Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Inspection 3/20/2012

Hive # 2/ Oahu:  One deep, 3 frames of eggs, expanded to 2 mediums.  Medium combs full of honey, pollen and brood, but no eggs.  Numbers moderate.  Hopefully numbers will increase as brood emerges.

Hive #4.  4 mediums.  bottom medium mostly empty comb.  Saw queen on exposed wax.  Put her back into the hive.  Alot of funky comb, alot of eggs.  Very strong numbers.  Expanded as much as possible.

To do at next inspection.
#1. Do nothing.  Still waiting on them to rear a queen from when they swarmed on 3/15/12
#2. Do nothing.  Per post above, already expanded and found positive signs of a queen.
#3. Check to see if queen is laying and needs another super.  This is the swarm
#4. Check for evidence of queen to ensure I didn't hurt her. Expand if needed.  Rework funky comb supers.
#5. Check and see if super should be added.  Probably needs to be expanded
#6. Do nothing.  Waiting on them to rear a queen from when I split them on 3/15/2012

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Queen Cells on 3/15/2012

I inspected Hive #5 and #6 (Lanai & Hawaii).  Lanai, has their originial queen.  A deep and a medium, with lots of eggs.  Numbers are light to moderate but appeared to have enough bees to remain healthy and strong.
#6 Has VERY strong numbers.  They are already bearding in the evening.  I put an empty medium on top of the deep to give them more space.  There is no queen, but I found 4 small queen cells.  Probably 3 days old.  The nurse bees were tending to each one.  The ones I found were on the bottom of frame # 5 (from left to right), on the bottom rear corner. 

Monday, March 12, 2012

Swarm Season 2012- Sunday March 11th.

While creating a swarm lure on my back deck, I witnessed an amazing event....an actual swarm.  Ironic, I know.
I am apparently a week behind schedule as I didn't plan to do my splits until next weekend.  But I quickly caught up.  The swarm pushed me into action, and now I have 6 hives, not four.

1)  Hive Kawaii:  This is hive #1.  This hive swarmed, so it is now a queenless hive.  Numbers are strong and with 4 supers completely drawn.  Eggs were present, so they have the ability to rear a queen.  Drone bees present too.  I did not go all the way through the hive, but checked top 2 supers only.  Started feeding b feeder on 3/12.

2) Hive Ohau.  This is hive #2.  I did not check this hive.  One deep, one medium super.  Moderate activity at the entrance.  Need to check this one.

3).  Hive Molokai.  Hive number 3, with back to the fence. This is the swarm from Kawaii.  Bottom medium is empty with a few empty frames.  This is the box I caught them in from behind the fence.  I took a medium with several drawn combs, with brood, honey and pollen and put on the top.  Started feeding sugar water with b. feeder on 3/12.

4).  Hive Maui.  Hive number 4.  I did not check this hive.  moderate numbers at the entrance.  4 mediums.

5). Hive Lanai.  One deep and one medium.  Has eggs, and fully drawn combs of pollen and honey.  Strong numbers.  I assume this one is queenless from the split.  Activity at this hive is lower than usual.  I assume bees are heavy at Hawaii because the queen is probably there.  Need to check for a queen cells in a week possibly.

6).  Hive Hawaii.  One deep.  Strong numbers.  Eggs, honey and pollen.  Split from Lanai and put right next door.  But large numbers returning to this hive, possibly due to the fact that the queen is there.  Will check next weekend to check for eggs or a queen cell.