Swarm in Canton - a missed opportunity!

I got a call yesterday that there was a swarm at an industrial complex East of downtown Canton. The lady who called was very nice, and said that the bees were on a wall. She called about 1pm. Unfortunately I had a 2pm meeting I couldn't get out of, so I told her I would be down there between 3 and 4 to get the bees. Here's a pic she sent me of the swarm:

That's a big swarm! Unfortunately, she texted me about 45 minutes later to let me know the bees had left. I would have missed them even if I had left right when she called. Oh well... better luck next time.

East Hive Inspection

Yesterday I was over at my dad's for some dinner and to inspect the East hive, started from a swarm in June. As an added bonus, we had a special guest! A friend of mine from work's wife is thinking about keeping bees, so I had her come over and get her hands in a hive. I think she enjoyed herself enough to maybe give it a try next spring.

The bees are only occupying about six of ten frames. I sure would like to see them build up more than this, but we've been under a drought for almost two months now, so that might have something to do with it.

Our friend Amy was very curious, and was able to spot the eggs right away. The queen is definitely healthy and laying, but she might not have a lot of room to lay with not a lot of wax drawn on the extra frames. Hopefully with the rain we've been getting now, some stuff will start blooming and they can make more wax. My dad doesn't want to feed them anymore because he's already dumped about $50 of sugar water in there. I can't say I blame him.

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...

Swarm Trap occupied!

I got an email from my dad on May 30th with a picture of one of my swarm traps; the one at his cousin's house.

This trap had been in the tree for a couple weeks. It was only about 6 feet off the ground and is baited with a piece of old comb from a house cutout. 

Over the next couple days, I had my dad go over and take a look at the trap and see if it was actually occupied, or if he was seeing scout activity. A couple days later he confirmed they were bringing in pollen, so that confirmed there were bees living inside. How exciting!

On Monday, June 4th at dusk, I went over to Salem, screwed a board over the entrance hole, put the trap in the back of the Jeep and went back to Canton with it. I set the trap up on the hive stand where the hive would be permanently located and took the cover off the entrance. 

On Wednesday the 6th, I moved them into their hive. The bees occupied about three frames and had already drawn a nice amount of comb. There were only two or three dead bees in the bottom of the box, so the move from Salem to Canton must not have been too jarring.

This is how it looked inside the swarm trap

 They had built up two frames about like this.

The stragglers made it inside once the frames were transferred.

One of my favorite bee pics to date - workers fanning Nasonov pheromone inviting their sisters inside.

South Swarm Hive Update

Things are still very strange with the South hive from the swarm. At least two of the queen cells are open but there are no eggs or larvae. The bees have plenty of room but they have not moved any of the honey out and into the top box yet. Only a couple of the frames in the upper box have started to be drawn.

I did not see any queens in the hive, but I'm not very good at finding the queen yet. They have constructed one very large queen cell toward the bottom of one of the frames.

Here are some pics:

Capped honey and some open honey cells

An open queen cell

Another open queen cell. Is that a queen inside? I didn't mess with her.

A huge queen cell toward the bottom of the frame

One crazy frame

South apiary update

Here at the house in Canton, both hives have interesting stuff to look at.

First, the hive started from a package on April 17th has finally built up to a point where it needs its second box. All the frames are at least partially drawn, and it has gone through one brood cycle, as there were lots of open cells where there was previously capped brood, and eggs in their places. The one foundationless frame I left in there is getting drawn out beautifully! I think I am definitely doing some of the honey frames up above foundationless.

Here is a frame from the center of the colony. This frame has gone through one brood cycle, and there are new eggs in all the cells. The comb hanging off the bottom of the frame is because when I built the screened bottom board, I put the screen on the bottom, violating bee space by at least 3/4" Oh well... it's not harming anything here. In fact, the queen has laid some beautiful brood here.

There are new eggs in these cells.

Nice, solid brood pattern

The foundationless frame. Look how beautiful this is! And the queen seems to like it too...

The hive started from the swarm at Essie's is building up its home quickly, but either something has happened to the queen, or the girls aren't satisfied with her laying. They really are comb building machines though! They have drawn out almost all the frames in the hive and have filled them with nectar. I have to build another hive box to add to the top so when the new queen emerges, she will not be immediately honeybound.

This is a beautifully drawn frame of honey and pollen and two queen cells.

More queen cells on this one...

...and this one.

Swarm Trap Worked!

I stopped at Essie's after work on Friday to check on the swarm trap. Much to my amazement, as I pulled in, there was a swarm converging on it! I took a crappy video with Essie's camera:

Pretty awesome! I have never been around that many bees at a time. The roar of them was crazy, and it was so cool to be able to walk into the swarm and have them flying around me.

