June 24, Summer!

I'm enjoying observing the bees in my yard at the bird bath, in the garden and among the flowers.

June 18 Going Somewhere?

I've read a lot about honeybees, but my hands on experience with them is a meager six weeks.  When I walked out to visualize the hives, which I probably do at least 2 times a day (maybe obsessive), I laid eyes on a frightening sight. I normally see bees happily going in and out carrying pollen, but this stormy mid morning it seemed all the bees from one of the starts (the original deep box) were congregating on the front of the box. Solid across and at least an inch thick.  Not good. Fearing they were going to swarm, I needed to find more frames and add a super.  The box on top in the picture only had syrup in it for them.  Of course, I was out of frames so I hightailed it down the highway at speeds of 80 mph to a fellow beekeeper to get some frames.  Once frames were in my possession, I returned home at the same rate of speed and promptly placed a super on that hive. I was also traveling quickly to try and make it home before the next downpour and lightening strike!  Amidst thundering clouds above, I stood and watched the front of the box. The bees began entering the hive and I breathed a sigh of relief. I did not think this hive would swarm as they still had at least four frames of foundation that were not completely drawn out. I wouldn't think they were congested. Perhaps with the new queen (remember I found eggs in there 3 days prior) starting to lay, the frames she had to work with were full of honey and they felt there wasn't enough room because the other frames hadn't been draw out yet?  I really don't know. I do know however that this start was the stronger one because it is the one that has been left on the original location.  All returning bees or field force, who had been missing in action when we changed things up, returned to this box.  Putting the super on seemed to do the trick as one hour later, there were no bees clinging to the outside of the box and haven't been now for the last two days.  They are now once again happily going to and fro, busy as bees can be.   Lesson learned? Keep extra foundation and equipment around and ready to be used at a moments notice.

Yikes.  This is after some of the bees had already begun reentering the hive.

June 17, Successful?

Tonight I had time to take a peek into the other start (the one that had it's frames notched on May 20 and was put into its own box on May 29th with a queen cell on it where it had been notched.) It had been approx. 30 days and time to check it for a laying queen. I found open larvae on 2 frames and saw the queen on a frame of honey that had open cells on the bottom. I had my camera but was so excited to find her that  I forgot to take a picture.  So both starts from the May 20th notching have laying queens in them now.  I have also been enjoying observing the bees on my perennial flowers and getting a drink from my bird bath. I'll share a few of those pictures with you.

This has become their watering hole. Better here than my neighbor's pool. Keeping fresh water in it everyday.

The catmint was a great nectar source.

Not sure what this shrub is, but the honeybees were all over it in May when it bloomed.

Hydrating and reflecting!


 

June 15 Adding Supers

Checked in on three of the hives today. The hive with the original queen is doing very well. Full frames of brood and 90% of the foundation frames drawn out. In the pictures you can see what a frame looks like before it is put in the hive and in the other picture all the work the bees have done.


This  is a frame of foundation rubbed with beeswax before giving it to the bees.

This is the frame of foundation after the bees have had it for a few weeks! Full of capped brood and honey.


Because the bees have filled almost all the frames it is time to put on a new box ( a super) with new frames for the bees to work. I used another deep box.  When placing the second box, I pulled a frame of brood/honey out of the bottom and placed it in the top box to entice the bees to come up to the top. I also replaced the frame I took with a new frame of foundation.


In checking the medium box (2nd hive), I found the many frames of capped brood also. This hive also received a super. However, because this box is an odd size medium, I placed a deep beneath it. I'm hoping to draw the queen down into the lower box and use the medium box for honey.  I took a frame of honey/pollen from the original deep box (the stronger of my two starts) and put it in the middle surrounded by empty frame of foundation. Again, to entice the bees this time to move down. While doing this I was able to check into this start that was supposed to be checked on the 17th for a laying queen. I did find eggs  on one frame of  foundation that had not yet been drawn out. I did not see the queen.  As I am new, I obviously missed her.  My only great fear is that when I removed the frame of honey/pollen from this start, I may have accidentally moved the new queen too. I checked it over multiple times for her, but know it's possible that I missed her. I did shake the bees from that frame back down into their hive so hopefully I did not move the queen. That would be hazardous as then there would be two queens in one hive and no queen in the other.  Not good.  We shall see.
 

She's Laying!

