So today I got out to the hive again and reduced the three deep hives to two. I looked at each frame and put ones that had brood or eggs in them to the bottom box. In the top box, I added all the frames that had honey or comb. That way, with comb on the frames, there will be less work for the bees to do. They won't need to make comb.
I don't know how it'll all work out. We shall see.
I did look into Hive #1, that should be empty but there were bees still in there so I left it alone. I thought I saw eggs in there so now I question if there's still a queen in there...or if there's a queen in Hive #2 for that matter.
I'm doubting everything at this moment. I basically want the summer to end and see what the spring brings. But between now and then, perhaps they'll make enough brood to increase their numbers.
There seemed to be a decent quantity of honey in Hive #2 and if they keep producing, there should be enough for the winter. IF there's still a queen in there.
For two nights, I watched the hive and didn't see bees bringing in pollen. I could have missed them or maybe the queens killed each other off. I really don't know. Time will tell.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015
What a challenging hobby
Well, this will end up being another losing year in terms of money spent versus honey production...sad to say. I guess the big event that caused me trouble is that Hive #1 swarmed in July. Since then, Hive #1 has been struggling. And of course, Hive #2, that I started with high hopes ended up needing a queen after about a month so it's off to a slow start.
Today I combined the two hives into one
What I did was take the 10 best frames from hive #1 and added that deep to the top of Hive #2, with only a sheet of newspaper separating the hives. After a week, I will go into the hive and check that they are all happily combined into one.
Then I will consolidate the three boxes into two, taking the best frames from each to populate the two remaining deeps. The goal is to get as much brood into the bottom deep (in the case, the dark blue box) and as much honey into the upper deep (the light blue box).
Why did I do this merger?
In looking at the hives from my chair, I saw that Hive 1 was doing nothing at all. Hive 2 seemed to be doing better than it has for a month. Then I looked at all the frames in Hive 1 and, I saw a lot wrong. I saw frames with uncapped honey and pollen and frames with uncapped brood. I didn't find the queen but it have been there and is just weak.
I'm not sure if a queen made it into the upper box in the new combined hive...it shouldn't be there. If it's there, one of the queens will die. There can be only one queen bee per hive.
My goal is to make the hive strong before the winter and given where they are today, I figured I'd better do it now to give a few months for them to make enough honey to store for the winter.
I will get no more honey this year for myself. I think I am only going to have a couple of gallons...none to sell...barely any to give away.
It's disappointing.
A swarm was the undoing...I think
In retrospect, my mistake was not seeing that last year's Hive, that wintered over so wonderfully, was so strong that it was going to swarm.
I read that many beekeepers just look at the bottom of the bottom hive and if they see honeycomb being built down there, the bees are probably making queen cells, an indication of a swarm. I should have gone in there in June to remove any cells. I didn't do that. I will be watching for that in the future ...if I'm lucky enough for this new hive to make it through the winter.
Notice that small box at the top of the new hive...it's filled with sugar syrup. I will be feeding the bees beginning now so that they have help creating enough food for the winter. If they can do that, and I use my wintering technique that worked so well last year, it should set me up for a good start next year.
Thank goodness I haven't retired yet. I've got to make all my mistakes before the money stops coming in...this is expensive honey!!
Today I combined the two hives into one
 |
| August 9 merged hive 1 into hive 2 |
What I did was take the 10 best frames from hive #1 and added that deep to the top of Hive #2, with only a sheet of newspaper separating the hives. After a week, I will go into the hive and check that they are all happily combined into one.
Then I will consolidate the three boxes into two, taking the best frames from each to populate the two remaining deeps. The goal is to get as much brood into the bottom deep (in the case, the dark blue box) and as much honey into the upper deep (the light blue box).
Why did I do this merger?
In looking at the hives from my chair, I saw that Hive 1 was doing nothing at all. Hive 2 seemed to be doing better than it has for a month. Then I looked at all the frames in Hive 1 and, I saw a lot wrong. I saw frames with uncapped honey and pollen and frames with uncapped brood. I didn't find the queen but it have been there and is just weak.
I'm not sure if a queen made it into the upper box in the new combined hive...it shouldn't be there. If it's there, one of the queens will die. There can be only one queen bee per hive.
My goal is to make the hive strong before the winter and given where they are today, I figured I'd better do it now to give a few months for them to make enough honey to store for the winter.
