Things are beginning to look up. All three hives are up and running and look to be thriving. But I will get to that in a minute. First I want to apologize for not having a video of my package hive (#3) being inspected. Ronan and I were all set to go this past weekend and the GoPro died on us about 30 seconds in. Lesson learned there, make sure I charge the battery the night before.
Fortunately, that was the only bad thing that happened that day. We had a great inspection. Ronan did all of the smoking and helped to inspect individual frames. The queen was located and going strong. I found eggs on many frames. Workers were bringing in pollen and doing what bees do. I wish the video had worked. I made up for it later though.
On Monday, I did the inspection of Hives #1 and #2. Both of those inspections were like opposite sides of a coin. When we last looked at Hive #1, there was still no sign of a mated Queen. It was being blamed on the rainy weather and the fact that she hadn't had a chance to take a mating flight. I went through each frame meticulously looking for a queen, mated or otherwise. One thing interfering with the inspection was the number of drones. Much like the queen not being able to mate, neither had the drones. They live as long as the workers if they don't mate, so the hive was full of them. Being that they are so much bigger than the workers, it really masked the presence of a queen.
I was able to video this inspection. However, it is extremely long. I spent a lot of time looking for any evidence of a queen. Finally, I found a few cells with eggs. I am talking about maybe 20 cells in total. I spent probably a good five minutes just looking at that one frame trying to ensure what I was seeing were eggs. It makes for a very boring video, but if you are a diehard follower and want to see it, it is HERE
I never did see a queen, but convinced myself that what I saw were eggs. I intended to go back into the hive later in the week to see if the eggs had turned to larva. I went in today (Thursday) and found what looked like a little royal jelly in the cells that had eggs. But better than that, I found more eggs! Almost an entire frame full of them. I am finally convinced we have a mated queen and she is doing what she was born to do. This weekend's inspections will confirm it and hopefully I will finally spot the queen
After my inspection of Hive #1, I immediately moved to Hive #2. This inspection turned out to be what I would consider to be an ideal inspection. I moved through the hive quickly, located eggs, and brood in all stages. I saw no sign of disease and the bees were working at peak efficiency. The whole inspection only took about 15 minutes and makes for much better viewing. I managed to get a good shot of the queen moving across the frame and a good shot of a frame of eggs. I highly recommend this video and you can find it HERE
Needless to say I am super happy to have all three hives up and running. Now I can just try to manage them and not take such drastic action on Hive #1. It is a good thing that I got new woodware, because with the colonies growing, I am going to add some more supers shortly. That being said, I have some painting to do this weekend to ensure they are ready to go.
That is about all I have for now. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend.
Fortunately, that was the only bad thing that happened that day. We had a great inspection. Ronan did all of the smoking and helped to inspect individual frames. The queen was located and going strong. I found eggs on many frames. Workers were bringing in pollen and doing what bees do. I wish the video had worked. I made up for it later though.
On Monday, I did the inspection of Hives #1 and #2. Both of those inspections were like opposite sides of a coin. When we last looked at Hive #1, there was still no sign of a mated Queen. It was being blamed on the rainy weather and the fact that she hadn't had a chance to take a mating flight. I went through each frame meticulously looking for a queen, mated or otherwise. One thing interfering with the inspection was the number of drones. Much like the queen not being able to mate, neither had the drones. They live as long as the workers if they don't mate, so the hive was full of them. Being that they are so much bigger than the workers, it really masked the presence of a queen.
I was able to video this inspection. However, it is extremely long. I spent a lot of time looking for any evidence of a queen. Finally, I found a few cells with eggs. I am talking about maybe 20 cells in total. I spent probably a good five minutes just looking at that one frame trying to ensure what I was seeing were eggs. It makes for a very boring video, but if you are a diehard follower and want to see it, it is HERE
I never did see a queen, but convinced myself that what I saw were eggs. I intended to go back into the hive later in the week to see if the eggs had turned to larva. I went in today (Thursday) and found what looked like a little royal jelly in the cells that had eggs. But better than that, I found more eggs! Almost an entire frame full of them. I am finally convinced we have a mated queen and she is doing what she was born to do. This weekend's inspections will confirm it and hopefully I will finally spot the queen
After my inspection of Hive #1, I immediately moved to Hive #2. This inspection turned out to be what I would consider to be an ideal inspection. I moved through the hive quickly, located eggs, and brood in all stages. I saw no sign of disease and the bees were working at peak efficiency. The whole inspection only took about 15 minutes and makes for much better viewing. I managed to get a good shot of the queen moving across the frame and a good shot of a frame of eggs. I highly recommend this video and you can find it HERE
Needless to say I am super happy to have all three hives up and running. Now I can just try to manage them and not take such drastic action on Hive #1. It is a good thing that I got new woodware, because with the colonies growing, I am going to add some more supers shortly. That being said, I have some painting to do this weekend to ensure they are ready to go.
That is about all I have for now. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend.
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