My first year: 2016
After consecutive years of drought resulting in poor honey flows, 2016 turned out OK. First year beekeepers are told not to expect any honey, but my strong hive did manage to fill one honey super. All told, I bottled 286 ounces (2.23 gallons) of honey!
Hive check Sunday, September 4, 2016
Yesterday I completed my third consecutive powdered sugar treatment for Varroa mites, thus completing the first mite treatment for my hives.
Now that the honey flow is over, next on the bee agenda is to prepare for the winter dormant season. I’m told in our workshops that the goal is to get the bees as fat and healthy as possible before winter. At this time of year supplementing with pollen helps. Dry pollen will be stored by the bees and wet pollen will be eaten immediately. Below is a picture of a top feeder filled with dry pollen. The bees fly/walk through the powdered pollen which attaches to their hairy little bodies (just like on a flower) which they will store in the honeycomb.
After checking the hives yesterday I am once again full of questions. Hive 2 looks very weak to this newbee beekeeper’s eyes. Not sure if it will be strong enough to winter over. Box 2 is full of capped honey, but Box 1, unfortunately, has very little capped brood or stored pollen. The few larva that I did see was spotty and dry. I saw another open queen cell so I don’t know if the bees have superseded their queen yet again.
Hive 2 looks much better. I did see lots of larva in all stages as well as pollen and capped honey.
At tonight’s bee meeting our guest speaker will be discussing the topic of preparing our bees for winter. I’ll be attending with lots of questions!
Hive 2 Stats
Box 2
F2 – F9 Solid capped honey
Box 1
F4-5 Spotty dry larva, very little pollen, little brood
Did not see eggs
Overall hive looks very weak
Hive 1 Stats
Super
Super is filling with nectar
Box 2
Only checked two frames
F4 – F5 Lots of larva in all stages, capped honey + brood
Box 1
Saw larva in all stages
Spotty brood
Did not see eggs
Saw stored pollen and capped honey
Here’s my first jar of honey! It’s a very dark honey and tastes delicious.
Even though my Varroa mite count is low, treating all hives at this time of year is highly recommended. Late August is critical because as the bee population begins to naturally decrease in preparation for the dormant winter season, the mite population is reaching its highest population. It’s critical that the reduced cluster of winter bees be as mite free as possible. So yesterday I did the first of three powdered sugar treatments on both my hives.
How they figured out that dusting bees with powdered sugar is an effective mite control, I have no idea, but here’s how it works. Powdered sugar makes a coated bee too slick for mites to hold onto, so they drop off the bee. Since Varroa mites reproduce in the brood cells, powdered sugar treatments are required once a week for three weeks in order to treat all emerging bees/mites. (Worker bees have a three-week gestation period.)
The powdered sugar treatment is harmless for bees. After treatment the bees simply groom each other by eating off the powdered sugar.
Here is a picture of the observation board about ten minutes after treatment. The enlarged circle above shows the mites highlighted in yellow.
There are several options for treating Varroa. We’re told it’s important to use a variety of methods because the Varroa mite is highly adaptive. Treatments that were developed not that long ago are already ineffective as Varroa continue to evolve and build up resistance. Eventually honey bees will build up natural resistance to Varroa, but unfortunately it’s a slower process.
Today was a big bee day. I headed to A-Z Hardware in Grass Valley where I saw a powdered sugar treatment demonstration for Varroa mites, then afterward headed to the honey house where I harvested my honey. Below is a picture of the honey super with frames of capped honey.
Above is the uncapping tub. This is where the wax cap is removed to expose the cells of honey. As you can see, it’s a messy, sticky, honey and waxy mess. The tub has holes where the honey drains so there is no waste.
This is the inside of the extractor. Three frames in, seven more to go.
And here is the honey! It’s strained through two different sized mesh to remove any wax, clumps of pollen and bee debris.
And here is my bucket of honey! I harvested approximatey two gallons of honey from one honey super. I can’t get over how dark it is! Now it’s time to purchase jars and design my label.
The experience of harvesting honey can be summarized in one word, HOT. Literally! The honey house is kept over 90 degrees so the wax is easy to cut and the honey can flow effortlessly. It took me two hours to extract one honey super and clean the equipment. Imagine working in a sauna and you will know what the conditions were like. I was completely drenched from head to toe and probably dropped a few pounds of water weight before I was done. To make matters worse, the honey house had many bees inside and I was stung three times!