I will get no more honey this year for myself. I think I am only going to have a couple of gallons...none to sell...barely any to give away.
It's disappointing.
A swarm was the undoing...I think
In retrospect, my mistake was not seeing that last year's Hive, that wintered over so wonderfully, was so strong that it was going to swarm.
I read that many beekeepers just look at the bottom of the bottom hive and if they see honeycomb being built down there, the bees are probably making queen cells, an indication of a swarm. I should have gone in there in June to remove any cells. I didn't do that. I will be watching for that in the future ...if I'm lucky enough for this new hive to make it through the winter.
Notice that small box at the top of the new hive...it's filled with sugar syrup. I will be feeding the bees beginning now so that they have help creating enough food for the winter. If they can do that, and I use my wintering technique that worked so well last year, it should set me up for a good start next year.
Thank goodness I haven't retired yet. I've got to make all my mistakes before the money stops coming in...this is expensive honey!!
Friday, July 31, 2015
July 31st - bee hive check and add the triangle board
Today, I wanted to add the Triangle Board to Hive #1 because I want to extract one super this weekend. I think that is all the honey I will get this year. I had hoped that the second super would be filling up but it is not. In fact, Hive #1 doesn't seem to have that many bees in there....so I'm anxious to get the honey out while it's still there!
The Triangle Board is a board that you put in under the super that is filled with honey. Bees will go down into the deep hive at the endof the day, but they won't be able to figure out how to get back up into the super...so that makes it easy for us beekeepers to get the super off the next day without bees in that box.
While I was there, I looked in on Hive #2. I was very pleased to see signs of a queen and some brood in the lower deep. I've noticed more bees in that hive while watching them in the evening so was glad to see firsthand that they are doing ok.
We'll see what the next few months bring. Right now, I am thinking I may need to combine the hives over the winter based on the population I see today. But we'll see what happens.
I think that after I extract the honey from Hive 1, I will put it back on that hive. The second super that's on there doesn't have comb so the bees first need to make comb before they can fill it...I can help them out by putting the super back on that has the comb on it.
The Triangle Board is a board that you put in under the super that is filled with honey. Bees will go down into the deep hive at the endof the day, but they won't be able to figure out how to get back up into the super...so that makes it easy for us beekeepers to get the super off the next day without bees in that box.
While I was there, I looked in on Hive #2. I was very pleased to see signs of a queen and some brood in the lower deep. I've noticed more bees in that hive while watching them in the evening so was glad to see firsthand that they are doing ok.
We'll see what the next few months bring. Right now, I am thinking I may need to combine the hives over the winter based on the population I see today. But we'll see what happens.
I think that after I extract the honey from Hive 1, I will put it back on that hive. The second super that's on there doesn't have comb so the bees first need to make comb before they can fill it...I can help them out by putting the super back on that has the comb on it.
Friday, July 17, 2015
Watching the bees July 16th
An evening ritual, weather permitting, in the summer, I like to take a glass of wine out near the beehives, sit in my adirondack chair and watch the beehives. I try to gauge its health by doing so...plus it's relaxing.
Last night, I saw the bees bringing in an off-white pollen and occasionally a bright orange pollen. I always wonder what flowers they are in to gather them. Then I looked around and realized I have a lot of Black Eyed Susans blooming, and all the creeping thyme, creeping everywhere, is in bloom still and they are an off-white right now.
Or they could have flown up to 5 miles away so who knows where they are gathering. I have an Agway down the street, and Walker Farm less than 5 miles away...great sources of pollen and nectar.
Both hives seemed to be doing well. They act like they both have queens. I'd just like to see more bees around Hive#2 but hopefully soon I will. I don't think there's been enough time for the frames I added to have hatched the bees. But I was pleased at the amount of activity regardless.
Last night, I saw the bees bringing in an off-white pollen and occasionally a bright orange pollen. I always wonder what flowers they are in to gather them. Then I looked around and realized I have a lot of Black Eyed Susans blooming, and all the creeping thyme, creeping everywhere, is in bloom still and they are an off-white right now.
Or they could have flown up to 5 miles away so who knows where they are gathering. I have an Agway down the street, and Walker Farm less than 5 miles away...great sources of pollen and nectar.
Both hives seemed to be doing well. They act like they both have queens. I'd just like to see more bees around Hive#2 but hopefully soon I will. I don't think there's been enough time for the frames I added to have hatched the bees. But I was pleased at the amount of activity regardless.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Frustration on July 1
Yesterday I went into the hive to take a few frames of brood from Hive 1 and add them to Hive 2. The reason for this was to have brook born in Hive 2 to strengthen the hive. They need the worker bees to help the queen thrive.
