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Offline tedh

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First splits
« on: April 11, 2015, 07:25:24 pm »
Hi Everyone,
  We treated both hives with OA today.  For a few different reasons I felt I should also do an inspection of the hive at my house.  Upon inspection I found a cluster of queen cups (two of which appeared loaded to me) and what I believe to be a capped queen cell.  Josh took some pics but he's kinda tied up with his girls right now so I will try to post them later. 

My actions:  Call Scott.  Went over my plan with him.  Got the nod to remove existing queen, 2 frames of brood, 2 frames of honey and pollen, an extra shake of bees and place in a nuc along with 1 undrawn frame of foundation.

In the excitement Josh decided to pull his queen along with brood, stores, an extra shake of bees, and place in a nuc with 1 undrawn frame of foundation.  Just like dear ol' dad.  His thought at the time was with eggs in the hive and drones running around the girls could build a new queen.  Talking it over on the way home it was decided to get a queen locally so as to increase our odds of obtaining honey this summer by not loosing the time it will take to build the new queen.

My actions:  Call Scott.  Got the time and place to pick up the new queen tomorrow.

Right or wrong it's what we've done.  Here's hoping for the best and making plans for the worst!  Ted
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Offline tedh

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Re: First splits
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2015, 07:56:36 pm »
Update:  Josh called with a good idea.  Since he's picking up a new queen tomorrow should he grab one for me?  We're only talking 5 or 6 queen cups/queen cells why not just eliminate them, and slow release a new queen.  That will hopefully save us the time it would take for the new queen to mate etc. and maybe give us honey from that hive also.  Brilliant!

My actions: Call Scott.  Run this idea past him and get the nod.  Call about picking up the second queen.

Ya know, this has been kinda fun!  Ted
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First splits
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2015, 09:24:31 pm »
LOL..   Good thing Tim has 50 extra queens.  ;D    Go ahead and pull early splits. Adding the queens will let them build up fast.  Then what??
  See if those southern queens can handle an Iowa Winter? Or replace them with local stock?
   I have had BAD luck with southern queens.. but I have half a mind to buy half a dozen of those queens.. They are FROM Reg Wilbanks apiary..   I havent had the opportunity to try them through a winter yet..

   http://wilbanksapiaries.com/
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Offline tedh

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Re: First splits
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2015, 05:03:14 pm »
Took a look a moment ago, and yes, the queen cups were loaded, so I guess they were then queen cells?.  I still can't be sure if what I saw was a capped queen cell until I can post a pic.  However I do feel good that I was indeed looking at what I thought I was seeing.  If that makes sense.  So I removed the queen cells and will requeen tomorrow morning.  Josh has already requeened his hive.  Now, if the splits we made continue to exist and the new queens are accepted we will move the  splits from the nuc boxes and install them into deeps next weekend.  Fingers crossed.  Ted
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First splits
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2015, 10:09:32 pm »
Good deal!  Where are the pictures?
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: First splits
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2015, 11:12:12 pm »
I was so hoping for Lazy to include the phrase "call me" in his post...
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First splits
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2015, 08:50:43 am »
 ;D   thats a given...   Feel free to call anytime.
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