[Chef Isaac]

Hello all. So I think I started out with way to many bees for my first time around. I checked my hive for the second time. It seems like they have built enough honey for winter...at least in my "professional" opnion.

There was some pollin cells which looked nice. There was so patches of brood too. I did see some larvea and very few eggs. should I be worried about that?

I did not see the queen which I was really hoping to see. I know you are not supposed to see her each visit but it would have been nice to see her this time. Is there any trick for finding the queen (execpt marking her)? I do not think I used to much smoke this time around... but again... thats my "professional" opinion.

So, I guess they are doing good. I put a bucket feed on them this time rather then using the zip lock method. I hope they are ok and with a queen.

any advice?

 

[Gone2dlake]

Chef... sounds ok so far. I have two hives, one I can readily find the queen in and the other almost never. The one thing you do want to see (if you don't see the queen) is eggs and brood. This is a positve sign there is a queen in the hive and actively laying. Just because you can't find the queen doesn't make you a Jester! Just my $.02 worth!

 

[sarah]

dear chef, i am beginer beekeeper as well. i feel sort of sheepish saying this but i have never seen a bee egg during one of my inspections! i see larvae in various stages and i feel that this is good enough. two days ago i even saw a brand new bee chewing her way out of her cell. that was pretty amazing. i also havent seen my queens since about three weeks after we bought the nucs (we have three hives), again, here i dont worry because i see the larvae and capped worker cells. i do, though, have one queen who i am considering replacing and i dont know how in the #[email protected]* i am going to find her. next time i get queens i will request they be marked. good luck in your queen search and dont feel discouraged if you dont see her. i figure with 10s of thousands of bees to look through to find one it really is like looking for a needle in a haystack, even if it is a bigger than average needle!

 

[SilverFox]

The queen is about half again as big as a worker and is broader in the abdomin, and quick almost like an INDY car compared to a GEO, as for the eggs they look like a small comma in the bottom of cells the darker the comb the easier to see, that is why people use darker comb for brood and newer comb for honey.
Try looking directly into the cell as close as possable, and prehaps a small flashlight will help.

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'WHEN WE CLOSE OUR EYES WE ALL LOOK THE SAME' GWPW 03

 

[Michael Bush]

Spotting a queen.
http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000455.html

 

[SilverFox]

Another idea; as in hunting-look for something that shouldn't be there.

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'WHEN WE CLOSE OUR EYES WE ALL LOOK THE SAME' GWPW 03