2013 Hive 4

Hive status:  New nuc 2013
Hive origin:  Nuc that Alan made from a cut-out he did that had swarm cells present
Queen type:  Unknown, new in 2013 (hopefully survivor stock)

Significant events/observations: New hive that I transferred from a nuc box to a deep when moving it to my apiary on 6/22/13.  Hopefully the queen is survivor stock and will be able to make it through Ohio winters.  Added remaining sugar syrup to the top, about a quart, even though nectar is flowing strong.  Did not spot queen during transfer, but eggs and young larvae present on two sides of one frame were observed.  The 5 frames moved over were foundationless as this hive started with comb from a cutout rubber-banded into deep frames.  One had a chunk of honey the size of a small plate that was stuck to the nuc wall instead of part of the frame so I removed it to have a little spring honey, probably 2 pounds.

6/28/13:  Expanding into single deep, spotted eggs on a frame that was not original to the nuc.  Removed a frame that had very little comb in it and replaced with a frame of drawn comb.

7/5/13:  Hive is drawing out frames that are foundation only or filling in openings where no foundation exists.  Single deep still ok for now, saw eggs.

Sometime in July added another deep.  

8/5/13:  Eggs in bottom of top deep, still plenty of room without a honey super.  Slow growing.

8/10/13:  Eggs.  No food in this hive, added 3 deeps of honey/pollen.  Rearranged partially drawn frames to walls of upper deep as they are not drawing them out.  Moved empty deep drawn comb to center of lower deep to encourage more brood.  Could probably fit in a single deep, but hoping they will grow to fill it.

8/17/13:  Doing well, building up and bringing in nectar.  Spotted eggs.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.  This hive was a bit defensive and is filling up both deeps now, a big difference from 2 weeks ago.

9/11/13:  Hive doing well, added queen excluder and super.  Super has 4 frames of drawn comb and 6 frames of undrawn was foundation.

9/28/13:  Removed queen excluder due to no bees or honey in the super.  Did not see eggs.  Deeps are full of honey.  Swapped super which was mostly undrawn for a super of drawn comb (removed on 9/28 from H2).  Will watch for eggs after they hopefully move some honey up.  Closed upper off-set entrance.

12/22/13:  6+ frames of bees on heavy frames in upper deep, some bees still down in lower, very calm.  Second strongest hive behind H2.

Package Bee Disaster (truckload lost) and Package Bee Arrival

The packages arrived late (target was mid-April, arrived 4/30/13) due to a prior truck of bees to the midwest where all 1750 packages died due to a road closure.  The following information came from Queen Right Colonies, from whom I ordered my bees:

Hello to all our faithful customers. Olivarez Honey Farms has just notified us that shipment of package bees has been delayed a few days to a week, from our scheduled pick-up times due to weather and a loss of an entire semi load of 1750 packages of bees in the mid-west due to a road closure.  This has bumped our shipment back as a result.  To those who understand agriculture, no explanation is necessary. To those who are new to this, some things are simply not under our control.  As always, we ask your patience and understanding as we work out details to what we hope will be a great beekeeping season.

From their Facebook post:

The semi load of bees was stopped out west due to a 100 mile stretch of closed highway. There was over 500 semi's stopped and other vehicles as well in a small town located in a depression or valley, it was cold and all the vehicles were running their engines to keep warm. The exhausts caused the bees to become active to try to remove the fumes from the semi they were being transported in, the result endend in an over heated load and lots of dead bees.

 The load that my packages were on arrived 4/30/13 early in the morning.  If you've never seen a pallet load of bees, this is what it looks like.

I helped a neighbor install her first ever bees in a brand new hive after we picked up our packages together.  She did it all on her own with some coaching and a bit of marshmallow from me.  One thing I noticed was that she moved much more slowly and bees had more time to climb and mound on the edge of the single deep.  Drew and I moved much more quickly and, while we displaced more bees directly with frames since they were still piled on the bottom, it was much easier to squash fewer bees when closing the hives.  If we would have had her smoker lit, she could have tried to chase them inside, but if they don't know the hive as home and there is no honey or comb inside to go after, I don't know what they'd do.

My two packages of Carniolans became 2013 Hive 2 and 2013 Hive 3.

2012 Post Mortem

Looking at my summer 2012 post and how many nucs and hives were thriving, and comparing it to the reality of the bee yard in early 2013 is a stark contrast.  It was a blow to lose my strongest hive and the 3 nucs I had tried to start earlier in the year, but I still went into the winter with 4 hives.  It was a rough fall with nearly no fall nectar flow. 3 more died by Feb. 2013

The lone surviving hive from 2012 is H6.  I hope they make it as March and early April can be rough.  We just got 4 inches of snow on 3/26/13.  I have two packages of bees on order, this time I'm trying Carniolans which come recommended over Italians by Queen Right Colonies.

2012 Summer Status Summary

In my apairy there are currently:

:: Three new nucs (N5,6,7)
:: Three strong hives with healthy queens (H3,4,5)
:: One hive with declining queen (H1)
:: One hive raising a new queen (H6)
:: Eight honey supers

I also recently assembled and painted additional equipment including 5 deeps (to cover pail feeders) and three shallow supers. I will be ordering more deep frames, shallow frames, shallow foundation and wax foundation pins for the fall flow.

Sign at the street says "Local Raw Honey".  =)

2012 Nuc #7

Hive status:  Raising a new queen (I hope)
Hive origin:  New Nuc in August 2012
Queen type: Raised in 2012 from eggs from overwintered Hive #6 (Italian)

Significant events/observations:

8/11/12:  Nuc created from 3 frames from Hive #6 (eggs, brood, food).  Not sure if there were enough eggs, will have to check and perhaps grab a new frame of eggs.

8/25/12:  Nuc still together but no queen cells.  Added eggs from Hive #5.

9/29/12:  Nuc empty and robbed out.  Moved queen and two frames of brood from Hive #4 (robbed out) to this nuc and started newspaper combine with Nuc #5.

2012 Nuc #6

Hive status:  Raising a new queen (I hope)
Hive origin:  New Nuc in August 2012
Queen type: Raised in 2012 from eggs from overwintered Hive #4 (Italian from CA package)

Significant events/observations:

8/11/12:  Nuc created from 3 frames from Hive #4 (eggs, brood, food)

8/25/12:  Nuc died and was robbed out.  Moved frame with approx. 10 queen cells on it from Hive #6 over with bees and brood.  Some of the cells were a tad smushed, so hopefully one healthy queen emerges.  This nuc should have a head start on the N5 and N7, which just received eggs.  Added entrance reducer to prevent robbing.

9/29/12:  Nuc was empty and robbed out.

2012 Nuc #5

Hive status:  Raising a new queen (I hope)
Hive origin:  New Nuc in August 2012
Queen type: Raised in 2012 from eggs from overwintered Hive #4 (Italian from CA package)

Significant events/observations:

8/11/12:  Nuc created from 3 frames from Hive #4 (eggs, brood, food)

8/25/12:  Nuc died and was robbed out.  Moved 2 frames of eggs from Hive #3 and added entrance reducer to prevent robbing.

9/29/12:  Small colony, no queen.  Added queen and two frames of brood from Hive #4 (robbed out) to Nuc #7 and started newspaper combine with this nuc.