When I returned home I put the honey super back on the hive where the bees will keep busy cleaning up the frames and repairing the honeycomb. At this point I was tired and didn’t take the time to light my smoker so the bees were on high alert when I opened the hive. Ended the day with one more sting, four total for the day…an all time high!
Interesting, I would consider 103º to be HOT, but according to AccuWeather.com, it’s merely sunny!
Yes, it’s been one hot week! For the first time since the bees arrived, I saw bees while sitting on my deck. Surprisingly they weren’t buzzing the flowers, but drinking the water caught beneath the potted plants. So I thought I’d bring some water out to the hives.
I am told that bees like shallow water where there are things to land on. So I took this flat baking pan and filled it with rocks and wood branches.
I’ve noticed several wasps hovering above the ground in front of both hives. They did not appear near the entrance to the hives, but were rummaging on the ground in front where many dead bees can be found.
Wasps have a very distinct yellow and black pattern and are commonly, but inaccurately, referred to as meat bees.
Last weekend I attended another great workshop put on by Dan Wheat. This time we were in the honey house to observe the process of extracting honey. It was hot, both outside as well as in the honey house, which is heated into the 90s keeping the wax soft and the honey viscosity thin and runny.
Above is a stack of honey supers filled with frames of capped honey.
Uncapping is the process of removing the top layer, or cap, of honeycomb exposing the individual cells full of honey. The uncapping hot knife is electric and very hot. The technique calls for letting the hot knife do the work. Move slowly and let it melt through. As the cap is sliced off, it falls into the draining tub below. Catching the wax and allowing the honey to drain and collect .
After the majority of cap has been removed using the hot knife, the remainder of uncapped cells are scraped using a tine uncapping fork.
This frame is now ready to be placed inside the electric honey extractor.
This extractor can hold up to 12 frames. When full, the lid is closed then turned on, slow at first, faster later. The time in the extractor was around 12-15 minutes. After being spun from the cells, the honey drips and collects at the bottom of the tank.
The light underneath helps keep the honey warm and runny making it easier to work with. Once the extracting is done a 5-gallon bucket is placed underneath the black valve.
This is the double mesh sieve placed on top of the 5-gallon bucket. The top mesh is coarse, the bottom mesh finer.
Thank you Dan and Jose for walking us through the honey extraction process! So much to learn the first year!!!
Today I did my third alcohol wash to test for Varroa mites. I am happy to report that both hives are in good shape.
A good test result is fewer than 9 mites per 300 bee sampling (1/2 cup of bees), or less than 3%. If your test returns are under 3%, then your hive is in good shape…for the time being! The end of August is a critical time. This is when the bee population starts to decline as it heads toward winter and Varroa mite population starts to increase. Will test again next month.
July 22, 2016 Mite check
Hive 2
Alcohol wash: 4 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Hive 1
Alcohol wash: 5 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Hive check Saturday, July 16, 2016
The bees are back and so am I! I’ve been away on vacation and am sure the bees have appreciated some peace from my weekly visits. When I last checked, I thought the hives were rebounding and that’s exactly what I found. Populations in both hives appeared much larger than two weeks ago.
Hive 2 is filling up nicely. Box 1 has all ten frames built out, filled with lots of pollen, nectar and brood. I even saw the queen on Frame 3. Box 2 is almost filled with capped honey, just the outside frames are empty. I will put a honey super on during my next check with the hope that the bees will get an early start building out the honey comb. I want to be ready for next year’s honey flow! Below is a frame of solid capped honey. It was very heavy when I lifted it out of the hive.
Hive 1 is also doing well. Box 1 was filled with eggs, larva in all stages, capped brood, lots of pollen and nectar. Box 2 had lots of burr comb (seen on the top side of the wooden frame.) Box 2 is also filling with capped honey, with the brood nest moving up into the center frames.
This is a frame from the honey super box on top. As you can see, the frames are not as deep as the bottom boxes. The bees have decided to build a big blob of honey comb down the center of the frame into the frame beside it. It was hard to break the frames away from each other in order to pull it out.
