Hive status: New nuc in 2012, Upgraded to single deep 5/20/12
Hive origin: Split from H4 2012, Combined with 2012 Hive 2
Queen type: 2012 Italian (from eggs from H4)
3/14/12: During an attempted laying worker fix for Hive #3 I found the year old queen who had stopped laying. 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!). I added some candy and pollen substitute.
4/15/12: Found the queen and no eggs/brood. She had failed and the bees failed to supercede her. I dispatched her and replaced two empty frames with two frames of brood containing eggs from hive #1.
4/29/12: Found a new queen, which was good news. The bad news was there was a varroa mite on her! I bothered the mite until it left. Hopefully she doesn't get a virus or bacterial infection from some mite bite. No eggs, probably not mated yet. There are tons of drones out now.
5/13/12: The new queen is laying! Brood on two frames, from eggs to larvae to recently capped. I must have missed seeing eggs that were there on 5/8/12. Soon I'll move them to a deep hive.
5/20/12: Moved to a single deep to give them more room. 3 and a half frames were brood, one was food, and only half of frame was empty.
6/2/12: Combined with 2012 Hive 2 which had no laying queen and was in a single deep. Used a single
sheet of newspaper with tiny holes punch in it between the separate
colonies each in their own single deep. Hive #2 was left in place and Hive #5 placed on top.
6/5/12: Hives had combined by chewing a hole in the newspaper, I removed the excess paper and saw the live queen in the upper deep. As the lower deep (formerly Hive #2) had more honey and little room for brood, I reversed the deeps.
6/22/12: Solid brood pattern, saw eggs so the queen is there. Could use a super in another week or so.
7/8/12: Good brood, eggs, very little honey - watch for starvation
7/30/12: Bringing in nectar - no longer a risk for starving. Did not inspect deeps.
8/25/12: Queen and eggs spotted. Frame of eggs moved to Nuc #7.
9/29/12: Room in single super. Nectar and honey in upper deep, did not inspect lower deep. Bees were mad, took 2 stings through gloves in 5 minutes. Did not see brood, but gave up due to aggression.
3/21/12: Inspected at dusk, unsure if eggs were present. Tiny amount of brood on two frames, some nectar on the same frames brought in by the tiny amount of foragers. The eggs seen on 3/14 are now larvae or recently capped brood. Some appear to be workers (not drones) so they are from the queen (not laying workers). No queen cells present. There are not many bees, could lose this experiment in a cold snap.
ReplyDelete4/1/12: Inspected and found a frame's worth of brood on two frames, plus baby worker bees. This tiny colony is surviving, but the queen is not laying much and food stores are low but sufficient. The experiment continues.
ReplyDelete5/6/12: Queen spotted again during routine inspection. Still no eggs. Hopefully there will be eggs to find at the next inspection. The queen seems large enough, probably mated and is now eating enough to start laying well. She's a beautiful golden color and vigorous.
ReplyDelete5/8/12: Queen spotted again, still no eggs. Since the queen was raised from 1-3 day old eggs starting 4/15/12 and a queen is typically fertile and laying on day 24, the date should be May 6-8. Perhaps a late bloomer?
ReplyDelete7/2/12: Added a super of drawn comb.
ReplyDelete