11-26-2011 Hive Check

Down in Mathews to visit family and couldn't resist checking in on the bees since the weather was so warm.  Lots of activity at the hive for late November and it looks like everything is ok.  I noticed something that looked like a large beetle (or maybe a roach) in the hive feeder.  There were also several bees there as well.  The inner cover was pretty dry and mold free.  Dad had used Popsicle sticks under the telescoping cover to shim it up just a bit after noticing lots of water and some mold the last time he checked it a few weeks ago.  I meant to put some feed in the troughs, but decided against it as the few frames I lifted up were pretty heavy.  I only took out one outside frame in the top box.  The bees had drawn it out much more than I remember and it was getting capped at the top and had lots of uncapped liquid nectar at the bottom.  I'm not sure where the bees were getting this stuff... it could be the feed that was in the trough previously.  A quick peek down inside the other frames showed a fair amount of activity, but the bees seemed to be moving much slower than back in the summer...  Also, they were very tame.  Below are a couple pictures.

 Frame full of nectar starting to get capped

 Close up of previous picture

 Back side of the same frame

  Close up of previous picture

Forager loaded with pollen 

10-30-2011 Hive check

No time for pictures today.  Dad drove me down to check the hive and plant mom's birthday present (a 3-in-1 apple tree).  The goal for today was to check the hive, add a mouse screen (which ended up being just the entrance reducer), and add some sugar syrup feed.   After opening the hive, two things were immediately apparent.  First, the top box was absolutely full of honey (and stored sugar syrup).  Just about every frame was very full and lots of the frames were capped off.  The second obvious thing is that eggs, larvae, and brood were almost non-existent.  I spent some time looking for the queen, but since there are still LOTS of bees in the hive, I had too much trouble locating her.  Hopefully she's in there and just shutting down egg laying for the winter.  I went through both boxes so I had a chance to lift the top box and it was very heavy.  I looked through the bottom box and saw several drones, but didn't locate the queen.  There were only a couple cells that looked like larvae and maybe one or two that looked like capped brood.  There was quite a bit of honey in the bottom box.... So this might just be the bees getting ready for the cold months ahead.  Actually last night got down close to freezing, so the bees may have better intuition about weather than I gave them credit for.  I'll probably be revisiting the hive to remove the feeder and install some ventilation hardware next time.

10-9-2011 Checking the hive for honey storage

Dad drove us down to Mathews today and we were able to check out the hive.  It was really busy today.  It looks like the bees are really starting to pack away the honey as several of the frames are getting very heavy.  They're also starting to cap a bunch of the honey cells too.  We were able to find the queen and even caught her on video tape.  Unfortunately we had a mishap as the queen flew off the frame.  Video is below.  Also,  for the very first time since starting beekeeping I got stung.  Not bad at all and smoking the sting worked like a charm as I was able to go right back and close up the hive.

9-10-2011

The hive check today was really nice.  The bees have been really busy.  The goal today was to check the top deep to see what has been drawn out.  There are 8 frames that have some level of comb drawn out and 6 frames that are almost completely drawn out.  Note that two of the frames came from the bottom deep.... so the bees don't get credit for that, but still, 4 full frames in just a couple weeks is really impressive.  Lots of brood were in various stages and we witnessed the queen doing her job.  We also added 1.5 gallons of sugar water to keep things moving along.

 Both boxes were buzzing with activity.  Made sure to use smoke, gloves, and veil since Mom got stung trying to add sugar water.  The hive top feeder was totally empty (as expected).

 Even the frames near the edgde (i.e. frames 1 & 2) had some comb drawn out.

 The 3rd and 4th frames in were pretty much completely drawn out and full of brood.  Actually, the concern now is that there isn't as much stored honey as I'd like to see.

 Lots of activity on this frame.

 One of the middle frames... apparently lots of brood just recently hatched.

 Lots of capped brood getting ready to hatch.

Her majesty (right of center near the bottom of this picture).  Nice to see her doing such a great job.  Lots of nice white newly drawn comb.

8-26-11 Hive Check and foundation height increase

With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the east coast, it looked like we should try to make sure the bees didn't get flooded out.  So, we went down to do some work at Beachland and get the bees battened down.  We added several cinder blocks under the hive bottom to raise it up from about 6 inches more than it was before.  We also added a couple cinder blocks on top of the hive to keep it from blowing away.  We added more sugar syrup in the new feeder.  They went through almost a gallon in one day!  The good news is that they are drawing out comb in the top deep hive body like crazy.  Almost two new frames of drawn comb in a week.  They're really going to town.  Didn't have time for pictures this go around.

8-20-11 Hive Check

The bees had done a fair amount of work on both the 2nd and 8th frames... So instead of taking a chance on a swarm, I thought it made sense to go ahead and add the second set of 10 frames.  This seemed like a good time to add the new hive top feeder from Brushy Mountain.  It will hold LOTS more sugar syrup and should be easier to work with than the other feeders.  Also, I completely removed the entrance reducer.  Arguably, I should have done this much sooner.  Below are some pix of the new feeder, etc.

