It was about 78º in the back yard, clear skies light winds.
Backyard Bees
The hive had three honey supers. I removed one since it was not being used in any way by the bees. So now the top one has about 20 or so pounds and the bottom one has maybe 10 pounds scattered throughout the frames. The top hive body has about 6 frames three quarters covered with capped honey, these frames are 1,2,3 and 8,9,10. I did find fresh eggs, and I didn't see any problems so the inspection stopped at that point and I put everything back together.
Bee Yard
Removed the Apiguard containers and spacers from the Swarm and Beta Hive.
Swarm Hive
Didn't do an inspection. But the bee population is a lot smaller than I expected for this time of year. Looks like the varroa mites have really hurt this hive. Hopefully I can keep them going this fall and winter.
Beta Hive
The bees were not as busy at the entrance as the other two hives, they seemed to all be in the top hive body and honey super. They fill about one and a half hive bodies.
Alpha Hive
Top honey super is pretty light. I will begin feeding this hive as soon as I have some sugar.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
At the Bee yard is was about 82º and windy.
Put in place the second dose of Apiguard for the Swarm hive and Beta Hive.
Swarm Hive
The bees cleaned up quite a bit of the Apiguard meds. I am considering removing the honey super to prevent hive beetle problems late in the year. If I do that I'll extract it and mix it with water and feed it to the bees over the next few weeks and the rest of the winter.
Beta hive
There is about 20 pounds of honey in the honey super. Most of the bees are in the top hive body. I'll probably remove that super, extract the honey and feed it back to the bees over the winter.
Alpha Hive
Bees are in both hive bodies and the cluster is pretty tight even though temperatures aren't that cold.
Working on modifying the migratory covers so that 3-4 mason jars can be installed.
Put in place the second dose of Apiguard for the Swarm hive and Beta Hive.
Swarm Hive
The bees cleaned up quite a bit of the Apiguard meds. I am considering removing the honey super to prevent hive beetle problems late in the year. If I do that I'll extract it and mix it with water and feed it to the bees over the next few weeks and the rest of the winter.
Beta hive
There is about 20 pounds of honey in the honey super. Most of the bees are in the top hive body. I'll probably remove that super, extract the honey and feed it back to the bees over the winter.
Alpha Hive
Bees are in both hive bodies and the cluster is pretty tight even though temperatures aren't that cold.
Working on modifying the migratory covers so that 3-4 mason jars can be installed.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
16 October, 2010 - 2 pm
It was 81º, clear skies and breezy at the Bee Yard.
Swarm Hive & Beta Hive
Put a Apiguard patch in between the honey super and the top hive body. I hope this will help with the varroa mites. I did not go through and do a hive inspection this visit.
Alpha Hive
Harvested 7 frames of honey from the top honey super. Now the hive only has one honey super installed and that will be removed before the weather gets too cold. I did not do a hive inspection during this visit.
Honey Harvest was just over 21 pounds from the 7 frames. I will bottle it tomorrow!
Swarm Hive & Beta Hive
Put a Apiguard patch in between the honey super and the top hive body. I hope this will help with the varroa mites. I did not go through and do a hive inspection this visit.
Alpha Hive
Harvested 7 frames of honey from the top honey super. Now the hive only has one honey super installed and that will be removed before the weather gets too cold. I did not do a hive inspection during this visit.
Honey Harvest was just over 21 pounds from the 7 frames. I will bottle it tomorrow!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
1 Oct, 2010 - 2 pm
At the back yard bee hive it was 83º and partly cloudy.
Backyard Bees
There has been a lot of activity at the hive entrance the last couple of weeks. At around 1:30 pm or so every few days of this last week, there were several thousand bees that would swirl up and around the front of the hive for a few minutes then they would settle on the front of the hive and go back in. I am guessing its a swarm type behavior, but I have not seen my other hives do this.
Today's inspection
The top honey super has 4 frames that are capped and the rest are full of honey and are slowing being capped. There are hundreds of bees in this super working the frames. The middle honey super also has many bees but there is not much honey being stored in it. The bottom honey super has a few hundred bees but they are scattered throughout the frames and do not appear to be drawing comb or storing food in this honey super.
