31 May, 2010 - 3 pm

It was about 83º and party sunny and no breeze at the bee yard.

Swarm Hive
Opened it up and looked at the top hive body to see how the bees are filling out the frames. Looks like they have started drawing comb on the outer two frames. I removed one for a quick inspection and found the queen. I also found eggs and larva, so I put that back in and closed the hive.

Alpha Hive
Opened up the top honey super. No bees are working in it. Removed it and started looking through the top hive body. I decided to remove a frame that was the second one in from the wall. That was a mistake. The lower comb had been drawn out and attached to the next frame. Removing it caused about half of the capped honey on that frame to spill out. Cleaned up the honey mess as best as I could. I didn't see the queen on that frame or the ones next to it. Replaced the damaged frame with another frame that was only foundation and put the hive back together.

Beta Hive
Opened up the top honey super and didn't find many bees in it. Removed it to look at the second honey super and found hundreds of bees in it and about 4 frames with curing honey. Removed the second honey super. The third honey super has all frames filled with honey and the middle 4 frames are being capped. Didn't go any further into hive, put all supers back in place and closed the hive.

28 May, 2010 - 12 pm

It was 91º with a slight breeze and partly sunny at the backyard bee hive.

Back yard hive
Today marked the seventh day since the installation of the package bees. This was the first inspection of this hive.

The queen has been released. I did not find the queen but I did find eggs on two of the frames I inspected. There is pollen throughout the two frames and there is curing nectar as well. This hive looks like its off to a good start.

There are 3 and a half frames drawn at this time. The hive top feeder is full and the mixture looks good. I will do another inspection in one week.

26 May, 2010 - 8:00 am

It was 68º at the back yard hive, clear skies and no breeze.

Back yard hive
Refilled the hive top feeder. Noticed a cluster of bees on the top side of the screened bottom board(inside the hive). Have to wait until Friday to see what that means.

It was 86º at the back yard hive, 4 pm.

I was able to see that the bees are bringing in pollen. So they must have drawn enough comb to start storing food!

25 May, 2010 - 3:30 pm

Its about 84º and slightly breezy at the back yard hive.

Back yard hive
I checked the hive top feeder today. It holds about 3 gallons of sugar water. The bees have consumed just about all of the food. Tomorrow I will mix some sugar water and refill the feeder.

There is a lot of activity at the front of the hive and there are numerous bees flying around in front of the hive. I couldn't tell if the bees were bringing in pollen, I didn't want to disturb them.

23 May, 2010 - 1 pm

Its partly cloudy, slight breeze and 90º at the Back yard hive.

Back Yard bees
Since installation of the package on Friday, there have been about forty or so bees on the bottom outside of the screened bottom board. Hopefully these bees will move inside the hive.

22 May, 2010 - 2 pm

It was partly cloudy, light wind and about 90º at the Bee yard and at the Backyard Hive.

Swarm Hive
The bees are very busy. There were about 10 or so bees hanging out on the porch at any time, and quite a few flying in and out of the hive.

Here is a clip of the swarm hive...



The bees still did not move up into the top hive body. So I moved four frames from the bottom box that had food and brood of various stages and put it in the top hive body in the middle. This should get the bees to move up there. While I was looking through the frames I did find eggs, but did not see the queen.

I forgot to bring my smoker today and I really didn't need it for this hive. I was able to open the hive and move frames and pretty much do whatever I wanted without any bees getting upset.

I noticed that there many many more cordovan workers now. They really stand out in color compared to the original bees.

Alpha Hive
There was alot of entrance activity. There was about 10 or so bees hanging out on the porch cleaning and guarding. There were also alot of bees coming and going.

Clip of the Alpha hive...


I opened up the hive to peek into the honey super. There were a few hundred bees throughout the honey super but it was hard to tell if they had started drawing comb. I removed the honey super and started looking through the frames of the top hive body. The "wall" frame has the beginnings of comb with eggs already in them! The wall side of the frame is untouched. The third frame in had the queen on it. I found eggs all over both sides of that frame. At that point I stopped the inspection and put that frame in carefully and buttoned up the hive. This hive is doing very well.

This hive's temperament was very good today. None of the bees were upset or flying at me during this inspection.

Beta Hive
This hive has about a hundred or so bees at the landing board at any time. The entrance activity is amazing, there are so many bees coming and going. I opened up the top honey super and found about a hundred or so bees scattered throughout this honey super. The next honey super down has several hundred bees throughout it. The bottom honey super has hundreds and hundreds of bees and there is curing honey in five of the frames. I stopped at this point and put everything back in place. This hive's temperament was also amazing today. With all that movement and disruption, none of the bees were bothered with me.

Here is a clip of the Beta hive...

21 May, 2010 - 9 am

Its about 80º and cloudy with light winds.


The Backyard Bees

I have been wanting to put a hive in the back yard for some time. Earlier this year I decided to order a three pound package of bees with a queen to do just that.

Today I received my package bees from Gardener's Apiaries! The girls looked good considering their three day trip. The bees were clustered around the queen cage and feeder can. I used a spray bottle and sprayed the bees lightly with water as soon as I picked them up at the UPS center. On the bottom of the package there were a hundred or so dead bees.

It took about twenty minutes to install the bees into their hive. This hive has frames that use wax coated plasticell for foundation. And none of the frames are drawn out...yet.

