Hi there,
I'm a new beekeeper and installed 2 packages 4/26/14. Both were really easy to inspect with no protective gear for the first 10 days. Now now one of them is getting cranky.
Hive A - friendly, few mites, straight comb, eggs & capped brood & open brood, queen seen on last inspection about 5 days ago
Hive B - more agitated on 2nd to last inspection but no stings, 5 days later (the most recent inspection) they were stinging and chasing people (now I'll suit up for them), more varroa mites than the other on every inspection board exam (the other hive will have 1-3 mites, this hive will have 10-15 mites), fewer combs drawn out, some cross combing because I bought some starter comb from the beekeeper & his comb was wonky and it's causing the next comb over the cross comb - so I am ripping apart 1-1.5" of comb at the top of the frames for the last 2 inspections (when the hive started getting cranky) - I don't see brood in those cells, it's nectar/sugar syrup, I haven't seen the queen since the first inspection but I'm new, I am seeing eggs (& capped brood & open brood)- so I think she's there.
If I sit in the bee yard about 15 feet from the hives in a chair for a while, now a bee or two (from Hive B? - I think that's where they go back) will start buzzing in my face until I move away.
- Is it the damage to the comb that's making them cranky? So I'm causing it? So no need to requeen, it's a normal reaction & I should stop prying apart those frames?
- We have some barn swallows that live on the property & I see them swooping through the bee yard occasionally, but if they're a problem, wouldn't both hives be cranky?
- Otherwise I don't see any evidence that skunks or anything else are bothering them.
I'm thinking of giving them more time, but if Hive B stays cranky, should I requeen it? Or should I just stop pulling apart those two areas of cross combing when I do an inspection? (I was doing it to try to "normalize" it and keep the next frames out from getting even worse.)
Thanks!!
- BA Shane-Holser