8-5-2011 Another check of the hive

The new feeder is working ok... but still leaves something to be desired.  The idea with this one was to have more sugar water available and the trough would allow more bees to get access to the food.  But, the feeder trough fills up and tends to spill out when moved.  I'll probably get one of the box type hive top feeders.  Anyway, the hive is still doing well.  The bees are almost done with one side of the frame #2 and just starting a little corner of frame #8.  Frames #1 and 10 are still untouched.  The books say to add the second deep hive body after the 7th frame is fully drawn out. Will have to keep a close eye on this.

See the   VIDEO

Note that the queen was on the third frame.  Ironically, she's crawling across the frame laying eggs just as I'm saying "I didn't check this frame".

7-29-2011

Went down to Beachland late in the day today.  The bees had been through one full feeder by Wednesday and apparently it only took them two days to suck down another feeder by today as there was NO sugar water in the feeder.  Amazing how quickly the bees are going through the sugar water.  Anyway, some additional comb has been drawn out.  There are still two frames on the ends that have not been drawn out.  The second frames in from the end are in the process of being drawn out.  But things are coming along nicely and lots of bees are hatching every day.  Looks like we might need the second deep frames soon afterall. We replaced the sugar water (with honey B healthy) in the feeder and even found the queen again too! Caught a few good pictures (below).

7-24-2011 Checking the hive for progress

Mom and dad were in Richmond and were headed down to Mathews today... so I hitched a ride.  It had been a full two weeks since the last hive check and I wanted to make sure they weren't getting too crowded and threatening to swarm.  It looks like they did a pretty good job drawing out a sixth comb and were starting (just a bit) on a seventh.  The first five frames were all just about completely drawn out.  Also, I wanted to flip the entrance reducer around to allow more of an entranceway for the bees to get in and out... since they had only the smallest opening for the first few months.  The other thing I wanted to do was add a more substantial feeder and try to use some HoneyBHealthy in the sugar syrup.  I'll continue to feed them through the fall since they're still getting their numbers up.

Bottom line:  We saw the queen first hand (didn't get any good close up photos of her this time though) and she appears to be doing a fine job of laying eggs.  There were quite a few bees in the hive and quite a few more on the way.   It's likely that they will need a new deep hive body with more frames to fill out within the next two or three weeks.  So far.... so good.


                                Lots of capped brood getting ready to hatch.

                                  Growing larva in the center of this frame.

                                   It seems like a spotty laying pattern, but
                                   I think they may just be hatching intermittently.

                             Some open cells from brood that's recently hatched.

                                Fairly recently drawn out comb. Some brood

                             Very new drawn comb with very small eggs.  Nice Job!

7-9-2011 Quick Check of the hive

Stopped by the local honey stand in downtown Mathews Va today and had a nice chat with Billy of Billy's Bees.  He mentioned that at this late date in the season it is unlikely the bees will be drawing out much more comb.  Unfortunately, since the supersedure, I probably have as much drawn comb as I'm going to get.


When I got to the hive and used some smoke I thought things would go normally.  However, when I pried the telescopic and top cover off  the hive, I noticed the bees buzzing quite loud.  They started flying around me unlike any time in the past.  I am thinking some of the brand new bees are the product of some cranky drones.   At any rate, the outer four frames still appeared to be untouched.  But I was nervous enough that I didn't do an inspection of the inner (brood) frames.  I'll probably have to come back to this sometime soon.  Needless to say, I'll be bringing long pants and a long sleeve shirt next time.  There did appear to be quite a few bees working the hive.. so hopefully things are on the upswing.

Saturday 7-2-2011 Found the Queen!!

After a few weeks of no visits to the hive.... and worrying about whether the hive had successfully superseded their queen, we were rewarded today with a direct witnessing of the queen doing her job.   The picture above shows a nice shot of the queen in the center of the frame.  It was fun watching her lay a few eggs.  Also,  there were quite a few larvae in the cells and we should have a nice boost in the population in the next few weeks.  It's a good feeling knowing the colony is just delayed rather than headed for disaster.

I noticed there were still only about two frames mostly drawn out.  Two more were about half drawn out and the rest in the deep hive body were almost completely untouched.  I was hoping things would have progressed well beyond this point by now, but at least the hive appears to be on the right track.

On another note, I opted not to use the veil which turned out to be ok since the colony is still pretty small.... but I need to get out of this practice as things will probably heat up once things get into full swing.  Although my daughter really liked the beekeeper garb.  She's the one sporting the veil and gloves in the picture above.  Maybe we have another budding beekeeper on our hands ;)

6-18-2011 Hive Check

The supersedure cell looked like it hatched.  But, I didn't see too many eggs.  I'm hoping the new queen is still in the process of mating (or whatever happens for the new queen to get started).  At any rate, there are only 2 frames that are fairly full and another two that are partially full of nectar pollen and capped brood.