Author Topic: CpnObvious' Beekeeping Journey (Read 17803 times)

CpnObvious · « **on:** June 01, 2014, 06:19:04 pm »

Hive1 & Hive2: Package Installed 052514
Hive3: Package Installed 052614
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Hive 1- Day 7 - 060114: First check since install. Went through each frame. Didn't see the queen, didn't see eggs. Saw some pollen and plenty of nectar/syrup. NOTE: Going through pictures we found the queen! Went back to hive to grab a piece of comb that came out with the queen cage. Looking closer at it I see some eggs in it, so she is laying!

Hive 2 - Day 7 - 060114: First check since install. Found the queen! Plenty of syrup/nectar, pollen, eggs. This is the hive that has gone through the most syrup... by FAR.

Hive 3 - Day 6 - 060114: First check since install. Found the queen! Seems as though the cells have some pollen, but are primarily filled with nothing but syrup/nectar... No eggs? 3 queen cups on one side of one frame.

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This will be where I upload photos to: http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/CpnObvious/library/Bees
Will post photograph thumbnails once I upload them.
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CpnObvious · « **Reply #1 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:03:49 pm »

Hive1

Her Royal Highness!

CpnObvious · « **Reply #2 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:09:31 pm »

Hive2

Her Royal Highness!

CpnObvious · « **Reply #3 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:15:41 pm »

Hive3

This frame had 3 queen cups...

Her Royal Highness!

tbonekel · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:31:54 pm »

You got some strange looking comb in some of those frames. I wonder why they are drawing it out like that? Is that new foundation you put in? In one of the first pictures, it looked sorta like there wasn't much wax on the side of the foundation that wasn't drawn yet.

CpnObvious · « **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2014, 07:52:45 pm »

TBone, With the exception a total of 4 plastic frames that I was given with honey in them (not in pictures) Everything was virgin foundation. A lesson I learned was that I should have removed the queen cages long before day 6/7, or put her between the foundations, not the top of the frames. Too much of a gap was created so they were filling it with comb. I felt very guilty removing it all. In Hive2, I actually put a chunk of it back because it had eggs in it. Which picture(s), in particular, are you referring to with weird comb?

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2014, 12:20:36 am »

What you see there is exactly why I try to pull the cages on day three or four.. Watch my vid on installing packages I think I explain that in it..
You can use a rubber band and fit the queen cage below the top bar, and that allows the frames to be pushed completely together, this also allows you to install all ten frames to keep the ladies Honest in their comb building.
Looks like Cpn wasnt overwhelmed and dealt with the odd comb fine so No worries.

tbonekel · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2014, 07:42:47 am »

I was looking at several pics but in Hive #3, pic number 6, it looks like they are trying to start comb separate from the foundation. I have had bees do that and it's annoying. I don't have many foundation frames anymore, but if I put one in and they start to draw comb like that, I take the foundation out and bingo, they start drawing on the frame perfectly. Don't know what it is, but sometimes they are picky.

But what you said about the queen cage makes sense. That's probably why it happened.

blueblood · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2014, 08:15:26 am »

Solid work! Looks like you already figured out the comb issue. My bees still build funky comb with proper spacing. I just stay on top of it and remove.

tmrschessie · « **Reply #9 on:** June 02, 2014, 08:39:03 am »

Very nice looking bees...well done. Tom

CpnObvious · « **Reply #10 on:** June 03, 2014, 12:37:51 pm »

I'm sure I'm worrying & thinking about this too much... but could someone comment on my Hive3_Day6 comment up top? I know it's only been a week, but there sure seemed to be a LOT of syrup/nectar stored up. I find this exceptionally odd because they've barely touched the syrup. On BeeSource I came across this: "Filling the basic brood nest with nectar is a sure sign of hopelessly queenless. If the colony has a replacement queen in work, they will hold the brood nest open for the replacement." I found the queen, and she sure is plump. This is also the hive that had queen cups in it. Thoughts?

