a strip to put in the log to spur thing on. But there's a better chance it would be robed out too. Plus adding bees, brood, a queen, & comb into a depleted log nest this close to winter doesn't make sense to me. It would be like throwing away the resources.

I'll leave them in the yard until spring to see what happens. Then probably move the log to the back woods. hopefully it might draw in a swarm next year.

The only consolation is that I've since found two more bee trees in the wild. They're both standing and not near any logging operations. The bees look to be happy, in good number, and are very busy. Nothing i would want to get bees from directly but an area to set swarm traps in the future for some good old Survivor bees.

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Summer Update #1 - Honey Harvest

2011-08-12T21:48:00.003-04:00

Well it took a few years but we finally got a decent honey harvest. On July 9th we pulled off the Supers that were on Mary & Myrina; a Medium Super each. Neither was completely drawn or filled. About 8 frames out of each with only most of them fully drawn. There were a few Deep frames to.

We were able to borrow back the same extractor we used in 2008 when we first spun honey. A hand crank job that fits 4 Deep frames tangentially. We tried using a capping knife for the first time. Warmed it up on a hot plate before using it on a frame. It didn't do that great so we went back to the capping fork. The knife cut off a lot of wax & cooled down too quickly. Though it was extremely sharp! The neighbor lent us her capping bucket too.

Uncapping a Deep Frame

Last time we used a pot to collect the honey. Fortunately I started brewing beer in January. So this time we used my 6.5 gallon bottling bucket that has a spout. Also different was the strainer. Last time we used the 600 micron mesh and were left with very fine wax particles in the honey. This time we nested the 200 micron mesh into the 600. The honey came out perfectly clear. Although it took Forever to pass through the strainers.

Outside at the Spinning Party

In all we got 4.5 gallons of honey. Not the greatest haul but we're very happy with it. After the first year of eating honey EVERY DAY we couldn't stop so had to buy honey when the bees didn't deliver. Now we have a good supply of our own honey and it's as good as can be. The main source here is Tulip Poplar & Black Locust. The honey has a very fragrant woodland taste to it. It's not pure sweet either, plenty of flavor, which I like.

The bottling didn't go as planned. I thought the spout on the beer bucket would be great but it was to narrow. The honey was too thick to flow quickly; like 30 minutes to fill a pint jar!!! So I ladled it. Which is fine. The kids got another spoon to lick clean.

Filling a pint jar

There are many people i want to give honey to but we don't have enough for everyone. Fortunately we didn't promise anything. A good bit went to family, dear friends, and helpers though.

I think the main reason the bees didn't make more honey was the screwy main flow. The Poplars always bloom at once by the millions. That, of course, draws all the bees to the trees. This year the trees bloomed Almost singularly. One would pop then another later on. It lasted longer but nothing ever got the bees motors running. The bees would instead concentrate on some non-major flow sources. Also those darn Queen Excluders. I thought clipping the sides would help, and it did, but not enough. Lets see what I come up with next year. Hopefully I've learned my lesson but I can be a bit thick.

Not the most but definitely the Best!

After all the fun one super and all the equipment were left out for the bees to rob clean. Wow! was that crazy. Two days of, "Don't go outside!". It was a great show though. At the time i had 8 colonies and my neighbor had 5. That's a bunch of bees.

Nom nom nom nom...

Next year I hope to have four hives to put Supers on. If its a decent year we could end up with more then we can eat for once. Awww Yeah!...

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More Honey Supers

2011-06-01T17:58:00.001-04:00

Both Mary & Myrina are actually in the mood to make surplus honey this year, \\ Hallelujah! // Not much but it looks like we may see 2 Medium Supers worth; one from each. Not leaving it to chance I added a second super to Myrina today. I'll add a second to Mary in a day or so. I don't expect them to fill up the new supers but they might as well start drawing them out for next year. There is little over a month left to our major flow. Could be enough time to do the job. If there comes a Fall flow we'll be ready.

The second super on Myrina went beneath the current one. It is wired foundationless blasted with sugar spray. I placed the Imirie Shim between the 2 Supers. The bees have used it but sparingly. I might block the bottom entrance tomorrow to motivate them to use it in earnest. I'll do the same thing with Mary when she gets her's.

Two Honey Supers

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I also got around to changing out the brood boxes on Melissa. The yellow one (Heléna's) came off and the companion white one went on. It's now clean and mold free. Here too I placed the new brood box beneath the current one. Now the bees will be near to top of the new frames where they need to start drawing comb instead of climbing up to it first.

Speaking of Heléna, she will get her second brood box this week too. Another busy week but a good start to June.

Sweet Melissa

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Hive Inspection 5/29/11

2011-05-29T23:23:00.002-04:00

Nuc #4
Partly Sunny
85°F

This is really a Queen check but with only 5 frames it becomes an inspection. The big news is that the Virgin Queen is now laying. WooHoo! I didn't expect it but there were eggs in all the usable cells; which weren't many.

Queen and Eggs

Compare this image of the queen to the one I took of her on the 25th, four days ago. Big difference. Although it looks like her wings may be damaged if you zoom in on the above image. The bees in the nuc were acting a little better too. They have drawn out more comb and are leaving & returning from the field. This Nuc is from Myrina (we think) whose production is usually good. These bees may now make it.

Whether the plastic nuc helped or not I don't know. There are a few other unknowns to this colony: How does a swarm end up with a Virgin Queen? How come the bees are so listless? Why won't they take syrup? Much doesn't make sense. Maybe I'll figure it out someday. Untill then this is the bees home untill the woodenware is finished.

Corrugated Plastic Nuc

They drew out a bunch of weird comb on the Plasticell frame again. I turned the frame around instead of removing the odd comb. They can try to get it right on the undrawn side. The 4th frame from the left is the Medium brood frame from what was Nuc #3 but is now Melissa.

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Also,
I checked the honey super on Myrina. Surprisingly the bees had finally drawn out the majority of frames. About Time! So the super came out from between the 2 brood boxes and onto the top of the hive. I added the Modified Queen Excluder as well. I didn't see any eggs in the honey frames but I'll check again in a few days to be sure.

Honey At Last!

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MELISSA'S CHRONICLE

2011-05-27T23:00:00.040-04:00

September 25, 2011

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils
Hole in HTF screen repaired

September 15, 2011

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 4, 2011

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 29, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Remove all 4 Medium frames from DHB1
Cut Extended comb from above frames
Return comb to DHB1 inserted into deep frames

August 28, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC
DHB1 = 10 frames, CW
                               brood frames = 5/10
                               honey frames = 5/10
DHB2 = 10 frames, Mix
                               brood frames = 4/10
                               honey frames = 6/10
Queen Spotted = no
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = solid
Queen Cells = Many swarm cups
Drone Cells = few
Honey Stores = low
Honey Bound = no
Pollen = yes
Population = Very High
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Removed all Swarm Cups from DHB2
Fewer Drone Cells
Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 24, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Add Medium Honey Super, undrawn (MHS1)

August 21, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, IC, TC

Remove IC
Add HTF
Add VB
Add 1gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 15, 2011

(post link)
r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, IC, TC

Nuc#1 combined into Melissa, DHB2
Newspaper method
Keep Melissa's Queen

August 7, 2011

r-SBB, DHB1, DHB2, IC, TC

Remove all bridge comb
Repair broken #1 frame in DHB1
Add 10th frame in DHB1, undrawn

July 15, 2011

SBB, DHB2, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Remove HTF
Remove VB
Add IC
Reduce Entrance (r)
Place DHB2 above DHB1

June 15, 2011

SBB, DHB2, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup

June 14, 2011

SBB, DHB2, DHB1, IC, TC

Remove IC
Add HTF
Add VB
Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup

June 1, 2011

(post link)

SBB, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Reverse Brood boxes, empty on the bottom
Remove HTF
Add IC

May 27, 2011

(post link)(link to Nuc Chronicle)
SBB, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC
DHB1 = 10 frame, CW
brood frames = 7/9
DHB2 = 10 frame, Foundationless
Undrawn
Population = high

Bees Hived from Nuc #3
Add DHB2 w/10 foundationless frames
Add HTF w/ 1 gal 1:1 syrup
Add VB

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Melissa - the Fifth Hive

2011-05-27T17:57:00.077-04:00

Nuc #3 has been doing very well. Her 10 frame deep box is filled with bees, brood, & honey. She has more bees and stores than Heléna. Which tells me she should be in a full hive. So today i put a second Deep box on Nuc #3 along with 10 foundationless frames and a Hive Top Feeder topped off with a gallon of 1:1 syrup.

This Nuc's ability to draw comb is quite good. The bees seem preoccupied with making comb since I'm always scraping extra off the inner cover. I don't doubt she'll have the new box nearly all drawn out by July. Which will give her a double Deeps worth of bees going into Winter.

If she's going to be a full hive she needs a name. We found out that in Greek, honey bee is 'Melissa'. So that's her new name now. Her parent hive belongs to the Neighbor. It's name is Beatrix, after the 20th century queen. The neighbor also made a split from the parent hive at the same time. It also has become a full hive. Lots of good genetics there indeed.

Melissa - formerly Nuc #3

The yellow box is on lone from Heléna. The white box is drying from a bleaching it received to clear up the mold issue. In a day or so I'll switch them out. I'll do an inspection as soon as I see the bees have drawn some comb in the top box. I need to make a Slatted Rack and a new cover for her too now that she's a big girl.

The year is just moving right along...

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Hive Inspection 5/25/11

2011-05-25T22:26:00.163-04:00

Nuc #4
85°F
Partly Sunny

The poor & lowly Nuc #4

This Nuc makes me feel like a slum lord. I was out of equipment when i caught the swarm. I had to use whatever scraps could be found. The cover is Mary's original cover from 2008 when i purchased her. It has spent the last two years as a tomato starter, essentially a flower pot! The Deep box was Myrina's. The one that had so much mold last Winter the knots started to weep. The bottom board was also Myrina's and was in storage yet covered in dead bugs and spiders. To make thing worse it's a 10 frame set up when all the small swarm needed was at most a 5 frame box. I didn't even have 5 frames so they got 4: 1 plasticell & 2 foundationless all undrawn. I did add that brood frame from Nuc #3 but it is a Medium.

I put a entrance feeder IN the hive to keep the robing down. I know the flow is on but these bees couldn't defend a drop. The bees haven't touched the syrup. They continue to act strangely all huddled together and barely flying.

They haven't started on the fourth frame yet. I don't know what they're doing on the plasticell frame. Making a mess i guess. Just a weak performance all the way around. And still NO eggs!

Today they got a little break. I purchased one of those plastic nucs. They get a newer, cleaner home and a fifth frame too. Almost like real bees. The plastic nuc isn't great but its a mighty step up from what they have now. They can defend it & control the climate whereas the 10 frame was too big for them. These plastic jobs are stamped out of one piece corrugated plastic. It takes a little to fold it together, the directions are Useless. These are a one shot deals. No adding on or feeders. I think they're more for selling nucs than Making nucs.

