One more glimpse of "bee math"....

[Intheswamp]

This picture was taken February 2, 2012.  That little hive is actually a single, 8-frame medium box with another super on top covering the syrup jar feeder.  It consists of 8 frames of bees and resources that I bought from my mentors best friend for $1 a piece...they wanted me to have some bees to work with until I got my two big hives in the spring.   I moved it on back into "hive row".  This is the beginnings of "hive row".  I was prepared for expansion with a couple of extra sets of cement blocks...there's a total of five stands there. 


And today, a little over two years later with no aggressive attempt to increase...   The little 8-frame nuc picture above is the second hive from the right in the picture above...unfortunately it's never made much honey but always has lots of bees...??   I'm sitting at eight colonies right now...so much for the five stands, eh? 


It's been up and down in number of hives...you lose some, you gain some...thankfully, I'm ahead of the game....so far. 

Ed

[Slowmodem]

Your math looks pretty good to me!   

[Garden Hive]

I'd say that math equates to most of "ours" !!!!
When you run out of wooden ware to grow you make due with what you have. Looks like two bottom boards substituting for covers. Don't have any photo's of my substitues at the time. But I've used some goofy stuff to get by! 
Tim

[blueblood]

Good story and like that you still have the first hive.

[riverbee]

very cool ed,  nice to have the success, and the increase of the colonies!

[G3farms]

I'd say that math equates to most of "ours" !!!!
When you run out of wooden ware to grow you make due with what you have. Looks like two bottom boards substituting for covers. Don't have any photo's of my substitues at the time. But I've used some goofy stuff to get by! 
Tim

I use the plastic campaign signs for tops sometimes. Have used inner cover for bottom board, notch to the top and forward and a piece of campaign sign taped over the hole in the center of it.

[tecumseh]

thanks for sharing.  that is a great little story you have there.

[LazyBkpr]

Bee Math...   Intheswamp..   those colonies that always seem to make lots of bees, but not much honey are a valuable resource.  I made the decision NOT to pinch one of the queens I had that loved to build up and swarm just for the purpose of BEES..   I tried to keep her in a nuc, but that really didnt work, so I have her in one of my last deeps, lots of mediums on top. She seems to delight in filling them and provides new colonies with a frame of brood, splits with brood and bees etc... I do have to keep up with her. If I slack she will out pace me and swarm. I believe she is bound and determined to kill me  by making me run around in circles every time I check on her progress...   Her hive is going to be one split to make the incoming queens new hives..   Inspection last week showed 14 frames of brood in the medium boxes, not including the deep she is in....   Yeah.. I REALLY need those queens to arrive!!!
   Bee Math...   1 - 14 = 5
      5 queens originally destined for a university were canceled and re routed to me, but that actually equals 7,  so in reality 2 - 17 = 7 Until we get to early July when I make more queens and summer nucs...   so by then the original 2 actually equal 2 - 38 = 21......      12 - 14 of which will be nucs to overwinter....
   Now, if you look toward SE Iowa, you will see a mushroom cloud of smoke.. no, not a bomb, just the last brain cell I had detonating.....

[apisbees]

1 hive
X2 swarmed
=2 hives
X2 swarmed
=4 hives
X2 swarmed
=8 hives
In reality we are holding the bees back from what they would be producing in nature.
Good beekeeping and keeping the girls happy and under control will allow them to produce a fine honey crop that we can share with them. Or steel it from, how ever you want to see it.

[Gypsi]

I had some good bee math going here last Thursday when my neighbor's last summer queen launched off with 6 lbs of bees and he had me pick the swarm up.  Made a mistake and opened the hive when they started taking sugar water on Saturday... somewhere there is a really nice swarm of bees with a busy laying queen like Intheswamp's.
I had 2 new queens come in, used one to requeen the hot hive, split a good hive, so I have 3 hives now. Hot hive queen has uncapped brood...

I was only going to have 2 hives, lol.  My girls can't do math

[Intheswamp]

Glad ya'll enjoyed the "progress report".  I can't say the growth has been due to the beekeeper's knowledge or actions....honey bees are simply very resilient creatures and can survive if given half a chance.   Two of my colonies are the original ones that I started with my first season....the $1 per frame colony that was the first one in the yard and the 2nd from the left side of the row was one of the two original hives that I purchased from my mentor.  Of the remaining colonies there are two feral colonies, one from a swarm and one from a cutout.  The other four colonies are re-hived swarms issued from my own colonies.

<chuckle> Tim, those bottom boards are actually migratory covers with an inner cover under them.  I did have a super in between the inner and top cover that I was covering some mason jar feeders with and just never removed the inner covers. 

Interesting note that I'll *warily* intsert here...where's the hive beetles?  I have seen probably less than ten beetles so far this year.  Is it just too early for the mass invasion?

Lazy, your reply about the "bee producer" hive being an asset prompted me to start another thread...thanks for confirming my thought that the colony has value.   http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,1753.msg23449.html#msg23449

Ed

[LazyBkpr]

Be warned.. if she is anything like mine she will work diligently at out pacing you.   I inspected her hive queen a week ago, swapped some new frames in and took three frames of brood/bees just to hold them off until my queens arrived...   this morning when I split they had four very well started queen cells.  I pulled 15 frames of brood out of this hive and still had 7 good frames left.   One new queen will go in there, the old queen will start over with a new hive to build.  She makes very little honey, so I have lost nothing except the time to keep up with her. By July I expect to be able to split her again.  She is a gold mine for splitting or stealing brood from to strengthen another hive.