7/13/09: Sixth Inspection

Conditions: Partly Sunny, 75F
Present: Bud F. and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:30pm. Inspected all frames.
Observations:
Italian hive: NO capped brood or larvae. At all. This was a complete shock. The beautiful crescents of capped honey over what had been the brood nest were still there, the hive population density was fine (lots of bees), but NO capped brood or larvae. We did see the queen and she was alive and well. 99% sure it's the same fertile queen we started the season with as the inspection was not 17 days or more from when we eliminated the swarm cells, so they could not have raised up a virgin queen in that amount of time. Otherwise things looked normal. Specifically looked for varroa and did not see any.

Russian hive: TONS of capped brood in this hive, more than I've ever seen in either hive. This is consistent with what I've heard about the Russians, that they start late and the population explodes in the summer. Population density of bees in the hive was approximately equal to the Italians, though this will likely change due to contrast in the brood nests.

Both hives have had empty feeders for days. I had not refilled in case they had already filled the supers recently added and we would be adding honey supers for us to harvest. (If that were the case, I'd suspend feeding as I honey from nectar, not sugar-water). Those supers were far from full, so I'll resume feeding.

Update 7/15/09: I spoke with an experienced beekeeper who suggested a hypothesis related to the swarm threat. Apparently the workers put the queen on a diet when they are going to swarm so she can fly. The "old" queen will fly with the swarm while the "new" queen takes up residence in the hive. Since we interrupted their swarm plans relatively late in the game, they may have already put her on a diet and she therefore had stopped laying. The verdict: decide whether or not to re-queen after another inspection in 4-5 days where we specifically look for eggs. If eggs or larvae are present, let it be, all will return to normal with just a slight population decline due to the brood interruption. If no eggs are present, requeen right away and hope the workers live long enough to help raise the new young. So Saturday 7/18/09 will be judgement day for our Italian queen. Time to put out or get out, little lady.