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Like A Poppy said, if there's honey on the top of the frames, she won't cross it to new frames above, so she is bound.
Besides, I've no idea what the weather WAS like in your part of the...

Drone is normal, up to a point, at this time of year. Don't know about Michigan, but it could either be a laying worker or they are about to swarm. Over 70% capped? Then swarm soon. All drone and NO...

Good going!
Consider releaving the stress in the mother colony with some more space. I had a TBH split to many times and wore itself out. Though I kept putting empty bars between brood bars, they...

Have them read this forum.

Yeah. Cheap shot on "manliness" but I know if I bought one of those, I WOULD be sleeping with it.

What Mr. Bush said is true...ideal place for a beek. It would be good to get another hive as soon as practical. I understand that under normal circumstances she won't mate with her own drones as she...

I would not reverse boxes, as the girls know better how to do what they do. Doing so will only stress out the hive. For example, when the foragers return, and the brood chamber is on the bottom,...

Gone2seed is right. She's in the box and the rest will follow. Seems they were happy hanging where they were and not a "dry swarm" (at the end of their three day supply of food and grouchy). We'll...

Great going and, yes, it is a gas.
Just to insure, unless you want more splits which is a good idea, consider putting a box with comb on the bottom. Those forages got to rest somewhere upon return,...

And your results?

I stand corrected. I do the same. Just not the hive box. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

HONEY BEE HOBBYIST, The Car and Keeping of Bees
by Norman Gary, PhD.
Met this guy at a talk; he is unbelievable. Caught his first swarm at 7 years old with none around for help. He grew up to...

Hard to say. The weak one will probably die. They do that and that 's all there is. It happened to me and all of us that have been keeping bees for more than a year.
Moisture is a monster this time...

DO NOT PAINT THE INSIDE.
If you wish, paint the outside with simple latex. I ususally go to the big box store, look at what folks have rejected on their "special table" and pick a nice light color....

Sometimes they don't read the same manuals we do

Sounds to me that you WILL be doing either swarms or splits. Both can be good but splits are better. If you do splits you won't lose about a month of production, either in bees, honey, nectar and...

Honey Bee Hobbyist by Norman Gary, PhD
is my latest. He came to our club, spoke and was so good I purchased a copy. The guy has been beekeeping for close to 70 years. He was 7 when he found his...

Many folks wish to be to clever by half.

In my area brood peaks in June and then mid to late August. Their cycle is 3 weeks and many use that swarm season to break their cycle since a new queen will take 3 weeks or longer to start laying...

I can't answer your question definitively. From what I understand the mite population is not that great in January due to cold and lack of new bees emerging. New bees usually do not emerge for flight...

Two is the perfect number to begin with, but if you have a mentor and they are willing to work with you especially in your Spring, then go for more! For most normal folks, and many beeks I meet are...

This month's Bee Culture has an excellent article (maybe it was last month's) by a beek that wrote to the effect of, "Hell, you work, spend money, time, and effort to keep them alive so do what you...

Broadsides From The Other Orders, by Sue Hubbell has a chapter called BRAVO BEES which are the so called "African bees". Seems that scientists originally called them Bravo bees because they were so...

First of all,
http://www.diablobees.org/

is your local 'go to' folks and they meet in Walnut Creek.
Your chain of events sets an impossible time line to follow. There's probably no bee robbing...

The bees don't read this forum, so it's not TO important. I caught about a dozen swarms last Spring and most were no more than 5 feet off the ground; maybe lucky, but I'm going to put my lured box no...