7/25/09: Eighth Inspection

Conditions: Don't know, wasn't there
Present: Just Bud
Equipment: Removed bucket feeders from both hives. Removed new queen cage from the re-queened (formerly Italian) hive
Activities: Smoked hives at unknown time (I wasn't there and forgot to ask). Inspected all deep frames.
Observations: In the "Italian" hive, the queen cage was empty. Observed in the brood chamber were eggs and young larvae (5 days old?) as well as CAPPED BROOD. Really? This means the Italian queen we were concerned about must have started laying before we moved the new Russian queen in! So, essentially we re-queened even though we didn't need to. See if you can follow the timeline here: There must have been eggs present during the 7/18/09 inspection (where we found none and decided to re-queen). We know the new Russian queen was not released until 7/21/09 when I "popped" the cork on the queen cage, and this inspection was only 4 days after that. Worker brood are capped on day 9, so those eggs (which became capped brood for this inspection) were there on 7/16/09 or earlier, 5 days before the Russian queen was ever released!

So we put a second queen into a hive with another fertile, laying queen. The question is, what happened? The hive is not big enough to support two brood chambers, so we are likely down to one queen again. Either the hive rejected the new Russian queen, killed her, and disposed of the body OR the two queens had a duel. Is the reigning queen Italian or Russian? We won't know until we spot her again. So the experiment with one Italian hive and one Russian may exist yet.

I'm convinced now that bees will always keep me guessing. It's what makes this an interesting hobby. Hopefully I get better at spotting eggs, though, and don't repeat this particular mistake!

But that is good news, that there are baby bees in that hive once again. There will soon be a dip in population, but they'll rebound for a fall nectar flow and have a shot at making it through the winter. The colony will be ok.

In the other hive (the original Russian) the first super (above the bottom deep) was pretty full and even had a small brood area surrounded by honey. So the queen had taken a brief trip up there to lay, <100 eggs or so, and then returned to her deep. They are going like gangbusters.

Time to add the first honey supers. I need to nail together 20 frames and insert the wax-with-wire foundation we bought (before we knew plastic fits just fine in split-bottom frames) and Bud is picking up the retaining clips. Should super before the weekend. If they build out the comb and fill it fast enough, we'll get a small honey harvest this year.

7/21/09: Re-queen step 2 - popping the cork

Conditions: Overcast, Thunder, 80F and falling fast
Present: Just me
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked the hive with the new queen about 5:00pm. Tried to pop the cork on the queen cage.
Observations: Tried to remove two frames simultaneously to check on the queen, to make sure she was still alive. It was very awkward by myself and I gave up. The queen cage started to slip between the frames and I didn't want it to drop. I decided just to pop the cork and get out. While trying to pop the cork, it collapsed INTO the queen cage. If she survives all this, it will be a small miracle. I can't imagine it would crush her or obstruct her exit, but I still feel like I botched it. We'll check back, probably this weekend to remove the queen cage and hopefully spot some eggs.

Also noticed the Russians are out of sugar syrup again. We might be ready to put the first honey super on them soon. Time to get some shallow frames assembled for that.

7/18/09: Re-queening the Italians

So based on inspections six and seven, we decided to re-queen the Italian hive. Immediately after finding no eggs or larvae, I put in a call to the closest bee guy. He's the one who sold me the packages and he had one queen available. A Russian he's had for a week. I guess the experiment of one Italian and one Russian hive is over before the first winter. Look out, Europe. The Russians are coming!

We don't even know what happened to the Italian. She was a strong layer who just stopped after we prevented a swarm.

Meet the new Queen and her lone attendant:

We experimented with a queen installation that does not involve removing a frame and installing the cage in it's place. This SHOULD allow for easy release of the queen without building lots of brace comb or the hassel of having to take out a frame that covered in bees and not put it back. Here's what we did:

We removed a bit of wax from two locations at the top of two adjacent frames.

We placed the queen cage in between the adjacent frames and nested them down in the lower hive body. Since there was not enough candy to sufficiently delay the removal of the new queen until the hive had accepted her, I left the cork in. In two or three days I'll sneak back in and remove it with tweezers. The next inspection will be in a week, looking for eggs from the new queen.

