I need to keep track of what we're doing with the bees so this will be my "notebook" entry so to speak.
We came out of the winter with one strong hive. To give us insurance for the season we bought a nuc and installed it in the bee yard on Monday, March 25th. The same day we split our big hive but couldn't find the queen so we didn't know which double box she was in, the original box which I'll call Alpha, or the split which I'll call Beta. We fed everybody and started waiting.
On the 29th we gave Beta another feeding because they were so inactive. On April 7th we added boxes to the nuc and to Alpha because they both had so many bees outside. In fact, we were afraid the nuc was getting ready to swarm.
Today, April 18th we did a check of all three hives. Beta had two queen cells at the bottom and brood so it's clear we moved the queen there when we did the split. She may be going to swarm anyway. We left the queen cells alone because if they swarm they'll need those queen cells to raise a new queen. We added some spearmint to our swarm box to hopefully catch a swarm, perhaps one from our own hives.
We added a box to the nuc because they have almost filled the top box with nectar. That makes three boxes on the nuc. There were lots of drone cells which we removed and fed to the chickens. There's plenty of brood and we took a frame with egg cells and gave it to Alpha. If they have a queen it won't hurt and if they don't, they can use the eggs to raise a new queen. We're asking the patrons of beekeepers for help.
I got my first sting of the season on the middle finger of my right hand. I never saw the bee. She must have been on my glove and stung me as I was taking it off. I hope it helps my arthritis!
We're off to a good start for the bee season. They've been all over our apple tree and this weather is great for pollen and nectar collecting.
