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Saturday visit to Jim and Cindy’s Apiary

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So, Friday evening around 6:30 or so, as I was cooking a fine Indian dish to take over to Rabbit Hash, I get a call from beekeeping friend Jim. He told me him and Cindy were going to go through the hives on Sat. wanted to know if I was interested in helping. Of course. It was supposed to be a great day and the timing was just right.

Glad I made it over because it was a great opportunity to see everything from newly caught swarms to some nice established hives. There was also a significantly loud/active hive. It was definitely the most diverse bee day I’ve seen yet. As you will see in the pictures, we saw everything from eggs, to larva in all stages. It was particularly significant for me to get a good look at some eggs as it showed me just what I needed to find in my own hives.

We also saw some queen cells, still capped, and one emerged. You can see these in the pics too. We marked a number of queens and even established a new hive with one of several swarms they were queuing up for in future integration. Their logging practices are diligent and sharp and they go into each hive with a lot of information from the last check. Really, I can’t see how you could do it any other way.

We scraped open some drone cells to check for mites. Clean, for now. The hives were really thriving and their bees were calm and nice 🙂

I quickly scurried home anxious to get in to my own hives as it was time to begin seeing eggs. Sure enough, eggs and all stages of larva in both hives… including capped larva. I didn’t see either queen today and I went through the frames twice! I am just destined to not find this mystery queen, but I am guessing they are both there since all the other signs are. One thing I did note was that I have 4 queen cell cups starting in the weaker hive. I left them alone for now. All for now.

The day after I installed my bees, they tried to leave me

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Sniff! So on Tuesday, day after my smooth install, I get a call at work from my wife saying all the bees are swarming up in the tree above the hives. I rush home and called Jim Orem from the bee club and he was gracious enough to meet me at home. Here’s where we depart from the text books.

When I installed the two hives the day before, I noted that neither queen was marked. This is significant. I thought that was odd, but went ahead and installed them. First thing I did when I got home and before dealing with the ball of bees in the trees, was check both hives and sure enough, the bees were out of both of them. One queen was already released from her cage (presumably up in the tree now.) The other queen was still in her cage in the abandoned hive.

The cluster in the tree looked HUGE. It looked almost like MORE bees than most packages combined (but, I can’t be certain) So Jim and I got them down and shook them into a single hive over a sheet. He believed they didn’t like the plasticell foundation. We added in two drawn frames of his into each of my hives to maybe help retain them. Also dropped a few drops of lemongrass oil.

Here’s the weird part. Jim saw a MARKED queen walk into the entrance and said he was sure. She was marked with a faint white dot. When most of the bees were in the hive, we noted a ball of bees still on the sheet. We poked through them… and sure enough the other, released unmarked queen. So, there were two queens up in the tree of this ball of bees…. with another one still in her cage! So, I picked up a third queen.

My theory… my bees maybe attracted a swarm? But why would my two hives abandon… and why would there be two queens in this ball of bees up above?

Jim’s theory… he thinks maybe a marked queen was somehow shook in with one of the packages loose with the other bees. So, at the end of Tues. I had two hives, one with all the bees, a queen running loose… and another queen still in her cage. The other hive had a queen in her cage and a handful of bees around her.

Move to Wednesday. The bees went all day with no problem. They did start drawing out comb in the main hive. The other hive just sat there with her queen in a cage and a few bees to feed and keep her warm. When I got home from work, I performed part two of the plan.

In the strong hove, the queen that was released took dominance and the bees abandoned the one in the cage. I removed the dead queen in her cage. I removed two frames of slightly drawn comb with bees on it and placed it in the week hive next to the queen still in her cage. I made sure the released queen was not on these frames so she wouldn’t be moved into the other hive.

Then, I swapped the two hives so that the foragers out in the field would come back into the weak hive. This is some pretty dramatic changes for two new hives, but so far, as of this morning (Thursday) things look ok. The idea is to get through the day without anyone leaving. If that all goes OK, I think we may be back to two reasonably strong hives. Will update soon.

Hived two packages of bees in 10 minutes today!

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The post office called me at 6am and said my bees were in. After a rainy, gloomy weekend, I didn’t expect to have them in by now.

I ran down and picked them up and then hit up the weather channel to see what the day was looking like. “Partly cloudy!” Sweet! The sun was blazing down into the yard by 7:15 and I decided to get these babies hived before heading to work.

It worked out perfectly. We will have rain tonight and that would keep them in there a little longer to get used to their new quarters. Everything went off without a hitch and the bees were pretty calm after 5 days of being caged up and shipped. They were dying to get out.

I’m excited and can’t wait to get back in to be sure the queen was accepted and is laying.

More later.

 

Spring 2010 Tri-State beekeepers Package Installation

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Woke up Saturday morning after sleeping on the floor of the Hashienda in Rabbit Hash, KY. Socialized a bit, then loaded up the canoe and headed back across the Ohio River. Rising Sun, IN is just across the river from Rabbit Hash.

Grabbed some breakfast with the guys at Jacks and then headed to the tri-state beekeepers spring clinic. They were doing a package bee installation in Moores Hill, IN. They hosted a great event and I promised them these pictures back for their use.

An energetic and diverse bunch, I see a new face each time. It seems bees are the ones attracting us. I should be pretty prepared for my April 27th installations.

I headed back home and sunk another post to finish off the grape-vine trellising behind the house. Got pretty much done Saturday and will finish off everything Sunday afternoon.

Installed 20 packages today

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Spring has sprung and my own bees will arrive at the end of April (a little late). But, I thought I’d get a good primer in by assisting Doug Nelson of Nelsons Apiary the day after Easter manage some of his bees. I met Doug at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY and there he manages about 6-8 hives behind the lake. Totally cool. Doug also conducts bee workshops there and is arranging for a May 1 event at the Creation Museum for families to come and see live bees in action. I believe he is setting up an observation hive to boot. I took a bunch of pictures and video and promised to stage the pics for him.

I had a great experience and now I’m anxious for my bees to get here.

After we installed 4 packages at the museum, we cruised over to an outyard in Dillsboro, IN to check about 6 more hives. After all the excitement, I gained motivation and stopped at Lowes on the way home to grab all the materials to build my new hive stands when I got home. I actually got them in and done before it started raining. So, it was a good weekend and I accomplished way more than I expected I would.

I look forward to providing a number of summer updates with plenty of commentary on the beekeeping endeavors. Until next time, do something great.

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Did you know?

The queen bee doesn’t decide what happens in a colony. The workers do. They adjust her feeding to make her do what the majority says. The queen can’t feed herself.