[cfdengine1]

Wow! Just finished my first (7 days after install) hive inspection. Bees are working hard and have been very busy. Decided to wear hood only and bees were very calm, no stings yet. Ants are working hard to get to top feeders so I sprinkled borax at the base of my stands. Opened first hive and bam, SHB on the rail of my top feeder. All together I found 3 SHB's (killed 1) and have 4 hives. Also found bees busy building comb in top feeder and bottom of inner cover was completely covered with bees. Removed comb and proceeded to frames, 4 out of 8 frames are being worked and queens are free from cage. All frames are plastic except one where I decided to experiment with wax. When I went to remove queens cage it was embedded into the wax, so I decided to leave it and not damage the frame. Queens are busy and a nice amount of cells have pupa. I switched entrance reducer to 4" entrance and may leave to see if it cuts down on SHB's. So, after all this why am I still worried that something is definitely going to go bad?

 

[devdog108]

because your bees have every disease known to beeking, are constantly in swarm mode, queens are dead or in the middle of being superceded, and they will produce NO honey....

I felt the same way last year. SOunds like all is well....Smile and enjoy them......I know its hard....

 

[KQ6AR]

congratulations, sounds great.
If you don't get that queen cage out, it will only get more difficult to remove later.

 

[Specialkayme]

Sounds good!

I wouldn't worry about SHB too much. If the hive is strong, they will take care of the SHB on their own.

 

[cfdengine1]

What about the damage it will cause to the foundation? That was my only worry, you can see the backside of the cage on the opposite side. Will the bees repair the damage. Thanks for your help.

 

[Specialkayme]

Yup. Bees will take care of it all.

 

[beekeeper1756]

Congratulations. Sounds like you are off to an incredible start. Way to go!

I agree, you need to get that queen box out now. The sooner the better, it will only get worse with time.

Tell us if the bees are drawing out the wax faster than the plastic.

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

You should be happy! After 7 days they are not pupae yet. They are eggs for 3 days, then larvae for 6 days, that is 9 days and you said after 7 days. When they are capped and spin cocoons they are pupae until they emerge. Simple memory tool is rule of threes -- 3 days egg, 2 times 3 days larvae, 4 times 3 pupae, total of 7 times 3 from lay egg to emerge. Africanized are a little shorter. I go into detail on my websites.
www.americasbeekeeper.com/Honey_Bee_Biology.htm

 

[jsharum]

Im not familiar with the SHB. What is it?

 

[Specialkayme]

Im not familiar with the SHB. What is it?

Small Hive Beetle

 

[NasalSponge]

Next to mites...some of the nastiest bugs on the planet to a beek!!

 

[cfdengine1]

Finally got to the hives today to remove the queen cage. Everything went great, queen was on the same frame and looked great! While I was there I went ahead and inspected the rest of the frames. Compared to my other hives with plastic foundation, the hive with the wax foundation is way behind.

 

[cfdengine1]

Forgot to mention that I found two SHB's in one of my top feeders. It looked like a rodeo was going on with the bees directing the SHB's every movement. After watching for a minute or two I took my hive tool and crushed both of them.

 

[StevenG]

In the southern part of the country at least, if you don't have shb, you will! And you should worry about them... even when the bees entomb them in propolis, studies have shown they entice the bees to feed them! And when/if you break the propolis seal when you open and inspect the hive, you turn the little buggers loose.

The bees will take care of them, if the shb have a trap to retreat into, thinking they'll be safe from the bees. Otherwise, it is a losing battle, for the bees. So get some traps, and use them.