Too Much Too Soon????

I completed my first weekly hive inspection this past weekend.  It was a mix of good news and bad news.  The actual process of the inspection went off without a hitch.  I had two dads from Ronan's Cub Scout den, and their sons, observing the whole thing.  One of them attended the Beginner Beekeeping Short Course with me and decided not to start this year.  Seeing the inspection made him regret not starting.

The girls were really well behaved.  Ronan and I were suited up, but Jen, my two friends, one of their sons, and Moose were all in their normal clothes.  They were all moving around the hive and not one of them was stung or even bothered by the bees.

Ronan was helping to record the inspection, but I lost him about half way through.  We found a drone and he spent about the next 20 minutes showing it to his friends.  Here are a few good shots.

No Stinger on a Drone.  Feel free to pet.

Just hanging out with Ronan

Look at those big beautiful eyes

As I said the inspection went really well.  You can watch part one AT THIS LINK and part two AT THIS LINK.

In the video you will see what ended up causing me some concern and ultimately some extra work.  During the inspection I noticed several Swarm Cells with larva in them.  That meant that the hive was inevitably going to swarm.  This was most likely caused by over crowding.  When I did the initial install, I stacked the frames the same way they came out of the Nuc.  Since bees prefer to move vertical and not lateral, they felt as though they had no space.  I figured they had plenty but I was wrong.  Had I put another box on top they may have been OK.  Ultimately they filled what comb they had drawn out with nectar due to the flow being in full swing.  This left little to no room for brood and the workers decided it was time to swarm.  Swarming is how bees propagate the species by dividing the colony and raising a new Queen.

I was also concerned because I did not find the Queen on my initial inspection.  I was not concerned initially because I saw eggs which meant that she had been there recently.  The more I thought about it, I realized she may have swarmed the day before and I would have still seen eggs.  It just gnawed at me and I decided I had to go back in and find her.  I went back in and quickly moved through the frames and was able to locate her.  This gave me some sense of relief because at least I knew I still had a mated Queen.

At this point I had several options, but I did not know what I "should" do.  That is when I knew it was time to call my mentor.  I gave Larry a call and he said that we should do a split and he would be over the following day to help out.  He brought over a Nuc box and we opened the hive again.  It was a good thing too.  He said the Swarm Cells looked to be about 7 days old.  Swarm Cells get capped on the 8th day and then it is bye bye to the Queen and the workers she takes with her.  We did another hive inspection (no video for this one) and found the Queen again.  We moved a frame of nectar and two frames of brood into the Nuc box.  We also gave them two frames of foundation to build on.  Hopefully we tricked both haves into thinking they swarmed.  So now the Apiary looks like this.

5 Frame Nuc as a new home

Now I have to wait 14 days to check on both of them.  This will give time for any brood to hatch in the initial hive, the new queen to hatch, and the queen to mate.  If it is successful, any eggs I see in the hive will be from the new Queen.  The Nuc is a little more tricky.  Some, if not many, of the workers are leaving the Nuc and returning to the original hive.  This is because they are so close together and the workers remember the location of the original hive. I checked on them today and only saw one worker returning to the hive and no guard bees.  Once the brood in there hatch, they will not know anything different and they will only return to the Nuc. Hopefully enough workers stay to raise the new brood and make the Nuc strong.

I was not expecting my bees to swarm so soon.  Lesson learned is to make sure they have plenty of room.  If all goes well, I will have three hive once my package gets here (That is a whole other story.) If all three are successful then I will have gotten one hive for free.

I guess that is about it.  Check out the videos and make sure you like, share, and subscribe.  Pass the word to your friends if you like the content and I will be sure to keep it coming. 

Hive Inspection Video is Ready

So I have spent the last couple of days trying to edit my video for you all to view.  I had a great version where I added all these annotation to describe things that were happening just off screen or explaining comments that Larry made.  Unfortunately when I tried to split the video in half for easier viewing, all the notes were lost.  Then I tried adding some of the pictures that my wife took to emphasize some of what was being said.  Needless to say that was an abysmal failure.  Ultimately what we have left is a 35 minute video with one picture of my queen.  I know it is long but it is pretty informative.  I tried to talk as much as possible to describe what I was seeing and ask questions to Larry.  I may try editing later but for now I just wanted to get it out there for all to see.  I find the queen around the sixteen minute mark. If you are short on time, that is probably the highlight of the video.  If you want to stop it there I understand.  The video is also cut short because the battery ran out.  The only thing missing is when we reassemble the frames and put the hive back together.  With that all being said, I think it is a pretty interesting video with lots of good information.  I hope you enjoy.  Please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos.

Initial Hive Inspection Complete

I finally got with my mentor and conducted my initial hive inspection.  I am extremely pleased with how it went.  After my less than ideal installation of the Nuc, I am glad that I redeemed myself.  I feel much more confident in my abilities.  Larry (my mentor) offered some good suggestions and made sure everything went well.  He pretty much let me take control and just have at it.

Ronan lit the smoker and we both suited up and headed up to the apiary.  Jen joined us to take some great photos.  You will get to see them below.  I started out smoking the entrance and the outer cover.  Several people have asked me what the smoke is for.  There are several theories to exactly what it does.  First it masks the smell of the bee's pheromones, so they cannot communicate any warnings throughout the hive.  This is why I smoke the entrance first.  That is where the guard bees are.  Second, when the bees smell smoke, they react as if there is a fire.  They gorge themselves on nectar/honey in case they need to leave the hive (in the event of a real fire).  This keeps them busy and also makes them slower. 

Let the smoke do its thing.

