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.

Fall Update

We had a break in the rain so I decided to walk down to the hives today. My first stop was #2. DOOMED! Covered with ants. No activity. And they were doing so good! I guess the wet conditions didn't help. I don't know. I walked up to #1. It looked good. The wind had shifted the roof, so I adjusted it and left them alone. I need to open them up and further investigate. Beekeeping: the Roller coaster experience!

July Inspection

Date: July 11, 2009
Weather: Hot, breezy

Video

Hive #2 (was hive #3 from last inspection, but bumped to #2 because original #2 is gone): Lots of honey, nectar and pollen. I did not see the queen, eggs, larvae or capped brood. I decided to feed a little sugar water just in case she was in there somewhere. I read somewhere that , in the spring, it may induce the queen to start laying. Probably not good, since there was a fair nectar flow and I don't like artificial feed, but I had to try something.
Well, sure enough, I checked them a week later to take off the empty feeder and found larvae and the queen. Remember, this is the hive that I introduced the Caucasian queen into. This queen looked like an Italian queen. My thinking is, they had already started queen cells and when I introduced the Caucasian, they killed her. The new queen just had to have time to mate and get started laying. I just hope they have time to get established.

Hive #1: Doing fine, as always. I've made two (actually three) splits from this hive this season and it's still thriving. I didn't see as many hive beetles as before. I got some Boric Acid from the feed store and I think I'll make up some traps for the next inspection. I got a small piece of capped honeycomb, but I may be able to take some full bars before long. If not, that's fine. Just gaining the experience and confidence working with the bees is reward enough. For that I am thankful.

Quick update - Another Split

Date: Sat, June 20, 2009
Time: morning
Weather: HOT & HUMID!

Here is a quick update on my latest inspection:

Hive #2 (split from original Hive #1)
A quick look into this hive told me that it's queenless, again. They have an emergency cell started, but the numbers have dwindled, so I may have to take action before long.








Hive #1 (original)
Still doing good. I did notice some dead bees on the floor. They were getting crowded again, so I made another split. There should be some full bars of honey within this month.






Hive #3 (new split from #1)
I made this split Saturday, from the original hive. It went much smoother than last time. This time, however, I introduced a Caucasian queen yesterday, that I purchased from a queen supplier nearby. I'll check in a few days and see if she's been released and how the colony is receiving her.