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. 

6-10-2011 Supersedure Cells

Went back yesterday to check on the bees and found some supersedure cells.  The good news was that there was capped brood and larva.  The bad news (maybe not all bad) was that there were at least 3 or 4 peanut shaped cells near the top of the frame.  The books tell me to buy a new queen, but I think I'm just going to let the bees replace the queen themselves.  My only concern at this point is that they might decide to swarm.

Checking for Queen release 6-3-2011

Went looking to make sure the queen was released.  Found the cage empty, but couldn't actually locate the queen so looked for eggs.  It must still be early in their gestation since what I thought I saw was VERY small and difficult to see.  I'll need to go back next week to refill the sugar water feeder and see if I can spot the queen or find more mature eggs (or capped brood).

First forray into beekeeping

5/27/2011  New Package Installation.  The bees had been sitting in my garage for two days and we had the assembled hives for over a month.  Initially, we were thinking about installing the bees in the backyard of our suburban home near Ashland, VA... But thought better of it.  The decision to install the bees on part of my Mom's property turned out to be the right decision this go around. 

At any rate, the installation was observed by my Dad and Mom as well as uncle Bill "uncold" and aunt Susan.  It went reasonably well and the bees were well behaved.  Probably very ready to get out of that box!

I posted a video of the event on youtube: 

Also, later that weekend, I took some higher quality close up video of the bees:

Next time I open the hive, I'll need to check that the queen has been released.