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