Hive origin: Package from QRC, CA origin
Queen type: Carniolan
Significant events/observations:New package installed on drawn comb in a single deep on 4/30/13. The queen is Carniolan (first try for me) from the bee supplier. Pail feeder on top. Great weather for installing, 75 and sunny with a week of the same, lows in lower 50s.
5/4/13: Inspected with Drew and spotted queen, eggs. Taking sugar syrup and foraging, they've had great weather for the first week after installation. Went to a second deep of drawn comb and removed entrance reducer.
5/19/13: Fair sized brood nest in upper deep, confirmed eggs present. Lower deep was pretty close to empty, though some brood was present on the upper edge of the center frames. Once these bees emerge I will probably reverse deeps if the queen has not begun laying all over both deeps.
5/27/13: Hive is stronger, brood extending further in to lower deep so I did not reverse. Still no need to super yet. Locusts in bloom.
6/2/13: Both deeps bursting with bees. New bees everywhere. Added queen excluder and first honey super with offset entrance (though this may be too early, seemed chilly the morning of 6/3/13).
6/10/13: Peeked in honey super, they are starting to fill in one frame with nectar.
6/15/13: All-star hive. Nectar on center frame of honey super only. Tons of eggs, larvae and brood in both deeps, even on the wall frame (upper deep). This hive is going to be huge in 5-10 days.
6/24/13: Added second honey super.
6/28/13: Second super 3/4 full. Added 3rd. Did not inspect brood chamber.
7/5/13: Crazy and huge, that is all I can say. Removed two deep frames of honey and replaced with deep frames of plastic foundation. Added a 3rd deep for brood and a 5th honey super of undrawn was foundation. Saw eggs.
7/12/13: Moved super of undrawn wax foundation (still not starting to draw it out) from top to the middle of the 5 honey super stack to encourage drawing out.
7/13/13: Pulled two supers of capped honey. Dumped one all over the ground while full of bees and maybe with the queen in it. I found eggs and larvae up in the honey supers, no eggs in uppermost deep. Bad to have the queen up there, hopefully she is not crushed. I returned an uncapped honey super and a super of wax foundation to the hive and removed the queen excluder. Sloppy beekeeping, but why was she above the excluder?
7/18/13: Eggs in honey super are now being raised in to queen cells. Fears that hive is queenless are now confirmed. Planning newspaper combine with Nuc 1.
7/23/13: No eggs, queen cells in uppermost super capped. Did not combine as there we no eggs in any other hive and I did not want to combine with a queen of unknown quality. I left the 4 or 5 queen cells in to requeen.
8/3/13: Still has a lot of bees and they are bringing in a lot of nectar relative to other hives. Queen cells were hatched in upper super. Thought I spotted no eggs, but dozens of 4-5 day old larvae on royal jelly. I am wondering if I will have 3 dozen queen cells in a week or if this is a normal quantity of royal jelly for workers.
8/10/13: New queen is laying great! Filling several frames solid with brood in upper and lower deeps, expanding brood nest. Bringing in nectar, ok on space.
8/17/13: Tons of bees, eggs, and brood! Bringing in nectar and event drawing out comb in 1 super! Fantastically healthy hive after raising a new queen.
8/25/13: Ok on space, drawing comb. Did not inspect deeps.
9/11/13: Big and busy, saw eggs. Ok on space for now with 4 supers on. Two deep frames were moved in to the brood nest from the edge to encourage drawing out. They are drawing some comb slowly. This hive is an absolute mess to reassemble.
9/28/13: Strongest hive, eggs spotted, 3 of 4 honey supers full and honey in deeps.
12/22/13: Top super full of honey, only ~3 frames of mostly flighty bees, not much honey
elsewhere. 1” of dead bees on the bottom
board, I cleaned them out for them.