Movin' on up!

The good news is i might get some time this weekend to start making the real nuc equipment. Hopefully that can be completed before these bees drop dead.

The queen still looks unmated. Her abdomen is not growing any bigger. If there is no change she will be replaced, soon!

That's the Queen!

To add to this menagerie of gloom look who popped out for a walk during the inspection. Is this really necessary?

SHB

If this nuc lives it will be by luck and a miracle. I will do what i can but if they don't start behaving like bees and working they're done for.

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Hive Inspection 5/24/11

2011-05-24T19:08:00.224-04:00

Heléna & Nuc #5
83°F
Sunny

Heléna is coming along nicely. She is drawing out 9 of the 10 frames. the comb is straight and in good form. They are storing plenty of nectar/syrup. Though she's still very slow to take the syrup; a gallon will last over a week. She is laying as much as she can in the limited space. Plenty of eggs, larva, & pupae already.

Frame #2 -

Frame #3 -

Frame #4 -

Frame #5 -

Frame #6 -

Frame #7 -

Frame #8 -

Frame #9 -

Frame #10 -

I started to use foundationless/Natural comb this year. At first i used small bits of foundation as a comb guide. Now i nail the wedge in sideways. The comb here is off side because the queen cage was on that side (oops!). The bees definitely favor the South side of the hive though. That's the side all the big comb is on. Frame #1 is on the North side where they're slowly getting too.

Queen Heléna

The Queen looked good. She didn't get marked though. After the last debacle marking the Queen in Nuc #3 i won't do it if there isn't enough eggs to make an emergency queen. This colony has fresh eggs but not enough. She'll be marked sometime around when the second Deep is near drawn out.

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Nuc #5

Nuc #5 is a real joy. The bees are dark and may be feral. They seem good about drawing comb and filling it. They've been in the nuc for a week and are working every frame including the plasticell. The queen has laid eggs in every available cell. They have been feed 3 quarts of syrup so far. The best part is that they couldn't care less about me. They're very passive and don't mind me when i poke around their frames.

Frame #1

Frame #2

Frame #3

Frame #4

Frame #5

It looks great for a weeks worth of comb. It was a surprise to see how well they did on the Plasticell. I had given up on that stuff and gotten rid of most of it. I would've kept it if I knew these bees were OK with it.

Nothing capped yet but that wont take long. I'll keep feeding them since they're taking it so well. They never had syrup delivered to them while in their tree and probably think they're in Heaven. Hope they don't get to dependent on it.

Nuc #3 Queen

The queen is a big girl. She too won't be marked until they have a majority of drawn & filled frames. Technically she should be marked with blue since she is likely from last year. I'll need to find the blue pen again.

The plan is to go treatmentless with these bees. I know they've survived at least one Winter in a tree without any help; maybe years. If they do well I'll start using them to requeen the others.

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Swarm, Queen in Super, & Other Notes

2011-05-21T22:28:00.001-04:00

Keeping up with the bees has been a daily chore lately. Catching the Swarm on Wednesday (5/18) was great but all the equipment had to be borrowed. The issue with that was the neighbor uses Mediums only. Yesterday (5/20) the medium frames and the Medium Nuc were traded out for all Deep equipment; the quiet box is now in service. On a good note the new bees had drawn almost a full frame already. I like these bees.

The full story on the swarm is straight forward. The Wife saw the swarm before Noon then called me at work. After work we went back and hived them. They were very cooperative in that the swarm quickly accepted the nuc. They were all in it and calm within an hour. We came home, put them on the stand, and fed them. They've been busy since. When i traded all the equipment they were calm and passive. I guess the swarm was at about 2 pounds. Good haul! Oh, and the tree the bees were swarming on was a bee tree. I marked it with flagging and notified everyone in the club. We'll all watch it for years to come. Welcome Nuc #5.

Equipment issues:
I'm out of woodenware. This Spring i started with 2 full hives. The plan was to add one more full hive, via package, and make 2 Nucs. The equipment for all was made and ready to go. However what happened was more than i had hoped for. On top of the what was planned I made a third Nuc and caught two swarms; the third Nuc is insanely productive and will be made into a full hive as soon as another box is available.

I have decided to make all the woodenware I need instead of buying it. 4 Nuc bodies, 2 Nuc covers, 2 Nuc Inner Covers, 2 Nuc Screened Bottom Board., 2 Nuc Slatted Racks, all for 5 frame Deeps. Also I need 2 Screened Bottom Boards, 1 Slatted Rack, 1 Cover, all for 10 frame Deeps to fix a few issues with the full hives. All of this is needed this year, NOW!, but the budget has been used up. SO...I'll make everything from plywood. Not ideal but doable. Plywood is more susceptible to water damage but is much cheaper. To deal with the water issues I'll need to make sure the end grains are covered and well sealed. If done properly the plywood boxes will last as long as solid wood.

Honey Production:
Queen Mary got into the Honey Super. I notice on Monday (5/16) the bees had drawn a few frames out down to the bottom. I wanted to put the Excluder on then but a rain storm shut me down then and for the rest of the week. Yesterday (5/20) I went to put it in but it was to late. She had gotten to 3 frames, mostly drone cells. Not a problem though. I made sure the Queen was not in the Super then swept the bees off the egg frames and culled them. They went directly into the deep freezer. Left them in for 2+ hours. I figured by then the eggs were sufficiently chilled. Then put the frames back into the Super. The Excluder went on as soon as I culled the frames. I'll check the Super again in a few days.

Queen Excluders are mostly called 'Honey' Excluders around here. Seems bees don't like to pass through the bars and many Supers never get drawn out. To remedy this I modified the Excluders. I cut off the bars on the last inch of each side. That way the Queen won't be in a position to crawl through while worker bees on both side can pass without hindrance.

Clipped off the sides

Other beeks like to place the Excluder sideways on the box. It does the same thing while allowing for additional ventilation. I'd rather keep the sides of the hives closed off. The gap opens up the outside & the top of the last frames. It closes off the inside of the last frames and everything in between. When placing the chilled frames back in I saw the bees actively passing through the gaps.

Myrina is still having a problem drawing out honey comb. To motivate her more I put her Honey Super in between the top & bottom brood boxes. I'll check back in a week for improvement.

The Small Swarm:
Nuc #4, this swarm nuc was still doing nothing. To boost their instinct to act like bees I added a brood frame from Nuc #3 and an entrance feeder. A check in a few days will tell me if it worked. Fingers crossed...

* ____________________________________________________________*

NUC #5 CHRONICLE

2011-05-18T23:40:00.011-04:00

September 25, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 17, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 15, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 13, 2011
(post link)
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Colony SWARMED
New Queen marked white

September 6, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 4, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 29, 2011
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 28, 2011
(post link)
r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 23, 2011

r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 21, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, EF, DNB1, DNB2, DNB3, IC, TC

Add ½ gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 17, 2011 - (Combined with Nuc #4)

(post link)

r-SBB, EF, DNB1 , IC, TC

Combined with Nuc #4
Keep Queen
Remove Screened Bottom Board (SBB) neighbor's
Remove Inner Cover (IC) neighbor's
Remove Top Cover (TC) neighbor's
Add Bottom Board (BB)
Add second Deep Nuc box (DNB2)
Add third Deep Nuc box (DNB3)
Add 5 undrawn frames, wax foundation
Add Inner Cover (IC)
Add Top Cover (TC)

June 15, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup

June 14, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup

May 25, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

May 24, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

May 23, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

May 22, 2011

r-SBB, EF, DNB1, IC, TC

Add 1qt 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

May 20, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, EF, MNB1, IC, TC

Remove MNB1
Add DNB1, 5 frame (old quiet box)
Remove all 3 Medium frames
Add 5 Deep frames, foundationless

May 18, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, EF, MNB1, IC, TC
MNB1 = 5 frame, CW & foundationless
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = no, New Swarm Nuc
Brood Pattern = no, New Swarm Nuc
Drone Cells = no, New Swarm Nuc
Population = 2 pounds
Condensation = no
Pests = no

Add all Equipment, borrowed
Add only 3 Medium frames
Bees from wild swarm in Bedford County
Reduce Entrance
Add Entrance Feeder & 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

* ____________________________________________________________*

A Bale of Hay

2011-05-18T21:39:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you a story...

There once was a Walnut tree

That was in fact a Bee Tree

That had Swarmed this very morning

So the local beekeeper clipped the swarm down

and placed it in a borrowed Nuc box

Where the Queen felt right at home

and they all lived happily ever after

The End

* ____________________________________________________________*

Inspection 5/16/11

2011-05-16T23:36:00.001-04:00

Mary & Nuc#3
72°F
Sunny moments in between rain showers

Since Myrina swarmed I've wanted to inspect Mary. For a while there she was showing lots of Chalkbrood dropped out in front of the hive and the amount of field bees seemed diminished.

The honey super was a sad sight. The bees are now drawing out the comb, but slowly. However they are making many drone size cells so the comb will be great for honey production. I moved the drawn or drawing frames to the side and placed the empties in the middle; trying to spur the drawing out of those frames too. Beautiful new wax

The Top brood box looked like this (from left to right):

Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood - many swarm cups/ removed
Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
Crimped wire - little honey - open cells - Brood
Plasticell - honey - open cells - Brood
Natural comb - no honey - open cells - All Drone frame/comb cut out - Queen
Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
Plasticell - honey bound
Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #1

Not much in the way of honey or pollen. Plenty brood both young and old. Very, very little chalkbrood. Both Mary and her spun off nuc have the CB. For some reason Mary always has it. The solid drone frames have been popping up lately. I cut off all the comb but left enough at the top for the bees to have a guide. This, i hope, opens up the brood nest enough to dissuade them from swarming. The copious amount of queen cups in the swarm position was unnerving.

Bottom brood box:

Plasticell - honey - pollen frame
Plasticell - little honey - pollen frame - Brood
Plasticell - very little honey - open cells - Brood
Crimped wire - very little honey - open cells - Brood
Plasticell - little honey - open cells - Brood
Crimped wire - honey - open cells
Plasticell - honey - open cells
Plasticell - honey bound
Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #2
Plasticell - honey bound - returned to position #1

More honey and less brood in this box. There is enough open cells & undrawn frames in this hive to keep them from swarming, i hope. With some of the honey comb reaching the bottom of the frames I'll add an excluder soon. If it looks like it's getting crowded I may replace a honey bound frame with a foundationless one. The colony looks OK for now. The plan is to requeen her anyway.

- - - - - - - - -

Next was the split made from the neighbor's colony that i call Nuc#3. These bees are the hardest working bees I know. The first to flight each morning and the last to rest every night. The Nuc, a 9 frame deep box, is full with brood and honey. Sadly the parent frames are Mediums. The bees have taken to drawing comb tangentially to the bottom of the 5 smaller frames. I cut it all out then rearranged the frames so each small frame was bracketed by larger frames. That should straighten out the bottom comb.

