My little hive

[solstice]

I just got into beekeeping this year but am doing a lot of photodocumentation! Gearing up to overwinter as well. I just blogged with pics (had some queen cell issues this first year as well!) Check it out if you have a moment!
Thanks!
Tamara

http://thewoodsygal.com/2012/10/18/a-peek-at-my-bees/

[Lburou]

Welcome! If your hive filled all those supers this summer, they have done very well indeed.

Did your mentor mention anything about the quality of the brood pattern shown in your photodocumention? If you don't mind my asking, have you done any mite counts? That brood pattern has a number of empty holes in it and could be why the bees tried to supersede the queen. The 'perfect' queen -with brood disease considerations aside- will lay an entire frame without missing a cell and it will be solid all the way across, and it probably never happens that way. Not intending to sound alarmist, but I was curious.

Western Beekeeper, posted this brood pattern a few months ago for a comparison:

Is this a good brood pattern? Should it be better, or is it normally worse? Main reason for this post is to test my photo uploader.

Attachment 2381

[solstice]

Hi Lee!
My frames WERE filled with brood in the summertime...now the brood is there but definitely more sparse. I do have some frames that looked filled though. We actually didnt see any mites...some beetles here and there though. I'm waiting for a bear!

[cerezha]

http://thewoodsygal.com/2012/10/18/a-peek-at-my-bees/

When I click on the picture's thumbnail, the resulting larger picture looks very dark, like a shade. On my computer, I could see only small thumbnails from your web-site. Sergey

[Lburou]

...snip...I could see only small thumbnails from your web-site. Sergey

select the arrow either side of the picture and it will brighten up.

[Lburou]

Hi Lee!
My frames WERE filled with brood in the summertime...now the brood is there but definitely more sparse. I do have some frames that looked filled though. We actually didnt see any mites...some beetles here and there though. I'm waiting for a bear!

It looks like the darker cells are full of larva, so, its just brood of different ages interspersed in those cells.

Mash those beetles when you see them. Take out a few bees if you have to, but smash those little buggars.

[solstice]

I do try to kill whatever beetles I find.

Also back in the end of summer I did go through and cut off all of my queen cells...per my mentor's mentoring. I was very afraid to do so in case I had indeed lost my queen...but we have since found brood so all must be well in the hive, right?! Thanks for your input! I really hope my bees make it through the winter.

[solstice]

I have had a ton of views of my little gals...thanks so much everyone!

[AstroBee]

The way that they are clinging to your clothes, perhaps the title should have been: "Say hello to my little hive" of course said in a deep Cuban accent.

Nice job.

[Mr.Beeman]

Do the bees always cluster to your protective clothing like that?

[solstice]

do you mean the cluster on my head?!

[Mr.Beeman]

Yes and the large amount of bees on your mentors back. I have had maybe 10 at the most on me at any given time.

[solstice]

wow really...thats so FEW. The day these pics were taken we had ripped apart the entire hive down to the bottom...so I'm sure the bees were pretty darn PO!

[AstroBee]

I was mostly joking...hoping that you'd get my "Scarface" reference.

However, it is a little unusual to have clumps of bees hanging off you after an inspection. It has happened to me before, but not typical. It depends on several things, like were they trying to kill you or just hanging out.