Inspection Day

Making bees for the next flow

I try to be fairly benign with my hive inspections. That being said, there are good reasons to really dig into a hive at a frame by frame level to really see what it is they are doing.  A great example is Hive 6. A month ago, the top 2 hive boxes looked fine but the swarm cells were all in the bottom deep.  As Ross was coming, I didn’t want to disturb the hive to any great extent. Bye-bye half of the hive and a great queen…

As it is very time consuming, I try to thoroughly inspect only 1 or 2 hives each time. Today was the day for Hives 5 and 6. The inspections for the rest of the hives was to the “see eggs” level only.  Here’s what Val and I found:

Hive 3: 3 mediums, 2009 queen, has had 2 splits taken from it this year.

This hive has been a star this year. My concern is whether I have taken too much from it while making 2 additional hives.

3rd super: 4 empty frames, 4 full frames of honey, 2 partial

2nd super: Only looked at 7 frames. 1 had honey and pollen, 6 had eggs, larvae and brood. Since we were seeing a lot of eggs we opted to stop the inspection and leave the hive in peace.

As this hive has 4 empty frames in the top super, we’ll let this hive go 2 weeks before taking a look again.

Bees making their own foundation

Hive 4: 4 mediums, just added a BeeWeaver queen last week

4th super: Basically undrawn foundation with very few bees

3rd super: 2 undrawn foundation, 2 drawn but empty, 6 with honey (pollen on 1 of those)

2nd super: 2 undrawn foundation, 2 honey and pollen, 2 eggs, 3 honey and 1 drawn foundation.

Again, this is a hive with a newly added queen from BeeWeaver. Seeing eggs was all I was after. Probably should not have the 4th super on this yet but as I will be traveling, it’s a safety net.

Hive 5: 3 mediums, 2009 queen, hive was started this spring from an overwintered nuc and has been split once. Thorough inspection…

3rd super: 4 undrawn foundation,  2 drawn foundation, 1 drawing foundationless, 3 honey

2nd super: 4 drawn with some honey, 2 all capped brood, 4 with eggs, larvae, brood

Bottom super: Only looked at 6 frames. 1 completely drawn but empty, 1 foundationless just starting, 4 with eggs, larvae, brood and some pollen.

Since we were seeing a lot of eggs, I decided to stop the inspection. We put the hive on a Rossman hive stand to raise it slightly off of the platform. As there is still a fair amount of room in this hive, we’ll leave it alone for 2 weeks.

Eggs and larvae in Hive 7

Hive 7: 1 deep & 2 mediums, started as a nuc from Mike Palmer last May (which is why it has a deep), hive swarmed 1 month ago. Thorough inspection.

3rd super:  Recently added, no action…

2nd super: All frames 50 – 75% drawn honey

Bottom deep: Some eggs and larvae but hard to tell if a laying worker or a new queen,  3 partially deconstructed swarm cells,  pollen and a lot of drones.

This is a difficult call. Some of the cells had 2 eggs in them but a new queen will occasionally  do that as she gets it figured out. There was a small amount of larvae that does not look like it’ll be drones but too soon to tell.  This is just when a new queen should start laying after the swarm. We’ll give this 2 weeks, too, and then look and see what we have. If this is a laying worker, I’ll do a paper combine with Hive 5 and let it go to winter.

Two new members of Community

Community:This is Val’s hive. 5 mediums, started as an Italian package in May.

5th super: Just added

4th super: All 10 frames either capped or almost capped honey. We took 1 frame and gave it to Nuc 1, putting the undrawn foundation back into this super.

3rd super: Looked at 7 frames. 1 capped honey, 6 Eggs, larvae, brood. Val decided not to proceed so not to accidentally damage the queen.

This queen rocks! She has been incredibly prolific and is the best package queen I’ve ever seen. Val lucked out as many of the other queens that came in this shipment either died or are making nasty bees. Since we have not split this hive, it is doing the best of any hive this summer. Hive 3 was at 6 mediums a month ago which is why we made 2 additional hives from it.  We can let this hive go 2 weeks as we just gave it a new super on Wednesday.

Nuc 1: 2 mediums, 2009 queen

2nd super: Previously drawn comb, not many bees

bottom super: 2 frames honey, 1 frame pollen, 1 eggs, larvae, brood, 1 drawn but empty. Queen seen.

I’m surprised this queen is not laying more. As the frame next to her was all pollen, I moved the empty frame next to her and moved the pollen frame over 1 space.  I may combine this with Nuc 2 if it doesn’t start to take off soon.

Always take pics during inspections to review later

Nuc 2: 1 medium, 2010 BeeWeaver queen

Bottom super: 3 frames eggs, larvae, brood, 1 frame of honey ( added today) and 1 empty frame.

I added a 2nd medium to this so they can start to draw out the foundation. I may move this nuc out to Sullivan so it can take advantage of the pollen  opportunities there. I think this nuc will benefit from starting syrup soon.

Well, that’s it. Next week I’m at  the  2010 Northeast Treatment Free Beekeeping Confernece in Leominister, MA. This will be my 2nd year and it’s a great meeting! A definite who’s who in treatment free techniques. I’ll let you know what we find out!

Keep the buzz!