 Once the bees were smoked and in the hive, I began my inspection in earnest. Larry pointed out that I had made a minor mistake when I installed the Nuc.  I did not ensure that my frames were snug together and equally spaced from the sides.  This can become a problem later because the bees will draw comb between them and stick them together.  Larry just wanted to make sure I didn't get into a bad habit.

The bees working.

Larry pointing out my mistake

From there, things went great.  I went frame by frame in the top box.  The outer frames had not really been worked.  Some comb had been drawn out.  I did determine that my bees could care less that I am using small cell foundation.. They drew the cells out to the size they wanted.

Drawing out comb.  A great sign!

Frame full of nectar

Lots of capped brood.

As I moved through the upper box, to my surprise I came across the Queen.  I was positive she would be in the bottom box.  I was more than excited to see her.  Since I didn't see her during the install, I was not sure that she had survived.  I knew she was in there once I started inspecting the hive because I saw eggs and larva.  Larvae means she was around between 4-9 days ago.  Eggs means she was there within 3.  It is always a good thing to find the queen and make sure she is doing her thing.  She is marked blue because she was mated last year and is in line with the international color coding.  I won't keep you waiting any longer...here she is.

Find the blue dot.  Isn't she pretty

Look at that fat abdomen full of eggs

Another little fun event was when Larry pulled a drone off a frame.  Drones have no stinger so can be handled without any fear of being stung.  He just plucked it off and handed it to Ronan. 

Larry shows the drone to Ronan

Ronan shows there is nothing to fear

That about sums it up.  After inspecting both the upper and lower box, I reassembled the frames.  All of the Nuc frames from the top box got put into the lower box.  Bees tend to move up and not out toward the edges.  I put the Nuc frames that were full of nectar and pollen on the outer portion of the box.  All of the brood was kept together toward the middle.  That gives them plenty of room now to move up into the upper box and begin expanding the brood chamber.

The final picture I will give you is an overall shot of the Apiary.  Not much action in the photo, but I like that it shows how much stuff is there even though it is only two hives.

The humble BEEginnings

I am in the process of editing and uploading video of the inspection.  As soon as that is done I will post it up.  I hope you all come back and check it out.

Installing my first Nucleus Hive

Well you've seen the photos, now it is time for the video.  There are quite a few cuts and splices.  Partly because the videographer was still learning, but mostly because I wanted to spare you watching me getting stung, changing gloves, and fumbling through some stuff.  As I get more experience both working with my bees as well as better video set up, the quality of the videos will only get better.

Please like and subscribe to my videos to ensure that they keep being produced.  I hope that you all can learn along with me and perhaps not suffer some of the same mistakes I am sure to make.

I plan to do a hive inspection this weekend.  Once I upload the video I will post it here.  Thanks for watching. 

Lots of information, pics and a video.

Hello again everyone.  First off, wee have a video showing my Nuc.

It was fairly warm the day after I got it so they were flying.  I did see some pollen coming in so they wasted no time finding food in the area.  This is what it looked like in the apiary

You can see some bees around the entrances in this next picture

So there they stayed for a few days.  I wanted to get them installed before the snow on Saturday so they could get accustomed to their new home.  Ronan and I suited up and drug the rest of the family up to take pictures and video.  I would love to say that it was a resounding success.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  I did not have appropriate gloves.  At one point my sleeve rode up my arm because of my watch.  The little girls wasted no time finding the exposed skin and let me know that they did not appreciate me moving them from their cozy Nuc. In all I think I was stung about ten times on my wrist.  I was able to get them moved over and into the hive body.  Here are some pictures.

Ronan all suited up and ready to go (Better protected than me)

Prepping the hive bodies

Removing outer cover (notice gloves covering skin)

Removing inner cover (I can see the bees)

Looking for Queen on inner cover (She wasn't there)

Look at how pretty the girls are

Successfully removed from Nuc

Placing frame in hive body (This is just about the time my sleeve rode up my arm)

The beginnings of a new home

Really nice look at a frame with capped brood and possibly food stores outside of that.  The Horseshoe shape is what we look for as a sign of good health (Note the new gloves)

My oldest son has a friend and is not so sure about their relationship

Last frame in the box.  Notice that the edges do not have wax drawn all the way out.

Father and son working together.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  They say more than I could.  There is a video that I am editing together.  Once that is complete I will post it.  Since then, the bees have been making good use of their new home.  They are foraging and bringing in lots of dark orange pollen.  Most likely from dandelions. 

In the front yard

She is at the bottom

The most recent news comes tonight.  Ronan and I were checking out the hive.  They were moving around with the descent weather.  A few foragers were bringing a new pollen.  Kind of a a dark cream color. I will try to get a picture of it.  If any local beekeepers know what it might be, let me know.  We also thought we spotted a drone walking outside the hive.  Unfortunately, as we leaned in to look, Ronan got in the flight path of a worker and ended up getting stung just below the right eye.

Not too bad.  All in a days work.

 We were not wearing any protection because we were just observing without going into the hive.  Jen has now put a stop to that and Ronan will always be wearing at least a veil.

That is about it for now.  I got an email stating that my package bees are delayed even longer because of the weird weather they had in Georgia.  I hope they won't be too much longer.

Bees have arrived

It has finally happened.  I got my first delivery if bees today.  It is a nucleus hive from my mentor Larry.  He brought them over tonight and we placed them on top of the hive body that they will be transferred into.  They were buzzing a little and when we opened the front, about eight of them came to the entrance.  That is a good sign.  Unfortunately it is too cold to transfer them to the hive body.  With any luck I a can do it tomorrow.  I will be sure to post pictures and hopefully a video of the transfer.  I am super excited as the hobby has begun in earnest now.  Pretty soon I will be posting videos of hive inspections and bee activity.  Stay tuned and follow along.