It was about 80º and slightly breezy, clear skies at the bee yard.
Yesterday I forgot to put a feeder on the "split" hive. Today I borrowed a hive top feeder from a friend of mine and installed it and filled it up. It holds about 36 cups of sugar water.
Otherwise I didn't look through any of the other hives. I will put a telescoping cover and inner cover on the Beta hive as soon as I can.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
10 April, 2010 - 11:30am
It was about 65º, clear skies and no wind at the bee yard.
Today the queens were deployed.
The swarm hive was checked through one more time for a queen and none was found. So a queen was setup in the middle of the hive. The feeder jar was full, buttoned up the hive. On Wednesday of next week I'll check to see if the queen was successfully released.
Alpha Hive
Used a few frames from the hive to make a split. The remaining new queen was installed in the split and that one will also need to be checked on Wednesday of next week.
Beta Hive
Checked the honey super and some of the bees are milling around in it but none are storing nectar. I do not want to disturb the hive until next weekend.
Today the queens were deployed.
The swarm hive was checked through one more time for a queen and none was found. So a queen was setup in the middle of the hive. The feeder jar was full, buttoned up the hive. On Wednesday of next week I'll check to see if the queen was successfully released.
Alpha Hive
Used a few frames from the hive to make a split. The remaining new queen was installed in the split and that one will also need to be checked on Wednesday of next week.
Beta Hive
Checked the honey super and some of the bees are milling around in it but none are storing nectar. I do not want to disturb the hive until next weekend.
Friday, April 9, 2010
9 April, 2010 - 9:15 am
The queens arrived today. They are Cordovan Queens. I put a little water on the cage screens and put them in a dark area.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
6 April, 2010 - 9:30am
It was about 75º, clear skies and no breeze.
Swarm Hive
The feeder jar has just over a cup of sugar water left. That jar has been on there for two days now. Seems the girls have found a better food source. I am still treating the swarm hive as if its a package installation. The bees cover 5 frames. The hive frames are currently checkerboarded, and the bees are busy drawing comb on the foundation frames and busy repairing cleaning up the frames with comb. So far I have not found a queen, eggs or larva. The bees hive a very mild temperament as if there is a queen in the hive. Every frame they occupy and are working on is filled with sugar/water, nectar and pollen.
Alpha & Beta Hives
I only observed the bees to check what food types they are bringing in, and I saw a lot of pollen inbound. The bees are very busy coming and going and none of them bothered with me.
Here are some photos of the Swarm hive;
Swarm Hive
The feeder jar has just over a cup of sugar water left. That jar has been on there for two days now. Seems the girls have found a better food source. I am still treating the swarm hive as if its a package installation. The bees cover 5 frames. The hive frames are currently checkerboarded, and the bees are busy drawing comb on the foundation frames and busy repairing cleaning up the frames with comb. So far I have not found a queen, eggs or larva. The bees hive a very mild temperament as if there is a queen in the hive. Every frame they occupy and are working on is filled with sugar/water, nectar and pollen.
Alpha & Beta Hives
I only observed the bees to check what food types they are bringing in, and I saw a lot of pollen inbound. The bees are very busy coming and going and none of them bothered with me.
Here are some photos of the Swarm hive;
Sunday, April 4, 2010
4 April, 2010 - 3:30pm
It was 84º, clear skies and no breeze at the bee yard.
Swarm Hive
My Dad and I looked through the hive just out of curiosity. I did not see any eggs/larva or a queen, yet the bees, which cover four frames have remained and are VERY busy storing sugar water and pollen.
Alpha Hive
I thought I would look through the top box frames for swarm/supercedure cells and remove them in preparation for the new queen. I found the the top middle frames are being used to store nectar and pollen. The bees are also drawing comb in the top box frames. I did not see any eggs/larva or a queen.
I removed the top hive body and started going through the lower hive body frames. The frames in the middle of the hive body had eggs! While looking for more eggs and finding them, I found a queen! Its good to see that the hive seems to have successfully requeened itself.
What I find interesting is that Alpha and Beta hives requeened themselves and the queens starting laying eggs within days of each other.