I installed a hive top feeder for this hive. This should work much better than one quart feeder jars. I just have to watch out for ants!

I took a few pictures and a couple of movies, I'll post later.

I need to come up with a name for this hive.

I didn't make it out to the Bee Yard at my parent's house, I'll do that tomorrow.


Heres a photo of the bees just before I put them in the hive


The hive stand area

These clips were made just after the bees were put into the hive

15 May, 2010 - 4 pm

It was 85º and partly cloudy, light wind at the bee yard.

Swarm Hive
Removed the honey super that was installed and replaced it with a hive body and frames with wax foundation. For some reason the girls just don't seem interested in moving upwards into the next hive body, I'll see how things go this time. I did not pull any frames, this visit was only to install the second hive body.

Alpha Hive
There was alot of activity around the entrance. There are bees cleaning the landing board area and around the entrance are. I checked in the honey super and found that there were not many bees in it. Looks like they more focused on the second hive body.
I did not do a hive inspection during this visit.

Beta Hive
There were so many bees hanging out at the landing board! It looks like most of them were cleaning. There were quite a few doing orientation flights and many bees bringing in food. I checked the top honey super and found that there were hundreds in it. Some were drawing comb, most looked like they were storing food and cleaning. The hive had two honey supers installed, but it looked like they need more room so I added a third honey super. I did not do a hive inspection during this visit.

7 May, 2010 - 9 am

It was partly cloudy, no wind and about 80º.

Swarm Hive
No signs of ants, activity at entrance of hive looks normal. There were bees coming and going and a few guard bees. Didn't open them up, I'll see if I need to do that this weekend.

Alpha Hive
Checked the honey super and no bees were there. Removed it and looked through the top hive body. All of the frames are being worked by the bees, about 6 frames are drawn out completely and have food, eggs/larva/capped brood. Four frames are partially drawn out, some have pollen and curing nectar. The bottom hive body has 6 frames drawn out and have eggs/larva/capped brood, curing nectar and pollen. Four frames are untouched, the bees just didn't do anything with them. Swapped the top hive bottom to the bottom position and the bottom to the top position. The hive body that had four untouched frames, they were checkerboarded with the other six. Hopefully this encourage the bees to draw out the frames. I did put a honey super on this hive to give them some room.

Beta Hive
I checked on the top honey super and there bees in there doing what they do. The bottom honey super also had a lot of bees in it and the girls are starting to store honey!

I did not look in either hive body. I am concerned that they will swarm. There is so much activity at the hive entrance. There are at any time about twenty bees hanging out front fanning, cleaning and greeting.

5 May, 2010 - 10 am

80º and no wind, clear skies.

Swarm Hive
There were ants all over the exterior of the hive and hive stand!

Deployed some ant killer, I'll see what that does.

Didn't open the hive, removed the feeder jar - the girls aren't consuming any of it.

This weekend a more detailed inspection should be done.

Split Hive
Some time in the last 10 days it crashed. There were only 5-6 bees, no queen. There was extensive wax moth infestation and damage to 5 of the frames. Took apart the hive and will clean up the woodenware as soon as possible.

Alpha & Beta Hives
There was a lot of entrance activity, many bees were flying up and down in front of both hives. Didn't do any inspections. Put down some ant killer just because.

Started working on a solar wax melter...

May 2, 2010 - 11 am

It was about 86º, partly cloudy and very windy at the bee yard.

Alpha Hive
Looked through a few frames and found that the bees are storing alot of honey in the deeps. I found plenty of eggs on just the frames I looked at so its looking better in this hive. I added a medium super to give the girls some room.

Beta Hive
There were alot of bees hanging out on the entrance area cleaning up and greeting bees. I looked through the honey super and there are more bees in it but no storage is going on. I looked through a few frames in the top deep and found plenty of eggs, larva and capped brood. I also found that there is a lot of honey being stored. So I added another honey super.

Swarm Hive
The girls just don't seem interested in the top deep. There also are not interested in the feeder jar. I looked through some frames and did find eggs and larva so that seems good. They are also storing alot of honey. I added a honey super in place of a hive body to see what the girls do.

Split Hive
I didn't bother the girls. I did check to make sure there were no obvious pests/issues on the outside and around the hive body. I will open them up next weekend and see how they are doing.

May 1, 2010 - 4 pm

It was about 83º. windy and overcast at the bee yard, it looked like it was going to rain.

Swarm Hive
I checked the feeder jar and it was still full, the bees are not feeding from it very much! So I peaked inside the top hive body. The bees have not moved up for some reason. The lower hive body looks very packed with bees and comb. I think I will put a honey super on it to give them some room and see what they do.

I replaced the feeder jar with a new one.


Split Hive
I found that they have not consumed very much, but then there aren't too many bees in the hive at this time. I replaced the jar with a fresh one. I didn't inspect this hive.

Beta Hive
I didn't open this hive. There was a tremendous amount of activity on the landing area of the hive. There were quite a few bees flying up and down and around the front of the hive, so that looked like "happy flights".

Alpha Hive
I didn't get into this hive either. The entrance activity is good but there are only about 10 or so bees at any time coming and going.

Hopefully the weather will be better so that I can look into the hives that I need to this weekend.