7/18/09: Seventh Inspection - Italian Hive only

Conditions: Partly Cloudy, 68F
Present: Bud F. and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hive about 3:15pm. Inspected all frames.
Observations: Observed no eggs, larvae, or capped brood. On a recommendation from an experienced beekeeper, we did this inspection after seeing the same thing about a week ago. We had hoped she was just a bit delayed in resuming laying after preparing to swarm. The workers had actually started back-filling the empty brood nest with nectar and pollen. We did not see the Italian queen this time, though she was present last time. This was judgement day for the Italian queen and she had not performed. Time to re-queen. The good thing is there were still a lot of bees left in the hive, so the population hasn't significantly declined yet. Even if we get a strong laying new queen, the population will drop. Hopefully it won't drop too much or during a nectar flow.

7/14/09: Refilled feeders

Refilled bucket feeders after confirming the newer supers were far from full. They'll take all of this feeding before needing to put on any honey supers, and by then we may be in a dearth. I am hoping the bees will gather enough to get them through the winter. We'll be lucky if we even get a small taste of honey from the hives this year.

7/13/09: Sixth Inspection

Conditions: Partly Sunny, 75F
Present: Bud F. and I
Equipment: No changes.
Activities: Smoked hives about 5:30pm. Inspected all frames.
Observations:
Italian hive: NO capped brood or larvae. At all. This was a complete shock. The beautiful crescents of capped honey over what had been the brood nest were still there, the hive population density was fine (lots of bees), but NO capped brood or larvae. We did see the queen and she was alive and well. 99% sure it's the same fertile queen we started the season with as the inspection was not 17 days or more from when we eliminated the swarm cells, so they could not have raised up a virgin queen in that amount of time. Otherwise things looked normal. Specifically looked for varroa and did not see any.

Russian hive: TONS of capped brood in this hive, more than I've ever seen in either hive. This is consistent with what I've heard about the Russians, that they start late and the population explodes in the summer. Population density of bees in the hive was approximately equal to the Italians, though this will likely change due to contrast in the brood nests.

Both hives have had empty feeders for days. I had not refilled in case they had already filled the supers recently added and we would be adding honey supers for us to harvest. (If that were the case, I'd suspend feeding as I honey from nectar, not sugar-water). Those supers were far from full, so I'll resume feeding.

Update 7/15/09: I spoke with an experienced beekeeper who suggested a hypothesis related to the swarm threat. Apparently the workers put the queen on a diet when they are going to swarm so she can fly. The "old" queen will fly with the swarm while the "new" queen takes up residence in the hive. Since we interrupted their swarm plans relatively late in the game, they may have already put her on a diet and she therefore had stopped laying. The verdict: decide whether or not to re-queen after another inspection in 4-5 days where we specifically look for eggs. If eggs or larvae are present, let it be, all will return to normal with just a slight population decline due to the brood interruption. If no eggs are present, requeen right away and hope the workers live long enough to help raise the new young. So Saturday 7/18/09 will be judgement day for our Italian queen. Time to put out or get out, little lady.

7/5/09: Special Feeding

Special feeding of the bees. Took the deep frame that was previously removed from the Russian hive due to the number of drones, uncapped the honey cells above the now dead brood, got a few bees on it at the hive entrance, and stashed it 40 yards away in a cardboard box previously used for bannas (plenty of holes for bee traffic). In 15 minutes there was some light traffic. When I checked back 3 hours later, hundreds of bees were flying and in out. It looked like the entrance to a hive. They were still working it when I checked at 8pm, but traffic was dying down. Last night it was in the 50s. There was no activity at 6:15am and the sweets were not discovered by a skunk or coon in the night. I will check again when I get home at 5:00pm. I expect they will finish cleaning the honey out today, but will leave it for another night and day just in case.

Also took another pic of the varroa, this one under magnification. The drone had been removed from his capped cell two days prior, so he's a bit dessicated. The varroa was finally dead, though she did make it almost two days without a host. She had previously nestled in the ridge of skin alongside and on top of one of my fingernails, looking for a new cozy spot I presume. I did not oblige.

Update as of 7/6/09: The bees made short work of the honey in the extra frame from the special feeding. At 5pm there were maybe a dozen bees still on and around the frame, but it was already empty. That means about 24 hours of activity cleaned it out.

And just as I was watching the Russians come and go from their hive, trying to look for pollen load (very low) and varroa (none seen).... POW! One of the girls must not have seen me when she turned the corner quickly and smacked into my nose, which she promptly stung. That was painful. Quick stinger removal, Benedryl and ice kept the swelling down to a reasonable level. Mohammad, now I know how you felt. Next time I'll be wearing a veil. I'm learning I need to be more careful as the population builds, they more aggressively forage and are more protective of their honey.