Looking Good

I did a quick check of the cut-out hive Friday (4th) and here's what I found:

Weather: PC, hot, humid

If you look closely, you can see eggs in the new comb.

On another bar, I observed larvae.

And, finally, I found the queen.


Here's a short video of her.

So for now, things are looking up for this colony.

Inspection of the cut-out hive

Date: May 22, 2010
Weather: Hot. Scattered Clouds.

I got to inspect the hive that I cut out of the wall.

Summary:

• Most of the brood had hatched & the cells backfilled with honey
• There was at least one queen cell on a piece of loose brood comb
• No eggs, larvae or new capped cells in the new comb
• I did not physically see a queen
• Bees were calm. They were chewing at the strings & some were tangled in the frayed string.

Here's a video of what I found.

My take:

• The hive is probably queenless or either a new (fresh hatched) queen has not started laying yet.
  

I need to keep a close check on this one, so that I can take action if needed.

A First For Me

Last Friday(5-7-2010) & Saturday I tried something for the first time. I removed a beehive from a wall in a church about an hour south of where I live. It took me two days, and help from my wife, my son, and the deacon, but I think it was a success. Now for the amazing part: I got one sting. My wife got one sting. My son got two stings. That's all! This colony was in the wall of a bathroom in a church that was built back in the late 1800s. The bees had been there for several years. The hive was about 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and six inches deep. I harvested some honey and was able to keep some to give back to the bees that I moved to one of my top bar hives. As promised, I now have pics and video.

Pics

Vid

Early Spring Update

Bad news. No bees. Hive #1 was full of dead bees. I checked them a month or so ago. What to do? I did get a call from someone wanting me to get a colony from a church building. I told them I would try when the weather warms a little more. I definitely want to keep trying. At least now I will have all my hives the same dimensions. Been busy gardening, hiking and enjoying the outdoors. This is my favorite time of year. I may even get a chance to call up an ol' tom turkey.

If I do get more bees this season, I think this time, I'm gonna leave the bees alone. I will check them and tend to them, but I think I'll lay off the manipulations (splits, divides, queens) until the colonies are well established. I may have stressed #1 too much. Plus, I should have made a fall inspection and maybe fed some sugar. Oh well, still learning.