The bees have little room left though. I need to add another deep as soon as I can. This was suppose to be a Nuc but she's turned into a full colony. I guess that happens when you start out with 5 frames of bees.

There's a hitch to it though. I am going to requeen Mary with the queen from Nuc#3. Then let Nuc#3 make herself another queen. Mary will then become as productive as this awesome Nuc/Hive. I plan on requeening this weekend.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Caught 'em! Sort of...

2011-05-14T21:41:00.008-04:00

Myrina's Swarm stayed perched in the tree for 2 days. Both days the cluster grew smaller. Yesterday morning I noticed a pile of bees on the ground in front of Myrina's hive. I laid two undrawn frames down on the pile (it's all i have left!). The bees climbed up on the frames and I put all of them into the Swarm trap I had set out. By lunch the trap was empty and the bees were back in the 'pile'. Then I put the 'Quiet box' over the pile with what few frames I have & a cover. When I got home from work all the bees were in the box. I put the bee covered frames in my last box, a 10 frame deep, and up on the stand with a reduced entrance. I use the Quiet box for inspections so i needed it back.

Today I looked through the 3 frames of bees. There is a queen but the bees don't act right. First, why were they on the ground and not in a tree? Second, The bees don't do anything. They stand around like they're loitering, no activity? I didn't know bees were capable of doing nothing. They're like teenagers on a Saturday morning, just sitting there!

I posted a question about this on the Forum. Word there is to add a frame of brood to jump start them or feed them some syrup. Either way I'll keep you posted.

P.S. - I don't know for sure if these bees are from Myrina's swarm in the tree. It could be that another queen made it out with some bees of her own. The shrinking swarm in the tree was gone by the time I out the box on the pile of bees.

* ____________________________________________________________*

NUC #4 CHRONICLE

2011-05-13T14:31:00.007-04:00

August 15, 2011 - (Combined into Nuc #5)
(post link)
PN

End of Nuc #4
Queen Pinched
All 5 frames placed into DNB for Nuc #5
PN put in storage

May 29, 2011

(post link)

PN = 5 frame, mixed
brood frames - 2/5
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = good

Queen laying

May 25, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, EF, DHB1, TC
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = yes (from nuc #3)
Population = Small Swarm, pint and a half of bees
Pests = SHBx1

Remove BB, EF, DHB1, TC
Add 5 frame plastic nuc (PN)
Add 1 foundationless frame

May 20, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, DHB1, TC

Remove 5 frames (for Nuc #5)
Add Entrance Feeder (EF) & 1:1 syrup (internally)
Add 1 Medium brood frame from Nuc #3
Bees still not active

May 14, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, DHB1, TC
Queen Spotted = yes

Queen found
Bees not working??

May 13, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, DHB1, TC
DHB1 = 10 frame, mixed
brood frames = 0/9
Queen Spotted = no
Brood Present = no, New Swarm Nuc
Brood Pattern = no, New Swarm Nuc
Drone Cells = no, New Swarm Nuc
Population = Small Swarm, pint and a half of bees
Condensation = no
Pests = no

Add all Equipment
Bees from Myrina's Swarm
Reduce Entrance
No proper equipment available
Frames are undrawn Plasticell & Foundationless

* ____________________________________________________________*

Myrina Swarmed!

2011-05-11T14:06:00.000-04:00

(insert curse word here)

Myrina swarmed today. I hadn't been through her for a month. Otherwise it may have been caught in time. Too much of my focus has been on the Nucs. Mary will be inspected tomorrow to keep this from happening there too.

The wife called me late morning to tell me about the swarm. When I got back to the house the swarm was still in the tree; 50 feet up that is. While i was driving the Wife put out a 10 frame Deep box with wired foundationless frames (we have no extra drawn frames) and lemon grass oil as a make-shift Swarm Trap. Wouldn't it be nice if that worked out.

I did an inspection on Myrina as soon as i got home. The honey super was still undrawn. The top Deep was bound with honey and swarm cells. The swarm cells, both hatched & unhatched, were removed. A new queen was found and she was marked. The bottom Deep had a few swarm cells in it to but was not honey bound. Plus, there was a Supersedure Cell in it. The Supersedure cell was left alone. No pests were found.

SO, maybe the queen stopped laying a while ago; preparing for the swarm. Since then the bees filled the brood sections with honey & made Swarm cells, 17 total. Several of the swarm cells had hatched. Yet this is the first time we've seen her swarm. The population is still good. If the honey frames had been drawn out they could have still made surplus this year. Not likely now.

I guess the Supersedure Queen will emerge soon and do away with the new queen i found & marked. I expect the personality of the colony won't change much though. Since 2008 these 2 colonies, Myrina & Mary, have been very consistent in that respect. Which leaves me with a colony that like the last 2 years wont produce anything. My patients is wearing thin with these bees. We'll see...

When I was finished with the inspection and going back to work the Swarm was still in it's tree. Unless they move into the Swarm trap the Wife put out they'll be gone for good.

* * *

The Swarm way up in the tree

7 Swarm Cells

8 Swarm Cells

I found this Queen & marked her

The population in Myrina is Still good

A Supersedure Cell in the Bottom Deep

* ____________________________________________________________*

HELÉNA'S CHRONICLE

2011-05-07T23:27:00.011-04:00

September 25, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 15, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, MHS1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

September 7, 2011

(post link)
r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC
DHB1 = 10 frame, foundationless
6 brood
DHB2 = 10 frame, mix
5 brood
Queen Spotted = yes, DBH1 - frame #5
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = good
Queen Cells = no
Drone Cells = yes
Population = very high
Honey Bound = no
Honey Stores = light
Pollen = yes
Condensation = no
Pests = SHB (1)

Added Undrawn Medium Honey Super

September 4, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 28, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 21, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ACV, Thyme & Peppermint oils

August 19, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC

Nuc#2 combined into Heléna, DHB2
Newspaper method

August 14, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, DHB2, HTF, VB, TC
DHB1 = 10 frame, foundationless
6 brood
DHB2 = 10 frame, undrawn
Queen Spotted = yes, Marked white
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = good
Queen Cells = no
Drone Cells = yes
Population = low
Honey Bound = no
Honey Stores = light
Pollen = yes
Condensation = no
Pests = no

New Queen on frame 10
Marked Queen with white dot

July 15, 2011

(post link)

SBB, SR, DHB2, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

SWARMED
Honey bound
DHB2 remains undrawn
Place DHB2 above DHB1
Remove 8 swarm cells
Leave 1 supersedure cell
Reduced Entrance

June 18, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 10 frame DHB2, foundationless
Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup
Remove Entrance Reducer

June 15, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup

June 14, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, IC, TC

Remove IC
Add HTF
Add VB
Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup

June 1, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Remove HTF
Remove VB
Add IC

May 25, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV & thyme oil

May 17, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal 1:1 syrup w/ACV & thyme oil

May 9, 2011
r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC

Add 1 gal. 1:1syrup w/ACV & Thyme oil

May 7, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, SR, DHB1, HTF, VB, TC
DBH1 = 10 frames, Foundationless
Brood frames = 0/10
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = no
Brood Pattern = n/a
Drone Cells = n/a
Population = 3# package
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Add all hiveware
Add 3# package from Dadant
Add 1 gal. 1:1 syrup w/ ACV & Thyme oil

Day one of Heléna

* ____________________________________________________________*

Heléna - the Forth Hive

2011-05-07T22:55:00.001-04:00

The Package showed up on Thursday the 5th. Today they were hived without any problems. The bees seem to have accepted their new queen. She came unmarked. I'll mark her in a few weeks after they've settled in. for now the bees are taking to the hive well enough. They were making orientation flights as soon as i poured then into the hive.

Heléna being Hived

It would have been better to hive them tomorrow but rain is in the forecast. These bees were starved though. When I poured the syrup into the HTF they all but swarmed the syrup. It took a few minutes to get the bees out of the HTF just to close it.

Typically one is supposed to feed the bees Fumagilin at this stage to fend off Nosema (dysentery). I want to back away from all these chemical treatments so i didn't. They had Apple Cider Vinegar and Thyme oil added to the syrup instead. Those will help with both Nosema & Varroa without being too harsh. If i don't see any signs of Nosema I'll not use the Fumagilin at all. So far no colony has been given any this year.

This hive is all foundationless. They should draw it out faster so they will have brood sooner, so everyone tells me anyhow.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Happy Anniversary! 3 years

2011-05-05T23:30:00.005-04:00

May 5th of 2008 is the day we acquired our first 2 hives, Mary & Myrina. 2 old souls just needing a place to be. How they have changed our lives. We plant more for the bees now than we do for the vegetable garden. The neighbor was bitten by the bee bug and now has 4 hives of her own. Every January is spent planning for the coming bee year. In March & April I'm too busy with the bees to do anything else. I've met countless people who graciously lend their advice and support. All in all it's been great.

I had hope to celebrate by taking the wife to town for a couple chocolate shakes. Instead, on a whim, i put the veil on and looked into the 3 nucs. It turns out All 3 now have laying queens. One i knew about, the other 2 are new. So to celebrate I got to mark 2 new queens. Just as I finished that up the neighbor pulled up with the bee packages we had ordered; she got 2 and I 1.

Going into the fourth year will be 3 hives and 3 nucs. Although I might make a forth nuc out of frames from all 3 nucs. Then make Nuc #3 a full hive; they're comb building fiends. A guy at work has a bee tree of Survivors. He said I can set up swarm traps at his place any time.

Should make for a busy forth year.

* ____________________________________________________________*

A Few Observations

2011-04-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been going into the hives every other day or so checking for laying queens, comb drawing, etc. The bees seem to be doing alright. There are a few things i wanted to put into the record.

Mary's bees are closer to drawing out the honey comb in the super. I had added 3 partially drawn out plasticell frames to spur her to draw out the rest. I don't know if it was those or the main flow starting but some comb is now being drawn.

Drawing Foundationless Comb

Each frame has a small piece of Crimped-wire foundation stuck to the top bar. You can see the wires in the above image. I use that as the seed strip to guide the bees. The strips also get sprayed with syrup.

The bees have begun to bring in nectar and store it up in the honey super. Though the frames aren't fully drawn out yet. The wax bees seem to keep just ahead of the field bees.

Uncured Honey

This is one of the plasticell frames. After this season i hope to have enough foundationless honey frames around to chuck the last of these.

In the Brood boxes there is some odd looking debris in some of the cells. I think it's either bits of mold or maybe SHB droppings.

Dirty looking stuff!?

There was a SHB in Duchess's hive last Fall when I did the combination with Mary. Maybe there were some more that made it through Winter. To check I put a Beetle trap in Mary's hive and filled it with Mineral Oil. To my surprise the bees went nuts and ganged up on the trap.

Why are they doing this?

Was I supposed to use Vegetable Oil instead? I'll ask the question in the Forum. The bees cant physically reach the oil in the trap but it looks like they're trying. They immediately clustered around the trap as i was adding the oil to it. Perhaps it should go in any swarm traps I make.

