Conditions: Sunny, 77F
Present: Just me
Equipment: Provided additional ventilation by propping the top and off-setting the lower deep from the other hive bodies. This effectively creates another entrance.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:30pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:
New hive: No changes. No observable change in the number of bees or amount of honey. No mites seen.
Old hive: No changes. Observed eggs in top super, which I placed on the top after the previous inspection as it had some brood in it. This means the queen was there laying 1-3 days ago, if she wasn't still up there. I was hoping she'd stay away, down in the lower since there is a super full of honey between the main brood area (deep) and this top super. No luck. I observed 5-7 day old larvae in the lower brood area, so the queen is basically laying all over. Also observed no mites on bees. Planning the next inspection for at least 2 weeks.
General: Goldenrod will bloom soon.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
8/10/10: Met a Local Beekeeper, Alan T.
Since I’ve only harvested a single frame of honey and we split that with Bud, we are still buying honey. I stopped in to meet a local beekeeper advertising “Local Honey” a couple of miles from my house. The guy running the show is Alan, a firefighter who also grows plants and keeps bees. He was kind enough to show me around his home apiary and tell me of his projects. In addition to the honey, he gave me spider flowers (which the bees love), plans for a top bar hive, and a lot of useful information including:
- where to get equipment without paying shipping
- what the most helpful and entertaining information sources he’s found on the web
- how he’s done “cut outs”, or harvesting bees and honey from hives that have established themselves in peoples homes or sheds
- how his bee vac works
- info about the Summit County Beekeepers Association
- how to use and even extract from foundationless fames
Thanks, Alan! Nice to meet you!
- where to get equipment without paying shipping
- what the most helpful and entertaining information sources he’s found on the web
- how he’s done “cut outs”, or harvesting bees and honey from hives that have established themselves in peoples homes or sheds
- how his bee vac works
- info about the Summit County Beekeepers Association
- how to use and even extract from foundationless fames
Thanks, Alan! Nice to meet you!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
7/31/10: Ninth Inspection
Conditions: Sunny, 85F
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 2:30pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:
New hive (pictured on the right): Plenty of brood, still a nice laying pattern. Observed young larvae. No new capped honey, still at approximately 5 frames. As there is no nectar flow so they are not building out more comb either. It’s a summer lull. Very calm bees.
Old hive (pictured on the left): I can’t get over how many bees are in this colony. All the boxes are full of bees. Observed young larvae in the lower deep, the lower medium, and the lower of the two honey supers. Just brood and bees everywhere. I put the honey super in which the queen had laid on top so there is now a honey-filled super between the lower medium and the honey super she was laying in (super reversal). Hopefully she was in the lower part of the hive during this process and if she goes up again to lay, will find capped honey in the lower honey super and will turn around and head back down. And hopefully the brood in the top honey super will hatch and the foragers will fill those newly opened cells with nectar. This hive is not out of open cells yet, so no need to super or swap full frames for empties. There are still several frames that were not built out. I estimate 11 frames of capped honey available to harvest, probably 40 pounds!
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 2:30pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:
New hive (pictured on the right): Plenty of brood, still a nice laying pattern. Observed young larvae. No new capped honey, still at approximately 5 frames. As there is no nectar flow so they are not building out more comb either. It’s a summer lull. Very calm bees.Old hive (pictured on the left): I can’t get over how many bees are in this colony. All the boxes are full of bees. Observed young larvae in the lower deep, the lower medium, and the lower of the two honey supers. Just brood and bees everywhere. I put the honey super in which the queen had laid on top so there is now a honey-filled super between the lower medium and the honey super she was laying in (super reversal). Hopefully she was in the lower part of the hive during this process and if she goes up again to lay, will find capped honey in the lower honey super and will turn around and head back down. And hopefully the brood in the top honey super will hatch and the foragers will fill those newly opened cells with nectar. This hive is not out of open cells yet, so no need to super or swap full frames for empties. There are still several frames that were not built out. I estimate 11 frames of capped honey available to harvest, probably 40 pounds!
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