As you know, Hive 1 made it through the winter and started out very strong. In fact, I was worried that they might swarm because the hive was so full. I had been thinking of taking out some brood frames but didn't for a lot of reasons. Mainly because I hadn't done it before. So I waited...too long I fear.
When I opened Hive 1, I was surprised how easy it was because I didn't have swarms of bees all around me like the last time. I lifted off the super loaded with honey (I must extract that next week!), the mostly empty new super, then the top bottom deep, and began checking frames in the bottom deep...that's where most of the brood should be.
I looked at several frames that had very little on them. At the end, I found a few frames with some brood but not that many bees...some but not loaded....and put them aside for Hive 2.
I continued looking at frames and one frame, in particular, had wax built up in one corner of the frame, like a large bulge...they looked like drone cells though. I'm not sure. In the middle of it was what looked like a queen cell. And I left it there, for better or for worse.
To me, it looks like that hive swarmed but part of the colony stayed and maybe they are making themselves a queen. There also looked to be some larvae in the cells on a few frames. And there were clusters of bees in certain sections. So that told me I may still have a queen but I never saw her. Perhaps she's getting old. This would be her second year with me.
I probably shouldn't have taken out those two frames for Hive 2. It may weaken Hive 1 too much. But it's done and we'll just have to see what happens next. It's an interesting process, this beekeeping.
My strategy for the rest of the season is to let it go. If a queen dies, let them make a new one.
I will harvest my honey next week so I at least have that. If the hives are not thriving at the end of the season..September-ish, I will merge them into one hive to obtain a stronger hive that would help them make it through the winter. Perhaps I wasn't meant to have two hives.
As you know, Hive 1 made it through the winter and started out very strong. In fact, I was worried that they might swarm because the hive was so full. I had been thinking of taking out some brood frames but didn't for a lot of reasons. Mainly because I hadn't done it before. So I waited...too long I fear.
When I opened Hive 1, I was surprised how easy it was because I didn't have swarms of bees all around me like the last time. I lifted off the super loaded with honey (I must extract that next week!), the mostly empty new super, then the top bottom deep, and began checking frames in the bottom deep...that's where most of the brood should be.
I looked at several frames that had very little on them. At the end, I found a few frames with some brood but not that many bees...some but not loaded....and put them aside for Hive 2.
I continued looking at frames and one frame, in particular, had wax built up in one corner of the frame, like a large bulge...they looked like drone cells though. I'm not sure. In the middle of it was what looked like a queen cell. And I left it there, for better or for worse.
To me, it looks like that hive swarmed but part of the colony stayed and maybe they are making themselves a queen. There also looked to be some larvae in the cells on a few frames. And there were clusters of bees in certain sections. So that told me I may still have a queen but I never saw her. Perhaps she's getting old. This would be her second year with me.
I probably shouldn't have taken out those two frames for Hive 2. It may weaken Hive 1 too much. But it's done and we'll just have to see what happens next. It's an interesting process, this beekeeping.
My strategy for the rest of the season is to let it go. If a queen dies, let them make a new one.
I will harvest my honey next week so I at least have that. If the hives are not thriving at the end of the season..September-ish, I will merge them into one hive to obtain a stronger hive that would help them make it through the winter. Perhaps I wasn't meant to have two hives.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
A constant reminder that I am a newbie beekeeper
As you readers already know, I had to get a new queen for my Hive #2. The first one disappeared and the hive had stopped thriving. Two weeks ago, I added the queen to the hive. After 3 or 4 days, I checked on her, to see if she'd eaten her way out (eating the candy plug) yet. I also worried that I placed her between frames but didn't expose the screened side to the colony...and worried I might have suffocated my queen.
So when moving the queen cage, trying to fix her to expose the screen to the colony, it fell to the bottom of the hive. By then, bees were attacking me, trying to get through my beekeeper's suit (thankfully I bought that protection!). When I saw that the cage landed with the screen up, and the queen was still moving around, I left well enough alone and closed up the hive.
Yesterday, now 10 days later, I decided to see if I still had a queen or if she got out of her cage.
