At the Bee Yard it was about 84º, clear skies with light winds.
Beta Hive
Removed 1 full honey super for harvest. Installed 1 empty honey super. The hive has three honey supers. Top honey super is the one that looks like it will be ready for harvest in a week. Middle honey super is the one installed today. Bottom honey super look like it will be ready in two weeks.
Alpha Hive
Did not inspect the hive at this time. When time and opportunity allow I will do a better inspection.
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Extracted the honey and it filled the 5 gallon bucket to the half way mark. Letting it settle for a day or two before bottling/canning it.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
29 APR, 12:30 pm - 2011
It was 75º at the Back Yard Bees. It was partly sunny with light winds.
Epsilon Hive
Did not bother the hive today
Zeta Hive
Replaced the feeder jar. The girls were very upset when I replaced the jar! That could mean no queen or hot bees! When I have time I will investigate.
Eta Hive
Replaced the feeder jar. The girls were very settled and easy going, not one bee flew out of the hole!
Put down some insecticide to deal with the ants around the Eta Hive.
Epsilon Hive
Did not bother the hive today
Zeta Hive
Replaced the feeder jar. The girls were very upset when I replaced the jar! That could mean no queen or hot bees! When I have time I will investigate.
Eta Hive
Replaced the feeder jar. The girls were very settled and easy going, not one bee flew out of the hole!
Put down some insecticide to deal with the ants around the Eta Hive.
Monday, April 25, 2011
25 APR, 11:15 am - 2011
It was 80º, partly cloudy and breezy.
Back Yard Bees
Eta Hive
The hive has a queen! I opened up the hive today and looked at frames three and four. Frame three had eggs on both sides. Frame four was being drawn out and they are storing nectar/sugar-water/pollen.
The hive has drawn comb on frames one, two and three and is working on frames four and five
I buttoned everything up and replaced the feeder jar.
I didn't do anything with other two hives at this time.
Back Yard Bees
Eta Hive
The hive has a queen! I opened up the hive today and looked at frames three and four. Frame three had eggs on both sides. Frame four was being drawn out and they are storing nectar/sugar-water/pollen.
The hive has drawn comb on frames one, two and three and is working on frames four and five
I buttoned everything up and replaced the feeder jar.
I didn't do anything with other two hives at this time.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
23 APR, 2:30 pm - 2011
It was about 85º at the Bee Yard.
Beta Hive
I removed two full medium honey supers today. I replaced them with two empty medium honey supers. The third honey super that was on the hive has honey in all frames and the bees are busy capping it!
Today's harvest filled a 5 gallon bucket to the top. And that was from twenty frames of medium super frames. I'll let the honey settle for a day or two and bottle it.
Alpha Hive
The hive is collapsing. The frames I added last week did not seem to help. The hive has been overrun with ants.
Beta Hive
I removed two full medium honey supers today. I replaced them with two empty medium honey supers. The third honey super that was on the hive has honey in all frames and the bees are busy capping it!
Today's harvest filled a 5 gallon bucket to the top. And that was from twenty frames of medium super frames. I'll let the honey settle for a day or two and bottle it.
Alpha Hive
The hive is collapsing. The frames I added last week did not seem to help. The hive has been overrun with ants.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
21 APR, 10:30 am - 2011
It was about 83º at the Backyard bees.
Epsilon Hive
Removed four deep frames from the top hive body and replaced with four frames with empty drawn comb.
The four frames that were removed were filled with capped honey so I harvested the honey. Since there wasn't that much honey the yield was about one quart and one cup. I put those frames out on a table near the hives so the bees can do what they do.
Epsilon Hive
Removed four deep frames from the top hive body and replaced with four frames with empty drawn comb.
The four frames that were removed were filled with capped honey so I harvested the honey. Since there wasn't that much honey the yield was about one quart and one cup. I put those frames out on a table near the hives so the bees can do what they do.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
20 APR - 2011
Naming the hives...
The bees at the bee yard (in the country) already have the names Alpha and Beta.
The names for the bees in the backyard are;
The first hive I put back there - Epsilon hive, the first swarm hive - Zeta hive, and the second swarm hive - Eta Hive.
Now I'll see about remembering those names.
