Post swarm check

Wednesday June 27. Overcast, breezy, 74 degrees. My hive swarmed on Sunday the 24th, so I needed to go in and check for a new queen in the remaining colony, since the old one would have left with the swarm. They started out at the beginning of this month as a 4 frame nuc colony, and as of today have expanded to about 8 frames. The last two on the right side are still empty, and the last one on the left is just beginning to have comb drawn. On this check, I saw a lot of new drone cells, a lot of old empty cells in one frame in the middle, and a full frame of new capped brood on another frame. I was busy looking for the queen, but did not find one. I am disappointed at having them swarm, and the loss of so many bees, but my hive still seems to be going strong with the remaining bees, so time will tell.

SWARM!!

This bee yard event was just too exciting for me to simply photograph and write about, so here's a link to three videos on our Youtube channel about yesterday's surprise.  Be sure to watch them in order.

SWARM!! Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKOYWZcfv8&feature=plcp

SWARM!! Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaUb-Io2NBA&feature=plcp

SWARM!! Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYFrCxG0deQ&feature=plcp


Sadly, the swarm didn't accept the hive boxes I set up for them, and they absconded to an unknown location.  I learned that I let too much light into the new "hive" by slightly propping up the makeshift cover.  Apparently, bees want their new home to be very dark, with just a small opening big enough to enter and leave the hive.  But the process was still exhilarating, and now I know what to do next time!

First Look

Well, my bees have been making themselves at home for 10 days, and I decided to go in and take a look at what they have been up to. I waited for a warm sunny day, and opened the hive about 11am. The bees had expanded to the new frames on either end of the old nuc frames, and were building lots of new comb, much of it already filled with nectar. I did find the queen, which was fun, she is right in the middle of this picture and her body is black, compared to the rest of the bees. After investigating the frames, seeing lots of capped brood, and a busy queen, I noticed a couple frames had queen cups. A queen cup is a cell that is larger than the others, protrudes out from the rest, and has an opening on the bottom. This is a sign that the bees are getting ready to swarm, and those need to be removed. Here is a photo of the queen cup, it's hard to see, because it is covered with bees, the group right in the corner of the frame with about 4-5 bees clustered together. After removing the queen cup ( also called swarm cells) the bees should relax and spread out more, and get down to the business of populating their new large space. We know they were swarm cells because of the position of them on the frame, being placed down at the bottom. If the bees had made a queen cell somewhere at the top of the frame, that means that the original queen bee is failing in her duties, and they are planning to supersede her, and raise a new queen. That's okay, and we would not remove that queen cell. Anyway, all is well, I refilled the feeder and left them to their jobs!

Finally.....Sue's bees arrive!

Posted By Sue: My bees and I got off to a rocky start, but that means things can only get better from here, right? I picked up my nuc from my supplier on Saturday June 2, and it was pouring rain, windy, and 53 degrees out. Not good bee weather. For non beekeepers, a nuc, (short for nucleus) is a box of 4 or 5 frames that contains a small bee colony. Nucs consist of adult bees, comb with eggs and brood, a laying queen, and various amounts of honey and pollen. My nuc was overwintered in northern Maine, so I know my bees are already natives, and accustomed to our climate. My bees are Carniolans. This race of bees were originally brought from Yugoslavia and Austria, where the winters are cold and the honey flows variable. They are popular and well suited for our northern climates. They are known for being industrious workers,in many types of weather (not just sunny warm days, like some Italian bees I know), and also for gentle dispositions. Here is a photo of the nuc box: So, since Saturday was a monsoon, I waited to install them in the hive. And waited, and waited. Sunday rain, Monday more rain. It broke somewhat for little while on Monday evening around 5 pm, so I decided to quickly put them in their new home. In Hindsight, I probably should have waited until the next day, as they were not really happy to be disturbed during a cold wet evening. In the photos, you can see me unscrewing the top lid screws, and the nuc box that contains 4 frames. I took those frames out slowly and carefully, then put them into the bigger hive box, on the right of the photo. You may also notice I'm not wearing any gloves. On a warm sunny day, when bees are happy, that's probably no problem. But... this was not one of those days, and bees were not happy, and I did get stung on the hand. It was my own fault. One landed on my hand, and I didn't look, just brushed it off and when I did, she stung. Oh well, had to happen sometime, might as well get the first one out of the way. After that I was really ready to throw the lid on the hive and say see ya later, and that is basically what happened. It was not the optimum day to work bees, but the job was done, and I'll visit them again in a week or so to see how they are settling in to their new home.