Ultimately I broke off the extra comb. You don’t want frames with wonky wax!
Bottom board check
I was very surprised to see dead bees on the bottom board of Hive 1. I asked at our meeting and was told that there must have been a small opening somewhere in the bottom board. The bees crawled in thinking they’d get into the hive, but had crawled below the screen and couldn’t get back in.
I didn’t see any Verroa mites on the board. I was also told that because I had an interruption in the breeding cycle when the hives were queenless, that alone would knock back the mites.
Hive 2 Stats
Super
No super
Box 2
F1 Little comb
F2 – F8 Full of capped honey
F9 One side of comb
F10 No comb
Box 1
F1 Capped honey + pollen
F2 Capped honey, pollen + brood
F3 Queen + larva, brood, nectar, pollen
F4 – F5 Lots of larva +pollen
F6 – F7 Capped brood
F8 – F10 Honey + pollen
Did not see eggs
Saw larva in all stages
Spotty brood
Hive 1 Stats
Super
F1 – F2 No comb
F3 – F8 Comb
F9 – F10 No comb
Box 2
F1 – F2 Capped honey
F3 – F4 Capped brood + capped honey (frame was stuck to the box w-propolis)
F5 Capped brood, larva + honey
F6 Capped brood, pollen + capped honey
F7
F8
F9
F10
Box 1
F1 Larva + capped brood
F2 Eggs, larva, pollen + honey
F3 Lots of pollen, capped brood + larva
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Lots of honey comb being built across frames
Did not see queen
Saw eggs and larva in all stages
Spotty brood
A big thank you to Dan Wheat and Gary McClaughry! They have been holding meetings and doing demonstrations since we picked up our bees in April. Tonight we sat for almost two hours asking questions and hearing about everyone’s experience. It is so helpful! Thank you again!
The weather for the past couple of weeks has been strange. First we had a week with unseasonably cool weather, temps in the seventies, followed by a week with temps over one hundred degrees. The star thistle is now blooming and the bees are bringing in pollen like crazy.
On Tuesday, June 28, I checked the hives to evaluate their health. Both hives now have new queens. Last week I did not see any eggs in either hive. This week I was able to see eggs in Hive 1, as well as larva in all stages, though the laying pattern was spotty. I spotted the queen in box 2, frame 5. Hive 2 had larva in all stages, but I did not see any eggs. I don’t know why they weren’t visible to me, but as long as there are larva there must be eggs.
I feel that the hives are rebounding and hopefully there will be a star thistle honey flow that the bees can take advantage of. As I will be gone next week I’m hoping to return to hives full of frames with capped brood! Box 2 of both hives are heavy with beautiful white-capped honey!
Hive 2 Stats
Did not see queen
Did not see eggs
Saw young larva
Spotty brood
Saw lots of pollen
Lots of capped honey
Hive 1 Stats
Saw the queen B2F5
Saw eggs and larva in all stages
Spotty brood
Saw lots of pollen
Lots of capped honey
Week 10, ninth hive check
The saga of the queenless hives continues. My sole objective with today’s hive check was to determine if there were queen bees present and that they were laying eggs.
Last week I embedded a new queen into Hive 1. This past Saturday I checked the hive and did not see the queen, nor did I see any eggs or larva, which by this time I expected to see. I did observe that the bees had cleared the brood area of nectar that was there the week before. I had a follow-up call with Randy Oliver (who I got my queen bee from) and he thought it odd that I wasn’t seeing any eggs, but did say to “listen to the bees.” He said that since the bees cleared the brood area of nectar they detect the presence of a laying queen and were behaving accordingly. So with that thought in mind into the hive I went…
Hive 1, Box 2 is getting very heavy with capped honey and pollen. No eggs, larva or brood. Box 1 also had capped honey and pollen, and on Frame 6 I spotted the queen! I did see a frame with some larva, but I didn’t see eggs. Now I know that I’m a newbee, but I’ve had no problem finding eggs in the past, so I’m not understanding why I’m not seeing them now. They were so obvious before, but if there is larva, there must be eggs. At this point I’m not going to worry. I saw the queen and I saw larva. I believe the ship has righted itself!