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2014, 01:46:27 pm »

In a well established hive 2 years or older that "may" be the case. Packages, nucs , swarms, etc trying to expand and explode are not as smart. They will take syrup or nectar until they run themselves out of the hive. Swap out a couple of frames with another hive to give them room again? Add another box? I have put a frame of nectar in the freezer, but it can be messy and drippy until frozen.. I have also simply shaken the daylights out of a nectar frame or three to get it out. the bees will clean it all up and re concentrate it when you put the frame back in leaving more room after the clean up.
Cpn.. I HAVE had bees nearly store themselves right out of the hive. It happens less often with older hives, but sometimes the flow is just SO GOOD they cant stop themselves.

riverbee · « **Reply #12 on:** June 07, 2014, 06:17:36 pm »

"On BeeSource I came across this: "Filling the basic brood nest with nectar is a sure sign of hopelessly queenless. If the colony has a replacement queen in work, they will hold the brood nest open for the replacement." I found the queen, and she sure is plump. This is also the hive that had queen cups in it. Thoughts?"

don't believe everything you read....

if they are not touching the syrup, get rid of it, there is a flow on, this will only contribute to 'overfeeding'. queen cups? bees build all sorts of queen cups for 'just in case' purposes, some more so than others. like scott said, add another deep to give them the space to store what's coming in.

CpnObvious · « **Reply #13 on:** June 10, 2014, 11:58:08 am »

Week 2 checkups 060714:

I think Hive 3 is, by far, the strongest... But they all seem to be doing pretty well. Moving much faster than I expected. I had to order more foundation yesterday morning, should arrive tomorrow or Thursday, so I can add the second deep to each of them. Hives 1 & 3 only had 3 incomplete frames, and Hive 2 had 4.

Hive1 - Day 13:

Hive 2 - Day 13:

I opted to leave the comb in the following two images in places. There was brood going on both sides of it. UGH!

Hive 3 - Day 12:

iddee · « **Reply #14 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:21:40 pm »

Keep an eye on hive 1. It looks like she may be a drone layer. The other two look good, especially #3.

Jen · « **Reply #15 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:57:47 pm »

On hive #2 when you feel it's the right time to cut off the wonky comb, do so. Then make sure all your frames are pushed tightly together. This was one of my big learning lessons this season as well

apisbees · « **Reply #16 on:** June 10, 2014, 04:50:19 pm »

I remove the wonky comb when it is found. as it will cause the bees to screw the next frame beside it when the start drawing on it. If you look at the cell size the bee drew out on the extra comb you will most likely see that it is drone size cells.

CpnObvious · « **Reply #17 on:** June 10, 2014, 05:57:55 pm »

Quote from: apisbees on June 10, 2014, 04:50:19 pm

I remove the wonky comb when it is found.

I thought about it, but I'll tell you why I didn't. Does my reasoning make sense?

These are package bees, not a nuc, installed for only two weeks. The comb had larva in it. They need to build up their workforce, not be beat down. It seemed removing it based on this would be backwards. That would be roughly, what, 150-200 bees? Sadly, now as I'm typing this, I think that is/was the piece of comb you see hanging from the queen cage in hive2-week1. I pinched it back in between the frames when I removed the queen cage because it had eggs in most of the cells. I had put it back into the hive for the same reason I left it this time...

Thoughts?

LazyBkpr · « **Reply #18 on:** June 10, 2014, 08:48:30 pm »

They will keep messing up in a domino effect from that bad comb, getting it out sooner is usually better than trying to fix further problems later on. The queen will be putting down a lot of eggs, that piece of comb wont set them back noticeably if removed soon, but it could set you back noticeably later if you dont get it gone before it causes more issues in adjacent comb.. Just my thoughts.

CpnObvious · « **Reply #19 on:** June 10, 2014, 09:23:41 pm »

Thanks, Lazy.

I checked on the syrup status of the hives today, and found that in Hive 1 they were building a bunch of comb in the feeder. I decided to throw a deep together real quick (only had 9 foundations on hand) and went out to put it on. They were surprisingly friendly considering it was getting late and I completely disturbed them! But I put the deep on with 10 frames (9 foundations), replaced the feeder and filled it, covered it, walked away. My Mann Lake order should be arriving tomorrow or Thursday. then the other two hives will get a second deep.