Virtual Hive Inspection

[deknow]

Hi all,

In preparation for a presentation to our county bee club, we have photographed each comb face of an entire hive. All comb is either HSC, or drawn with no foundation (Popsicle stick guides). 6 deep boxes tall, and brooding up to take full advantage of the golden rod flow. You can zoom in to see brood, nectar, and pollen. My camera was dying while i did this, so some images are distorted...but you can get the idea.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Dean.Ram...HiveSept152008

deknow

[Durandal]

That is a neat idea. Good execution.

[odfrank]

Please repeat this after the golden rod flow. Did you get a crop from this hive already this year?

So far I see:

A good population
Scattered brood and Honey throughout the hive
No homogeneous brood chamber
No Homogeneous honey stores or extractable honey
Lots of poorly drawn frames
Lots of unused plastic comb
Lots of combs that could not survive an extractor
Lots of drone comb but not too many drones, probably because there is not enough honey stores to have promoted excess drone production
The bees actually using the plastic comb
Wax and plastic all mixed willy nilly throughout the hive
Untreated woodenware ready to age fast
I hope you don't present this to the bee club as a hiveto admire.

[Troy]

I hope you'll take this as constructive info.......

I was shocked to see 6 deeps. That is way too many in my opinion. Keep them a bit more crowded and they will draw the comb better and fill it better too.

The woodenware needs some protection. If you don't seal the end grain of the wood at the corners, it will take up moisture and the seams will get weak over time. I would be sure to paint them. It is a bad day when you pick up a box and it breaks apart, and bees fall everywhere.

I would go through the hive and remove a couple boxes of the poorly drawn frames. Cut out most all of the drone comb and put in some drone frames. Then the bees have the drones they want and you can do drone comb removal if you want to help with the mites.

I am personally a fan of queen excluders to hold the brood below and leave my honey frames nice and white. Combs that have never had brood in them are a lot less prone to wax moth damage when stored too.

I would prewire the frames, so that when they do draw those frames nicely, you can extract them and they won't break up in the extractor. Nicely drawn frames are a beekeepers most important asset.