Last week in Hive 2, Box 1, Frame 6, I saw the queen. She was moving quickly over the frame and had no attendants by her. Randy mentioned that it’s not unusual for a colony to supersede their queen. And since I saw a queen cell two weeks ago, I’m thinking that’s what happened and the queen I saw last week was new and unmated. Box 2 is filling with capped honey and pollen. No eggs, larva or brood. In Box 1 I saw capped honey, pollen and young larva! So there must be a laying queen. But like Hive 1, I did not see any eggs. So again. I’m done with the worrying. I’m gonna let the bees do their thing! Next week I’m expecting to see lots of eggs, larva and new capped brood! Keeping my fingers crossed!
Hive 2 Stats
Did not see queen
Did not see eggs
Saw young larva
Spotty brood
Saw pollen
Bees on all frames. Lots of capped honey
Hive 1 Stats
Saw the queen B1F6
Did not see eggs
Saw some larva
Very little capped brood
Neither hive has a laying queen! I have no idea why. I have no idea what happened! 🙁
June 18, 2016
I added a new second year queen to Hive 1 seven days ago. The plug was gone and the cage was empty. Box 2 had lots of capped honey, nectar and pollen. No eggs or larva. Box one had small patches of brood, capped honey, nectar and pollen. No eggs or larva. Where the brood nest should be, the cells were clear, open and empty. I did not see the queen. The top box still looked strong, the bottom box not so much.
Hive 2 had stores of capped honey, nectar and pollen. The frames in Box 2 are drawing out nicely. The inner four frames are getting heavy and full, with comb building continuing on the outer frames. I did not see any eggs in either box. I saw few larva and they were dry. There did not appear to be any royal jelly. Spotty patches of brood. I did see the queen. She was on the outer edge of the frame and did not have any bees around her. Last week I found a queen cell. Maybe the original queen is gone and she is an unmated queen. If so, why did the colony superseded the original queen?
It’s certainly disappointing! Now I need to figure out what’s the next step.
Hive 2 Stats
Did not see eggs
Few larva, all dry
Spotty brood
Saw lots of pollen
Box 2
Bees on all frames. Frames 4-8 getting heavy with honey
Box 1
Saw queen
Did not seem heavily populated
Reinstalled plastic screen board
Hive 1 Stats
Did not see queen
Did not see eggs
Did not see larva
Saw very little capped brood
Box 2 was heavy with honey, nectar and pollen
Honey super: Bees on all ten frames, no comb yet
Reinstalled plastic screen board
It turns out what I called bearding on Hive 1 was thought by Randy Oliver to be an usurpation swarm instead. The queens must have fought it out with both perishing. Bottom line: queenless hive. So today I drove up to Randy’s bee yard to pick up a new queen bee.
I picked up a second year queen with attendants. The queen is encased in a clear plastic cage inside the red box. Attendant bees have also been placed inside during transfer.
Bees from Hive 1 are checking out their new queen.
Before embedding the queen, I lifted each frame and scraped away all queen cells, hopefully preventing perilous fights between the new and emerging queens. I embedded her in some vacant brood comb with the cap to the cage is still on. Tomorrow I’ll check the hive. If the queen cage is all balled up with bees, then they have not yet accepted her. Otherwise I will remove the cap on the cage where the bees will then eat through a candy plug (think marshmellow) to free the queen. Once free, she’ll start laying eggs.
For the record, this is Week 8, seventh hive check. Sting #6 🙂
Hive 1 is queenless! I have no idea what happened. I did not see anything inside the hive today– to the best of my newbee ability – that might explain. I did not see any eggs, very little brood and reduced population from last week. I saw many queen cells and one which looked opened. So maybe they reared a new queen. I have no idea. Now I have to wonder if the beard wasn’t a beard after all…
Underwhelming compared to two weeks ago. Last week when I did my hive check I only went into Box 2. Things looked good. Pehaps Box 1 was already imploding. Here’s what’s also strange, Hive 2 also had a queen cell, though I did see eggs and larva.
One of today’s objectives was to do my second alcohol wash to test for Verroa mites. It was a little unnerving because I could hot find the queen anywhere (Box 2). Tomorrow I will look through the 300 test bees to confirm that the queen is not among them. I was surprised to see no mites for Hive 2. Hive 1 had 4 mites.