Mary had one frame that was entirely drone comb. It wasn't a Pierco frame either but a regular foundationless frame. It's swarm season and bees need to make lots of drones this time of year. The bees can change the drone cells to worker cells later when they're over the drone rut. In the mean time Mary is stuck making tons of drones and Varroa. To fix that I cut the comb out leaving and undrawn frame.

Ex-Drone Frame

I left a few rows at the top to guide the bees making the next comb. Which hopefully will be worker comb.

The Nucs look good too. 2 of 3 are broodless but should have laying queens in them soon. Their populations are good. Especially Nuc3.

Nuc3 loaded with Bees

This Nuc may end up as a hive this year. It started with 5 Medium frames filled with bees & brood. Plus I added an extra 4 Deep frames fully drawn with pollen & honey. These bees have done well and love to make comb. If i add another Deep box they might just draw it out before Fall. How well the new queen does at laying will decide.

To finish I want to post an image of a hatched Queen Cell being torn down by workers. Most of the time these are gone before i get to see them. This one is from Nuc2.


Old Queen Cell

* ____________________________________________________________*

Inspection 4/21/2011

2011-04-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

Nuc #1, Nuc #2, Nuc #3
70°F
Sunny
Slight Breeze

A quick look at the Nucs before the monthly Club Meeting. In case there was an issue i needed to ask the membership about . Fortunately I didnt see anything that look like a problem.

Nuc #1 is looking great now with 3 frames of eggs & larva. The pattern looks as solid as it can be. I did see a cell with 2 eggs in it but only once. I'll check again this weekend to look for more. I don't want a laying worker problem.

3rd row of eggs, 3rd cell from the left; 2 eggs

The larva was on each of the brood frames. She must have begun laying soon after the first inspection. No capped brood yet but that will happen soon.

Larva from Nuc 1

The brood looked good so it was a surprise to see the they're Superseding. When the Nuc was first made the bees my not have begun to make queen cells for a day or more. That would allow any fresh eggs to become older and less likely to form into a good queen. The best queen cells coming from day old eggs to 3 days old at most. This queen seems alright but the bees know better.

Supersedure Cell

I'll check this nuc every few days to see what happens with the queens. Once the new bees begin to emerge another Deep box could be put on the nuc. In the mean time i'll stop feeding them sice they have plenty of food and the Flow is about to start.


Queen bee, perhaps soon to be replaced

Nuc #2 has plenty of capped brood left in her as well as 3 Queen cells. 2 have been capped while 1 is being capped now. So by the weekend after next a queen should have emerged. Another week after that, or shortly after, there might be eggs in this nuc.

Queen Cell 1

Queen Cell 3

Queen Cell 2 with a....'What is that!'

I took this picture of the queen cell as the bees were capping it. I didn't see the image until later. Which is when I noticed the odd looking bee in the blue oval. It appears that her abdomen is elongated like a queen. She doesn't appear to be bigger than the drone either. If it was an obvious queen i think i would have noticed her. I'll check this nuc this weekend as well to see if i can find anything else.

One more issue was the mesh reducer on the entrance. Because of the threat of early robing i cut a mesh reducer to fit a single bee. I didn't think about drones & queens at the time though. I found frame 5 completely covered in drones. Just sitting there doing more nothing then usual. I realized then they might not be able to get out of the hive; though i saw no bee waste stains anywhere. It also means a queen couldn't get out of the hive either. I made the entrance bigger and left it at that.

Nuc #3 had lost most if it's swarm cells. They had been torn down and replaced with regular comb. I looked and looked for a queen but never saw one. Hopefully in a few days i will find a bunch of eggs. Then I'll know she has a queen.

Bunch 'o bees

Her population is great for a nuc but shes is in a 10 frame box not a 5 frame nuc. They wont be able to defend their space as well but have no pests yet.

Both Nuc #1 & Nuc #2 had their Inner Covers finally put on.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Blogs to Books

2011-04-21T00:05:00.000-04:00

For those of you that use a blog as a beekeeping journal I recommend having it printed. You could use your printer or you could do what the Wife did for me. She had this blog printed as a book using an online source. It was a gift and quite a good one i think.

Years 2008 - 2010

The online sites can format the book as you want with colors, picts, and such. Mostly just printing ones blog with the existing formatting does the job. There are some bells & whistles if you want. Mine is hardbound with 123 pages; after all it covers 3 years. I plan on getting another volume each year for that year only. Kind of like an Encyclopedia Beetanica.

You can decide how to mix picts & text

The reason I recommend it is because tonight i noticed a portion of my blog is missing! Where it went i don't know. When it went i don't know. Part of Mary's Colony Chronicle just isn't there anymore. Which means i've lost everything I've done with her from May 5, 2008 to November 26, 2010.

The post abruptly ends on Nov. 20, 2011

The colony nor i will die from the loss of this information but the reason I keep a blog is to know what has been done. I'd like to have that information. Yes I keep a prose version of the same data on the main page. The Chronicles, though, are like the Suez Canal. I use them to avoid going around the Cape Horn of Text when I need to check a hive input.

Fortunately, I can recreate the missing data from the book. It will take a while, 9 pages worth, but i'll get it all back. So if something happens to your blog/journal it would be good to have a hard copy to go back to. Any second copy will do be it from your printer or as a book. Even a HTML Word doc safely stowed away some where will work nicely.

If you go the book route search 'blog to book' in your browser. It will show some places that will let you see a demo. That alone can be fun.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Beginning to Worry

2011-04-20T22:12:00.001-04:00

Here we are again at the start of another honey season and these bees have yet to draw out any honey comb. This has been the biggest problem over the past several years. I don't know what i'm doing wrong but something ain't right!

Today i looked at the honey supers to see a bunch of bees sitting around doing nothing. The supers have been on for several weeks now. Plenty of time to draw the comb out. They just wont do it. I've used Plasticell, Foundationless, and now Crimped wire. I've sprayed the frames with sugar syrup and feed the bees with even more syrup. I'm about at wits end.

At the moment the honey supers are foundationless. Today i replaced 3 frames in each super. One with 3 semi-drawn Plasticell frames and the other with 3 undrawn Crimped wire frames.. All frames were then sprayed with sugar syrup.

Wish me luck!

* ____________________________________________________________*

Feeding for Comb

2011-04-17T10:29:00.000-04:00

The Honey Supers have been on for several weeks now and haven't been drawn out yet. In an attempt to get the bees to start drawing out comb i fed them 1:1 syrup yesterday. Since there is no honeycomb i'm not worried about adulterated honey just yet. The syrup continues to have Apple Cider Vinegar put in it; 1 tbsp per gallon. I'm also adding a drop of 'pure' Thyme oil to each gallon.

I checked the feeder late yesterday. The bees were all over the syrup. If they stay on it i'll continue to give it to them.

I'll give Nuc1 & 2 a pint each of syrup today as well. Nuc 1 has no brood at all and Nuc 2 has little larva left. Either way the bees don't need as much food as a colony with tons of brood. I noticed the bees in Nuc 1 aren't flying as much as the 2 nucs with larva. When i looked in Nuc 1 the other day i didn't see much in the way of stores either. I want to make sure there are enough stores in the hive when the Queen starts laying again. Though I wont be adding pollen patties. They don't take to patties when there is real pollen available. So i wont waste money on that.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Inspection 4/15/2011

2011-04-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

Nuc #1 & Nuc #2
68°F
Sunny
Calm

A queen should have emerged in Nuc #1 last weekend. I went in today to see if she had begun to lay eggs. The first frame had no new eggs and all the capped brood had emerged. Frame 2 Also had no eggs or brood but did have the New Queen. Though my colonies have generated many queens this is the first one I meant to make. Woohoo! it worked

The marking tools are always in the work bucket. It took a bit to get her in the tube though. A worker bee always trys to get stuck in there with the queen. 2 small dots of white paint and a minute of drying later shes marked.

Marked Queen Bee

She went back on the frame then scurried out of site. The other frames had no eggs either. I posted a question on the forum asking how long it takes a new queen to start laying. They said it can take up to 2 weeks. I'll check again next weekend to see how they're doing.

Still making Mating Flights

Meanwhile they are bringing in plenty of nectar & pollen. They could potentially become honey bound before she begins to lay. If so I'll swap out a couple of frames for empty drawn frames. Plus I put the Slatted Rack on.

- - -

Nuc #2 had 3 Queen cells on the first frame I pulled out. Only 2 were capped. There was still plenty of worker capped brood on that frame too. I didn't look any further and closed it up.

The nucs are looking good so far. Once a queen begins to lay I plan on adding the second nuc box with filled honey frames.

* ____________________________________________________________*

NUC # 3 CHRONICLE

2011-04-14T22:36:00.027-04:00

May 27, 2011 - HIVED to Melissa
(post link) (link to Hive Chronicle)
SBB, DHB1, IC, TC

Hived
Add DHB2 w/10 foundationless frames
Remove IC
Add HTF w/1 gal syrup
Add VB

May 21, 2011

r-SBB, DHB1, IC, TC

Remove Reducer (r)

May 16, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB, DHB1, IC, TC
Queen Spotted = yes, frame 1

Balanced frames, Deep-Medium-Deep...
Cut out cross comb

May 5, 2011

(post link)
r-SBB, DHB1, IC, TC

Marked New Queen - white

May 1, 2011

r-SBB(c), DHB1, IC, TC

Open Bottom of SBB

April 21, 2011

(post link)
r-SBB(c), DHB1, TC

Add IC

April 14, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB(c), DHB1, TC
DHB1 = 10 frames, Crimped-wire
Brood frames = 5/10
Queen Spotted = Queenless (we think)
Brood Present = yes (6-8 swarm cells)
Brood Pattern = patchy
Drone Cells = yes
Population = moderate
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Add all Equipment
Add 5 Medium brood frames from neighbors hive
Add 5 empty drawn Deep frames from Duchess

* ____________________________________________________________*

The Split Before the Swarm

2011-04-14T21:27:00.111-04:00

One of the Neighbor's hives had a false start to swarm today. I was home for lunch and went out on the back deck to look at my bees. As soon as i walked outside i heard that Jet Engine sound of a swarm (a sound i became all to familiar with back in '08). I followed the sound to my neighbors hives. There the bees were flying in the typical manic sphere of Doom 20 feet across and pouring out of the one hive. I watched and waited to see where they would eventually perch; while calling the neighbor at work. They didn't go anywhere and all came back an landed on the outside of their hive. Even after they came to rest on the hive they continued to stampede in then gush out of the entrances. An hour later everyone had gone in for good. The hive then resumed regular daily activities.

On their way back in

We split out the hive late this afternoon. The brood nest was opened up with drawn and undrawn frames and an undrawn wax foundation honey super was added. All the frames with swarm cells where pulled out (5). We searched & searched for the queen but she was better at hiding then we were at seeking or she's not there. All fingers are now crossed hoping it did the trick.

