2012 Hive #3

Hive status:  Overwintered from 2011
Hive origin:  Package in 2011
Queen type: Raised in 2012 from eggs from overwintered Hive #4 (Italian from CA package)


Significant events/observations:

3/11/12:  Laying workers:  The hive had a no brood and 1-3 day old eggs on a single frame.  They were from laying workers as eggs were not at the bottom of the frame and were sometimes present in pairs.  The hive is obviously not queen-right and was irritated during inspection with many more bees flying compared queen-right hives.

3/14/12: Attempted laying worker fix.  On a sunny, dry, warm (68 F) afternoon I dumped every last bee out of the hive 25 yards from it's original location.  The laying workers are young nurse bees oriented to the hive, so they should not be able to find their way back while the adult foragers just fly home to an empty hive.  I added two frames of eggs from Hive #4 so they can hopefully raise up a new queen, which is tricky this early as there are not yet drones for her to mate with.  Maybe in 16-20 days there will be?  I cannot get a mated queen until mid-april and that might be too late.  During the process I was surprised to find the old queen.  I pulled her out and 2 frames of bees (frames with laying worker eggs)  to start nuc N1, just in case she should resume laying (longshot!).

3/21/12: Added a second deep hive body on top with drawn comb and removed entrance reducer.  It was too dark to inspect for queen cells on the two frames of eggs added.

4/1/12:  Found a new queen, some remaining capped brood and no eggs.  Hopefully she will find some drones and mate.  The hive was much more tame and well behaved as it is now queen right.

4/15/12:  No eggs yet, did not spot the queen.  Hopefully she has mated and will begin laying soon.  Still lots of bees in both deeps with plenty of room for the queen to lay.  The bees are well-behaved, probably still queen-right.  Just in case I swapped two empty frames for two frames with eggs and brood from hive #4.

4/29/12:  The early queen must have failed, perhaps not enough drones to get mated.  I found 3 queen cells nearly capped on one frame, one on another.  Moved the frame with 1 queen cell into H2 which was newly queenless.  Astounding quantity of bees for being queenless again.

5/6/12:  The saga continues.  Spotted 4 capped queen cells.  Could they be new or the ones from 4/29 have not hatched out?

5/22/12:  The hive is dying.  No queen spotted, though 3 early stage supercedure cells were observed.  Did a new queen lay 3 eggs each on a different frame and disappear?  I combined the deeps into a single deep and added a frame with an almost capped queen cell plus one frame of food from Hive #4.   Perhaps now they'll get a decent queen?  This will be a candidate for further boosts/combines.

6/5/12:  Still not queen right, no queen or eggs spotted.  Moved ANOTHER frame of eggs from H4 over to try to get a queen in place.

6/14/12:  About 4 queen cells present on the brood frame, all capped or nearly capped.

6/22/12:  One capped queen cell present, others torn down.  I'm surprised the queen has not emerged yet.  If this one does not work out and Nuc #3 gets a laying queen, I'll combine them.

7/8/12: Tiny brood patch and queen removed to N4, combined with N3

7/30/12:  After combining with N3 the upper deep is all honey.  The queen is not doing well with spotty brood limited to only 4 or 5 frames in the lower deep.  Need to re-queen.

8/25/12:  Found this hive queen right and the queen laying fine, which was a surprise.  Actually moved 2 frames of eggs to Nuc #5 and loosened the entrance reducer.  Lots of bees in the two deeps, may actually finally get a super on this for the fall flow.

9/29/12: No comb drawn in single super.  Queen laying well in upper deep, did not inspect lower deep.