Top hive body
Frame 1 has a lot of comb building happening and the bees are storing some honey and pollen on it. Frame 2 has one side partially covered with honey and pollen, but not very much. the other side has mostly capped brood and eggs and some larva. No food stores on this side. Frame 3 both sides are covered in capped brood, eggs and larva. Same with frame 4. Frame 5 south side is just like frame 3, don't know about the north side didn't remove frame. Stopped inspection at that time. Looks like there is a queen because of finding so many fresh eggs.
Bottom hive body
Didn't look through it at this time.
At the Country Bee yard it was 82º, partly cloudy.
Swarm Hive
The honey super has 4 frames that are capped! The rest are full of honey and are being capped.
Top Hive Body
Noticed that some of the bees have varroa mites, even found a couple bees that had deformed wings. Started inspection at frame 10. It is a foundation only frame, no comb drawn or any kind of work very light frame no honey stored but a lot of pollen on the north side and south side( this is a food frame). Frame 8 has only capped brood, eggs and larva no honey stored and very little pollen
Alpha Hive
Beta Hive
Backyard Bees
There has been a lot of activity at the hive entrance the last couple of weeks. At around 1:30 pm or so every few days of this last week, there were several thousand bees that would swirl up and around the front of the hive for a few minutes then they would settle on the front of the hive and go back in. I am guessing its a swarm type behavior, but I have not seen my other hives do this.
Today's inspection
The top honey super has 4 frames that are capped and the rest are full of honey and are slowing being capped. There are hundreds of bees in this super working the frames. The middle honey super also has many bees but there is not much honey being stored in it. The bottom honey super has a few hundred bees but they are scattered throughout the frames and do not appear to be drawing comb or storing food in this honey super.
Top hive body
Frame 1 has a lot of comb building happening and the bees are storing some honey and pollen on it. Frame 2 has one side partially covered with honey and pollen, but not very much. the other side has mostly capped brood and eggs and some larva. No food stores on this side. Frame 3 both sides are covered in capped brood, eggs and larva. Same with frame 4. Frame 5 south side is just like frame 3, don't know about the north side didn't remove frame. Stopped inspection at that time. Looks like there is a queen because of finding so many fresh eggs.
Bottom hive body
Didn't look through it at this time.
At the Country Bee yard it was 82º, partly cloudy.
Swarm Hive
The honey super has 4 frames that are capped! The rest are full of honey and are being capped.
Top Hive Body
Noticed that some of the bees have varroa mites, even found a couple bees that had deformed wings. Started inspection at frame 10. It is a foundation only frame, no comb drawn or any kind of work very light frame no honey stored but a lot of pollen on the north side and south side( this is a food frame). Frame 8 has only capped brood, eggs and larva no honey stored and very little pollen
Alpha Hive
Beta Hive
Monday, September 27, 2010
27 Sept, 2010
Yesterday I checked on the Backyard bees. I looked through the top honey super and found frames 4, 5 and 6 ready for harvest. The rest of the frames have honey in them and are slowly being capped. The bottom honey super has a lot of bees but not much storage going on. I looked through frames 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the top hive body. I found fresh eggs as well as larva and capped brood. I didn't inspect any further.
Today
Backyard Bees
At about 1:30pm there was a few thousand bees swirling around in front of the hive. It really looked like the start of a swarm. But then the bees settled back on the hive and went inside. There were still hundreds of bees doing orientation flights for awhile but none of the swarmlike activity.
Today
Backyard Bees
At about 1:30pm there was a few thousand bees swirling around in front of the hive. It really looked like the start of a swarm. But then the bees settled back on the hive and went inside. There were still hundreds of bees doing orientation flights for awhile but none of the swarmlike activity.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
18 September,2010 - 9 am
It was 82º at the Bee Yard. Clear skies with light winds.
