Hive inspection and box reversal

[Happy Chooks]

Alrighty, got my main hive supered. Did a quick check for queen cells in the top deep before adding the super. Looks packed with bees, but no queen cells. The frames I moved last week have already been laid in. Didn't want to take the time to tuck my pants into my socks, so of course, I had my first crawler that crawled up my pants and nailed me in the knee. Saw indigo blue colored pollen coming in, I've never seen that before.

Our flow is going to be fantastic. The bees are still working the yellow clover, but they are also working the beginning blooms of the blackberries. Since we had a very wet winter, the blackberries are healthier than I've seen in a really long time. There is more clover than I have ever seen. It's going to be in the 70's and low 80's this week, so the blooms will be popping fast!

Also checked my 1 deep small hive. Even though they haven't drawn out all of the frames, they drew out an queen cup on the fresh foundation. (empty thankfully) I don't want them thinking about swarming, and there are a lot of bees in that single deep, so I moved frames around a bit and added the 2nd brood box. Added feed too even though they are taking less now that the blackberries are beginning to bloom.

 

[Happy Chooks]

A quick check of my smaller hive turned into a long check. I did a quick check of the top box to make sure they were drawing it out and the queen had moved up into it. Yes on both counts, so I scraped off a piece of burr comb from the bottom and closed it up.

Then, while I was sitting by the large hive, I was looking at the burr comb and I noticed there was a queen cup there. And inside the queen cup was a freshly laid egg. So I went and lit my smoker and went through the bottom deep. Not a queen cell in sight, but they are backfilling some. I moved a couple of frames around so they hopefully get drawn enough for the queen to lay in.

I'll be watching this one closely now. Our blackberry flow is huge right now and there is more coming in then they have drawn comb.

 

[Latestarter]

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sat by the hives for a bit this afternoon. It's 95 out and my smaller hive is bearding pretty good. My large hive is not, but they are directing air into the hive. Nothing better than the soft hum of wings and the smell of curing honey in the air.

 

[misfitmorgan]

I checked my hive yesterday...we were concerned because we saw little to no entrance activity DH thought they had absconded. i told him i didnt think so. So i suited up and got the smoker going and went out and had a peak. They are still in there and working hard. I verified the queen is alive though she was still hanging out by her cage so i took it out. The girls are busy fixing up the old comb and they have already started building new comb on the 4th frames from the middle on both sides so they must have decided they are two crowded on the middle 3 frames. They were working hard and it was about 7:30pm here already so i didnt knock/brush them off to see the middle frames but it is definately covered with bees working. i'm honestly still terrified of them but its getting better. They were very calm even without the smoke. They finished all their syrup so i dont know if they need more or not. There is a lot of stuff in bloom just around our house. Lilacs, crab apples, dandelions, some small purple flowers that grow all through our grass, goldenrod, tulips and im sure more i have yet to notice as well as the evergreens. Do you all think i need to give them more syrup? They seem pretty happy, anything in particular i should look for?

Also i noticed they are building comb up into the hole in the inner cover...does this mean they want more vertical space already too or is this just something they do?

 

[Latestarter]

IMHO, since this is from a pkg, that was delivered late, with more than normal dead bees (hence smaller), and their first year, I would continue to feed syrup as long as they take it. You want them to have the best chance to be successful. When they blow up in size to 30-40 thousand bees, then you won't need to feed them, but right now, they are still very small. I don't think you need to feed them a pollen patty as there should be plenty of pollen available to them. Nectar is the thing that makes the honey and is the hardest to come by, hence the syrup. Some plants make lots of both, some make more of one than the other. Check these out: http://eversweetapiaries.com/pollencharts.htm

I had the same problem of burr comb with one of my original hives. They actually had a comb built up through the hole the size of a slice of pie (I had an empty deep above the lower deep and inner cover that held a dual canister feeder). I had no choice but to remove it. I routinely found little spots of started comb on the top and inside/bottom of the inner cover. Also I think they used those areas to "dispose of" excess propolis... When you say 4th frame from the middle, that to me is saying they have 8 frames of comb... If this is correct, yes, get a second deep on there! They don't want to build out further and are trying to build up.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Agree with latestarter, keep feeding so they can build their population. Once they start storing it, and there is a good flow on, then you can stop feeding. It takes a lot of energy to draw comb.

I too have found burr comb on the underside of the inner cover/on top of the frames. It's usually drone comb if there is brood in it, or nectar storage. I scrape it off and remove it when I inspect. I've also had them glue down the jar feeder with propolis.

If they have drawn out 7-8 frames, then add another box.

 

[Sisters On The Farm]

That sounds fun. Therese

 

[misfitmorgan]

IMHO, since this is from a pkg, that was delivered late, with more than normal dead bees (hence smaller), and their first year, I would continue to feed syrup as long as they take it. You want them to have the best chance to be successful. When they blow up in size to 30-40 thousand bees, then you won't need to feed them, but right now, they are still very small. I don't think you need to feed them a pollen patty as there should be plenty of pollen available to them. Nectar is the thing that makes the honey and is the hardest to come by, hence the syrup. Some plants make lots of both, some make more of one than the other. Check these out: http://eversweetapiaries.com/pollencharts.htm

I had the same problem of burr comb with one of my original hives. They actually had a comb built up through the hole the size of a slice of pie (I had an empty deep above the lower deep and inner cover that held a dual canister feeder). I had no choice but to remove it. I routinely found little spots of started comb on the top and inside/bottom of the inner cover. Also I think they used those areas to "dispose of" excess propolis... When you say 4th frame from the middle, that to me is saying they have 8 frames of comb... If this is correct, yes, get a second deep on there! They don't want to build out further and are trying to build up.

Actually despite their long trip there were hardly any dead bees i could still see the wood board on the bottom of the package from the inside...maybe 100-200 dead bees if i estimate high, which from videos of people opening packages seems quite good on numbers of dead. My package should have had 10-12,000 bees so if i assume i have around 10,000 bees then when there is about 3-4 times that many they should be "safe" it sounds like...so i will watch for that. For now i will do as suggested and put out more syrup, i dont think "extra" syrup would hurt anything anyhow. So far they have eaten/stored about 1.5lbs of syrup since friday.

Agree with latestarter, keep feeding so they can build their population. Once they start storing it, and there is a good flow on, then you can stop feeding. It takes a lot of energy to draw comb.

I too have found burr comb on the underside of the inner cover/on top of the frames. It's usually drone comb if there is brood in it, or nectar storage. I scrape it off and remove it when I inspect. I've also had them glue down the jar feeder with propolis.

If they have drawn out 7-8 frames, then add another box.

Sorry as far as frames go i think i was unclear. They started with three frames almost completely drawn with wax. They are now working on drawing the inner side of the frames outside of those. So if E is empty and P is partly drawn and C is completely drawn this is what my hive looks like atm.

EE--EE--EE--EP--PC--CC--CP--PE--EE--EE

So 5 empty frames still, two half empty.

 

[Latestarter]

A typical package of 3 pounds contains ~ 4-5000 bees. It's real easy to estimate too high Based on your frame layout, they really don't need another box yet, but they can grow pretty quick, so yuou'll need to keep an eye on them. When you have 6-7 frames completely drawn, it's time to add another box above. But keep feeding them syrup...