We are confident that the colony had not yet Swarmed. The hive was packed! Each frame had a pile of bees on it. We couldn't see the comb without moving the bees away. Even the newly place undrawn frames were quickly submerged in bees as we traded out frames.

Which left us with a Nucs worth of brood frames and bees. Most or all of which have multiple swarm cells on them. The neighbor didn't have any extra woodenware but I did. She asked me if I wanted them to make a nuc. I said sure! So now I have another Nuc.

All the woodenware i have is from Duchess which was a double deep. The frames I got from the neighbor are mediums. So I put the medium frames in a single deep with 5 empty and drawn deep frames. It may be a bit too much space so I need to get another nuc set up soon.

We plan to inspect these hives on Sunday looking for the parent queen. Hopefully the she is still in the main hive and has started laying again. We'll see.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Myrina's Nuc & New Queen

2011-04-10T23:26:00.002-04:00

Today's weather was Sunny & warm which is what I've been waiting for to make the second Nuc. Myrina's population is increasing rapidly and I've been worried about her swarming. I did not plan for a full inspection. Only to make the nuc and close everyone up afterward.

As I took it of i saw the bees had not begun to draw out the Honey Super. Oh well!. I started removing the frames from the top brood box. Lots of bees, lots of capped brood cells, & lots of drone cells. To look for eggs I had to push the bees around on the frames to see into the cells. I was also looking for the Queen of course. I meant to locate then isolate her before i took any frames for the nuc.

It didn't take long. Queen Myrina was in the top box on frame #5. Not the blue marked VSH daughter from 2010 but a new Unmarked queen! Whoa! I grabbed the marking tube from the tool box and chased her around the frame for a few seconds before i managed to catch her. She was laid to the side for later. Then I took the frame she was on and the 3 adjacent frames and put them in the Nuc; they had plenty of eggs. I put an extra honey frame in the nuc and it was full. A towel was placed over the nuc while I finished up with Myrina.

All 4 frames were replaced with drawn crimped-wire frames saved from Duchess. The remaining brood frames were checker-boarded some what to move the end frames into the brood nest. Then I marked queen Myrina with a white marker and let the paint dry for a minute. After which she was released back onto a brood frame.

The New Queen Myrina

At this point I closed up Myrina and grabbed the nuc to take to its stand. The Screened Bottom Board & Telescoping Cover were waiting there for the Nuc. All of it was assembled and there sat Nuc#2.

A Nuc from both Hives

As I closed the cover on the new Nuc I noticed that the bees were Very quiet. Hopefully by next weekend they will have a handful of Queen cells made. Also the Slatted Rack was added at the start. I hope it will allow the bees to keep the bottom of the frames warmer so they have more queen cell candidates. I should have done that with the first nuc. Nuc#2 has 4 full frames of bees in it. Which is what I've been told is a good amount.

The New Queen Myrina. The last time I saw the blue marked 2010 queen was in October. Yet all spring there has been plenty of brood. I feel like she may have been replaced after the boxes were reversed. I couldnt have been last year since it would have been to late for drones to be around. There was also no problem with egg laying early this year. There was a slow down after the reversal. I assumed it was related to the reversal but it may have been when the supersedure occurred; or she died and was replaced. I havent seen any queen cells yet this year. A full inspection is in order now.

The good news is that Myrina is requeened. I'll not worry as much about her swarming now. The new queen performance is Fantastic. The brood frames were filled from edge to edge with brood. The pattern was completely solid. Possibly the best looking brood frames I've ever seen. I hope the queen in Nuc#2 ends up the same.

On a final note the beekeeping neighbor and I both noticed TONS of drone cells in our hives this weekend. Almost entire frames of them. All our queens are local to this area. I hope it is normal for here but I do not recall so many drone cells before.

* ____________________________________________________________*

NUC # 2 CHRONICLE

2011-04-10T22:56:00.044-04:00

August 19, 2011 - (Combined into Heléna)

(post link)

r-SBB, SR, DNB1, DNB2, IC, TC

End of Nuc #2
Queen was caged & placed in neighbors colony Abigale
All 10 frames placed in DHB for Heléna
Remaining equipment put into storage

May 8, 2011

r-SBB, SR, DNB1, IC, TC

Add DNB2 + 5 drawn frames (mixed)

May 5, 2011

(post link)
r-SBB, SR, DNB1, IC, TC

Marked New Queen - white

May 1, 2011

r-SBB(c), SR, DNB1, IC, TC

Open Bottom of SBB

April 21, 2011
(post link)
r-SBB(c), SR, DNB1, TC

Add IC
3 Queen Cells

April 15, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB(c), SR, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 frames, Crimped-Wire
Brood frames = 4/5
Queen Spotted = queenless
Brood Present = yes (queen cells)
Brood Pattern = solid
Drone Cells = yes
Population = good
Condensation = no
Pests = none

2 Capped Queen Cells

April 10, 2011

(post link)

r-SBB(c), SR, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 frames, Crimped-Wire
Brood frames = 4/5
Queen Spotted = queenless
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = solid
Drone Cells = yes
Population = good
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Add all equipment
Added 4 brood frames from Myrina
Added 1 honey frame from Duchess

* ____________________________________________________________*

Busy with Woodenware

2011-04-03T23:06:00.005-04:00

What you see here is about a months worth of fabricated & painted wooden ware. A few peices are left out but the total this Spring is:

10 Frame
2 - Deep Hive Boxes
3 - Slatted Racks
2 - Screened Bottom Boards w/ IPM board
2 - Inner Covers
1 - Telescoping Cover
2 - Medium Honey Supers
2 - Imrie shims

5 Frame
4 - Deep Nuc Boxes
2 - Nuc Slatted Racks
2 - Nuc Screened Bottom Boards w/ IPM board
2 - Nuc Inner Covers
2 - Nuc Telescoping Covers
2 - Nuc Vent Boxes

This is enough for 1 new double deep hive & 2 Nucs. It also adds a Slatted Rack to all hives in the Yard, plus some additional Honey supers. More equipment may be needed if I catch a swarm and I plan to try.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Heiress Presumptive

2011-04-03T22:35:00.006-04:00

On Saturday I noticed what appeared to be too much activity at the entrance of Nuc #1. I would have checked the Nuc then but the air temp was too cool for opening up a queenless and brood poor nuc. It was also VERY windy. The forecast called for today to be warmer and calm so I waited 'till today to go into it.

When I got out there today I saw much more activity at the entrance. It's open only enough for a single bee at a time; yet was covered in bees. I figured the Nuc had died out and was being robed. The weather here has been terrible since the nuc was made. We've had snow and lots of cold windy days. Overall, bad conditions for a few frames of bees trying to cluster around what little brood they have. It's a nuc so I wasn't upset, but i wasn't happy either.

Fortunately the nuc was better off than it seemed. Once opened I could see lots of bees. I checked the frames looking for shredded comb, a sign of robing, and found none. The comb was in good condition with some capped brood still waiting to hatch out. There were also 4 Queen Cells. 2 were not yet capped but the other 2 were. If the nuc was made 12 days ago the capped cells might be 11 days old. So in 5 more days I should have a Virgin Queen. The first Queen intentionally made in this apiary. Woohoo!

All the Queen cells were high or in the middle of the frames. The 2 capped ones were next to each other. So they could feasibly emerge at the same time. That would cause a fight between the 2 queens which could lead to the surviving Queen becoming injured. I could mash one of the 2 but will not. It would leave only a single good cell for the nuc. There's a risk either way but let's see what nature has in store.

The Nuc was being robed though. Not for the honey but the syrup in the Boardman feeder. So I took it off. The nuc still has a good bit of honey and pollen left. With the field bees it has it should bee OK for starters once the New Queen begins laying. There are some reserve frames still left over in the frezer in case they run low on stores. All in all I think this Nuc might make it.

I have a Slatted Rack for this nuc but until the population begins to increase I'll leave it off. The Rack is not a lot of extra space but these bees can't yet defend their little nuc. If all goes well I'll add the second nuc box with 5 frames of honey on drawn frames.

Myrina's Nuc will be next in a week or so.

* ____________________________________________________________*

Early Nuc & Snow

2011-03-28T15:16:00.000-04:00

Sunday's weather forecast showed morning snow and a high in the mid-thirties. Not ideal for the new Nuc i made on Tuesday. The nuc is a small space and easy to heat. The bees, though, are too few and already stressed from being queenless. Not knowing whether clustering longer than a day would harm them more I brought them into the garage Saturday night.

Almost melted away

The bees stayed the day in the heated garage helping me make a few Slatted Racks. They wanted out of the nuc in the worst way but the #8 mesh kept them from flying around the garage. At one point they were able to lift the mesh enough to allow a couple of bees room to almost crawl out. Luckily I noticed it and was able to fix that right away.

I thought about leaving them in the garage for a few days but the forecast improved the next day. At noon on Monday i put them back on the stand outside. It was warm and they were already active from being in the garage. They were piled up at the entrance ready to fly. I pulled the pins on the mesh but knocked the mesh off with a long stick. They didn't buzz me but they poured out.

I realize that making a Nuc too early can lead to weather problems. I've not made one before but will not forget this lesson. In my defense Mary was brooding up fast with the added population from the Fall combination. I was anxious about her swarming and so guessed at when to make the nuc. Though it's still cold at night and the bees are probably clustering anyway. I was afraid they might not be able to properly heat any queen cells they have in there for the day & a half.

The next Nuc will be from Myrina. It will me made after I hive a package I'm suppose to get the weekend of April 2nd & 3rd. I wonder if the current Nuc has an extra queen cell if I can put it in the next Nuc i make? That would speed things up a bit. Of course that's IF the current nuc HAS any queen cells...

...Too much shooting from the hip. I have some reading to do.

* ___________________________________________________________*

Expanding the Bee Yard

2011-03-23T09:11:00.001-04:00

At most three hives have been kept on the current Hive stand in the back yard. It has better Sun than the previous location and a little less humidity. All in all i like it but essentially the bees own the back yard. Not a terrible problem but the property is wooded so they need to go where the Sun shines.

Old Backyard Bee Yard - Fall 2010

The problem is what to do with any new hives once I get them. If the front yard is the garden the only Sunny spot left is the culvert along the road. It's on a slope but it's all I have left.

I made a new hive stand but only 4.5 feet wide. It can hold 2 hives with room to work without placing anything on the uneven ground. This time i sunk the feet into the ground. The winds here can be bad and we get a good wind storm every year. The kind that can topple an unanchored stand. Instead of 2"x6"'s I only used 2"x4"'s. I put 6"x6" stones beneath the footers to keep the stand from sinking. It faces due East so the hives will face the morning Sun and not suffer so much from rain coming from the West or South.


New Hive Stand with it's first colony

The plan is to place 4 or 5 of these stand down the slope. Which means 8 to 10 colonies. At first each stand will have a Double Deep and a Nuc hives placed on them. That will change as more colonies enter the Yard. Eventually Mary & Myrina will be moved down here too.

