Conditions: Sunny, 65F
Present: Bud F. and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:30pm. Inspected super frames for capped honey.
Observations:
New Hive: Took about 5 frames of capped honey. More frames of uncapped honey present. Will return again before extracting for the fall. 2 more weeks?
Old Hive: Same as new hive. Also removed a super that was nearly empty with no real new comb to speak of.
The weather has been good with enough rain and plenty of warm, sunny days. We're going to have a fall harvest after all!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
9/9/10: Twelveth Inspection and Geagua County Fair
Conditions: Cloudy, 62F
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 6:00pm. Inspected a few frames.
Observations:
New Hive:
Two frames of capped spring honey left. About 3 frames of fall uncapped honey drying. The hive was quite defensive. Not sure if it was the weather, the season, or what, but they came boiling out several times. I cut the inspection short after watching a worker intentionally sting my glove. Sufficient bees, spotted larva 5-6 days old.
Old Hive:
As reported at last inspection, no remaining spring honey, though fall nectar is coming in nicely. I observed approximately one super full of uncapped honey drying. The queen is still laying in every open cell she can find, though now that the workers are bringing in nectar they can fill it into newly opened up cells in the supers after the brood has emerged. This is no good for cut-comb as the comb where brood was laid is darker, but hopefully will be great tasting honey once extracted. The super I placed on top did have lots of bees in it, but they have not built out comb on any of the foundation or foundationless frames (I put in three empty frames to see if they’d build those out. There must not be a shortage of open cells, then. Spotted larvae 5-6 days old.
General:
We went to the Geauga County Fair and tasted honey on Labor Day (9/6/10). I talked with a Geauga County Beekeepers Association (GBCA) member who said the fall flow will be disappointing and he’s already feeding his bees, expecting no honey crop. He said a botanist came out to the GCBA to talk nectar and he said goldenrod would produce pollen, but no nectar due to early maturity of the nectar-producing organ in the plant. This natrually made me nervous about potentially ending my second year as a beekeeper without a substantial harvest. I don’t know about all that business with goldenrod nectar-producing organs, but I was relieved to see my bees are finding fall nectar from somewhere. A couple more weeks of fall flow before beginning a winter feeding should leave us with a good honey crop. There have been a few occasional rains which probably helps boost the current nectar flow. August was really dry. The forecast is all days in the 60s with partial clouds, lows in the 50s.
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 6:00pm. Inspected a few frames.
Observations:
New Hive:
Two frames of capped spring honey left. About 3 frames of fall uncapped honey drying. The hive was quite defensive. Not sure if it was the weather, the season, or what, but they came boiling out several times. I cut the inspection short after watching a worker intentionally sting my glove. Sufficient bees, spotted larva 5-6 days old.
Old Hive:
As reported at last inspection, no remaining spring honey, though fall nectar is coming in nicely. I observed approximately one super full of uncapped honey drying. The queen is still laying in every open cell she can find, though now that the workers are bringing in nectar they can fill it into newly opened up cells in the supers after the brood has emerged. This is no good for cut-comb as the comb where brood was laid is darker, but hopefully will be great tasting honey once extracted. The super I placed on top did have lots of bees in it, but they have not built out comb on any of the foundation or foundationless frames (I put in three empty frames to see if they’d build those out. There must not be a shortage of open cells, then. Spotted larvae 5-6 days old.
General:
We went to the Geauga County Fair and tasted honey on Labor Day (9/6/10). I talked with a Geauga County Beekeepers Association (GBCA) member who said the fall flow will be disappointing and he’s already feeding his bees, expecting no honey crop. He said a botanist came out to the GCBA to talk nectar and he said goldenrod would produce pollen, but no nectar due to early maturity of the nectar-producing organ in the plant. This natrually made me nervous about potentially ending my second year as a beekeeper without a substantial harvest. I don’t know about all that business with goldenrod nectar-producing organs, but I was relieved to see my bees are finding fall nectar from somewhere. A couple more weeks of fall flow before beginning a winter feeding should leave us with a good honey crop. There have been a few occasional rains which probably helps boost the current nectar flow. August was really dry. The forecast is all days in the 60s with partial clouds, lows in the 50s.
Friday, September 3, 2010
9/1/10: Eleventh Inspection
Conditions: Sunny, 88F
Present: Just me
Equipment: Added Super to old hive.
Activities: Smoked hives about 4:00pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:
New Hive: Still a couple of frames of capped honey, some additional comb built, sufficient bees, brood, larvae. Nothing much of note moving into the fall flow.
Old Hive: All the capped honey (previously some 11 frames) is gone. The bees ate it in the past month during the dearth. The queen has filled all the opened up cells with eggs, larvae and brood. The deep and three supers, two of which were supposed to be honey supers. This is amazing to me. This hive has twice as many bees and more than twice as much brood as it’s neighbor. We are either going to get a huge amount of all fall honey from this colony, or nothing but a bunch of bees. There were some very small amounts of dark fall nectar drying, but they appear to be consuming it all faster than they can bring it in. Time will tell. I saw about a half dozen queen cups, which appears to be more than usual. I spotted the queen, but since she is not a marked queen I do not know if she’s the original or superceded. I did not spot any full-sized queen cells sealed or already hatched. I spotted LOTS of 1-3 day old eggs in pristine wax cells that were previously all full of capped honey.
Present: Just me
Equipment: Added Super to old hive.
Activities: Smoked hives about 4:00pm. Inspected representative frames.
Observations:
New Hive: Still a couple of frames of capped honey, some additional comb built, sufficient bees, brood, larvae. Nothing much of note moving into the fall flow.
Old Hive: All the capped honey (previously some 11 frames) is gone. The bees ate it in the past month during the dearth. The queen has filled all the opened up cells with eggs, larvae and brood. The deep and three supers, two of which were supposed to be honey supers. This is amazing to me. This hive has twice as many bees and more than twice as much brood as it’s neighbor. We are either going to get a huge amount of all fall honey from this colony, or nothing but a bunch of bees. There were some very small amounts of dark fall nectar drying, but they appear to be consuming it all faster than they can bring it in. Time will tell. I saw about a half dozen queen cups, which appears to be more than usual. I spotted the queen, but since she is not a marked queen I do not know if she’s the original or superceded. I did not spot any full-sized queen cells sealed or already hatched. I spotted LOTS of 1-3 day old eggs in pristine wax cells that were previously all full of capped honey.
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