It was 75º, clear skies, no wind at the Back Yard Bees.
Opened up the hive and found bees covering 3/4 of the inner cover. I installed a honey super, see what that does for now. Didn't get down into any of the hive bodies today.
1:30 pm
It was 83º at the Bee Yard and clear skies.
No signs of ants around the hives
Beta hive
The hive had 1 honey super and 2 deep hive bodies. There were bees covering all ten frames of the honey super. I removed frames 1,2,3 and found eggs! So I put them and pulled the honey super to gain access to the hive bodies. The top hive body had bees covering all ten frames. I did not remove any to inspect. I removed the top hive body to look at the bottom hive body. The bees covered all ten frames. This hive seems to be very strong. So I added a third deep hive body but installed it with the honey super at the top. I am hoping that the bees will build up this new hive body and then I can do a walk away split.
Alpha Hive
The cluster moved to the center of the hive body. The bees cover about 5 frames. I found the queen on frame 6! I did find eggs too. Next visit if I will see about taking frames from the Beta Hive to strengthen this hive.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
21 February, 1:00pm - 2011
It was 75º at the Bee Yard. Partly cloudy and windy.
Alpha Hive
This hive has two deeps. Opened up the top hive body and found very few bees. Most of the frames had curing honey and pollen and some capped honey. Did not see any eggs in any of the top hive body frames!
I did not look through the bottom hive body since the wind started to get worse. Buttoned everything up and will check on them some time this week.
Beta Hive
Did not inspect the hive, too windy.
Alpha Hive
This hive has two deeps. Opened up the top hive body and found very few bees. Most of the frames had curing honey and pollen and some capped honey. Did not see any eggs in any of the top hive body frames!
I did not look through the bottom hive body since the wind started to get worse. Buttoned everything up and will check on them some time this week.
Beta Hive
Did not inspect the hive, too windy.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
21 February, 12:30pm - 2011
It was 75º at the Back Yard Hive, clear skies and no wind.
Back Yard Bees
Since the weather has been warming up into the 70's lately I did a quick inspection. I have been feeding the bees a 1:1 sugar/water mix. This hive has two deeps.
The feeder jar was empty so I removed it and started a quick inspection. The top hive body was filled with bees on all frames. Frames 10,8,1,2 were full of capped honey and some pollen. Frames 3-7 had capped honey, pollen,brood,eggs,larva. There was more capped honey and pollen then brood. The top box weighed a lot! So I swapped the top and bottom deeps. The bottom box was much lighter than the top one, I did not go through those frames. The bees did not like this. It looks like there are a lot of bees and not much of a nectar flow. They were agitated but they were not landing and stinging, they were just flying all around me. I put things back together as quickly and carefully as I could. The bees have a lot of honey, so I stopped feeding the 1:1 sugar/water mix at this time.
Back Yard Bees
Since the weather has been warming up into the 70's lately I did a quick inspection. I have been feeding the bees a 1:1 sugar/water mix. This hive has two deeps.
The feeder jar was empty so I removed it and started a quick inspection. The top hive body was filled with bees on all frames. Frames 10,8,1,2 were full of capped honey and some pollen. Frames 3-7 had capped honey, pollen,brood,eggs,larva. There was more capped honey and pollen then brood. The top box weighed a lot! So I swapped the top and bottom deeps. The bottom box was much lighter than the top one, I did not go through those frames. The bees did not like this. It looks like there are a lot of bees and not much of a nectar flow. They were agitated but they were not landing and stinging, they were just flying all around me. I put things back together as quickly and carefully as I could. The bees have a lot of honey, so I stopped feeding the 1:1 sugar/water mix at this time.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
13 February - 2011
Harvested about 20 pounds of honey from 8 deep frames that were stored since june of this year. The plan was to put the frames back in the hives at a later date for food for the bees. Since this honey was in the frames and frozen for so long hopefully it will be okay. It has been bottled and put on the shelf. The yield was 7 and a half quarts of honey.
Cleaned up the frames a little and put them out near the Back Yard Hive. The bees cleaned up all of the frames.
Cleaned up the frames a little and put them out near the Back Yard Hive. The bees cleaned up all of the frames.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
12 February, 2:30pm - 2011
It was 55º at the Bee yard, clear skies no wind.
Alpha Hive
Many bees at the entrance, quite a few were flying up and down and sideways in front of hive. There also many bees bringing in pollen. Decided to go ahead and feed this hive again. Gave them 1:1 sugar/water mixture.
Beta Hive
This hive also has a lot of entrance activity. Bees are flying up and around the hive entrance, and there is also quite a few bees bringing in pollen.
At the Back Yard hive...
Feeder jar was empty, replaced with a full 1:1 sugar/water mixture. A lot of entrance activity today. Looks like about two thirds of the foragers are bringing in pollen.
Alpha Hive
Many bees at the entrance, quite a few were flying up and down and sideways in front of hive. There also many bees bringing in pollen. Decided to go ahead and feed this hive again. Gave them 1:1 sugar/water mixture.
Beta Hive
This hive also has a lot of entrance activity. Bees are flying up and around the hive entrance, and there is also quite a few bees bringing in pollen.
At the Back Yard hive...
Feeder jar was empty, replaced with a full 1:1 sugar/water mixture. A lot of entrance activity today. Looks like about two thirds of the foragers are bringing in pollen.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
6 February, 2:30 pm - 2011
It was 58º at the Back Yard Hive. Clear skies, no wind.
Replaced the empty feeder jar.
There is a lot of entrance activity today. Even when it was 45º this morning the bees were busy flying around the hive entrance and doing what they do. I need to look into swapping hive boxes.
I was unable to make it out to the Bee yard today, hopefully tomorrow I will make it there to replace feeder jars.
Replaced the empty feeder jar.
There is a lot of entrance activity today. Even when it was 45º this morning the bees were busy flying around the hive entrance and doing what they do. I need to look into swapping hive boxes.
I was unable to make it out to the Bee yard today, hopefully tomorrow I will make it there to replace feeder jars.
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