I also removed the entrance reduces on both hives. I was supposed to remove the bottom boards to help increase circulation, but plain forgot to do it. Will pull them out tomorrow.
Hive 2 Stats
Box 2
F1 – F3 Honey comb just starting to be drawn out
F4 – F8 Drawn out honey comb
F9 – F10 Honey comb just starting to be drawn out
Box 1
F1 – F3 Bees on all frames. Honey comb just starting to be drawn out.
F4 – F5 Possible queen cells. Bees on all frames. Comb building just starting.
F6 – F10 Bees on all frames
Alcohol wash: 0 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 8
Did not see queen
Did not see a lot of pollen, what there was was on outer frames
Removed entrance reducer
Hive 1 Stats
Super
Bees on all ten frames, not comb
Box 2
F1 – F2 No comb
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7 Queen cell?
F8
F9 – F10 No comb
Box 1
F1 No comb
F2
F3 Lots of pollen + honey
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10
Did not see queen
Did not see larva
Saw very little capped brood
Little pollen, little honey
Removed queen excluder last Saturday
Removed entrance reducer
Honey super: Bees on all ten frames, no comb yet
Box 2: Frames 1-2 and 9-10 no comb Queen cell Frame 7
Box 1: Frames 1 no comb Frame 3 pollen and honey
Alcohol wash: 4 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Removed honey super
Today marks the third day that Hive 1 has worn it’s beard! I must say I was surprised. I thought the bees would have returned to their hive after the first day, but they’ve been hanging out for three. The beard is slowly growing smaller.
This evening Hive 2 finally started showing some bearding behavior, though with their own style. Instead of clumping together like Hive 1, they’re covering the hive.
Today was a hot one, 100 degrees, our first triple digit day. Look what I found…the bees were bearding!
When it’s hot, bees leave the hive to cool down and hang outside. It’s called bearding.
Yesterday, June 3, was my sixth time into the hives. Each week I open the hives and am amazed to see something new. Today it was propolis. It was everywhere, thick and gooey! For the first time I had to pry the frames away not only from one another, but up off the box as well.
Both hives are now composed of two deep boxes which are the bees main living area. The pollen, honey and propolis stored here is what the bees will depend on over the winter. The shallower boxes called “honey supers” are placed on top of the main hive. The honey stored in those boxes is the honey for me!
Yesterday’s hive objectives:
Hive 1: determine if it’s time to add a honey super
Hive 2: observe progress in second deep box which was added last week
The frame in the photo above is from Hive 1. It’s the third frame in from box 2. The bees are storing lots of honey under the pretty white wax you see on the left.
This frame is also from Hive 1. It’s the center frame in box 2. The queen has been very busy. You can see the brood patch which has a brownish leathery look.
The mold build up appears to be abating, it’s also been very hot. Hive 2 did not have any mold, Hive 1 had slight mold. I did not see any mites…that I could see.
Hive 2 Stats
Box 2 only
Bees on all frames in the early stage of comb building
Did not see queen
Did not see eggs
Hive 1 Stats
Box 2 only
Did not see queen
Saw eggs and larva in all stages
Saw capped brood on center frames
Lots of pollen and honey
Outer frames are in early stages of comb building
Added queen excluder and first honey super
It’s been a busy couple of weeks including out of town travel, so I skipped Week 5’s hive check. And since the weather has been cool and overcast for a while I figured I’d leave the girls alone to their task.
After evening rains, Wednesday, May 25 dawned sunny and warm. It was time to get back in the hives! Both hives are looking really good and have grown in population. Hive 2 had almost filled their first deep box so I added a second. Hive 1 has a good five frames in their second deep almost built out. They have been very busy.
More questions! This is a frame from Hive 1 and was from the original purchased nuc. In the area inside the white circle the honeycomb has almost completely disappeared, it’s very shallow and almost non-existent. Since the bees reuse the comb I’m not understanding why the comb would be so deteriorated. Unless it’s just an old frame and ready to be retired and rotated out.
Mold on the bottom boards continues to be a problem. Granted these photos represent two weeks worth of growth, but still, it looks bad and Hive 1 looks terrible!
I also saw a lot of sparkly things on the bottom boards. They were there last hive check as well and I didn’t know what they were. I have since learned that they are little flecks of wax which have fallen. In certain light the whole board sparkles and shimmers.