This slope sits in full Sun and we've already begun planting it for bees. Mint, pussy willow, cone flower, Chickasaw plum, salvia, sunflower, borage, buckwheat, plus everything else we end up thinking of.


First of many Hive stands

I have a package coming next month and I will be making another Nuc, from Myrina. I will also be putting out a few swarm traps near feral colonies. It already looks like I need to build the next 2 stands.

* ___________________________________________________________*

NUC #1 CHRONICLE

2011-03-22T23:24:00.015-04:00

August 15, 2011 - (Combined into Melissa)

(post link)

r-BB, SR, DNB1, DNB2, IC, TC

End of Nuc #1
Queen Pinched
All 10 frames place into DHB for Melissa
Remaining Equipment put into storage

April 30, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, SR, DNB1, IC, TC
Pests = Chalkbrood

Add DNB2, 5 drawn Plasticell frames

April 21,2011

(post link)
r-BB, EF, SR, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 Frames, CW
Brood Frames = 3/5
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = OK
Drone Cells = no
Population = moderate
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Remove EF
Add IC
1 Supersedure Cell

April 20, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, EF, SR, DNB1, TC

Add 1 pint 1:1 syrup w/ACV & thyme oil

April 17, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, SR, DNB1, TC

Add Entrance Feeder
Add 1 pint 1:1 syrup w/ACV & thyme oil

April 15, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 frames, Crimped-wire
Brood frames = 0/5
Queen Spotted = yes
Brood Present = no
Brood Pattern = break in cycle
Drone Cells = no
Population = good
Condensation = no
Pests = none

Queen emerged
Queen marked with White
Added Slatted Rack

April 3, 2011

(post link)
r-BB, EF, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 frames, Crimped-wire
Brood frames = 3/5
Queen Spotted = queenless
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = break in cycle
Drone Cells = yes
Population = good
Condensation = no
Pests = none

2 capped Queen Cells
2 uncapped Queen Cells
Remove EF

March 22, 2011

(post link)

r-BB, EF, DNB1, TC
DNB1 = 5 frames, Crimped-wire
Brood frames = 3/5
Queen Spotted = queenless
Brood Present = yes
Brood Pattern = solid
Drone Cells = yes
Population = moderate
Condensation = no
Pests = no

Added all equipment
Added 3 brood frames from Mary
Added 2 honey & pollen frames from Duchess
Added Entrance Feeder & ½ gal. 1:1 syrup w/ ACV

* ___________________________________________________________*

Nuc #1

2011-03-22T10:54:00.133-04:00

Well, I did it and I hope I did it right. One down and, at least, one more to go.

My First Nuc

I made this Nuc as Swarm Prevention for Mary. Her brood up has been strong this Spring (she currently has about ten full brood frames in her). My understanding is that replacing a few brood frames with undrawn frames alleviates to urge to swarm. In that they then have new frames to draw out in the brood nest so still have room to grow.

Before I could take any frames Queen Mary had to be found. I went through each frame looking for her and noting which frames had the freshest eggs. The top box looked good with frames filled with eggs, larva, pupa, drones, pollen, & nectar. The bottom Deep had a larger percentage of eggs and, no surprise, the Queen. I left her on the frame she was on because I'm not comfortable with handling her if I can avoid it. I also had the two adjacent frames filled with eggs to use. I looked at the eggs to make sure they were still standing up and not laying down, a sign they are over three days old and too old to make a good queen. Then i took a frame from the top box with all the pollen & nectar. All three went into the Nuc along with a frame of honey and a frame of pollen which came from Duchess's old hive. Additionally, all the bees left in the Quiet Box afterward got shaken into the new Nuc as well. I figure maybe up to four frames worth of bees went into the Nuc.

After all that the Nuc went out to the new stand. I added a half gallon of 1:1 syrup on a boardman feeder. The syrup contained a drop of thyme oil, a drop of peppermint oil, & a tablespoon of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar. Then the entrance was reduced to only allow a single bee at a time. The tie down strap went on and it was a done deal.

Now to wait & watch. In ten days I'll go into the Nuc and hopefully see a bunch of Emergency Queen cells. I've been told to secure the biggest one and destroy the rest. This keeps the queens from fighting and getting injured if two emerge at the same time. I could maybe cut out a queen cell and use it elsewhere but i need to read up on that first.

* ___________________________________________________________*

Inspection 3/12/11

2011-03-12T21:06:00.001-05:00

Mary & Myrina
64°F
Partly Sunny
Slight Breeze

Not a full inspection but a brood check. It's that time of year where time gets short with all the tasks to be completed. A beek needs to monitor the Spring brood up for Swarm Control. The last inspection showed small brood nests in each hive. Today's inspection was to learn how much more those nests have grown.

Myrina's bottom Deep had full honey frames from the 10th to the 7th position. Frame #6 was filled with worker brood. I stopped pulling frames and closed the box up. The last thing I wanted to do is pull apart the brood nest. I'm sure, judging by the amount of bees on them, frames 1 & 2 also had brood. I tipped the box on it's side to look for Swarm cells hanging off the bottom frames but saw none.

Her top box had many bees in it but a frame by frame search revealed no brood. There too the bees were on most of the frames. Still some honey in the end frames. I expect eggs in the top box soon. The Reversing tends to set them back a week or two and it's been only one week since that happened. The bees look healthy now and I'll do another brood check soon.

There were a few equipment issues with Myrina. The unpainted wood sheet beneath the bottom board had molded. Apparently it soaked up the rain water which mixed with the hive debris under the screen. The bees couldn't access it to remove it so it molded. That sheet was replaced with a corrugated plastic 'Land 4 Sale' sign. The wood sheet looked terrible.


Rain seeped in onto the unpainted wood sheet

I also changed out the Deep box that had been lowest in the hive. It too had the mold/mildew spreading up it's sides. I hope to save the box but that will take some bleach first.

Mold & Mildew spread upwards

I wanted to put the first Honey Supper on Myrina. I had ripped out all the Plasticell comb and then wired all the frames for Foundationless Natural Comb. It's my understanding, however, that the bees must have brood in the box directly below the super for them to draw it out.

Foundationless Medium Honey Frame

Since the top Deep has no brood in it I'll need to wait on that for now. We are still having cold nights. With the bees only filling one & a half Deeps an extra Super might add to much space for them to heat when they need to cluster.

Mary is much farther ahead. I was pleasantly surprised to see full brood frames in the top Deep. Recall the first inspection where she only had brood in the bottom Deep. I pulled one brood frame to remove some bur comb beneath it. On the next frame i found Drone Cells both capped & uncapped. Great news! I guess in a week or two I can go ahead and make my nucs. Unfortunately in the excitement I forgot to look under the boxes for swarm cells.

I say I can make my nucs soon because the plan is to let the nucs make their own queens. So drones need to be flying first. I could wait and buy Queens to put in the nucs later but I want to make my own. I hope to rear local queens and eventually have a bee yard filled with Survivor bees. Though I don't plan on requeening Mary or Myrina this year, Their queens are not yet a year old. They should last me until next year at the earliest. The nucs will, hopefully, make queens quickly. Those who can make it through next Winter will seed the next batch the following Spring. The big picture is to make my own queens and sell Wintered nucs.

However, I did see a small pile of Chalkbrood mummies beneath the entrance. That's usually a sign of a weak queen but the brood in this hive looks great. The amount is good and so is the pattern. I keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse. If it does I may need to requeen her.
Since Mary had plenty of brood in the top box I added an undrawn foundationless Honey Super. That might help ease any potential over crowding until I can pull the nuc frames and replace them with more undrawn foundationless ones. Which breaks up the brood nest and diminishes the swarming instinct.

However, I did replace one frame from the top Deep. The bees had over-drawn one frame and under-drawn the next one. To fix this I replaced the oversized frame with another undrawn foundationless frame. Now the bees can hopefully draw both out to normal size. That too should relax the chance of swarming.

Both Hive Top Feeders were removed. The bees showed no great interest in the syrup this Spring. Maybe they hate the Tea or the Maple flow is just to good (still going strong). The Inner Covers were placed back on too. I'll put the Slatted Racks on as soon as I finish them.

Mildew Damage

2011-03-05T17:11:00.080-05:00

In an earlier post I mentioned the presence of mildew in Myrina. It looked like the unpainted wood sheet used to close off the SBB got wet with moisture and began to mildew. The stuff then spread up the SBB wall onto the Hive body. It did not appear to be major then.

Looking at the side of Myrina today I noticed two spots where the paint has blistered. The boxes are two years old and are long past coat adhesion problems.


Weeping Paint Blister on Deep Hive Body

I scraped it off to reveal a pine knot beneath. Gunk was weeping from the knot and collecting under the paint, hence the blister. So i guess the mildew had begun to trap excess moisture in the wood. Causing liquid to seep through the exposed and open capillaries in the knots.

Only one side is affected right now. Next week, when it's in the 60°'s, I can replace the box with a new one and the unpainted wood sheet too. I'll clean out the mildewy box, bleach it, & set it out to dry for a month. After which I'll touch up the paint and it will be good to go again.

If the other box looks bad enough I may change out both boxes. I have the extra equipment so it's not a problem.

Myrina's Brood Boxes

2011-03-05T12:43:00.100-05:00

Myrina's brood nest is at the top of the top box, a deep. I expect her to brood up quickly; since that was the warning from the guy I bought the queen from. I wanted to get it down into the bottom box like Mary so today I reversed her brood boxes. Now she has an empty box, mostly, above her ready for the queen to start laying in without having to move downward.

Once the cover came off I could see 7 frames worth of bees in the top box. It was too cool outside to pull the frames so I didn't look. I think that at lest 5 of them might be brood frames. The bottom box had only a handful of bees in it. They weren't doing much. I didn't feel like there was any brood down there. With both boxes off i could see the SBB. Lots of cappings and some dropped pollen but no problems.

Myrina's Top Box

I wish I had the Slatted Rack ready to go but it hasn't been delivered yet. Today would have been perfect for installing it. It should arrive next week. Then I need to make several more and paint them before they go on. They will allow the queens to lay eggs lower on the bottom frames. They also reduce some of the colony's pressure to swarm. Right now I'm sure the bees will work upward into the top box.

The HTF still had a little syrup in it that was beginning to crystallize. We're looking at steady temps in the 60°'s for the up coming weeks. I don't think they need to syrup any more. I'll take it off when it's empty or fully crystallized; maybe next weekend.

I stop using the double Vent Boxes on the HTF too. I removed the one with 3 holes and left the one with 9 holes. The heavy condensation went away with the double setup, but i want to see what the one with more holes does on it's own.

Names for the Colonies

2011-03-01T09:32:00.028-05:00

Here is a list of names for future Colonies i plan to someday have. I'll put them here so i don't forget them.

