Well today I got into half my hives. Checked and tidied up the frames, removed winter insulation and sugar and put on hive top feeders (hope to put syrup on tomorrow). This is now the second half of my first year with bees. Lots of work but sooo much fun!
All have lots of honey stores still in frames..some had 10 deep frames still full of honey.
Some had bees (brood) only in the top box. Those I reversed the boxes. In the now top box I pulled a couple of honey frames and replaced with indrawn foundation. I was now able to give each new package a frame of drawn comb with some honey and pollen.
Some hives had bees and brood in both boxes. Those I just cleaned up the frames and did not reverse them.
I have 3 hives that wintered with a deep and a dadant above. The one I checked today had brood in both boxes so I just left them as they were. Perhaps later in the spring I will separate the queen from the dadant with an excluder, let the brood hatch out remove it and the excluder and give another deep of undrawn foundation to see if they draw it out.
One hive I am not happy with. It is a double deep. There are lots of bees. The bottom box had bees but was pretty much empty comb. The upper box had lots of bees and most frames were full of honey. What I did not see was any brood....none at all. I am not good at finding Queens and they aren't marked. There were a lot of bees so needless to say I did not notice a queen. I reversed the boxes and I reversed some of the honey frames leaving the central with empty comb. I did not see a queen but that is not unusual for me as I am no good at loathing them.
I saw drone comb in a couple of hives but not a lot and did not notice adult drones. The hives with brood only had it on 4-8 frames and although the areas were solid they often were just part of a frame. I didn't move over any open brood as I didn't know if the other hives were strong enough yet to be brood donors. Also I doubt there are mature drones around for mating. Our weather remains below freezing at night and is starting to get near 50 some days. We get a lot of cold rain.
The bees in the brood less hive seem perfectly content...not angry, not loud.
So...do I wait and see if brood appears in a couple of weeks or try to order in a mated Queen from Hawaii....it may be to early to locate a mated queen....or should I steal open brood from another hive?
What are your thoughts on this?
All have lots of honey stores still in frames..some had 10 deep frames still full of honey.
Some had bees (brood) only in the top box. Those I reversed the boxes. In the now top box I pulled a couple of honey frames and replaced with indrawn foundation. I was now able to give each new package a frame of drawn comb with some honey and pollen.
Some hives had bees and brood in both boxes. Those I just cleaned up the frames and did not reverse them.
I have 3 hives that wintered with a deep and a dadant above. The one I checked today had brood in both boxes so I just left them as they were. Perhaps later in the spring I will separate the queen from the dadant with an excluder, let the brood hatch out remove it and the excluder and give another deep of undrawn foundation to see if they draw it out.
One hive I am not happy with. It is a double deep. There are lots of bees. The bottom box had bees but was pretty much empty comb. The upper box had lots of bees and most frames were full of honey. What I did not see was any brood....none at all. I am not good at finding Queens and they aren't marked. There were a lot of bees so needless to say I did not notice a queen. I reversed the boxes and I reversed some of the honey frames leaving the central with empty comb. I did not see a queen but that is not unusual for me as I am no good at loathing them.
I saw drone comb in a couple of hives but not a lot and did not notice adult drones. The hives with brood only had it on 4-8 frames and although the areas were solid they often were just part of a frame. I didn't move over any open brood as I didn't know if the other hives were strong enough yet to be brood donors. Also I doubt there are mature drones around for mating. Our weather remains below freezing at night and is starting to get near 50 some days. We get a lot of cold rain.
The bees in the brood less hive seem perfectly content...not angry, not loud.
So...do I wait and see if brood appears in a couple of weeks or try to order in a mated Queen from Hawaii....it may be to early to locate a mated queen....or should I steal open brood from another hive?
What are your thoughts on this?