Hive 2 Stats
Did not see queen
Didn’t really see any eggs
Did see lots of larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames in box 1 are almost all drawn out with comb
Added second deep box
Hive 1 Stats
Did not see queen
Didn’t really see any eggs
Saw larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames are drawn out with comb
Second box has five drawn frames
I’m a little curious about where the bees go and why. Right now my meadow is in full bloom, predominantly dandelions along with many other flowers. The two hives sit right in the middle. So I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, the bees are going to love it!” But no, as I walk through the flowers there’s not a bee in sight! Hmmm?
Just off my deck is a big green bush. It’s currently in bloom with beautiful red flowers. Again, I’m thinking…yum! But no, not a single honey bee, though it’s full of bumblebees and hover flies. Been that way for weeks. Then this morning I walked by and saw it filled with honey bees. Gone were the others. Hmmm?
Today dawned beautiful. It’s been a long cool week with lower temps and spring rain – thunder and lightning, too!
So all week I’ve been thinking that the hives are going to be noticeably larger in population and in honeycomb production. That wasn’t the case. I was surprised to see very little difference from last week. I was thinking that I would be adding a second deep box to Hive 2 today, but the outer frames were still lacking drawn comb, so I’ve decided to wait. Last week I added a second box to Hive 1. I was expecting the outer frames in the lower box to be built out by now and the bees moving upward. Again, that wasn’t the case. The outer frames had very light comb, some areas still bare, pretty much like last week.
Hive 2 Stats
Did not see queen
Didn’t really see any eggs
Did see lots of larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames are starting to be drawn out with comb
Hive 1 Stats
Saw the queen in frame 3
Saw eggs
Saw larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames are starting to be drawn out with comb
On Tuesday, May 3, I did my third hive check. My friend Deb Young joined me in the bee yard taking pictures as I dove in. I was excited to show her the bees in addition to seeing the changes from the previous week.
Wow, Hive 2 is beginning to crank! Below is a frame that is full of capped brood. Capped brood looks leathery whereas capped honey is white. You can see capped honey along the top. The gestation period for a worker bee is 21 days. So from this point forward all the new bees from the brood nest I’ve seen at one developmental stage or another prior to hatching.
We also saw Hive 2’s queen bee. As you can see, she’s been very busy. Queen bees are larger than the worker bees, are taller and have longer abdomens. Queens can lay anywhere from 1000-1500 EGGS A DAY!
As bee days go, it wasn’t a great day to go into the hive. The weather was cool, overcast and breezy. Bees don’t like this kind of weather and were not as docile. As it was, I received my fifth sting and decided to don my gloves to finish the day’s inspection. So here’s my latest challenge: I’m not one who freaks out around flying insects, but after recently being stung several times I’m finding myself hypersensitive to anything that alights on my skin. I’m not freaking out, but will be glad to get back to not caring!
Hive 1 is cranking! All but the outside frames have been drawn out with honeycomb and the frames are chock full of brood, pollen and honey. I have added a second deep super box on top which they will now expand in to. All the honey in the two deep supers belong to the bees which they will need to winter over with. When the frames in the second box are drawn out and full of brood, pollen and honey I will then add a medium honey super on top. This is where the honey I get will be stored! Honey supers continue to be added during the honey flow as they fill up.
Common knowledge says that first year beekeepers won’t get much honey, if any. That’s because the queen can’t lay eggs until the comb has been drawn out. Next year the hive population will be much larger when the honey flow starts which translates to more bees bringing in more nectar to be made into more honey!
Hive 1 continues to have mold on the front part of the bottom board. I asked my mentor, but he wasn’t sure. Will have to investigate futher.
Hive 2 Stats
Box 1
F1 –F5 Eggs + larva
F6 Saw queen
F7 –F10 Approximately 85% honey comb on south side of frame
Saw larva in all stages
Hive 1 Stats
Box 1
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6 Solid capped brood, both sides of frame
F7
F8 100% drawn out with brood, nectar, honey + larva
F9 90% drawn out on south side 5% on north side
F10 Just starting to draw out comb
Did not see queen
Saw eggs
Saw larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
All but the outside frames have been drawn out with comb
…stings that is! On Friday I got my fourth sting. This one was on my hand and really swelled up. Even though I wear a bee suit I choose to work bare handed as we’re encouraged to do. I am told that by the time you get 200 stings your body will have built up an immunity and you’ll no longer react.