I still have two queens on the way. So I am thinking of putting one queen in the swarm hive. The other queen will be used for a split made from the Alpha hive. Alpha hive should have plenty of frames of eggs/larva by the end of the week.
Swarm Hive
My Dad and I looked through the hive just out of curiosity. I did not see any eggs/larva or a queen, yet the bees, which cover four frames have remained and are VERY busy storing sugar water and pollen.
Alpha Hive
I thought I would look through the top box frames for swarm/supercedure cells and remove them in preparation for the new queen. I found the the top middle frames are being used to store nectar and pollen. The bees are also drawing comb in the top box frames. I did not see any eggs/larva or a queen.
I removed the top hive body and started going through the lower hive body frames. The frames in the middle of the hive body had eggs! While looking for more eggs and finding them, I found a queen! Its good to see that the hive seems to have successfully requeened itself.
What I find interesting is that Alpha and Beta hives requeened themselves and the queens starting laying eggs within days of each other.
I still have two queens on the way. So I am thinking of putting one queen in the swarm hive. The other queen will be used for a split made from the Alpha hive. Alpha hive should have plenty of frames of eggs/larva by the end of the week.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
3 April, 2010 - 12 pm
It was 80º and partly cloudy, slightly breezy at the bee yard.
Today was the day to open up the swarm hive. A friend of mine and fellow beekeeper, Gene went with me. We found that the bees cover four frames. Also found that the bees have been storing the sugar water mix and a lot of pollen. Searched all frames and did not see any eggs or a queen. Buttoned everything up and went over to check on the Alpha & Beta hives.
Alpha Hive
On the 31st of March I put a deep hive body that only had foundation. Since that time the bees moved up from the bottom hive body and started drawing comb in the upper hive body in the middle 3 frames. Looked for eggs,larva and didn't see any.
The bees are VERY busy bringing in nectar and pollen. I checkerboarded the top hive body, to keep the bees busy and prep for the queen later this week.
Beta Hive
I was looking through the top hive body and found curing nectar and pollen everywhere. And then I found a frame with eggs!!! I believe its from a queen because its right smack in the middle bottom of the cells. I found eggs on three frames!!! So I put everything back in place and put a honey super on.
It looks like the hive has a queen!!
Since I have two queens arriving later this week I will now put one in the Alpha Hive and one in the Swarm Hive. It that works out I will have three hives at the bee yard. I am thinking of naming the swarm hive the Delta Hive.
Today was the day to open up the swarm hive. A friend of mine and fellow beekeeper, Gene went with me. We found that the bees cover four frames. Also found that the bees have been storing the sugar water mix and a lot of pollen. Searched all frames and did not see any eggs or a queen. Buttoned everything up and went over to check on the Alpha & Beta hives.
Alpha Hive
On the 31st of March I put a deep hive body that only had foundation. Since that time the bees moved up from the bottom hive body and started drawing comb in the upper hive body in the middle 3 frames. Looked for eggs,larva and didn't see any.
The bees are VERY busy bringing in nectar and pollen. I checkerboarded the top hive body, to keep the bees busy and prep for the queen later this week.
Beta Hive
I was looking through the top hive body and found curing nectar and pollen everywhere. And then I found a frame with eggs!!! I believe its from a queen because its right smack in the middle bottom of the cells. I found eggs on three frames!!! So I put everything back in place and put a honey super on.
It looks like the hive has a queen!!
Since I have two queens arriving later this week I will now put one in the Alpha Hive and one in the Swarm Hive. It that works out I will have three hives at the bee yard. I am thinking of naming the swarm hive the Delta Hive.
Friday, April 2, 2010
2 April, 2010 - 10:30 am
It was around 60º this morning at the bee yard.
The swarm hive's feeder jar was empty so I replaced it with a full jar. Tomorrow I will take a look in the swarm hive for signs of a queen.
I didn't inspect the Alpha & Beta Hives. I really don't want to bother the girls too much since they don't have queens.
The swarm hive's feeder jar was empty so I replaced it with a full jar. Tomorrow I will take a look in the swarm hive for signs of a queen.
I didn't inspect the Alpha & Beta Hives. I really don't want to bother the girls too much since they don't have queens.
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