I opened the hive and saw a mound of bees around the cage at the bottom of the hive. This time, I reached down to get the cage in hand. And there was my queen, feisty and seemingly in good health! But she didn't seem to want to come out of the cage, even though the candy was gone and she could. So I removed the screen from the cage, giving her more space to exit, and then shook it over the hive and then I removed the cage from the hive.
I then closed up the hive.
However today I need to help her out and take some brood from Hive #1 and add a few frames of bees and brood from #1 to #2. If I don't do that, she won't have enough workers in the hive because the ones I bought in April are now dying away. Hive #1 is packed with bees so they could lose a few to Hive #2 and, so I read, this will strengthen #2 and give them time build their numbers before cold weather comes. They need each other to make it through the winter.
While I'm in Hive #2 today, I will move the full super to the top of the hive so that, when I'm ready to extract, it'll be easier to put on the triangle board. This hive is very aggressive right now with all that honey in there. I should extract soon...I may decide to put the triangle board on so that tomorrow I could get that super inside and extract the honey. It's pretty heavy for me. I took two frames out a few weeks ago just to lighten it up.
I find lifting these hives can be difficult for a woman...at least for this woman! Over time, I hope to migrate from the deeps to mediums so that each section of the hive is lighter. Either that or I build more muscle.
All this activity reminds me that I'm no expert here. I am learning new things every step of the way. This procedure of building one hive using the brood of another makes sense to me. We'll see how it goes.
So when moving the queen cage, trying to fix her to expose the screen to the colony, it fell to the bottom of the hive. By then, bees were attacking me, trying to get through my beekeeper's suit (thankfully I bought that protection!). When I saw that the cage landed with the screen up, and the queen was still moving around, I left well enough alone and closed up the hive.
Yesterday, now 10 days later, I decided to see if I still had a queen or if she got out of her cage.
I opened the hive and saw a mound of bees around the cage at the bottom of the hive. This time, I reached down to get the cage in hand. And there was my queen, feisty and seemingly in good health! But she didn't seem to want to come out of the cage, even though the candy was gone and she could. So I removed the screen from the cage, giving her more space to exit, and then shook it over the hive and then I removed the cage from the hive.
I then closed up the hive.
However today I need to help her out and take some brood from Hive #1 and add a few frames of bees and brood from #1 to #2. If I don't do that, she won't have enough workers in the hive because the ones I bought in April are now dying away. Hive #1 is packed with bees so they could lose a few to Hive #2 and, so I read, this will strengthen #2 and give them time build their numbers before cold weather comes. They need each other to make it through the winter.
While I'm in Hive #2 today, I will move the full super to the top of the hive so that, when I'm ready to extract, it'll be easier to put on the triangle board. This hive is very aggressive right now with all that honey in there. I should extract soon...I may decide to put the triangle board on so that tomorrow I could get that super inside and extract the honey. It's pretty heavy for me. I took two frames out a few weeks ago just to lighten it up.
I find lifting these hives can be difficult for a woman...at least for this woman! Over time, I hope to migrate from the deeps to mediums so that each section of the hive is lighter. Either that or I build more muscle.
All this activity reminds me that I'm no expert here. I am learning new things every step of the way. This procedure of building one hive using the brood of another makes sense to me. We'll see how it goes.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
June 20 - a week of bee beards, stings and a new queen
It's been an interesting week with the bees.
Hive #2 gets a new queen
Last week, I finally came to the conclusion that I was without a queen in the new hive (#2). So thanks to Charles Andros in Alstead, NH, I was able to pick up a queen from him, and put it in the hive. While doing that, I decided to remove the super I had added because we are just not ready for that yet. They need to lay some brood and perhaps no super will be needed all summer because they also need to draw out comb on new frames. Currently there's a mix of old/new frames in that hive. So they have a lot of work to do before making honey for my use. They do seem to be making honey for their own use though.
The queen came in its cage with the candy plus but also a piece of tape covering the candy. I left that on until today, making 4 days with the queen in the hive in the cage. I did this to give the bees a bit more time to get used to the queen's pheronomes...so they don't kill her when she emerges. The tape prevented the bees from getting to the candy, and hence, the queen.
I just went to the hive to check and,thankfully the queen was still alive in the hive because I had the screened portion of the cage facing an empty frame. NEVER DO THAT. I was lucky she didn't die.
When I tried to pick up the cage to turn it, it fell to the bottom board toward the back. Rather than try to reach my hand down there to move it, I left it there. I will now wait until at least a few more days to see the outcome and hope she gets out and the hive becomes productive.
