Hive Inspection 3/11/12

MARY, MYRINA, HELÉNA, MELISSA
Sunny
62°F
Breezy

The first warmer weekend we've had in awhile.  I gave every hive a gallon of 1:1 syrup.  If they take it then they'll get more.  If they don't, like last year, then they are on their own for nectar.  Took the opportunity to inspect the big girls. 

Myrina has only two frames of brood.  Not a great surprise since she has been crashing since last August.  We will requeen Myrina this Spring with genetics other than her own.  She still has a single Deep brood box.  Frame one through three are the brood nest.  I moved them to the middle of the box to help her spread out.  As weak as she is she had a handful of Drone Cells.

Queen Myrina on frame #2 - paint dot almost gone

Mary had only three brood frames but her population was much better than Myrina's.  Most of her bees were in the top box around the brood.  The bottom box had some bees but plenty of old & new stores.  The boxes were reversed placing the brood nest on the bottom and the extra stores above the nest.  The bees will have to fully expand into the new top box before they feel like Swarming.

Queen Mary on frame # 5

Heléna had five frames of brood also all in the top box.  The big surprise here are the walking Drones and lots of drone cells.  There are plenty of worker cells too.  The colony is brooding up quickly.  With as many drones as she has Swarm season must be starting up.  Fortunately everyone has plenty of space in their hives.  Heléna's boxes were reversed too.  Her bottom box had stores but was a little light.  Nothing to worry about seeing as we are in a good spring flow.

Ton o' Drone cells in Heléna

Melissa had six brood frames loaded with workers and drones.  Again the top box looked great with lots of bees, pollen, & nectar.  Her bottom box was practically empty though.  Again her boxes were reversed like the others today.  She'll be fine and load up the empty box in no time.

Quiet box atop a brood box being reversed (Mary)

All in all the bees look good and the year is starting off strong.  The plan is to honey the three Big hives, Mary, Heléna, & Melissa; while hiving the other three small colonies.  I do not want to add any more colonies but that, as you know, is up to the bees.

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The Quiet Box

When I inspected Myrina the other day I used a 'Quiet Box' for the first time.  I hadn't meant too but it suddenly came in handy.  After opening her up I pulled out the customary 10th frame and set it aside.  Normally I would then shift all other frames to the right as I inspect the hive.  However this time there wasn't much room to work with.  Here at the end of the season there's a good bit of bur comb.  So I needed to make more room.  I took out another frame and it still wasn't enough room left for cleaning the frame rests.  I couldn't take out another one without causing a robbing situation.  I needed somewhere to put these frames.

I remembered reading about 'Quiet Boxes'.  I have an empty nuc sitting around doing nothing anyway so I went and got it.  I set it up and put 3 frames in it.  Instead of the regular cover I simply used a shop towel; easier to move around.  I did use the regular BB and then reduced it to a single opening.  After i put the towel over it the bees on those frame calmed down considerably.  I had expected them to fly out and back to the main hive but they stayed in the nuc the whole time.

 A quiet nuc & big inspection opening (Mary)

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Now I had 3 frames worth of space to work with.  It was a lot easier to scrape propolis away now that I could get my hand in the box.  It is a definite improvement for working with the bees.  I did it again when I inspected Mary.  Same results, Good ones. 

When I took off the top boxes I put then on my portable hive stands as usual but also draped another towel over them too.  This also worked great.  I think one of the best things about keeping bees is continually learning new tricks.

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