beekeeperlady
06-03-2009, 05:55 PM
decided to take a pain pill (have a really bad back and a neurosurgeon appt. 23 June sigh..) and go out and check the bees first hive.. was the weak nuc hive.. its doing well.. must have a Queen plenty of brood food and new eggs right in the correct position..
removed the upper shallow super frames (burr comb all over the place not yet drawn out foundation-less frames) put in new clean frames and put everything back together.. i put the undrawn onto the bottom as an experiment to see if they will draw it out faster as in the wild they generally build from top to bottom.. then checked the strong hive that has no queen yet that i know of.. no fresh eggs..(i did not open and check the hive body where the queen cells were because i was afraid i would damage them or do something stupid..lol.. but the upper super was full of honey and pollen.. i saw 2 large hive frames full of half caped honey.. that i will take after they cap it.. so to give the queen when she hatches a place to lay.
put a shallow on the bottom and put the rest on top.. they had been bearding the outside and figured the extra room a shallow gave on the bottom might help with circulation i have the tops of all the hives also wedged up a little for a good draw of air.
the third hive. the one that now i think is the swarm from the strong hive lol.. is doing good. half drawn out.. storing honey some pollen .. and lots of eggs and caped brood and young brood in the upper shallow super i saw the queen.. she is the color of a good Guinness beer.. dark amber and fat.. looks pretty healthy too..(this queen is the biggest i have seen) now there is no guarantee she is from my strong hive originally.. but i suspect she is..
the bottom hive body is doing well.. the 2 frames of brood and food are still there.. brood is capped some have hatched and plenty of bees..( i would have just had them in the shallow. but i did not have any shallow frames of brood and food.. SO had to add the deep to the group..) so far all is well with all 3.even the queen-less one with the queen cells.. plenty of flowers.. matter of fact this is the best year in 4 years for clover.. i have so much clover in my pasture.. and the cow pastures nearby within 2 miles are so chock full no wonder the bees are doing well.. lol.. and everything else is blooming too.. I'm sure the fact we did not get a late hard frost like last year helps alot too with the bloomin plants.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/polisharabians/bees/100_44141.jpg
removed the upper shallow super frames (burr comb all over the place not yet drawn out foundation-less frames) put in new clean frames and put everything back together.. i put the undrawn onto the bottom as an experiment to see if they will draw it out faster as in the wild they generally build from top to bottom.. then checked the strong hive that has no queen yet that i know of.. no fresh eggs..(i did not open and check the hive body where the queen cells were because i was afraid i would damage them or do something stupid..lol.. but the upper super was full of honey and pollen.. i saw 2 large hive frames full of half caped honey.. that i will take after they cap it.. so to give the queen when she hatches a place to lay.
put a shallow on the bottom and put the rest on top.. they had been bearding the outside and figured the extra room a shallow gave on the bottom might help with circulation i have the tops of all the hives also wedged up a little for a good draw of air.
the third hive. the one that now i think is the swarm from the strong hive lol.. is doing good. half drawn out.. storing honey some pollen .. and lots of eggs and caped brood and young brood in the upper shallow super i saw the queen.. she is the color of a good Guinness beer.. dark amber and fat.. looks pretty healthy too..(this queen is the biggest i have seen) now there is no guarantee she is from my strong hive originally.. but i suspect she is..
the bottom hive body is doing well.. the 2 frames of brood and food are still there.. brood is capped some have hatched and plenty of bees..( i would have just had them in the shallow. but i did not have any shallow frames of brood and food.. SO had to add the deep to the group..) so far all is well with all 3.even the queen-less one with the queen cells.. plenty of flowers.. matter of fact this is the best year in 4 years for clover.. i have so much clover in my pasture.. and the cow pastures nearby within 2 miles are so chock full no wonder the bees are doing well.. lol.. and everything else is blooming too.. I'm sure the fact we did not get a late hard frost like last year helps alot too with the bloomin plants.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v441/polisharabians/bees/100_44141.jpg