I’d also like to thank Brion Dunbar of Burbon Hill Bees who has been mentoring me. It is so helpful watching an experienced beekeeper and having someone to field my endless questions!
Today was my second hive check. I felt a lot less nervous and had a lot more fun!
For the past week I’ve been feeding my bees one quart of simple syrup per day/per hive. Collective knowledge sources recommend: “continuously” “one quart every other day” and “one quart every three days.” But what is the appropriate amount?
I’m feeding my bees because these are new hives each with five brand new frames which do not have any drawn comb. (Drawn comb is where baby bees are raised and pollen and honey stored.) I’ve been told that supplemental feeding will help with wax production which in turn will help fill the empty frames faster with honeycomb. I’ve also been told that if overfed the bees will store the nectar in the brood area.
So, here were today’s hive objectives:
Hive 2 is looking much better this week. I saw a lot of eggs and larva in all stages. The bees have now ventured to the outer frames, but have yet to start drawing out comb. I saw a lot of odd-shaped honeycomb (see bottom of above photo). Not sure why they’re doing that, will have to ask my mentor.
Hive 1 is looking good as well. It continues to be the stronger of the two hives. Above is an inner frame. Here’s what I think I see: capped honey along the top and upper corners of the frame, pollen below that, then capped brood (babies). I’m thinking that the empty cells in the center of the frame is from previously hatched brood and will soon be filled with a new egg. I see drone brood along the bottom of the frame (cells are sealed with a dome-shaped cap) and again, weird honeycomb blobs on the underneath side of the frame.
This is another frame from Hive 1. I took this picture because the brood pattern looks spotty to me. Not sure, will have to confirm with my mentor.
A lot more debris on the bottom boards this week, plus you can see the bees are expanding onto the outer frames.
This does not look good. The bottom board from Hive 1 has mold all along the front of the hive. There were also some dead bees and a couple of ants crawling around. Will definitely have to find out what’s going on!
Hive 2 Stats
Box 1
Did not see queen
Saw lots of eggs
Saw lots of larva in all stages
Saw much more brood, pollen and honey than week before
No drawn comb on outer frames
Hive 1 Stats
Box 1
Hive 1 Stats
Did not see queen
Saw a few eggs, not nearly as many as last week
Saw lots of larva in all stages
Saw lots of capped brood, pollen and honey
Outer frames are starting to be drawn out with comb
Today was my first “real” day in the hives. I must admit, I was excited as well as a little nervous. I had a lot I wanted to accomplish AND I’m suffering from information overload.
By now I have read many books, been to four Bee Association meetings with guest speakers, taken two different all-day classes, one workshop, one “in the yard” workshop and one visit to my mentor’s bee yard.
It is apparently well known in the beekeeping community that if you talk to five different beekeepers, you’ll get five different opinions.
Sometimes those opinions are diametrically opposed or vary greatly. So here I am – going into the yard – what is my approach going to be? I know it will soon feel like second nature, confidence comes with experience, but for now it’s feeling very real, nothing like living in the present!
Getting ready
Before going out to the hives I gathered my bucket with two quart jars of light syrup, my materials needed to test for mites, a notepad, pen, camera and my smoker and hive tools. It was around noon when I headed out.
Going in!
I started with Hive 2 because I knew it was the smaller of the two hives. This allowed me to make an unbaised first impression, which was: that it didn’t seem to be thriving. I guess I thought the bees would have expanded out onto the other frames by now, but they hadn’t. They were still pretty much clustered on the nuc frames. On the other hand, maybe it’s a very young nuc/hive. It seemed like the larva were in an early state. So, who knows, we’ll see what next week brings. It might take off by then.
Hive 1 is a much different story. It has a much larger population and the nuc frame honeycomb is filling in. This is one of the inner frames and I believe that we’re looking at a frame full of bright yellow pollen…though I’m not 100% sure. I believe the whitish band across the bottom is capped honey. Again, not sure.