Heléna - Mother of Emperor Constantine I
Penelope - Wife of Odysseus
Rozina - My Grandmother
Mab - Queen of the Fairies and consort to Oberon
Elvira - Mistress of the Dark
Virginia - Home State

If you were wondering about the first two:

Mary - Mary I of England (Sickly & childless)
Myrina - Queen of the Amazons (Ruthless & aggressive)

Bee Tea & the Venting Issue

2011-02-27T22:47:00.003-05:00

Are the bees going for the Bee/Tea syrup? Well, I don't know yet, but don't take that the wrong way. Typically the maples break the pollen & nectar fast for the bees. At the same time we beeks like to start feeding the bees 1:1 sugar syrup. It supplements their diet and helps them brood up in early Spring. Which I have done. The bees however aren't bothering with the syrup very much. It has been on them for nine days and they have only taken half of it, maybe.

It seems right now the Maple flow is amazing. The mature trees are blooming on consecutive days instead of all at once. This gives the bees a prolonged flow & pollen source. The trees that bloomed first have been picked dry and are now closer to seed growth. While more large trees are breaking bloom each day or so.

Might the Tea be another bad idea. I had thawed a bunch of full honey frames for the last inspection; in case the bees needed a resupply of honey. Once they thawed out the tray they were on and the deep they were in became covered in dripping honey. Today was warm so i put the tray outside for the bees to clean off. In fact i placed it between the two hives to guarantee they would find it. Well, this is what that tray looked like six hours later...

Empty Buffet Line !?

Where are the bees? Not on the free honey! In fact we found them on a large Red Maple that had bloomed this morning. My neighbor & I stood beneath her tree and could hear the actual buzzing of the bees; all four hives worth. Remember she has two as well. I remembered that bees will locate a major source and stay with it while skipping other minor sources. Also that bees prefer Nectar to Honey.

So I can't tell if the bees like the Tea. They're taking it slowly which is more than what they are doing to the free honey. Does that count? When I open fed them the Tea before the bloom started they were all over it. That's all I know for now.

They're always on it but not many

I did finally find a way to clean up the spilled honey on the tray and on the deep those frames were in. I'm glad it wasn't wasted...

Look who came to help

☼ ☼ ☼

The Ventilation issue still confuses me. The hive, Myrina, has never had a moisture problem. Yet, here she is with water practically running off the t-cover. What i did was add Another Vent Box atop the one she already had. It looks like this.

Note how much Tea/syrup is still left

The added VB is a Summer version with nine holes. I changed to VB's with fewer holes last year going into Winter, hence the one with only three. This did clear up the condensation problem. I still don't know why it happened. What I do know:

The cluster is directly beneath the HTF
The t-cover is new to the hive but used and a year old
The Tea/Syrup seems to have a thinner consistency than syrup
The other hive has the same setup but no problem

If this continues again in the Fall I will be upset. I thought I had the Ventilation problem licked but apparently not. More reading!

Water on the T-Cover

2011-02-23T23:33:00.003-05:00

The Bees flew today and I wanted to get a glimpse at whether the bees were taking the Tea/Syrup. After work I went down and lifted off the t-covers. Mary had a few bees up in the HTF and the level hadn't changed much.

The t-cover on Myrina surprised me. As I lifted it off several ounces of water ran on to the ground like a faucet had been turned on. Startled i turned it over to examine it. The underside was saturated. Fortunately the cover is waxed but nothing is waterproof. No swelling of the wood but a green & black mildew were acutely present.

Another problem is the condensation dripping into the HTF is infecting the tea/syrup with the mildew/mold. A couple of mold spots the size of quarters were floating on the surface. This poor hive is loaded with the rotten mildew above & below (recall the last post).

The HTF's and tea/syrup went in the hives last Friday. So all of this happened since then. Mary was fine. Her t-cover is homemade and the top piece of wood is 3/4" plywood. Myrina's t-cover is purchased and it's top board is only 1/4" fleck board. Big differences in insulation value. Both HTF's are jacketed by wood shims with 3 - 1.25" holes in them for ventilation, and it's been very windy. I can't believe there isn't enough ventilation.

Both populations are near the same and the queens are sisters so I dont thinks it's behavior. We are in the initial Spring Flow with lots of Maple nectar coming in to cure. I'm not sure why this is happening.

I wiped off the excess water on the inside of the t-cover. It was too late in the day to do much. All i did was place tin foil over the HTF shims (Vent Box) and put the t-cover back on. There will still be condensation but this will keep it off the wood. We are expecting a bunch of rain tomorrow night. Hopefully I figure things out tomorrow and get it done before the rain starts.

I don't think any water is getting on the bees from under the HTF. I believe all the condensation is above it. Also i noticed only a few bees taking the the tea/syrup in Myrina. Yesterday was to cold for the bees to fly. I figured they might be taking the tea/syrup instead. Today was a Fly Day but not a warm one at 47°F. Thought they may still be interested in the tea/syrup.

Inspection 2/18/11

2011-02-18T12:57:00.001-05:00

Mary & Myrina
75°F
Partly Sunny
Slight breeze

The first inspection of 2011. The colonies have looked good all Winter. Now was time to see first hand. Though there were some clouds out and a slight breeze at 75°F today would be good enough.

I started by opening up Mary. The bees had again gnawed on the insulation near the single vent hole in the Vent Box. They had not chewed anywhere else though. So that's an improvement over regular Styrofoam. I still want to try the foil backed fiber sheets next year. There was also some very minor bee poop on the top of the Inner Cover; probably from December. As of yet i have no plans to treat with Fumagilin this Spring. I'd like not to, so unless there are signs of Nosema i won't.

Under the IC was the pollen patty placed there in January. The bees were working on it but nearly all of it was still there. A previous post mentions the bees were bringing in pollen. I expected the bees to eat more of the pollen patties before now. They just don't seem to like it much. I took it out since they'll not be needing it any more.

The bee are not yet on top of the frames in the top box. They're in them but with plenty of store left above and around them. Looking down the cluster is on 7 of the frames to the left (east) side.

DHB2 - still some room left to go

The TOP BOX (DHB2):
10 - Full honey
9 - Full honey
8 - Full honey
7 - Full honey
6 - Full honey
5 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster
4 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster
3 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster
2 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster
1 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster

DHB1 - this is where most of the bees are

BOTTOM BOX (DHB1):
10 - Full honey
9 - Full honey
8 - 4/5 honey
7 - 1/2 honey
6 - 1/5 honey
5 - 1/4 brood, new pollen, in cluster
4 - 1/4 brood, new pollen, in cluster
3 - 2/3 brood, new pollen, in cluster, QUEEN
2 - 1/4 honey
1 - Full honey

New incoming Nectar & some Pollen

I'd like to find out where the yellow pollen is coming from. The Silver maple pollen has a dull green color. Whatever it is there must be a lot of it. I suspect a Pussy Willow but I've not located it yet. I have 5 of my own but they're seedlings so not in bloom. The Nectar is likely from the Maple though.

Beautiful Early Brood frame

Last year I didn't see brood until March 20th. So this year is quite early. It has been warm and the bees have been flying since the 11th of Feb. Still this is a great sight to see in. The guy who sold me these queens last year told me they would brood up early and to watch out for swarming. So i'll be getting the nucs ready soon.

Queen Mary herself on frame #3

There's that hard working queen. Marked with 2010 blue. It's an easy color to pick out. This year is white which i hope will still be easy to see. I might, like some, skip yellow and use a purple when it's time.

Then Myrina
Her bees were almost on top of the frames in the top box. Not entirely but close. They've almost gone through all their stores. Here too the bees did not consume much of the Pollen patty. It too was thrown away. I was going to buy a case of these things to feed to the bees this Spring. I'm glad i hadn't done it yet. I don't think i'll bother with them next year either. I started feeding syrup today as well. With that & pollen & nectar coming into the hive they will be good going forward.

Bees not covering the top & useless pollen patty

The TOP BOX (DHB1):
10 - Honey, not fully drawn
9 - Full honey
8 - 4/5 honey
7 - Full honey
6 - Full honey, old & new pollen
5 - 1/4 Brood, new pollen, in cluster
4 - 1/4 Brood, new pollen, in cluster
3 - 1/4 Brood, new pollen, in cluster
2 - 3/5 honey, new pollen, in cluster
1 - 4/5 honey, new pollen, in cluster


DHB1 - Lots of brood on the old frames

All fresh Pollen

BOTTOM BOX (DHB2):
10 - Empty, mildew
9 - 1/5 honey, mildew
8 - 1/3 honey
7 - 1/2 honey
6 - 1/2 honey, new pollen, in cluster
5 - Mostly empty, not fully drawn
4 - Mostly empty, new pollen, in cluster
3 - Mostly empty, new pollen, in cluster
2 - Undrawn
1 - (oops, didn't record)


Myrina's bottom box

Myrina's bottom bottom box is having a mildew problem. The right corner (west side) has a coating of the dark greenish stuff over the whole side. Frames 10 & 9 are also affected. The wood bars and a little on the wax comb too. The box is from 2008 and has been fully waxed by the bees but the mildew's on the comb too. I think the source of the mildew is the unpainted piece of luan board under the screened bottom board. The moisture of the Winter hive settling on it each day may have started the process. I think it then spread upwards from there. I don't plan on opening the SBB until the nightly lows are in the 60°'s. I'll replace the sheet with a painted one soon.

Mildew, box & comb

Top boxes are a common place for a queen to start laying in Spring but all the brood is in the oldest frames in the hive. The current brood frames are the only remaining equipment from the old farmers apiary. The comb is dark and the frames are rough and chipped. I wonder if such old comb is desired by the queen for laying eggs? I'll need to read up on it.

Feeding time again

After the inspection I added the hive top feeders to each hive. Then filled them with a gallon each of the 1:1 syrup/tea I've made. It looks like a good start to the year.

Bee Tea

2011-02-17T16:34:00.361-05:00

With Spring comes early feeding with 1:1 sugar syrup. Last year i first read about bee tea. Essentially a brewed/steeped tea made from anything good for bees. To promote health mainly. One can either add it to the syrup or sweeten it with a little sugar and feed it separately from the syrup. Many use essential oils in the tea. I'm not a fan of essential oils, however. The Tea is a way i can add nutrition to the sugar syrup without blasting the hive away with lemon grass oil or the like. Lets face it sugar syrup is like feeding your kids nothing but soda pop. The bees love the sugar but I'd like them to get more out of it.

As far as I'm concerned the ingredients for this recipe should change depending on what sources of nectar are naturally available. This way the tea reflects what the bees are looking for. I assume Maples bloom in Spring because they have what bees need the most in Spring. (Evolved over millions & millions of years) It may be a leap for some but it who am i to second guess nature.