1:30 pm
Backyard Bees
Epsilon Hive -
There are about 50 to 100 bees hanging out on the porch, cleaning and milling around at this time of the day! Looks like a swarm is soon to happen with these girls...
The bees at the bee yard (in the country) already have the names Alpha and Beta.
The names for the bees in the backyard are;
The first hive I put back there - Epsilon hive, the first swarm hive - Zeta hive, and the second swarm hive - Eta Hive.
Now I'll see about remembering those names.
1:30 pm
Backyard Bees
Epsilon Hive -
There are about 50 to 100 bees hanging out on the porch, cleaning and milling around at this time of the day! Looks like a swarm is soon to happen with these girls...
Sunday, April 17, 2011
17 APR, 1:50 pm - 2011
It was 70º and breezy at the backyard bees.
The first swarm hive
The girls have created 6 queen cells and they are capped! The cells are on frame 4 in the middle of the frame. It looks like this hive had eggs I didn't find during the last inspection. After finding that I put everything back together and will leave it alone till next week some time.
I also gave the hive a fresh jar of 1:1 sugar/water.
The backyard bees(the first hive I put in the back yard)
I found eggs!!! and I found the queen. I found her on frame 5 and eggs on frames 4 and 6. I also found a frame that had a swarm cell with an egg in it!!!!
So I put everything back together and will wait and see what happens, because I don't have any more hive equipement ready to make a split!!!!
The second swarm
I will not inspect this hive till next weekend but I looked around the hive for ants and pests - so far none found. Also there is alot of activity going on at the entrance. I hope they stick around. I put a full jar of sugar/water on today.
2:30 pm
Country Bees
Alpha Hive
I opened up the hive and found that the queen's laying pattern is very sporadic. I found very few eggs. All the bees in the hive at the time I checked only covered 3 frames. I took three frames from the Beta hive that had eggs/larva/brood and some nurse bees and added them to this hive. Hope this will help. Buttoned up the hive after the additions.
Beta Hive
This hive has three deeps and two honey supers.
This hive has a lot of entrance activity. When I first arrived at the hive I thought the bees were in the process of swarming. Seems like its just their normal activity. This hive does have three deeps, so thats probably the reason.
I opened up the top honey super and found that all frames have curing honey and 3/4 of the frames are capped! Maybe in a week they will finish it up.
I put that top honey super aside and looked through the second honey super. That super is also like the first one. I put this one aside and started looking through the top hive body. On the second frame I removed(frame 8) I found the queen. I was as carefull as I could be and put it back. Frame 10 was all capped honey, frame 9 was all covered in capped brood and 8 had one side all capped brood with the other partially open cells and eggs/larva and capped brood.
I took frames 2,3,4 from this hive and put it in the Alpha Hive, I put in empty drawn comb, then put everything back together.
I also added a third honey super to this hive.
The first swarm hive
The girls have created 6 queen cells and they are capped! The cells are on frame 4 in the middle of the frame. It looks like this hive had eggs I didn't find during the last inspection. After finding that I put everything back together and will leave it alone till next week some time.
I also gave the hive a fresh jar of 1:1 sugar/water.
The backyard bees(the first hive I put in the back yard)
I found eggs!!! and I found the queen. I found her on frame 5 and eggs on frames 4 and 6. I also found a frame that had a swarm cell with an egg in it!!!!
So I put everything back together and will wait and see what happens, because I don't have any more hive equipement ready to make a split!!!!
The second swarm
I will not inspect this hive till next weekend but I looked around the hive for ants and pests - so far none found. Also there is alot of activity going on at the entrance. I hope they stick around. I put a full jar of sugar/water on today.
2:30 pm
Country Bees
Alpha Hive
I opened up the hive and found that the queen's laying pattern is very sporadic. I found very few eggs. All the bees in the hive at the time I checked only covered 3 frames. I took three frames from the Beta hive that had eggs/larva/brood and some nurse bees and added them to this hive. Hope this will help. Buttoned up the hive after the additions.
Beta Hive
This hive has three deeps and two honey supers.
This hive has a lot of entrance activity. When I first arrived at the hive I thought the bees were in the process of swarming. Seems like its just their normal activity. This hive does have three deeps, so thats probably the reason.
I opened up the top honey super and found that all frames have curing honey and 3/4 of the frames are capped! Maybe in a week they will finish it up.
