Mother Hive and Daughter Hive

[Jen]

And here we have it folks! Jen's swarm nicely tucked into a deep, and the girls seem to be adjusting well. I feel like I've been thru a birthing process minus the stitches and my babies live outside ~ 


The Swarm two days ago. So Magical ~


Ironically, hubby just finished this nifty screen bottom board with a pull out drawer for me. I Love It!




Hubby trucking the girls to their newly acquired real estate


Jen's 15 minutes of Bee Fame 


Via Tecumseh ~~~ Jen's grassy, twiggy, leafy, popsicle stick thingee 


One hour later and they are coming out and enjoying the sunshine, and there are bubbles coming up in the feed jar.

[LazyBkpr]

VERY nice!!
   I like it, They look good there beside their proud mother. 

   The idea of the entrance block is to make them work to go around it, blocking view and changing the flight line, but it looks like it may have worked. Keep up the good work, and keep those girls happy!
   Love the pictures, and impressed with that slide in drawer!

[Jen]

Thanks Scott! I Am Proud! I was watching the entrance block today, observing, I noticed that some of the bees came out and crawled onto the popsicle stick and groomed before taking flight. I thought that interesting and proving a good decision in placing an obstacle in front of the entrance. It definitely DID make them slow down and take note.

How long do I need to keep the obstacle in front of the opening?

And, There is still a queen excluder under the deep, when can we take that out?

[Jen]

Okay Okay I Know I'm Supposed To Stay Out Of The Daugher Hive For A Week! But as of yesterday when we placed this hive on the bench in the backyard, a good many of the bees were still clinging to the walls of the upper two meds. I wanted to see if they were still not going down into the frames.

This morning when I put a jar of syrup on the boardman, I cracked the lid and I see that they have clustered on top of the frames. I'm seeing this as a good sign 

[iddee]

Supers with no frames is asking for chaos. The first comb they draw will be from the lid. Either remove them or put frames in them. With a new swarm, I would remove them.

[apisbees]

What Iddee said

[GLOCK]

I remember my first swarm it was a great feeling almost made me feel like a kid again. . I had 3 in 3 days in 2011 before I know how to keep them in there boxes now I have SPM in order but still had 3 last year out of my nucs.
You better make some more boxes JEN your going to need them.

[Jen]

Iddee and Apis! ""Supers with no frames is asking for chaos. The first comb they draw will be from the lid. Either remove them or put frames in them. With a new swarm, I would remove them.""

This is the setup I used to transfer the bees from the cedar branches into the bottom deep. At first, there was a queen excluder on top of those frames, then the two mediums above. We shook the bees in and they went to the bottom frames and the queen stayed above on the excluder. This way we knew we had the queen. The next day, we removed the excluder making sure the queen went down into the frames. I don't have an inner cover yet, will have one soon. When I get the inner cover I will put it over the frames. Then I will leave the mediums on for internal feeding.

[barry42001]

just bear in mind Jen, that swarm is looking for a comb to be built, that medium depth super on top has about the same space as what they might find a tree....they may build in the frames as well what you're about to get as natural you want to get to lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[iddee]

Just be sure the workers cannot get into the supers without frames. If you do, I promise, after cleaning up the mess and killing so many bees, you will never do it again.

[Jen]

Iddee- That is exactly what I did, The Day Before the swarm. My intention was to clean up the top deep. The deep started out with nine frames last year, and I ended up with a bunch of gnarled burr comb all over the place. After I cleaned up the top deep, I was able to insert a tenth frame. In front of the hive, on the ground, looked like armageddon.

Once the feeder is on the center opening of the inner cover, not bees can get up into the two meds. As soon as they're not taking the syrup, the meds will be removed.

Thanks for your concern, I appreciate it Mr. Wizard   kisshug patpatpat 

[litefoot]

Jen, there are easier ways to make a split. Just kidding. What you did to save that swarm was pretty awesome. That pretty much puts you up there at the bee goddess level.

[Jen]

litefoot - ""Jen, there are easier ways to make a split.""

Thanks litefoot    I haven't had the priviledge of making a split yet, but I assure you it isn't nearly as fun