Hard to take pictures when I am the center of the activity, but I think I need to get someone to work with me. I did try to show CS some of the larvae. I think it was hard for her to differentiate, and I couldn't point because I was holding the frame.I want someone to help document my work with the bees.
Rule 1. Don't let go of a frame with lots of bees on it until you are slowly putting it back into the super.
Rule 2. know what you should be looking for. B Rowe says brood should be putting a frame of brood or honey together a week's time. I don't think I am seeing that for 3 of the hives.
I now think I know what capped brood looks like and what capped honey looks like. I got to see a hive beetle crawling a few cells on one of the queen yard's hives. Another hive had hive beetles, but they were not able to do damage in a plastic comb frame. Cool.
Variation in the bee body coloration- from black to white, and all in between.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
My fellow beekeepers hives: today
I got to my fellow beekeeper's hives at about 6 pm tonight. Great breezes and nice sun. Low humidity and no sugar. So, CS's husband was tasked to go to SR to get sugar, and CS and I talked about our hives and the missing queen bee.
When the sugar arrived husband went off to hit some golf balls, and I went to work. CS's right hand bees go through their sugar water every time. Today, it was gone from Saturday. They are bubbling up into the upper super. There are new larvae in some of the cells, and they are actively making comb on all of the foundation.
CS's other hive is slower- 2+ good frames on the bottom, queen visible, and lots of new brood. I would say that that is the same amount of frame work as last week. I am seeing uncapped larvae. They are working the upper level of brood super, but not to the same extent as CS's busier hive.
I checked the frames on the upper super of the busy hive, saw larvae, pollen, and some honey production. I can't remember if I saw capped cells, but I think so. I did not look at the lower super because there were so many bees in all of the frames.
I decided to come back on Friday to check on the sugar water consumption. When I put everything back, and backed away from the hive, I brought the empty bottles for the sugar water back up to CS's home. I did not take off my gear until I was on the back porch steps, I did not check my gloves first. As I took off my gloves I got stung on my middle L palmer knuckle. I took a benedryl immediately and put ice on the site. I have to check gloves before I remove them, especially at CS's.
CS and I think we need better gloves and veils. We talked about trying them on before buying. So much to do, and no time to get it all perfect.
When the sugar arrived husband went off to hit some golf balls, and I went to work. CS's right hand bees go through their sugar water every time. Today, it was gone from Saturday. They are bubbling up into the upper super. There are new larvae in some of the cells, and they are actively making comb on all of the foundation.
CS's other hive is slower- 2+ good frames on the bottom, queen visible, and lots of new brood. I would say that that is the same amount of frame work as last week. I am seeing uncapped larvae. They are working the upper level of brood super, but not to the same extent as CS's busier hive.
I checked the frames on the upper super of the busy hive, saw larvae, pollen, and some honey production. I can't remember if I saw capped cells, but I think so. I did not look at the lower super because there were so many bees in all of the frames.
I decided to come back on Friday to check on the sugar water consumption. When I put everything back, and backed away from the hive, I brought the empty bottles for the sugar water back up to CS's home. I did not take off my gear until I was on the back porch steps, I did not check my gloves first. As I took off my gloves I got stung on my middle L palmer knuckle. I took a benedryl immediately and put ice on the site. I have to check gloves before I remove them, especially at CS's.
CS and I think we need better gloves and veils. We talked about trying them on before buying. So much to do, and no time to get it all perfect.
29 June checking on my bees
Today, I checked both hives for brood. Last week I was worried that I was seeing dark areas instead of brood. Turns out they were probably pollen. I have elevated the hives with more blocks. Makes me feel better. The left hive had lots of pretty larvae- uncapped in a few frames. I found the queen on a lower frame toward the middle. I think I have 5-6.5 frames being worked now. For sure I put the second story on way too soon.
The right hive has 1.5 frames of visible bees and lots of honey in frames. The transplanted queen was visible and seemed to be busy. I could not see any eggs yet. I will look this weekend.
My notes on Cathy's hives- They have been much more active, and aggressive than my bees. One of her hives has lots of frames of brood, now. They have been going through sugar water and regular water, too faster than my bees. Ithink this is because they are in the sun, and there is more evaporation.
The right hive has 1.5 frames of visible bees and lots of honey in frames. The transplanted queen was visible and seemed to be busy. I could not see any eggs yet. I will look this weekend.
My notes on Cathy's hives- They have been much more active, and aggressive than my bees. One of her hives has lots of frames of brood, now. They have been going through sugar water and regular water, too faster than my bees. Ithink this is because they are in the sun, and there is more evaporation.
Bees update
The summer and beekeeping have caught up with me. Last week I noticed that my hive with the introduced queen had fewer frames of active bees than the week before, when I had been excited that they were making honey and that the frames were heavy. That, in retrospect was not a good sign. Turns out I could not find any brood, was seeing cleaning activity, and could not find the queen on Thursday, the 24th of June. I called my queen supplier, who asked me to check one more time that evening for the queen.
No go, I then spent the weekend worrying and missing the queen supplier because of other work, etc.
Yesterday, I got a new queen. this is hard work for the queen bee producer. He maintains smaller hives- 2 frame hives( 4 per 10 frame super) with entrances on all 4 sides of the supers. It took almost 2 hours to find a hive with a queen. We left a sea of work for him to consolidate hives. At one point he mentioned that he had not checked the hive we were looking at for the last 2 weeks. He has, I think 64 hives in one bee yard, then a bunch - maybe 10 on a small hillside. The queen we found was unmarked. He has a portable hood for collecting her- a kind of exoskeleton that fits in a net muff thing, then he marks the queen's abdomen and puts her in a queen cage for transport. This was somewhat of a panic on a 90 degree plus day. The queen candy he uses to plug the cage up was already melting, before the queen was ensconced. The instructions for introducing her went from over night in the cage- like last time, to 2-3 hours in the cage, to one hour max, and use AC on the way home. He was concerned about the powdered sugar all over the queen. He wanted the bees to get to her asap to clean her up- worrying that the candy/sugar could damage her somehow. I haven't even had time to google the issue yet.
Anyway, I got her home by 1:30, then into the hive. She was out by 2:40, and disappeared into the frames.
No go, I then spent the weekend worrying and missing the queen supplier because of other work, etc.
Yesterday, I got a new queen. this is hard work for the queen bee producer. He maintains smaller hives- 2 frame hives( 4 per 10 frame super) with entrances on all 4 sides of the supers. It took almost 2 hours to find a hive with a queen. We left a sea of work for him to consolidate hives. At one point he mentioned that he had not checked the hive we were looking at for the last 2 weeks. He has, I think 64 hives in one bee yard, then a bunch - maybe 10 on a small hillside. The queen we found was unmarked. He has a portable hood for collecting her- a kind of exoskeleton that fits in a net muff thing, then he marks the queen's abdomen and puts her in a queen cage for transport. This was somewhat of a panic on a 90 degree plus day. The queen candy he uses to plug the cage up was already melting, before the queen was ensconced. The instructions for introducing her went from over night in the cage- like last time, to 2-3 hours in the cage, to one hour max, and use AC on the way home. He was concerned about the powdered sugar all over the queen. He wanted the bees to get to her asap to clean her up- worrying that the candy/sugar could damage her somehow. I haven't even had time to google the issue yet.
Anyway, I got her home by 1:30, then into the hive. She was out by 2:40, and disappeared into the frames.
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