If it doesn't, I'm giving up on a second hive....at least for this year.
Hive #1 attacks me
It's probably not a good idea to deal with removing any frames from a super during a work day. I take shortcuts then. And shortcuts can get you lost...or stung, in the case of bees.
I hadn't been stung much this year which added to my cockiness in thinking I didn't need to take all the precautions. In honey season, when I go to the hive, I always wear my full suit and bee gloves for protection. And Hive #1 is in honey season.
I generally wear my winter boots under the suit because, although hot, are really thick and no bee can sting through them. Then the suit legs fit over the boot and I secure it with a strong elastic. That is the right way to do it.
Well I didn't do that. I took that shortcut and didn't get out the winter boots. Instead I just covered my suit legs with a pair of socks and wore my gardening shoes.
The result was multiple sticks around my ankles and a few on my wrist but mostly the ankles. I was feeling pretty resentful
Hive #1 had beards all over the front
When bees get too hot in the hive, they hangout outside along the front and maybe sides of the hive. That's what I was seeing last week.
I knew my first super was full and I thought it was preventing any air flow in the hive so I wanted to remove at least a few frames of honey to give them some circulation in there. I did that but it did cost me a bunch of stings.
Again, I took a shortcut. I didn't use my smoker and just grabbed my bee brush to brush off any bees and hundreds of bees were flying around me. Angry. I can't really blame them.
I plopped the two honey laden frames into the bin, covered it, and headed to the basement. Then because I have no energy left, and no time, I put them into the freezer until I'm ready to extract more.
I think that I may try to extract in about a week.
Hive #2 gets a new queen
Last week, I finally came to the conclusion that I was without a queen in the new hive (#2). So thanks to Charles Andros in Alstead, NH, I was able to pick up a queen from him, and put it in the hive. While doing that, I decided to remove the super I had added because we are just not ready for that yet. They need to lay some brood and perhaps no super will be needed all summer because they also need to draw out comb on new frames. Currently there's a mix of old/new frames in that hive. So they have a lot of work to do before making honey for my use. They do seem to be making honey for their own use though.
The queen came in its cage with the candy plus but also a piece of tape covering the candy. I left that on until today, making 4 days with the queen in the hive in the cage. I did this to give the bees a bit more time to get used to the queen's pheronomes...so they don't kill her when she emerges. The tape prevented the bees from getting to the candy, and hence, the queen.
I just went to the hive to check and,thankfully the queen was still alive in the hive because I had the screened portion of the cage facing an empty frame. NEVER DO THAT. I was lucky she didn't die.
When I tried to pick up the cage to turn it, it fell to the bottom board toward the back. Rather than try to reach my hand down there to move it, I left it there. I will now wait until at least a few more days to see the outcome and hope she gets out and the hive becomes productive.
If it doesn't, I'm giving up on a second hive....at least for this year.
Hive #1 attacks me
It's probably not a good idea to deal with removing any frames from a super during a work day. I take shortcuts then. And shortcuts can get you lost...or stung, in the case of bees.
I hadn't been stung much this year which added to my cockiness in thinking I didn't need to take all the precautions. In honey season, when I go to the hive, I always wear my full suit and bee gloves for protection. And Hive #1 is in honey season.
I generally wear my winter boots under the suit because, although hot, are really thick and no bee can sting through them. Then the suit legs fit over the boot and I secure it with a strong elastic. That is the right way to do it.
Well I didn't do that. I took that shortcut and didn't get out the winter boots. Instead I just covered my suit legs with a pair of socks and wore my gardening shoes.
The result was multiple sticks around my ankles and a few on my wrist but mostly the ankles. I was feeling pretty resentful
Hive #1 had beards all over the front
When bees get too hot in the hive, they hangout outside along the front and maybe sides of the hive. That's what I was seeing last week.
I knew my first super was full and I thought it was preventing any air flow in the hive so I wanted to remove at least a few frames of honey to give them some circulation in there. I did that but it did cost me a bunch of stings.
Again, I took a shortcut. I didn't use my smoker and just grabbed my bee brush to brush off any bees and hundreds of bees were flying around me. Angry. I can't really blame them.
I plopped the two honey laden frames into the bin, covered it, and headed to the basement. Then because I have no energy left, and no time, I put them into the freezer until I'm ready to extract more.
I think that I may try to extract in about a week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)