Hive check 5/30/18

I went in over lunch today to check on my girls.  I saw s LOT of brood in the top deep and a lot of building of new comb on frames that were empty and needed new comb.  The only frame that had no action is the green frame meant for the drones to build on and then I can use it to manage varroa mites by freezing the frame once there is brood in there, to kill them, and hopefully reduce the mites.  Varroa, if you remember, like to attach to drones so if you can manage the drone population, it should reduce the mite problem.

I had added Checkmite "sticks" into the two deeps, two in the top deep and only one in the bottom  deep about three weeks ago.  I added one more to the bottom deep today. They like to be there for about 42 days, according to the package, so we'll give them another 3 weeks or so before removing them. 

All looked good inside the hive.  Lots of brood and pollen. No dead bees.

I did see them making some cells at the bottom of a few frames.  I left them alone for now, but it does seem like I already have an active queen.  I wondered about perhaps starting a Nuc but think I won't mess with the hive at this time. 

I also filled up the sugar syrup which was almost gone so they're still using it.  But now we have some nice days coming so they  may not use up this batch.  We'll see.

Bee incident of 5/11

I had an interesting event with the bees yesterday morning. I got up to find two clusters of bees outside the hive on the ground and on the cement block under the hive.  I also saw a lot of dead bees laying around.  The entrance reducer was gone. 

So I waited for the sun to come out and then suited up to get into the hive and see what happened.  I figured something had pushed in the reducer and it would be in the hive.  It was not.

At first I was scared all was lost. At first I thought the clusters were all dead bees.  Now I think they were cold and didn't dare to move from there.  Eventually, as it warmed up, they began to move and ended up going back into the hive. Aside from the clusters, inside the hive, there were still lots of bees and they seemed fine.

I found the entrance reducer outside the fully charged electric fenced bee yard...back in the brush.  Interesting it's the same spot where the bear, about 4 years ago, got to my hive and took the frames over there to eat the honey. But whatever it was  either flewover the fence or went under that 4-5 inches of space.

Instead of putting the reducer back on, I screwed in the mouse guard and duck taped over a lot of it to reduce the entrance, for now. Also added medicated sugar syrup too. Bees seemed fine after whatever the incident was.

The clusters you see are live bees...even some on the board turned out to be alive.

finally...bees

I've been slacking off on this blog, getting through a tough winter and then getting ready for spring..aren't we all doing the same in this part of the world?

I ordered yet another Nuc which arrived earlier this week.  Today I will go to the hive, and check things out.  I will:

• add sugar syrup that has been treated with medicine for nosema to a top hive feeder
• look at the honeyed frames to see if the bees have cleaned them off yet and will add other frames as needed. I have lots of frames still for them to clean off from last year.
• check the lower deep to see if there's a queen or if I see eggs
• make sure there's plenty of room for the queen to lay her eggs.

That should be enough for now.  Rain is expected tomorrow with cooler temperature so I want them to have plenty of honey and syrup for them for a few days where they'll be inside the hive.  Then the weather is supposed to warm up and be nice for several days.