Hive Updates

North hive:

Booming. They filled up the first eight frames with brood in 2 weeks. Added a second box May 9. Going today for an inspection - will likely add another box today.

South Hives:

Inspected the package hive on May 3 to find no queen, some very limited brood and what looked like queen cells:

I posted this on G+ and some helpful Frenchman remarked that he thought they looked like "false" queen cells, and we in fact drone cells. I decided to leave them alone and see if they make a queen. There were still lots of bees in the hive.

Yesterday (May 16) I inspected this hive again and found that those cells had been torn down. I could not find a queen and did not see eggs or larvae. It's possible there's a queen in there who has not started laying yet, but I decided to add two frames of mixed brood to this hive anyway to prop up the numbers and give them some eggs/young larvae to work with if they want to make a new queen.

The Survivor hive is coming along nicely. It has about 10 full frames of brood as of yesterday, which is 7 full frames more than it had on May 2. Third box has 7/10 frames full of brood but I don't know if there are bees in the bottom box at all. Next time I inspect I'll likely add another box and let the honey production begin!

Plans for today are to inspect the North hive again and assess the possibility of doing a split from it. Queen cells will be available June 1 from the club's queen rearing project. 

Ohio Queen hive moved to full sized box

The Ohio Queen Initiative queen hive was previously in a 3-story, 6-frame medium nuc setup. I wanted to get it into a more standard setup with room for growth. I cleaned out one of the deadout colonies and that will now be the home for this beautiful queen!

Tearing down the hive gave me an opportunity to see how this colony is doing overall. There aren't a ton of bees in there - probably four frames worth - but the queen is laying and it looks like a decent pattern:

All of the capped honey cells that have been emptied out are now filled with brood or eggs at some stage. The laying pattern is very solid. Here's a closer look:

I left some honey frames in the hive but still put the jar of sugar water with Fumigillin-B on top of the hive. Hopefully they build up quickly and grow into a good production colony!

Hive status and update

Today it was sunny and 55 degrees when I got home from work. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw bees all over the crocuses in the front yard. Back at the bees, my one remaining hive, the one started with the Ohio Queen Initiative queen last Summer, was very active. Bees were bringing in bright orange crocus pollen. I opened the top and put in a Mega-Bee feed patty. I lifted up the top box quickly to steal a glimpse of the cluster. The top of the cluster looks to be covering three frames. If they are covering the rest of three frames, I'll be thrilled! Next week has some even warmer weather coming, so maybe then I'll give them a better look.

South Hive Inspection 08-04-2012

Things are looking good at home in Canton. Here's a rundown:

Hive 1 (package) - in upper (3rd) Medium, 6 frames drawn: 4 brood and 2 mostly honey.
Hive 2 (swarm) - in 2nd Medium, all frames drawn: about half and half. Added third box of foundationless frames and new ventilated inner cover.
Nuc - The OQI nuc is looking great, with six medium frames (all) drawn down in the bottom and starting on two in the top box. Hopefully these will get drawn out with the fall flow, which should be starting soon.

We have been getting rain over the last week and things seem to be blooming. I saw some goldenrod in our neighborhood the other day.

Still a good solid pattern in the nuc box

Another frame from the nuc, with most of these emerged

One of the foundationless frames in the package bee hive, just getting started

A foundationless frame from box 2 in the package hive. This is the outside frame in box 2.

South apiary inspection

96 degrees and sunny

Things are good these days in the South apiary despite the dearth. The package hive started in April still has 16 frames drawn in two boxes. The third box has about two frames drawn. Not much progress there.

The swarm hive is looking good, with two boxes fully drawn. I have to build a box and frames to add to it.

The Ohio Queen Project nuc has eggs laid in a very nice pattern. I guess the queen took her time mating. Maybe the heat.

The Dearth is here

Inspected South hives today. The package hive looks exactly like it did a week ago - second box has sever frames drawn and full of brood. Very little honey. They have not touched the third Medium I gave them last week. I know last week when I inspected I saw a couple frames of honey, but it looks now like they have consumed it. I think that means the summer dearth is here so I mixed up some sugar water for them and put it on last night.

The swarm hive from Essie's has drawn out six of the ten frames and will probably have to get another box next week, especially if I start feeding it. I saw eggs and brood in the top box of that hive, so the queen that they raised seems to be working effectively.

I did a split on June 21st from Essie's hive and added an open queen cell from the Ohio Queen Program. It is supposed to emerge sometime next week. I opened up that 6-frame medium nuc box to see if the bees had started drawing out the comb on the two empty frames. They hadn't. I would put a jar feeder on top of this hive but the feeder hole is right over where I stuck the queen cup between the frames. I really don't want to drown the queen cell in sugar water! I'll figure something out...