Checked the bottom board bin for mites. Saw a few but not as many as the last two times. That could be due to not getting enough sugar through both supers or quite a few mites were knocked off from the last dusting...nah
Put down some insecticide around the legs of the hive stand to kill the ants or at least slow them down for a few days.
Saw a couple of bumble bees hanging out on the backside of the hive. Hopefully they are not staging for an invasion!!!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June 25, 2008 - 8:30 am
Today was the final day to "dust" the bees.
There were ants around the legs of the hive stand and on the bottom of the hive. Thursday or Friday I will put down some pesticide.
Opened up the hive today. Since there are two brood chambers I only opened up the top chamber and inspected it.
There is alot of activity in this second brood chamber. Four frames are being worked by the bees. Two frames are almost completely drawn out, two frames are partially drawn out.
There are many more bees in the top brood box, they cover five frames.
I noticed that a large number of the bees in the top box are newly hatched.
I didn't see the queen in the top box.
I looked for other pests and did not see any other than the ants.
These three photos are from the top brood chamber
There were ants around the legs of the hive stand and on the bottom of the hive. Thursday or Friday I will put down some pesticide.
Opened up the hive today. Since there are two brood chambers I only opened up the top chamber and inspected it.
There is alot of activity in this second brood chamber. Four frames are being worked by the bees. Two frames are almost completely drawn out, two frames are partially drawn out.
There are many more bees in the top brood box, they cover five frames.
I noticed that a large number of the bees in the top box are newly hatched.
I didn't see the queen in the top box.
I looked for other pests and did not see any other than the ants.
These three photos are from the top brood chamber
Monday, June 23, 2008
June 23, 2008 - 10 am
Its been a couple of days since I visited the hive.
Today the area around the hive looks good. Did not see any ants or other pests. That could be because of the amount of rain we received in the last few days.
Hive activity seems to be about normal. The bees now are using all of the front entrance area to enter/exit the hive.
There are alot of bees bringing in pollen!
I checked on the empty jar I put in the top super. So far no comb building going on in it. I think I will use some of the burr comb and melt it and apply it to the inside area of the jar to draw in the bees so they will build comb.
This coming wednesday is the day for the bees to be "sugar dusted". This should be the last consecutive week that I do that. Then I will do monthly or bi-monthly "dusting" depending on the number of varroa mites.
I am trying to finish building a frame holder that sits above the hive so its easier to photograph.
Today the area around the hive looks good. Did not see any ants or other pests. That could be because of the amount of rain we received in the last few days.
Hive activity seems to be about normal. The bees now are using all of the front entrance area to enter/exit the hive.
There are alot of bees bringing in pollen!
I checked on the empty jar I put in the top super. So far no comb building going on in it. I think I will use some of the burr comb and melt it and apply it to the inside area of the jar to draw in the bees so they will build comb.
This coming wednesday is the day for the bees to be "sugar dusted". This should be the last consecutive week that I do that. Then I will do monthly or bi-monthly "dusting" depending on the number of varroa mites.
I am trying to finish building a frame holder that sits above the hive so its easier to photograph.
Friday, June 20, 2008
June 20, 2008 - 11 am
Didn't make it on site. Called Dadant & Sons to find out when my honey supers will arrive. Still looking into other "organic" ways and means of pest control. Pondernig if I should put in a grease patty since I do not have hive beetles...yet.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
June 19, 2008 - 9 am
Since I used powdered sugar to dust the bees yesterday, I went back to the hive today to see how many varroa mites were in the bottom board bin. I didn't see as many this time around.
I checked for signs of ants and didn't see any even though there was powdered sugar all around the hive stand legs. I also did not see any signs of hive beetles.
I checked for signs of ants and didn't see any even though there was powdered sugar all around the hive stand legs. I also did not see any signs of hive beetles.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 18, 2008 - 8:30 am
Today was the day for the second powdered sugar dusting, one more week to go!
Looked around the hive for ants and other things and didn't notice any. I looked for the small hive beetle but did not see any kind of beetles around the hive.
I setup a camcorder to record what happens when I put the powdered sugar all over the hive. I recorded about ten minutes of footage which I will convert to a web friendly format and post.
I opened up the hive and found that 8 out of 9 frames are in use by the bees.
I found the queen and she seems to be doing okay.
On the middle four frames there were about 90% capped brood.
On a couple of the frames I noticed what I think(and hope) are drone cells. They were much larger than the worker cells. They didn't resemble queen cells that I have seen in other hives.
I would like to have photographed them but I didn't have any place to hang the frames. The frame hanger that I made already had three frames in it. So I am going to have to make another or make one that sits above the chamber.
Today I removed the entrance reducer. There seem to be so many more bees. I am hoping that it was not a mistake to remove that piece even though I "dusted" the bees.
When I put down the sugar the bees once again went down into the hive then right out the entrance
Heres a few photos...
Looked around the hive for ants and other things and didn't notice any. I looked for the small hive beetle but did not see any kind of beetles around the hive.
I setup a camcorder to record what happens when I put the powdered sugar all over the hive. I recorded about ten minutes of footage which I will convert to a web friendly format and post.
I opened up the hive and found that 8 out of 9 frames are in use by the bees.
I found the queen and she seems to be doing okay.
On the middle four frames there were about 90% capped brood.
On a couple of the frames I noticed what I think(and hope) are drone cells. They were much larger than the worker cells. They didn't resemble queen cells that I have seen in other hives.
I would like to have photographed them but I didn't have any place to hang the frames. The frame hanger that I made already had three frames in it. So I am going to have to make another or make one that sits above the chamber.
Today I removed the entrance reducer. There seem to be so many more bees. I am hoping that it was not a mistake to remove that piece even though I "dusted" the bees.
When I put down the sugar the bees once again went down into the hive then right out the entrance
Heres a few photos...
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
June 17, 2008 - 9 am
Checked the hive today. There are so many more bees nowadays, which is a good sign. Didn't see any sign of ants, probably because of the rain. Since there are such large numbers of bees I will remove the entrance reducer the next time I do the powdered sugar procedure, which should be some time this week. I took a few photos of the bees. I have also been recording the bees on a camcorder, later this month I will copy the sessions to a dvd and then post them.
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