I put that top honey super aside and looked through the second honey super. That super is also like the first one. I put this one aside and started looking through the top hive body. On the second frame I removed(frame 8) I found the queen. I was as carefull as I could be and put it back. Frame 10 was all capped honey, frame 9 was all covered in capped brood and 8 had one side all capped brood with the other partially open cells and eggs/larva and capped brood.
I took frames 2,3,4 from this hive and put it in the Alpha Hive, I put in empty drawn comb, then put everything back together.
I also added a third honey super to this hive.
Friday, April 15, 2011
15 APR, 10:45 am - 2011
I received a phone call yesterday evening and was informed that a swarm had settled on some equipment at a Munical Airport where I live. I stopped by today at about 10:45 am today and found a swarm hanging from the equipment about two feet from the ground. I used 5 gallon bucket that was well ventilated and scooped most of the bees into it. I dumped that into a hive body and waited for the bees to settle down. I did that one more time and captured most of the bees. I brought the bees home to a spot in my backyard. I put a 1:1 sugar/water feeder jar on the hive and then secured the hive so the wind and weather would not disturb it.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
9 APR 10 am - 2011
Backyard Bees
I have yet to name the hives, still working on a naming scheme.
The hive that swarmed last weekend...
I was inspecting the top hive body and found a queen! Its likely she is a new born, hopefully she will stick around. The bees attitude was pretty good considering they recently swarmed and I had honey supers and a hive body in pieces doing an inspection. After finding the queen I searched through a few more frames and found one frame with a queen cell that was capped! I removed the frame and put it aside. I buttoned up the hive and will check on them in a week.
The Swarm that I captured last weekend...
This is the first time that I opened the hive since bringing the bees on site. While inspecting the frames I found that the bees are very busy building comb on three frames. Many bees left with the queen sometime between last weekend and today but there were 4 frames of bees left. I did not see any eggs/larva or anything from the previous queen. That frame with the queen cell from from other hive...that is now in this hive. I am hoping that the queen is alive and was not killed by any other other queens. Hopefully this queen will hatch and take over this hive. I will monitor and add brood from the other hive to keep their numbers up.
I have yet to name the hives, still working on a naming scheme.
The hive that swarmed last weekend...
I was inspecting the top hive body and found a queen! Its likely she is a new born, hopefully she will stick around. The bees attitude was pretty good considering they recently swarmed and I had honey supers and a hive body in pieces doing an inspection. After finding the queen I searched through a few more frames and found one frame with a queen cell that was capped! I removed the frame and put it aside. I buttoned up the hive and will check on them in a week.
The Swarm that I captured last weekend...
This is the first time that I opened the hive since bringing the bees on site. While inspecting the frames I found that the bees are very busy building comb on three frames. Many bees left with the queen sometime between last weekend and today but there were 4 frames of bees left. I did not see any eggs/larva or anything from the previous queen. That frame with the queen cell from from other hive...that is now in this hive. I am hoping that the queen is alive and was not killed by any other other queens. Hopefully this queen will hatch and take over this hive. I will monitor and add brood from the other hive to keep their numbers up.
Monday, April 4, 2011
4 April, 7:30am - 2011
Back Yard Bees
Swarm Hive
Replaced the feeder jar with a full one. The bees consumed one and a half cups since 4pm yesterday. I also opened up the entrance reducer. I read on a beek forum that its better to do that than to keep them sealed.
Swarm Hive
Replaced the feeder jar with a full one. The bees consumed one and a half cups since 4pm yesterday. I also opened up the entrance reducer. I read on a beek forum that its better to do that than to keep them sealed.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
3 April, 1:30pm - 2011
I received a phone call to go get a swarm of bees. The bees settled on the establishment's gazebo. It was easy to access fortunately. I gathered up as many bees as possible and took them home. Currently they are in the back yard sealed up and I'm feeding them 1:1 sugar/water. I really appreciate that organization for the call.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
2 April, 11 am -2011
It was 70º, clear skies and no wind at the Back Yard bee hive.
At around 11 am the hive swarmed! I was unable to get to the swarm. Hopefully the bees remaining in the hive will be able to stick around and make some honey.
At around 11 am the hive swarmed! I was unable to get to the swarm. Hopefully the bees remaining in the hive will be able to stick around and make some honey.
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