I checked the hives yesterday and the 'A' hive had drawn foundation on almost all the frames so I thought it time to add another box of frames with foundation ( I have no drawn frames as yet). The 'B' is increasing and all but the outermost frames have some drawn foundation, so no hurry for this hive.
Today I added a box to each hive. In the 'A' (strong) hive I moved up two frames from the outside of the bottom box that were partially filled with honey. These were placed in the centre of the new top box and replaced by frames of foundation.
The bees are wanting to pack away the honey and may have been running low of room for storage and consequently constrict the laying of the queen.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Day 21 - bee hive inspection
Our talented daughter is back from a year OS and used her
considerable photographics aesthetics to produce a visual record of a
visit to our new hives. This is the first time she has experienced them
'up close'.
We were checking the state of the 'B' hive, the 'weaker' nuc and the one with the nearly drowned queen. Not a huge amount of 'growth' in the hive size but it was looking and smelling nice. Still early days.
Found the queen, very active. Lots of larva, but had trouble sighting eggs. I'm almost certain there are eggs but cloudy day, lack of eyeglasses and general inexperince account for lack of sighting them.
We didn't open the 'A' hive just left them to it and will check both next time.
We were checking the state of the 'B' hive, the 'weaker' nuc and the one with the nearly drowned queen. Not a huge amount of 'growth' in the hive size but it was looking and smelling nice. Still early days.
Found the queen, very active. Lots of larva, but had trouble sighting eggs. I'm almost certain there are eggs but cloudy day, lack of eyeglasses and general inexperince account for lack of sighting them.
We didn't open the 'A' hive just left them to it and will check both next time.
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| First Time |
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| Bee smoker |
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| Queen bee |
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| Inspecting a bee hive |
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| A frame of bees |
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Day 14
Things look a bit better today. I feel very relieved.
Had a look for the queen and found her looking much healthier than she did yesterday.
She was moving well. We will keep an eye out for eggs, didn't see any during our quick inspection.
Had a look for the queen and found her looking much healthier than she did yesterday.
She was moving well. We will keep an eye out for eggs, didn't see any during our quick inspection.
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| Queen on her capped brood cells |
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Day 13
A small disaster today...
We went to clear away the burr cells from the top of the frames and put a propolis mat on top of the frames to prevent the bees from building new cells. The other task was to remove the frame feeders as they are not really needed now.
Started with the weaker hive, not much change over the last week, couldn't find the queen. Cleared the wax and removed the feeder, noticed it had quite a few drowned bees in it so decided to take it away and empty it to count them. When I did this I noticed one bee trying to crawl away. On closer inspection she looked very much like the queen... a small panic set in, it was the queen and not looking too hot either.
Carefully collected her and took her back to the hive where she crawled down the frames. I will have a look in a day or two to see how she is getting on.
The other hive is much stronger and more active. Found the queen,
This hive is looking good, plenty of brood and stores.
We went to clear away the burr cells from the top of the frames and put a propolis mat on top of the frames to prevent the bees from building new cells. The other task was to remove the frame feeders as they are not really needed now.
Started with the weaker hive, not much change over the last week, couldn't find the queen. Cleared the wax and removed the feeder, noticed it had quite a few drowned bees in it so decided to take it away and empty it to count them. When I did this I noticed one bee trying to crawl away. On closer inspection she looked very much like the queen... a small panic set in, it was the queen and not looking too hot either.
Carefully collected her and took her back to the hive where she crawled down the frames. I will have a look in a day or two to see how she is getting on.
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| Frame from smaller nuc |
The other hive is much stronger and more active. Found the queen,
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| Queen bee |
This hive is looking good, plenty of brood and stores.
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| Frame of bee brood |
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Day 7
Had a quick look through each frame of both hives.
Alpha hive is more advanced with bees drawing foundation of both adjoining new frames, beta hive has no drawn foundation yet and they are working the original frames. Sugar syrup was gone from A but quite a bit left in B.
Hive A was the stronger and more active from the time they arrived, it will be interesting to see if it catches up.
Capped brood and larva were found in both, only saw the queen in A.
Alpha hive is more advanced with bees drawing foundation of both adjoining new frames, beta hive has no drawn foundation yet and they are working the original frames. Sugar syrup was gone from A but quite a bit left in B.
Hive A was the stronger and more active from the time they arrived, it will be interesting to see if it catches up.
Capped brood and larva were found in both, only saw the queen in A.
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Day 2
I am a little surprised at how excited I am about the bees. Who would have thought they could be this much fun.
Well, I managed to wait until it warmed up a bit before visiting them (it had been quite a cool night) and was happy to find activity. Mostly they appeared to be making short flights just in front of the hive, reorienting themselves to their new home I suspect. A very few were making longer flights.
After lunch more bees were making longer flights and the activity level had increased markedly.
I closed up the Hive Doctor base to its winter setting so that the opening is much smaller. When they have nearly filled the box I will open it up to the full summer setting.
Well, I managed to wait until it warmed up a bit before visiting them (it had been quite a cool night) and was happy to find activity. Mostly they appeared to be making short flights just in front of the hive, reorienting themselves to their new home I suspect. A very few were making longer flights.
After lunch more bees were making longer flights and the activity level had increased markedly.
I closed up the Hive Doctor base to its winter setting so that the opening is much smaller. When they have nearly filled the box I will open it up to the full summer setting.
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