Not sure what to think of this. Many of the nuc frames had comb built on the bottom of the frame. It did not appear to be swarm cells, I think it was extra comb, maybe Burr comb. Wasn’t sure what to do. I tried to scrape some from a frame, but it was sticky and hard to scrape and I was afraid I would kill bees in doing so and didn’t want to sound the alarms.
Lots of pollen on the board. Thats what all the large spots are. Can pollen be collected from the board and used? Hmmm, I’ll have to find out. Did not see any mites on board. Last inspected 4 days ago.
Hive 2 Stats
Box 1
Did not see queen
Did see larva
Few eggs
No comb on new frames
Alcohol wash : 1 mite (312 bees)
Hive 1 Stats
Box 1
Did not see queen
Saw eggs + larva
Some comb on new frames
Lots of pollen, nectar + brood
Alcohol wash : 1 mite (278 bees)
I have learned that you should always have a specific reason for going into a hive, so here’s my action plan…
Tomorrow I plan to open both hives to:
It’s been a very busy weekend for bee related activities. Saturday I took an all day class with Randy Oliver who is a biologist and internationally known beekeeper/researcher. He is also one of the earliest members of our local beekeeping association 20+ years ago. We are very lucky to have Randy and his vast knowledge available to us all. His class was very helpful and informative and his website www.scientificbeekeeping.com has a plethora of data based information about everything bees.
Today I took an “in the field” workshop where we got hands on experience with the bees. All in all, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. As they say, “Talk to five different beekeepers and you’ll get five different opinions!” I’m sitting here now trying to sift through all the different bits of information I’ve learned so far trying to chart my course of action.
Saturday evening I put another quart of simple syrup in each hive, and again tonight. Hungry, hungry, hungry bees.
I have screened bottom boards at the base of both hives which serve several purposes. By pulling out the plastic board and observing what you see, you’ll begin to get a sense of what’s going on in the hive. The above picture is from Hive 1. You can see lots of bee debris in the middle, left of center. This indicates where in the hive the main cluster of bees are and presumably where the queen is laying eggs.
Another important reason for observing the bottom board is to monitor pests like the Varroa mite. Should a mite should fall from a bee, it would fall through the screen and not be able to get back in the hive. The number of mites found on the bottom board help determine mite population inside the hive.
Bottom board from Hive 2. Both boards also had several brightly colored yellow and purple clumps of pollen.
Not sure what I’m seeing in the top corner of Hive 2. Will have to ask my mentor.
This picture was taken later in the day. The bees are out doing their bee thing.
Took a peek into the top feeder of each hive today and found that both hives had drained their quart jars of simple syrup. Hungry girls! I’m sure they were happy to “eat in” today as the weather was chilly – the 50s. I was amazed at how warm the hives were when I lifted the covers. They were putting out some serious heat.
Today I arrived at 7:00 am to pick up my bees at A-Z Supply in Grass Valley. I purchased two nucs which are miniature bee hives used to start a new colony.
This is a selfie of me in the bee yard ready to install the new nucs.
This is my smoker. My first attempt to light it failed miserably so I watched a YouTube video and got it working just right!
On the left are two empty hives and the two nuc boxes are on the right. As you can see in the front hive, I’ve removed five frames to make room for the new frames of bees.
As I slowly lifted the lid of the nuc box I puffed some smoke inside to calm the bees. This is what it looks like to open a nuc. A nuc is a small “nucleus hive.” They usually contain five frames and come with a mated queen and about 10,000 bees. The queen has already begun laying eggs and the worker bees have begun drawing out comb and storing pollen and nectar.
This is the bees new home.
Here is my new hive! It’s amazing how different the two hives already are. One hive is considerably heavier than the other. The heavy hive’s five frames has much more drawn out comb and already has capped honey and pollen. I saw little larva in the honeycomb, but did not see any eggs. I’m sure they were there, I just don’t quite know what I’m looking for…and they are very tiny. I feel fortunate to have spotted both queens. They are about twice as big as the regular worker bees and have very long narrow abdomens. I also saw several drones, which are male bees. They are also larger than worker bees and have bodies shaped like bullets and very large eyes on top of their heads.
Amber and I have been very busy preparing for the arrival of our bees. It’s almost like having a baby! I pick up the bees Wednesday at 7:00 am.
