April 21st Bee Inspection. Lookin' Good!

Big bee inspection on Monday, April 21st. Saw the queen in one hive. They were making comb in the top between the frames and the lid where we had a small shim to make enough room for a feeding bag. We should have checked on the bees weeks ago but the bad weather and some stuff going on made it difficult. The queen was in the space with a beautiful comb arrangement -- the bees own architecture. I wish I took a picture .

We got her back down into the hive and removed the comb. Some we rubber banded into a frame and put in a new nuke hive. We also put out a swarm capture hive. Hopefully, we will pick up a swarm which, if the nuke rears a queen will give us four hives this season. We'll see. But this may be our last season. The work in the bee yard was exhausting for both of us. But no stings today, thanks bee to God.

Last Bee Feeding for the Fall?

The temperature got up to 72 degrees today, warm enough to do a complete bee inspection. Both hives have lots of bees and are heavy with stores. The bottom boxes were pretty empty so we moved them to the top and fed both hives, probably for the last time until late winter or early spring. We put in new swiffer sheets because both hives had lots of small hive beetles. The sheets that were in the hives captured quite a few Hopefully they will die back over the winter.

We used the smoker but the bees were pretty calm. We moved the hive near the road over next to the other hive because the bench was leaning forward a bit and looked a little unstable. Wouldn't want to come out some morning and see the beehive fallen onto the ground. So all is good in the Camp Kreitzer bee yard. May the patrons of beekeepers keep our girls warm and healthy over the winter so we can try expanding in the Spring. We'll pray for a better season than this one was.

Another Bee Inspection! Question for the Season: Will the Bianca Colony Rear a Queen?

We went out early this morning for our inspection because of the brutal heat. No way we want to be out there when the temp is pushing the upper 90s! Bee suits are hot, hot, hot! We were back in the house by 9:00 a.m. but both of us were sweating profusely and ready for a cool shower. Whew!

Our main objective was to see if we have queens, feed, and insert some hive beetle traps. 

Back in the Bee Yard Again! Whew -- Hot Work!

We should have checked the bees yesterday when the high temps were in the 70s. Today, while we were out there in the sun it was about 85 degrees. Whew! With canvas bee suits on, that makes for hot work! But sweating is good for you, right? So I'm not complaining.

Another Quick Bee Check

I went out to take out the bottom board insert from the little hive in case we pick up a swarm. It's too hot to leave that in. I checked inside because there's been some activity, but there were only a few dozen bees and they are probably robbers cleaning out whatever stores were there. 

We still hope to attract a swarm although it's getting late for that. But we'll see. I checked all the other hives to make sure they have enough room and they are all okay, so no need to add any boxes. 

No ants, no wax moths -- that's good news.

In another week or two we'll check again to see if the three active hives are queen-right. We know one hive is. The other two are iffy. But they have lots of bees and they are busy.

June 15: Bee Inspection -- Good News/Bad News

Well, the bad news first. The swarm hive left. Hardly any bees -- probably all robbers. Still a little capped brood in a few frames but we expect that will result in nothing since there won't be any nurse bees to take care of it. Anya, the next hive, has a queen cell, probably from the frame of eggs and brood we put in last time, but the hive may already have had a queen since there was a little brood in another frame. So that hive is hopeful

Bee Inspection - Keeping Track

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. 

A Hot Day in the Bee Yard

After the wax moth invasion last week, we decided we needed to make sure we were on top of things. Since the mercury is climbing up to about 90 degrees today we headed out about ten after Mass and breakfast. Whooeee! Already hot as blazes in those bee suits.

Bee Inspection Today: Good News and Bad News

We began our inspection closest to the road. We hoped the kingdom of Bethesda would have a queen, but no dice. We saw no brood. I split the hive on April 30th so they should have a laying queen, but maybe she's just a slowpoke. We put in a frame of young brood from Wheeling in case they have no queen so they can rear one. Hopefully all will be well before long. They are going gangbusters with honey production. We took out two frames of capped honey to put in the freezer.

July 14 Bee Inspection: All's well!

A frame of capped honey ready to harvest

What a hot day for an inspection. We went out right after 8:30 Mass and it was already 90 degrees and humid. Whew! Those canvas suits are hot!

We were hoping for a bumper crop of honey this year, but it is not looking too promising. All the hives were calm and we saw no ants or evidence of wax moth. We always look closely at the bees and we've never seen any varroa mites but we probably have them because everyone does. But the girls all look good. No evidence of malformed wings or any other health problems. They were all flying and pollen was coming in. The queens are laying like crazy -- lots of brood and larvae. We took out some honey frames and hope to get more on the next inspection but I doubt we will do as well as last year. Here's the rundown:

June 22nd: Bee Inspection and a Happy Discovery

I decided to make a quick bee check before we took new baby Jude's siblings for a visit. Good news -- Queen Rachel is finally mated and laying. As soon as I saw a frame with brood (capped and uncapped) I closed up the hive. Better to let her just do her thing. There is lots of activity in both Bianca and Anya's hives with lots of capped honey, so hopefully we will have a real honey boom for the harvest. It will be interesting to see how it differs from last years honey. I still have two jars so a taste comparison will be fun. Every season is different and all the rain in May affected the locust -- there wasn't much so that will not be in the honey. But I've seen the bees on the lavendar and the white clover so they'll be adding to the wildflower mix. Can't wait to taste! I added an additional box to Bianca's kingdom so both she and Anya are now five stories high. Rachel's is only three, but having no laying queen in there for weeks slowed everything down so we aren't likely to get much honey from that hive.

Stay tuned for news about the honey harvest.

After Three Days of Rain -- Bee Inspection

June 6, 2015

We checked out all three hives today starting with Queen Anya's kingdom. She is laying brood all over the frames. We decided to add a third super to give her and her subjects plenty of room to expand and make honey. With all the brood in there, they will be exploding with bees soon.There were a few empty queen cells which is a common practice of Russian bees. They sometimes build "practice" cells, but there was no sign they are getting ready to swarm.

We checked Queen Bianca's hive next and she is busy laying lots of brood as well. We saw the queen in the top box, a pretty little gal. The empty frames we put in last time are being drawn but there is still plenty of room for the workers to collect. We decided to move the bee escape and full box of honey from the big hive to Queen Bianca''s hive. That will make both the smaller hives three boxes and reduce the tall hive to five boxes. Next week we plan to add another working box to Queen Bianca's hive.

Last we went into the big hive. It still has lots and lots of bees and they are busy bringing in nectar and pollen, but there is no laying queen. We did not see a queen at all as we inspected but the four queen capped queen cells that were in there last time are gone so we suspect there is a queen who may not be mated yet or is mated, but not laying. We shifted a box that is mostly empty to a lower position in the hive and moved the box that is almost full of honey to the top box without a bee escape. They still have some capping to do in that box so we want them to keep working there. We hope to get at least three honey supers to harvest this year.

Next weekend we plan to inspect again and if there is still no sign of a laying queen in the large hive, we will move some eggs from one of the other hives into that one. Hopefully that won't be necessary and we'll have a laying queen in a week and can name that hive, but Russians are very slow to requeen.

Looking forward to the honey harvest because we are getting low on boxes! We need to empty those and reuse.

St.. Ambrose and St. Valentine, we ask your intercession to make the tall hive queen right!