The plan was to give them a couple days to get established, and pick them up on Monday or Tuesday. When I talked to Essie on Saturday afternoon, though, she said there are "some bees" still clustered on the outside. That's odd... So the plan changed - I would go over to Essie's Saturday night, shake the clustering bees into a bucket, bring the trap and the extra bees home and put them in a hive. Easy peasy!

Well... not so easy. When I got to Essie's a found this:

That's a whole lot of bees! I climbed the ladder, brought down the trap and tried to shake the bees into a trashcan. When I tried, though, I found that they had started to build comb on the outside of the box! So I jammed the box down into the can, wrapped a sheet around it with a bungee cord, and put it in the car. I drove it home, parked the car with the windows cracked, and went to bed.

In the morning, I took a look at the car and saw bees flying in and out. Apparently there was a hole in the bottom of the trashcan and they got out! I put my suit on and drive the car to the back, by the beehives. A beekeeper friend with lots of swarm experience came over to help. He sprayed the inside of the can with sugar water, gave it a good bump, and most of the bees fell into the can. He then dumped this can into the new hive. We did this a couple more times with the can, the swarm trap and the sheet. Quickly, the bees in my car came out and went onto the hive.

Now the swarm from Essie's is snug at home in their new, natural wood colored hive, and I have my "final" number of hives at my home, the South apiary.

The new East apiary

Tuesday on my way home from work, I got a call from Scott, a fellow beekeeper in my neighborhood. Scott's wife noticed that one of Scott's three hives was swarming and gave him a call. He retrieved the swarm and contained it in some equipment he had on hand: a deep box with six frames, sitting on an inverted telescoping cover, and a bee escape turned upside down on top so bees could come in but not go out. Since Scott is not looking to expand his apiaries this year, he very nicely gave me a call and said the bees were mine if I wanted them, or he would give them to someone else. Free bees? Sign me up!

Next came the panic over logistics. The bees were trapped in their box, with bellies full of honey and probably anxious to start building comb. I had to get them moved to a good location and get the equipment straightened out that night. So where should I put them?

There's only one hive at the "North" apiary in Akron at Essie's house, but we're hoping to get a swarm from her bee tree, so I didn't want to put a new hive at her place. The South apiary, at my house, was too close to Scott's house. Dad has been wanting a hive on his property for a few weeks now. Ever since I got my bees, he's been fascinated with the little critters, with swarm traps, with stories I tell him about bee behavior.  I gave him a call. He agreed to host the hive at his house, under the agreement that I would manage them, since he "[doesn't] know what to do with those things." He said he would prepare a site with a nice level base.

Next was the logistical panic. Unfortunately, Tuesday was me bee club meeting and Corissa's night for her moms' meeting, and she was intent on leaving the kids with me if I wasn't going to Bee Meeting. So I needed to figure out a way to pick up the bees and take them to Salem, with kids in tow. I decided to attach the hitch mounted platform carrier to the Jeep, strap the bees to that, have the kids inside, and go for the drive. I had a plan. Good.

Next was the equipment panic. Scott had the bees in a deep, with six frames, on an inverted top cover, with a bee escape on top. The bees could not get out of the hive in that condition. I had a solid bottom board on hand that I had made before I decided to build screened bottom boards instead. I did not have an inner cover or a top cover. I went home and masterfully constructed an inner cover and top cover from scraps in the garage. I am getting damn good at building beekeeping equipment. Now I was ready to go get my bees!

I went to Scott's house and found the bees right where he said they would be. With curious neighbors looking on, I strapped the box to the car and drove off. Forty-five minutes later in Salem, I found the beautiful stone platform Dad had built for the bees. I suited up, lit the smoker and moved the bees to their new home. I opened up the box and found six frames and an empty space with a tree branch in it. I pulled out the tree branch and put the box on the bottom board. I added two frames of honey that Scott left for me, and two empty frames. I put on the inner and telescoping covers I had constructed, and watched the bees march into the entrance. It was an awesome sight. I forgot to bring my camera (drat!) but my mom took a few pictures with hers:

Smoking the bees, who were slightly annoyed about being bounced around on the 45 minute car ride.

Making room for the extra frames

Adding frames for a 10-frame hive. I had one undrawn plastic foundation frame and one foundationless frame with a starter strip. 

All hived up, with the original hive "bottom" and the bee escape leaned against the stand so the stragglers would go inside. By noon on Wednesday, they had all gone in.