[elliebee]

just a story to tell, I welcome the finger-swaggering if I have made a mistake.

My first hive, dumped the bees April 30th, have been inspecting every 7 to 10 days, except for the last 2 wks. 12 hr days at work 7days/, just couldn't fit in an inspeciton. Finally looked in yesterday. Surprise, really difficult to get off the inner cover, when I finally pry it off, I see what look like grubs, then I realize they are larvae, the queen laid eggs on top of the bars! and the frames are really full, all 10 of them, bees everywhere. I'm wondering if I was close to losing the colony b/c they ran out of room, is it normal that the queen lay eggs on top of the frame bars?

so put on the 2nd brood box, moved a frame up from bottom box to middle of upper box, will check in 7days for drawn comb,etc.

would appreciate any feedback, esp. how long I can expect b4 I need to put on super and should I keep feeding?

 

[ccar2000]

Sounds like you caught it in time! I bet you were surprised. I have heard that first year packages wont swarm since they are in the establishment mode. Trying to build up brood nest and enough stores to get through the winter. My hive built drone comb between frames. were th larvae rather large looking?

 

[elliebee]

thanks for the reply, up until now I have been rather hands off, just letting them be and keeping inspection really brief, so I don't know if these larvae were large..

do feel badly about damaging the comb.

 

[ccar2000]

They will rebuild without missing a beat! Good idea to move some of the drawn frames of brood up top.

 

[brac]

probally just drone brood. How quick are your inspections, do you look for queen cells new, or used on each frame? It's hard enough for a new colony, if they also swarm it really slows them down.

 

[elliebee]

I spend about 10 minutes total, haven't seen any queen cells at all, evidence of plenty of egg laying, capped brood, some honey, etc. Still haven't managed to find the queen, but I get nervous holding those frames, someone at my local group suggested the queen can fall off so I just look at each one quickly and put it back!

 

[mike haney]

hold'em over the hive sos she falls IN. a frame holder from walter kelleys will help. good luck,mike

 

[devdog108]

I toowas scared when i first started. What i have learned to do is look through the hive and when i find the queen on a frame, the frame on the far end comes off and I shift them and replace the frame she is on right back to where it was and then work from the other end. So far, I haven't hurt a queen yet that i have found.

 

[elliebee]

thanks all...