Therefore at this time the tea is made of whatever blooms first in this area: Willow, Maple, Elm, Cherry, Pear, Plum, Sassafras, & Red Bud. I also added two primary flow sources: Yellow Poplar & Basswood, but any combination will do. This week the recipe is Maple, Poplar, & Basswood. Next week will be Willow, Elm, Red Bud, & Poplar. I'm very leery of giving a tea made from Sassafras to the bees since it is a known psychoactive. A sprig of Thyme and 2 tbs of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar are also added per gallon. These can help with Varroa & Nosema plus the ACV keeps the syrup from spoiling.

Unsure of all this an experiment was in order. I made a syrup/tea and a non-syrup/tea out of Yellow Poplar and set it out for the bees. The bees hit the syrup as one would expect. Alright, so I know they will take it, that's good. They also did a good job on the non-syrup/tea. They about hit it as hard. So it looks like this might work. Now to make some tea...

The procedure:
First i collect wood rounds from the target woody plants with a chainsaw. Disks of a ½" in thickness are good. I cut them from saplings so there is no heartwood present. Heartwood is where a tree places it's metabolic wastes. Small saplings will not have accumulated enough yet.

2 Rounds of each species per gallon. Maple & Poplar

Second i remove the bark. The inner wood, called xylem, transports liquids and material up into a tree. The nectar that is found in a tree flower has gotten there via this tissue. Bark, called phloem, transports nutrients down to the roots. Since bees feed from flowers not roots I'll go with the xylem.

Use Caution cutting green wood with a ban saw

Then the debarked rounds get cut up into small bits to increase surface area.

All 4 rounds

There are only 2 Basswoods that I know of around here and neither one am i willing to harm. Fortunately the local health food store has a great selection of 'Frontier' herbs which include dried Basswood flowers. A half ounce cost $0.35. Plus they have lots of other things I'll be adding at some point. So I divided it and put each half in 1 gallon. After all I'm feeding 2 colonies so I'll need 2 gallons.

Not fresh but they still had a fragrance

The last ingredient this week was the Thyme. My Wife grows it on the back deck so what i have is freshly picked. I took what i thought might equal a drop or two of essential oil.

The tea smells like sausage???

Once the ingredients are ready i put the water in the pot. To make a total gallon of 1:1 syrup i start with 2qts & 15oz. of water. The water is then heated to between 150°F - 165°F. (This is the steeping range used for grains when brewing beer; which i do. It is important to not exceed 170°F because tannins begin to leech into the water at that point and above.) Once the water is above 150°F I toss in all the ingredients. Then reduce the heat enough to keep the water in the temperature range. Steep for 40 minutes. Stir little or not at all.

Near 170°F i took the pot off the burner to cool it down some

After 40 minutes remove from heat and strain. I first ladle out the big chunks then strain the rest through a paper towel.

Strained Tea

Then i measure the tea back into the rinsed pot. Some water will have evaporated during the steep. Replace that water to get back to the original amount. Now place back on heat and bring to a near boil. Remove from heat and add the 6 lbs. of sugar and stir. The tea/syrup will be clear again in a few minutes. After which I add 2 tablespoons of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to each gallon. Stir, let cool and give to bees.

My plan is to give the bees a gallon of syrup each week, When they've finished it I'll give then a strait tea with no sugar for the rest of the week. I'll post the results, hopefully good ones, soon.

First Pollen Coming into Hives

2011-02-17T12:51:00.040-05:00

Today was almost warm at 69°F. The bees were bringing in Pollen for the first time. The neighbors Silver maple is beginning to bloom. Which means the bees are bringing in nectar too. The Skunk Cabbage in the back looks like it's blooming as well. Last year the same tree bloomed on the 10th of March. So it looks like we're almost a month ahead of last year. Hopefully the pattern will continue for the rest of the season. So we may be practicing swarm control early this year. To that end I plan to pull brood frames to make nuc's and maybe make some slatted bottom racks.

Modified Hive Top Feeders

2011-02-15T16:35:00.112-05:00

Since October of 2009 I've been using Hive Top Feeders in the hives. I think they're great. They hold a little over a gallon, they're internal, and the bees can't get out of them when i add syrup. The few down sides are they are hard to lift off the hives if full and the bees only access is on the sides which is difficult in cold weather. Which aren't big deals to me. The one problem i don't enjoy is the constant propolising of the vents by the bees

Sealed Vents

Once sealed there is not enough of an air exchange in the hive to release moisture which then becomes condensation. Not good if there is too much in Winter.

Really the bees didn't begin doing this till this past Fall. Yet each week i had to scrape the propolis off all the HTF vents on all the hives. It made the chore of refilling the HTF's take forever. After the end of last Fall i looked into HTF's online. I found where others had used the #8 mesh to close off the feeders instead of the plastic dividers my HTF's had.

#8 mesh is the same mesh used in Screened Bottom Boards. I've never seen a bee propolis up one of those. So i figure it should work well on my feeders. It was easy to do. Just pull off the plastic divider, trace it's outline on a sheet of mesh then cut out with tin shears. The top bend is made by rolling the mesh against the plastic divider. I used 3 - #14 x 1 inch sheet metal screws. They do not make a tight fit but it's snug enough.

Old Plastic & New Mesh Dividers

Another good thing about the mesh is it will add foot holds for the bees. The plastic dividers are smooth and the occasional bee would drown. The mesh will seem like ladders to the bees so fewer bees should die. The mesh is pliable so I'll need to watch how i handle & store them in the off season. Overall these should make the HTF's even better.

**UPDATE**

The first two mesh dividers worked perfectly. In 2011 two more were made that didn't fit well and let bees escape into the HTF. All four of these used a design that was flat and stopped at the edge. To fix the escaping bee issue new mesh was formed like a bucket that folded back at the edges. This blocks any gaps that may occur when cutting to size. Plus the mesh overlaps on ALL sides.

This flat design led to bees trapped in the HTF

- - -

This bucket design keeps the bees were they belong

Plans for 2011

2011-02-01T23:19:00.004-05:00

The apiary will be expanding this year. I have reserved 2 Packages from a local guy who drives down to Hardeman Apiary each year; they're in Mt. Vernon, GA. At $70.00 bucks a crack i'm paying as much as i did last year for Duchess. Which is good considering recent bee pricing. If not i will at least get one package.

This, however, is not through the bee club, the Piedmont Beekeepers Association. They are pushing for as many of us as possible to make Nucs from our own hives. Mainly to sell to the beginners class students and then to whoever needs bees locally, before or after next winter. Since the AHB has been found in GA the club opinion is to stop getting bees from down there. Which is fine by me but i'd like to have more than two hives before i start making nucs.

I will be making Nucs this year though. I don't know how many i'll make total but i plan to make at least 2. Good conditions may allow for more. I'll try to keep some extra boxes on hand for either nucs or swarms. The last club meeting was on making Nucs. Plus they covered 'Palmerization' which is turning an unproductive hive into all nucs. Which i could have done last year to both Mary & Myrina. Might have been carrying 6 to 10 nucs right through this winter if a had. Then i would have had a replacement queen to put in Duchess in November instead of combining her into Mary. Wish i had known that trick.

I hope to rear my own queens as well. The February club meeting will address queen making. I will need to requeen both Mary & Myrina again plus the two packages. The Nucs will need queens also. I don't look at beekeeping as a source of revenue but i would like to be able to meet my own needs. Selling nucs can pay for a good bit of equipment. I still want six hives at the house, plus a few more at a local farmers house.

This year is also when i will start the trek towards more natural beekeeping. The goal is to have a yard filled with survivor bees. Not this year but within maybe five years. I have seen so many of them in trees and abandon buildings lately. I know of three wild colonies nearby, plus Myrina was one originally; though i requeened her due to temperament. They all survive each winter and have been in their hives for years. I just wish the hives were easier to get to. One is a cut-out a mile and a half through the woods. Not a hike i relish carrying a box of angry bees on. The other two are just as difficult to get at.

These goals can be modified. If i only get one package i can make additional nucs instead. Though the big focus will be expansion of the bee yard i still hope to get a good batch of honey. Both current colonies are strong and doing well this winter. Neither has reached the top frames of it's hive yet. When they do i have twenty honey filled frames in storage to give them; all from Duchess. Plus i can give them sugar too. Though i may begin feeding the bees in late February with syrup.

Mary's population is very large due to the combination. I'll watch her closely for swarming. I may be able to make a nuc or two from her without affecting her ability to produce honey.

More bees & lots of honey to all of you...

Winter Dreams

2011-01-27T23:06:00.000-05:00

Came across this tonight. Taken last Summer by my son in the bee yard. It gave me a big smile. So I thought I'd leave it here for everyone else who's waiting for Spring to arrive.

Sky Rocket & bee

Merging the Clusters

2011-01-25T10:55:00.002-05:00

Was fortunate enough to have the odd warm day today at 56°F. The bees were flying and the Sun was shining. So at lunch i went out to the hives to remove the extra middle deep box on Mary. Since the hive would be open only briefly the smoker was not used; though i still used the veil, jacket & gloves.

The top cluster was still in the same position in the top box. Unfortunately the bottom cluster had moved up a little in to the once uninhabited middle box. Which means all the boxes are being used. However there's still 2 separate clusters. I needed them to join.

The bottom cluster was much bigger than the top cluster. I decided to shake the top cluster into the middle box. So i had to pull frames to do it. It was still in the high 50°'s so i did it quickly and closed her up. Afterward the flying activity out of Mary increased but better matched that of Myrina. Now both hives are double deeps again.

At this time I replaced the old (original) T-cover on Myrina with a new one; formally Duchess's T-cover. Other than several frames in Myrina's top box all the original equipment is gone.

Apistan Out & a Strange Cluster in Mary

2011-01-19T22:57:00.000-05:00

Finally, a Fly Day in the high 50's. Opened up each box of the hives and removed the Apistan strips that had been place there in late November. Lots of bees were buzzing out of Myrina but only a few from Mary. I saw a nice cluster in the top deep of Mary. Then No bees in the middle deep. Then a bigger cluster in the Bottom deep. What does that mean? I mentioned it on the bee forum. Michael Bush said he had seen before were a cluster can split on a warm day. There may be a virgin queen mixed in with the real queen. Won't know 'till later in Spring when i can do an inspection.

Mary Top Deep


Mary Middle Deep

Mary Bottom Deep

Also i noticed no real condensation to worry about. A smal drip here or a little dollop there. Just enough to give the bees a water source inside the hive when it's to cold to fly.


Bees Drinking Condensation Water

I didn't see any pests but i didn't remove any frames either. The uninsulated VB on Mary was replaced with a Insulated one and the nine hole uninsulated VB on Myrina was replaced with a three hole version. Both VB's only have a single hole remaining open with tape over the other holes. I had one pollen patty laying around so i cut it in half and put it in each hive. It went directly on top of the frames. Off-center from the middle towards the back. Otherwise the hole in the Inner cover would have been blocked.

Myrina looked good with bees clustered in both boxes together. All the deeps on Mary & Myrina are still heavy with honey and whatever pollen they collected last Fall.

Myrina Top Deep

Myrina Bottom Deep

After the quick opening and closing Mary's bees came out in force.