Bee Transport

Last evening, after the majority of bees returned from foraging, my dad and I sealed the hive for its move to Johnstown. We ensured there were no gaps in the top-bars that would allow unwanted back-seat drivers. The holes were corked and the hive was carried to the van. I loaded up all my things and took the 15 min. drive to their new home.

Even though I found the queen yesterday, my concern was that she had not adequately mated. We will soon see if my fear is warranted. With the hive being so close to Lynd's farm and in an area where there are bound to be wild swarms, she should be able to adequately complete any maturing well.

Since all the Johnstown set up was in the darkness, this morning I was able to utilize the sunlight. I moved the top bars from the swarm box to the supers of a Langstroth body. The top-bars were about an inch too long to allow the hive's closure. We chose to trim them back with a Japanese pull saw. A second hive body was placed above the top bars with the materials Doug purchased. It will be sometime until the drawn top-bars can be removed from the hive (next year).

With the morning sunlight I was also able to see FRESH EGGS! I will return to this hive in a week to help Doug monitor the progress. We should see a lot of new comb as they have a hive-top feeder with 1:1 simple syrup.

Stay tuned!

"I once was lost, but now am found" - The Queen(s)

Last evening, Doug (a co-worker of my dad) came to visit the hives. With the growing population of bees in my parents' backyard, it is important to keep good relations with the neighbors! To help cut down on any bee-nuisances, we decided to relocated one of the hives. Doug lives in Johnstown, OH near Lynd's Fruit Farm. His home backs up to 37 acres - near many orchards. This will be a perfect spot for a hive.

While showing Doug (virgin beekeeper) my hives I spotted the Queen in one of my new hives! The behavior by the hive just days before could now be explained perfectly. This native Queen looked wonderfully healthy. I have not found any new brood production as of yet, but at least I know there is a Queen in there!

During my lunch break today, I went to check the swarm box (that I also believed to be without a Queen). Excellent news on this front as well; there are fresh eggs! Although I have yet to find Her yet, it is obvious there is a laying queen - incredible! Really! I will continue to search for her in the coming days before we take that hive to Johnstown.

"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, nhave been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Vicious little boogers!

Good News: The two hives I thought didn't have queens have queens!
Bad News: I spent $42 and an hour and a half drive to find that out....

On Monday, I drove to Waldo, OH for two Queens. The hives they were for had become aggressive and had not created any new brood ... to me this signaled "We are without a queen!". When I returned to the hives with the new Italian queens, the bees looked apt at accepting them. They quickly gathered around her - even building comb off the queen cage.

Tuesday, I visited the new queens to release them. Well - this turned out to be quite interesting! IMMEDIATELY the bees pounced and began dragging her down in to the hive. I pulled one worker from her who had placed an entire wing from the Queen in its mouth! Luckily I was able to remove the aforementioned worker without damaging the wings. The marked queen proceeded to fly away from the apiary. Have you ever seen $21 literally fly away in front of your eyes... I did. This of course was the best move for the Queen - as she would have been killed if she remained in the hive.

The queen release in the 'swarm box' also appeared very promising. They did not attack her in the same manner - phew! Unfortunately, this morning when I went to check on her I noticed a ball of bees at the bottom acting very aggressive - crud.... Turns out the second Queen was at the center of the mob - being killed. Phooey....

Well what did all this tell me. The two hives that I purchased queens for already had queens! EVEN AFTER I literally combed the combs looking for the Queens. May frustration ensue...

Look at the honey! Nectar is flowing.

The Swarm!

While I had the hive opened, to find the hatched queens, one flew on to my hand - very strange for a queen to be out of the hive! Suddenly she flew away and craziness ensued; it was like someone turned on a box fan in the hive. 

Maybe 3 minutes after this whirlwind, I heard some commotion above me. My parents' house have many tall maple trees, and the swarm relocated about 30 feet in the air. 

The newest "hive" with some original frames and
some of the collected swarm.

We relocated the top bars from the tub into a quickly assembled box.
The behavior below is a way for their scent to be fanned into the air.
Think of it as a scent magnet.

'Old Hive' Queen Larvae Developing

Without an established queen in the 'old hive' the bees are agitated and quite aggressive. Those guys go straight for the face! Until a new queen emerges in that hive this behavior will continue. However, on that front, we have great news. In at least two queen cups (for sure) I can see the curled larvae of a pre-queen in a pool of royal jelly. These cells have been upgraded from queen cups to Queen Cells.

Queen Larvae in Royal Jelly (Courtesy of Wikipedia) 

The nurse bees tend to these cells diligently, preparing the future leader of the hive with all the nutrients required for her busy life of eggs laying (~2000+ a day). This graphic below (age in days) has helped me to determine that these future queens were laid as eggs the middle of last week. In about four days I anticipate the queen cells to be capped, which will reliably show they are then 8 days old.

Courtesy of Glenn Apiaries 

Brood Patterns in the 'Old Hive' Before Split