12/22/13 : Warm winter day inspection

Unseasonably warm spell for the prior 2 days (both rainy and windy) and today (breezy but sunny).  This followed some unseasonably cold weather in November with several days that had highs in the teens or low 20s.
I went in to all my hives today to see:

1)  How many live bees are in there

2)  How many dead bees are on the bottom boards (and clean them off)

3)  How much honey they have
4)  How the remaining honey is distributed
The good news is I have live bees in every hive.   The bad news is I never did combine that nuc I raised as an insurance policy with another hive and it turns out that was a bad idea.  Almost all the honey was gone and the nuc was 5/6ths dead.  Queen and maybe 200 bees are left.  I'm sure they will die, very sad.  I'm tempted to try to move them inside the shed or something to give them a fighting chance, but don't really know what will help.  One other hive was light on bees with already 1 inch of dead bees on the bottom board.  They may or may not make it, long shot, I'd say.  The four remaining hives were relatively strong and had quite a bit more honey.  Best of luck to all of them.  I did move some frames of honey around so they'd be more available to the clusters later.  I will probably make some candy boards later, especially for the two hives that were already near the inner cover. 

Most hives actually die in March cold snaps, not Nov and Dec, so it is still too early to tell.

2013 Going into Winter

Nuc 2: Perfect Nuc
Hive 1: 2 deeps, about 5 empty frames in upper deep, light on bees and honey
Hive 2: 2 deeps and 1 shallow honey super, lots of bees and honey, but had lots of chalkbrood problems throughout year
Hive 3:  2 deeps and 1 shallow honey super, solid hive, lots of bees
Hive 4:  2 deeps, solid hive
Hive 5:  2 deeps and moderate amount of bees, solid hive


Hive rankings as of 12/26/13 (62 degree inspection day):

listed as STRONGEST > WEAKEST

H2 > H4 > H1 > H5 > H3 > N6

2013 Fall Honey extraction

Extracted about 25 pounds of fall honey on 11/9/13.  This came from 3 different supers, only one of which was anywhere near full.  There were a lot of empty frames and a number of frames that were less than half full.  Supers came from hive #4, hive #5, and hive #3.  Not a stellar fall flow, but better than last year.  Saw bees on asters very often.

7/23/13: Queens not laying

Inspected 2 hives and a nuc today and found no eggs.  This was after a neighbor (Linda) stated brood was spotty in her main hive and her nuc had no eggs, though a queen should have hatched and mated by now (same timeline as the main hive).  I spotted the queen in her nuc and confirmed no eggs on 7/23/13.  Saw a queen in my nuc and no eggs.  What do these ladies know?  Preparing for a dearth?

8/3/13 UPDATE:  Found eggs in all hives except H2 (unknown if H2 has a queen who will resume laying shortly or if they need to raise a new queen).  The weather has been unseasonably cool for Late July/Early August with highs in the low to mid 70s and lows in the low 60s.  We have had moderate rain and everything is growing like crazy.


8/10/13 UPDATE:  All queens laying.  The H2 queen was just a bit later than the others to restart.  H3 new queen is laying well.

2013 spring honey extraction

Extracted honey on 7/14/13 (fresh spring honey) and 7/15/13 (fall honey stored in comb, some slightly crystallized).   We had 3 spring supers, 6 deep frames, and 2 fall supers.

We yielded probably 120 pounds of spring honey and another 75 pounds of honey from deep frames, cappings, and fall supers.

Dumb mistake 7/2/13

Like a dummy I decided to try to pull a cultivator attachment through the future orchard area where I keep my bees.  They apparently did not like how close I got with the tractor.  I took about a dozen stings before I ran to the porch.  I regrouped, put on my bee suit, and tried to drive the tractor out of the orchard.  The tractor was slipping and sticking so I shut it down and gave up for now.  And there the tractor sits...

I began to have a moderate reaction to the stings and I monitored it closely to determine if it would lead anaphylaxis.   Thankfully not.  I did feel feverish, got lightheaded, and had some strange sensations like the tops of my feet itching and my tongue tingling (not swelling).  All my stings were on the forearms, finger, ear, and behind the ear.  I took off my wedding ring before the sting on the finger became too swollen.

OK, girls, I get it.  That's your area and I play there at my own risk.

2013 Nuc 2

Hive status:  New nuc 2013
Hive origin:  Nuc formed from 1 frame of 2013 Hive 1 (found capped supercedure cell 6/10/13) and 2 frames from 2013 Hive 2
Queen type:  Pending new from 2013

6/10/13:  Created this nuc when I found a capped supercedure cell in 2013 Hive 1 which had a relatively new queen.  I removed this frame to a nuc in case she just needs a bit more time to pick up laying.  Added two frames of nurse bees with a bit of brood from H2.  Two remaining frames are one undrawn and one of drawn comb.  A tiny nuc just to raise this queen opportunistically.

6/15/13:  Still small, queen cell open, queen not seen and no eggs.  Perhaps on mating flight?  Same as Nuc 1.

6/21/13:  Still no queen spotted, no eggs, this time there was another capped queen cell.  That egg must have come from the new queen, but they are not happy with her?

6/28/13:  Saw the new queen that hatched out, she is not yet laying. Small nuc.

7/5/13:  Small nuc, new eggs, spotted queen.  OK in nuc for now.

7/23/13:  Queen spotted, not laying.  No queens were laying at this time.

8/3/13:  Eggs and queen spotted.  Low on honey, could soon go in to a deep with some frames of honey.  Ditto for 8/10/13.

8/17/13:  Spotted eggs and queen.  Small nuc, no food.  Added a frame of honey and 20 minutes later there was a swarm of bees raiding this nuc through a crack between the lid and the nuc box.  I changed the lid to one that did not leave a gap and stuffed most of the entrance with grass to prevent robbing.

8/25/13:  Eggs spotted, ok on food and space.   Not robbed out.

9/11/13: Perfect nuc!  Food, brood, eggs, not too big or growing too fast for the space.  Has honey, pollen, and is drying nectar.

9/28/13:  Still perfect.

12/22/13:  Nuc is nearly frozen to death, starved, down to a couple of hundred bees (200?) and the queen was hanging on.  This hive will likely freeze in a cold snap.  Replaced an empty frame with a frame full of honey in the center of the nuc.