The queen that I ordered on Monday 9 March of this week, arrived today!
The local Postal Center has a bad habit of not answering their phone DURING BUSINESS HOURS. So I had to contact a US Postal Center IN ANOTHER COUNTY and give them important information about the queen bee package, and they contacted my local Postal Center and passed on the info. The Postal Center in the other county was a great help and I really appreciate what they did in this situation. I know I can trust them for important deliveries.
Now to make matters worse, the local Postal Center here completely ignored the detailed instructions they were given in regards to handling the queen bee package. They even put the queen package on a delivery truck AND sent it out on routes AS IF IT WAS A LETTER. Apparently they don't understand simple instructions AND they have difficulty reading MAIL PACKAGES!!!
I could go on and on about how many things that they did wrong....but I won't.
I am very glad the queen and attendants arrived alive.
I have given the girls some water and will monitor them overnight. I hope they are not too stressed and will be okay.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
12 March, 2009 - 4pm
Visited the Bee yard today. The Alpha hive looked pretty busy. The feeder jar was 2/3 full.
The Beta hive looked busy today. The feeder jar was empty. Installed a fresh, full jar.
Didn't see any signs of ants or other external pests.
The Beta hive looked busy today. The feeder jar was empty. Installed a fresh, full jar.
Didn't see any signs of ants or other external pests.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
10 March, 2009 - 4pm
Went out to the bee yard to make preparations to the Alpha hive for a new queen. I arranged empty drawn frames in the middle of the hive and frames with pollen and food on each side of the empty drawn frames.
While going through those frames I was just looking over two frames that were just packed with bees. On one of those frames I found an unmarked queen. She was milling around like the other bees. I watched her for at least 30 seconds, shocked that I had found a queen. During that time she was not in a hurry to hide and seemed to moving along just fine. I didn't see her laying any eggs. I carefully put that frame back in the box and then spaced the other frames and carefully put the lid back on.
Hmmmm...
Since there is a honey super on the Alpha hive and none of the frames have drawn comb I put a full jar of 1:1 sugar water in the feeder slot.
I also put a full jar of 1:1 sugar water on the Beta hive.
Soon I need to "fog" both hives to deal with mites.
While going through those frames I was just looking over two frames that were just packed with bees. On one of those frames I found an unmarked queen. She was milling around like the other bees. I watched her for at least 30 seconds, shocked that I had found a queen. During that time she was not in a hurry to hide and seemed to moving along just fine. I didn't see her laying any eggs. I carefully put that frame back in the box and then spaced the other frames and carefully put the lid back on.
Hmmmm...
Since there is a honey super on the Alpha hive and none of the frames have drawn comb I put a full jar of 1:1 sugar water in the feeder slot.
I also put a full jar of 1:1 sugar water on the Beta hive.
Soon I need to "fog" both hives to deal with mites.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
9 March, 2009 - 1 pm
Since the bees of Alpha hive are busy storing food. I put a honey super on the hive so they can fill that with honey / pollen instead of the lower brood boxes.
The feeder jar was just at the half full mark.
The feeder jar was just at the half full mark.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
8 March, 2009 - 1:pm
The weather was about 75º, with a slight breeze.
Gene and went out to where I keep my bees to inspect them. We opened up the Alpha hive. We thought it would be a good idea to check each frame for brood and such. We went through all the frames in the top brood box and did not find any brood( no eggs, larva or capped brood). That seemed very odd. But the bees were storing pollen and nectar, because the frames that should have had brood contained only food.
We then decided to look into the bottom brood box. We examined all of the frames and found only pollen and uncapped honey. No signs( no eggs, larva or capped brood) of the queen were evident. But there were so many bees, busily bringing in pollen and nectar filling up cells.
So sometime in late January, early February I must have injured or killed the queen.
Gene and I were discussing what to do about this situation. So I called our Bee Associations President for some help and information. I explained to him what we found and he confirmed what we guessed, no queen.
I will be ordering a queen for the Alpha hive early next week.
The hive inspection for the Beta hive was very short. Opened the hive and moved a couple of frames to look for queen activity.
Found larva and capped brood. Buttoned it back up and left the Bee yard a little sad.
The feeder jars for both hives were just above half full, I left them in place.
Gene and went out to where I keep my bees to inspect them. We opened up the Alpha hive. We thought it would be a good idea to check each frame for brood and such. We went through all the frames in the top brood box and did not find any brood( no eggs, larva or capped brood). That seemed very odd. But the bees were storing pollen and nectar, because the frames that should have had brood contained only food.
We then decided to look into the bottom brood box. We examined all of the frames and found only pollen and uncapped honey. No signs( no eggs, larva or capped brood) of the queen were evident. But there were so many bees, busily bringing in pollen and nectar filling up cells.
So sometime in late January, early February I must have injured or killed the queen.
Gene and I were discussing what to do about this situation. So I called our Bee Associations President for some help and information. I explained to him what we found and he confirmed what we guessed, no queen.
I will be ordering a queen for the Alpha hive early next week.
The hive inspection for the Beta hive was very short. Opened the hive and moved a couple of frames to look for queen activity.
Found larva and capped brood. Buttoned it back up and left the Bee yard a little sad.
The feeder jars for both hives were just above half full, I left them in place.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
5 March, 2009 - 3pm
Checked on the feeder jars of the hives. Alpha hive was down to less than a quarter, it was replaced with a full jar. Beta hive was down to a quarter, it was replaced with a full jar, 2:1 mix.
Although the weather was warm, I was unable to look inside the hive. Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to see how the hives are doing inside.
Although the weather was warm, I was unable to look inside the hive. Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to see how the hives are doing inside.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
3 March, 2009 - 4:30pm
Stopped by to check on the hives. It was ~45º, so it was too cold to do anything except check the feeder jars.
Beta Colony was down to half a jar. That jar was in place since Friday evening. So I went ahead and replaced it with a full jar.
There was very little outside activity.
Beta Colony was down to half a jar. That jar was in place since Friday evening. So I went ahead and replaced it with a full jar.
There was very little outside activity.
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