Not Doing a Good Job Keeping Track of Bee Management!

 I'm not doing a very good job keeping track of our bee management. I'll try to catch up.

April 30th: Larry and Chris were working on the chicken house so I worked the bees by myself. I did another split from Wheeling because that hive is still so strong. They should have a laying queen since it's been 24 days since the split. Next warm, sunny day I'll check. If they don't have a laying queen we'll add a frame with eggs.

May 12th: Bee check. Cleveland had lots of ants. We washed them out. Another hive had ants as well, but I can't remember which There was a lot of drone brood in Morgantown so we took some of it out and also added another box to discourage swarming. Everything looked pretty good. Lots of nectar and pollen coming in.

We did another check but I don't remember the date. We think that Cleveland swarmed since there seemed to be a lot fewer bees. But if that's the case they don't have a queen and need to rear another. So we'll need to keep watch and figure out what's going on there. 

I need to make sure I record data the same day as inspections because I can't remember what I had for breakfast, much less the detail about five hives. If I wait a few days I'm lost!

Bee Management: Fun and Challenging

capped brrod and two large capped queen cells

We lost one of our three hives over the winter, not the weakest going into the fall oddly. We now have two hives, one is weak and one is strong. Since February we've been nursing along the weak hive by using the stronger hive to supplement. Two weeks ago we put two frames of brood (with a capped queen cell) from the stronger hive into the weaker. There was a capped queen cell in the small hive already. The hive was too small for any possibility of swarming, so we think the bees were superseding a queen who is a poor layer. Perhaps she wasn't mated well last year.

Today (sunny, warm, and small breeze) when we examined the weak hive most of the brood had hatched and there were lots of bees. They are bringing in pollen and nectar, but there was no sign of eggs or larvae. The hive was so calm, however, that we think they have a queen (not laying) and the capped queen cells were gone. We moved in two more frames of brood from the strong hive with two more capped queen cells into the middle frames of the middle box. We'll leave that hive alone now for two weeks and see what happens. Since queens only take 15 days to hatch and the cells are already capped they will hatch before then. Hopefully, the earlier queen (that we presume is there) will be mated and laying by then and we'll see eggs and larvae. Russian bees are notoriously slow to requeen so we figure we just need to be patient.

The strong hive is going gangbusters. That queen is a keeper. She is laying like crazy; there is plenty of brood and larvae and the workers are bringing in lots of nectar and pollen -- bright yellow and bright orange -- lovely to see. We have a honey super on top of that hive and the comb is all drawn and the bees are beginning to fill it. Hopefully we will get lots of honey this season to enjoy and share. I've promised some to the Poor Clares in Alexandria in appreciation for all the prayers for our family.

One new thing this spring is that I've been watching the bees every day with my spotting scope. It's a lot easier than trecking across the field, especially when it's wet and squishy out there. I can see them going in and out and get a good view of their pollen pockets as they enter. It's just plain fun. It will also enable the grandkids to watch the bees without getting too close although we plan to order several inexpensive bee veils so they can get out in the field close to the hives. Wish I could show you the view through the lens. Drop in and I will!

Spring Bee Management: Thinking about Swarm Control

Bees have divided themselves. Swarm on the board is ready to put in a box.

We had three hives going into the winter and one didn't make it. Oddly, it wasn't the weakest hive.

We now have one strong hive and one weak one. The strong hive had a lot of drone cells last weak but no queen cells. This week we saw one uncapped queen cell with a developing larva. Since we keep Russian bees and they swarm easily we are going to keep a close watch the next few days and take action to simulate a swarm. That means either taking the old queen out with several frames of brood and bees and honey/pollen. Or trying something we just found out about -- a taranov split where the bees actually divide themselves.

It sounds crazy, but I checked out several articles on it and it sounds fascinating. Not only that, it seems like a more natural way since the bees choose for themselves whether to go back into the old hive or get ready to "swarm" into the new one.

If you're interested in this you can read about it at these urls:

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/how-to-prevent-swarming-with-a-taranov-board/

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/the-great-divide-a-taranov-split/

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/detail-of-the-taranov-split/

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/another-take-on-taranov/