Swarm Hive
Honey super has 9 out of 10 frames full of honey. They continue to cap the frames. I don't think I will be able to take any honey from this hive. I did find the queen on frame 8. I also found fresh eggs, larva and some capped brood. The hive temperament was good throughout the inspection. Buttoned everything up and put down some insecticide to deal with the ants.
Beta Hive
Honey super has a few hundred bees but there is not much food storage happening. Top hive body, I had the ten frames checkerboarded. Five frames have brood/food and five frames are foundation, slowly being worked by the bees. Today I shuffled the frames around so that all of the brood frames are together in the center of the hive body and the foundation frames are on the "outside" of the brood frames. While going through these frames I found the queen and fresh eggs! It was about that time I noticed a swirling mass of bees collecting on a lower branch of a cypress tree about 15 feet from the hive. I put the Beta hive back together and went over to check out the swarm. The swarm was about the size of a softball and getting bigger as the bees settled in. The swarm was coming from some trees about 75' away. So I am hoping it was not from the Beta hive. The swarm bees look a lot like the Beta hive bees. So, since I did see the queen and I found fresh eggs today, I will look for fresh eggs in 7 days to make sure the swarm was not from the Beta Hive.
Alpha Hive
Swarm Hive
Honey super has 9 out of 10 frames full of honey. They continue to cap the frames. I don't think I will be able to take any honey from this hive. I did find the queen on frame 8. I also found fresh eggs, larva and some capped brood. The hive temperament was good throughout the inspection. Buttoned everything up and put down some insecticide to deal with the ants.
Beta Hive
Honey super has a few hundred bees but there is not much food storage happening. Top hive body, I had the ten frames checkerboarded. Five frames have brood/food and five frames are foundation, slowly being worked by the bees. Today I shuffled the frames around so that all of the brood frames are together in the center of the hive body and the foundation frames are on the "outside" of the brood frames. While going through these frames I found the queen and fresh eggs! It was about that time I noticed a swirling mass of bees collecting on a lower branch of a cypress tree about 15 feet from the hive. I put the Beta hive back together and went over to check out the swarm. The swarm was about the size of a softball and getting bigger as the bees settled in. The swarm was coming from some trees about 75' away. So I am hoping it was not from the Beta hive. The swarm bees look a lot like the Beta hive bees. So, since I did see the queen and I found fresh eggs today, I will look for fresh eggs in 7 days to make sure the swarm was not from the Beta Hive.
Alpha Hive
Friday, September 17, 2010
17 September, 2010 - 10 am
Its 87º, clear skies and no breeze at the Back Yard Hive.
Back Yard Bees.
The top honey super has nine frames of honey. Three frames are 3/4 capped and the rest are being capped. There are many bees working in this super.
The middle honey super is very light and although there are many bees in the super they appear to be building/repairing comb.
Bottom honey super has a few bees in it and they are not really doing anything in this super.
Top hive body has a large number of bees throughout the frames. Frame 1 is a food frame and one side is covered in uncapped honey, on the other side the bees are drawing comb and storing pollen and nectar. Frame 2 has one side eggs/larva/capped brood and a border of honey and pollen, same with other side. Frame 3 has one whole side of fresh eggs! The other side is like frame 2. After finding that I put the hive back together. I didn't get any photos this time.
The hive temperament is good. I didn't use the smoke that much. These bees are very calm bees.
Back Yard Bees.
The top honey super has nine frames of honey. Three frames are 3/4 capped and the rest are being capped. There are many bees working in this super.
The middle honey super is very light and although there are many bees in the super they appear to be building/repairing comb.
Bottom honey super has a few bees in it and they are not really doing anything in this super.
Top hive body has a large number of bees throughout the frames. Frame 1 is a food frame and one side is covered in uncapped honey, on the other side the bees are drawing comb and storing pollen and nectar. Frame 2 has one side eggs/larva/capped brood and a border of honey and pollen, same with other side. Frame 3 has one whole side of fresh eggs! The other side is like frame 2. After finding that I put the hive back together. I didn't get any photos this time.
The hive temperament is good. I didn't use the smoke that much. These bees are very calm bees.
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