First Inspection questions?

[Polarbee]

Finally got into my hives after 10 days since dumping my bees. The temps were mid 50's and sunny so I didn't want to spend to much time but needed to check the status of the queen.

Hive 1: Queen was free and I found her (she is marked) on the 6th frame in from my first frame I pulled. I put it all back together and shut her up as soon as I saw her. I wanted to check for eggs but it was to chilly for my comfort so I just made sure things looked passable and reassembled the hive. I pulled the queen cage and made sure they were all spaced evenly in the middle of the box. I dumped the feeder out and filled it with fresh feed with some Honey B Healthy.

Hive 2: Queen was free but I could not find her. I only pulled five frames and decided to put it back together. I figured next Sunday I should see capped brood. The bees were not aggressive and I saw no queen cells so either they off'd her, or they are getting along okay. I again did not take time to search for eggs due to the cold. The bees were calm and in no way aggressive so I took that as a sign that they are comfortable and the queen is somewhere in the hive.

Observations and Questions:

1. Saw plenty of pollen on the bees coming into the hives. They have not touched their pollen patties at all. I placed one per hive. Should I just pull the pollen patties or leave them assuming they will get to them later? They are finding pollen somewhere so I don't know if they will go to the pollen patty any time soon.

2. They had built up some deep comb on either side of the queen cage. It was not very sturdy but I just pressed the frames together for the correct bee space and left it alone. No burr cone on the top to scrape at all. Will that deep comb be okay left alone? Should I have taken it out?

3. I did not use reducers as my two hives are the only two on the farm. I found out that I will be getting another beekeeper keeping some swarm hives near mine though soon. I am thinking I should go to reducers due to that fact. What are your thoughts? My hives are no where near ready to fend off a stronger colony.

4. I have thought about adding a boardman feeder to my hives in addition to my top feeders. They don't seem to use the top feeders much and I am wondering if its the feeder or the bees just have another source. Would two feeders be overkill?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help.

[NasalSponge]

1. Defer, I have never used pollen supplements.

2. Removing it would be best, it could continue to cause problems later.

3. Won't hurt a thing to put a reducer on.

4. If there is a flow, they will ignore feed, with that much pollen coming in I bet you have a flow as well. In any case if they aren't taking it from the hive top I doubt a boardman will be any different.

[beedeetee]

I pulled the queen cage and made sure they were all spaced evenly in the middle of the box...

... but I just pressed the frames together for the correct bee space and left it alone.

I'm not sure what you did here, but you want the frames with foundation pushed together, not evenly spaced. But if they were pushed together and then centered in the box, then you did good.

As far as your other questions, there isn't a right or wrong answer except the reducer question and then it depends. It is safer with new or weak hives to use them, but if there are things to forage, bees with normally do that rather than start robbing. I don't worry about robbing in the spring after things have started to bloom, but it doesn't hurt a new hive to use one.

[Polarbee]

"2. Removing it would be best, it could continue to cause problems later"

How do I go about removing it without destroying the comb built up on either side of it? Do I just scrape it off the foundation with the hive tool? Thanks for the help!

Jay

Nasalsponge

Yes, thats what I meant I took out the queen cage and made sure the frames were all together and then centered them in the hive.

[Polarbee]

This is the comb I am talking about that they filled in the gap with the queen cage.

[mrqb]

i would have removed it

[Polarbee]

The comb pulled off the actual wood when I seperated the frames. I will be back into them next Sunday so I will scrap what I can of anything on the wood.

[Nantom670]

deleted

[jadell]

I will be back into them next Sunday so I will scrap what I can of anything on the wood.

You should get it out sooner than next Sunday. There will be larva almost ready to be capped in it. They will not draw out the next frame properly, or the rest of that frame. I hate wasting wax, the comb will be much bigger by next Sunday.

I would also put on the entrance reducer since they are just starting out. There are more important things that need to be done than guarding the entrance right now.

[honeyman46408]

Yes by next sunday they will have the hole space filled