June 11, 2014
I feel like a proud Bee Grandma tonight!  Yes, I probably have lost it, but I'm enjoying myself in the process. I checked the hive tonight that had been notched on May 9.  For the last few days I've noticed those bees bringing in a lot more pollen than what they had been.  This was a good sign as baby bees or brood need to be fed.  The date for checking this hive for a laying queen was around June 7. The weather has been rainy the last few days so I waited till tonight.  I did not lay eyes on  this new queen but know she is there by the evidence she left.  Eggs and uncapped larvae! Not just a few here and there, but frames full!  OTS, On the Spot Queen Rearing (Mel Disselkoen) really works!  I am a novice beekeeper and have made a successful split with a new OTS queen. 

May 29, Another Split

From one hive on May 8 to four hives on May 29

Another beautiful West Michigan day  with temperatures in the eighties. Time to check for queen cells where we notched on May 20th.  This time only two of the frames we notched had viable queen cells. We removed one of these frames and placed it in a new deep hive body on a separate pallet. We also gave it two more frames of brood and a frame of honey. We placed five frames of new foundation in it making a total of nine frames. We reduced the entrance.
We left the other frame with queen cell in the original deep box that I had purchased from Al Haarsma.  This box also has frames of brood, a frame of honey and new foundation frames in it. Both of these boxes will have to be checked around June 17 to see if the new queen is laying.
We also checked on the hive with the old queen to see if they were drawing comb and if she was still laying. They were doing an awesome job drawing out comb, some with capped honey already. The queen is also continuing to do a great job as we saw eggs and larvae in many stages of development! We are still feeding this hive sugar syrup.

If all the new queens (three of them total) start laying, we will have four hives.

Close up of newly drawn comb full of honey, the upper is capped.

See how far the bees have drawn out the comb in just ten days!

                                                        

Look close or enlarge to see eggs (little white specks in middle of black cells) The queen is laying faster than they can draw out the comb.  Possibly royal jelly in the middle of the frame.

May 20 Spent my Wedding Anniversary with the Bees!

What a difference four days make! Yes, temps in the eighties. I'm loving it and so are the honeybees.  OK, we did plenty of work tonight with the bees, so I'll try to make it short and to the point.

-Opened top box of original hive and found the bees had already begun drawing out a good amount of comb.  We found the queen in the upper box (she may have scurried up there when we smoked the entrance)
-We took this box with the original queen in it and placed it on a new bottom board on the same pallet, but facing a different direction. I have picture of the queen, but it is a little out of focus.
-We added another frame of brood to this box
-Added two shakes of bees into this box and placed inner and outer cover
-Reduced the entrance
-Fed sugar syrup with quart above in empty hive box.

So that makes split number two!!

The bees drawing out new comb on black foundation. 

The queen, light tan solid color in about the middle of picture. Sorry it is blurry.

Now for the bottom deep of the original hive...
-Notched four frames that had the right age (36 hour larvae) this type of cell almost looks like a little white letter C, floating in cloudy fluid. It can't be older than this or the bees will not build a queen cell there.
-Scratched a frame of honey for feed
-When all said and done this box had three new frames of foundation and six of the original frames.
The hope again here is that the bees will build queen cells where notches were made.  However, this is older comb and the notching works better on newer comb. So, we will have to wait 7-10 days to see if the queen cells are built there or not.

Notching with the hive tool,  the bottom 1/3 of the cell wall to the foundation.

May 16 Will There be a Queen Cell?

It has been a very cold week for humans and honeybee alike.  I filled the quart of syrup twice this past week as the bees were taking it down very quickly. With frost and temperatures in the low thirties to fifties, they couldn't get out much. On May 16, it was sunny and in the low fifties and it had been one week since we notched the frame.   Not the warmest day, but we needed to check for the queen cell. To my amazement, there sat a beautiful queen cell in the middle of the frame where we had notched. The strength of the bees looked well too, as they welled up over the bars of the frames.  We moved this medium box with the queen cell in it to it's own bottom board on the same pallet as the original hive and replaced the covers.  We reduced the entrance and placed feed (sugar syrup) on top.  By splitting this original hive we have naturally deterred the bees from swarming. Once the new queen emerges (on day 16 of gestation) there will be a pause in the brood cycle until she is mated and laying.  This pause will also naturally decrease the Varroa mite population.  See pg 60 of Mel Disselkoen's OTS Queen Rearing.  I will not open or disturb this hive except to feed it until June 7 (Day 30 from day 1 as an egg).  I will then check to see if the new queen is laying.
In the original deep box we removed the queen excluder that was on top of it.  Too cold to find the queen, but could see the bees had already begun drawing out comb on the one frame of foundation we had placed a week ago.   We increased the entrance on the original hive and placed a second deep hive body over it with eight frames of new foundation and 1 frame of brood from the lower box. This should entice the bees to move up.  We did not place feed over this box as they have frames of honey for feed.