Hive inspection and box reversal

[soarwitheagles]

Good job HC! I hope your nectar flow continues strong and long!

Have you thought about turning that dead out into a swarm trap?

Wishing you the best of success!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Thanks @soarwitheagles. I have thought about it, it's sitting there empty right now, so it's sort of a trap.

I'm trying to decide what to do with the laying worker hive. I can get a mated queen, but I need another week of adding open brood first, for a better chance of success. I don't really want them to make their own at this point, it will take too long for her to get laying. I can keep the queen in her cage longer, to get to that 3 week mark.

I also thought about installing a package in the spot of the current laying worker hive, and moving that one to another location. Then I could get the foragers to the new hive.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hive #2 has exploded! I moved frames around to give the queen more room to lay as there was a tiny bit of brood in the bottom center of the honey super. There aren't any queen cells, so they are still doing well there. The super is mostly full in 2 weeks! They have started capping the center frames, so I added the 2nd super too.

Hive #1 with queen cells. I'm staying out of that hive right now, but there were a lot of orientation flights happening. It's nice to see them becoming more "normal". Now to just wait for mating flights and to check for her laying by the end of the month.

I also added lemongrass to the empty 1 box hive just in case Hive #2 decides to swarm. It's all ready for them if they do.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My queen in hive #1 should be emerging today or tomorrow. And the weather forecast so far looks good for mating flights next week. It will be very hot though.

 

[Happy Chooks]

No bee news today. It's too dang hot this week. I can't wait for cooler temps. 107*

 

[soarwitheagles]

Yes, I think it was 107 here today too. Lots of bee beards, even all night long.

Caught 3 swarms this week so far, but have not had time to place them in boxes. I sure hope we do not lose them!

 

[babsbag]

111° here yesterday and it was 113° on Monday. I did re-queen a hive yesterday morning about 7 AM. I will go in on Friday and see if they have chewed her out. I used to not worry about that until a few years ago when one did not get released even after two weeks. The hive has quite a few bees and a few dozen drone brood cells so I am going out on a limb and hoping this works. It didn't feel that my other hive enough brood to share and I didn't want to risk losing both of them. I'll know in a week or so.

 

[Happy Chooks]

111° here yesterday and it was 113° on Monday. I did re-queen a hive yesterday morning about 7 AM. I will go in on Friday and see if they have chewed her out. I used to not worry about that until a few years ago when one did not get released even after two weeks. The hive has quite a few bees and a few dozen drone brood cells so I am going out on a limb and hoping this works. It didn't feel that my other hive enough brood to share and I didn't want to risk losing both of them. I'll know in a week or so.

So, it went laying worker? Good luck.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My hive #1, the queen is supposed to be on mating flights this week. Hopefully, she can mate in this heat!

 

[babsbag]

So, it went laying worker? Good luck.

It appears that it was headed that way but either they just started or they weren't very serious about it. Either way, there wasn't much drone brood so I decided to give it a try without the three weeks of pulling brood. I know it can possibly fail, we'll see.