Hive Check : no drawn comb

My package hive numbers look alright, but there aren't enough bees to overwinter.  I checked some of the frames today and noticed that there are also frames with no drawn foundation.  There are no honeycombs on some of my wax.  This means in the winter, the bees won't have comb to insert themselves into.  In the winter they form what's called  a winter cluster and they won't be able to do this on bare foundation.  So, on top of a poorly laying queen, now I have to figure out how to get them to draw out the rest of the foundation.  I'm feeding  a LOT, this weak hive still has no stores as far as I can tell.  Maybe they are so weak they are getting constantly robbed? 

I'm going to Costco today to get two big bags of sugar.  I'm going to check EVERY day to see if they are taking it.  I've also got an email out to my mentor to see if I need to be supplementing with pollen patties. I have two emails out to see if anyone has a replacement queen. 

My last resort will be to merge the two hives. 

Surely I've made every mistake that a newbie can make.  Seems like my friends from class have all done a great job with their hives and their bees are thriving.

Today I also applied the Dowda method of mite treatment and covered my bees with powdered sugar. It was sort of cute seeing little white bees flying around!!

Hive check : outlook grim

I'm a bit dejected tonight because of the lack of progress made by my package hive.  My mentor said I should requeen.  I have an emergency email out to see who to contact about that.  I'm going to be feeding a lot, as much as the bees will take, as fall is around the corner and there are little to no nectar sources for the bees.  I've been feeding every 4 to 5 days for the past three weeks, but I can see this is not enough.  I fed the package hive 4 lbs of sugar in a 1:1 ratio tonight.  I read that I may need to be feeding a 2:1 ratio until these bees can catch up.  I'm going to possibly need my mentor to come out and help identify what I can and should be doing.  Essentially my package hive has taken a serious nose dive.  No honey stores and very little egg laying by the Queen.  I'm afraid they are not going to make it.  And that makes me sad - and I'm going to have to admit my inexperience to my friends who are waiting for next year's cornucopia of excess honey.  If I keep it up, all my bees are going to die and there will be no excess honey.  Sigh.

The nuc hive is doing pretty well, honey stores and good laying pattern.  I am going to be feeding them also, wouldn't want to set them up to fail this winter. 

I am going to do a mite drop count starting tonight.  I am going to slide in a grid board under the screened bottom board and check it after about 24 hours to see how many mites have fallen onto it.  Obviously I won't be able to tell exactly how many mites each hive has, but I will be able to see if I need to treat.  The Dowda method is what I'm going to do if need be. 

My mentor has been a gem, she's been supportive and forthcoming with information, she cheers me on and seems to have a gift for knowing when I need her help.  There is a class coming up in a week or so, one that I"m not going to be missing - a class on Fall beehive management.  I have so much to learn.

Hive Check : 07-10 : All in all, things look pretty good

Today I got into the hives to do some real investigative work after not having bothered them in a while.  I got in them when the family was here but it was only to show them what the inside of the hives looked like.  I lit my smoker because it is an overcast and somewhat windy day today and I didn't know how many of my little friends would be in the hives. 

Today when I went into the weak hive, I was pleasantly surprised.  I saw a bee coming out of it's cell.  I didn't want to take the time to see it come all the way out, it can take a while and I had other things I wanted to check out. 

I'm still worried about the absence of growth in my weaker hive. Having a Queen that is laying is a good sign but it's very late in the season and I don't see any stored honey and very little stored pollen. The numbers in this hive have dwindled, largely in part because a new Queen takes between 4 and 6 weeks to start laying after she's born.

The laying pattern of the queen is still spotty, it should be more dense and uniform, but she's laying. None of what I saw were drone cells which means that I have a mated Queen and the workers aren't laying.  In these two pictures you can see different larvae at several different stages of development. 

Since this hive is weaker than it should be, I'm constantly on the lookout for Hive Beetles and Wax Moths.  I saw a moth today and squished it.  I don't need those little buggers laying their eggs in my hives and devouring the wax comb that my bees have worked so hard to build.

The strong hive is doing really well.  There was a lot of activity in the hive when I took off the inner cover which is shown below.  The inner cover rests on top of a top feeder, where I've been putting sugar water for feeding.  There were bees all over the top feeder, and they'd been busy drawing out comb in the super just under it.

These bees have a lot of capped and uncapped honey.

The laying patter is looking fairly uniform and appropriate.  I saw a few drone cells but not many.  I still haven't seen any signs of mites yet, which is a huge relief.  

Hive Check : June 15th : Unattended Queen and a possible swarm

pic 1 - Brown hive : spotty laying pattern, some capped drone

pic 2 Brown hive :

queen with no attendants

Here is video of the queen

pic 3 Brown hive :

some frames with hardly any drawn comb

pic 4 blue hive

some drawn comb

pic 5 Blue hive

extra comb needing to be removed

pic 6 Blue hive

empty comb

pic 7 Blue hive

capped honey and empty comb

pic 8 Blue hive

larvae - need to see if it turns out to be drone brood or not

Hive Check : June 7th : They keep me on my toes

My package hive Queen is still there - but today I noticed that she wanders around pretty aimlessly.  I didn't see her lay any eggs and I also noticed that the workers that are supposed to be surrounding her and taking care of here were not doing that with any regularity.  So I have a Queen, but is she going to do her part to keep this hive from taking a nose dive this winter.  She needs to figure it out...or maybe I need to do something differently?? 

I ended up putting on a second super with frames and foundation and I also put two baggies of simple syrup on top.  I have decided to send my mentor an email to make sure I'm doing the right things. 

The nuc colony is doing alright, but I didn't see their Queen.  I also noticed a distinct lack of larvae, both capped and uncapped.  This turn of events alarms me because recently I had whole frames of capped larvae.  Instead of feeling confident about this hive I am finding that now IT is the source of my concern.   Some little bugger decided to sting my upper thigh today, it really didn't hurt - cross your fingers that it doesn't swell up! On a positive note, I did see a lot of capped honey. 

Hive Check : June 4th, I found my Queen

I immediately saw the Queen when I pulled up this frame.  All my worry and searching are gone.  I got misty eyed, it was a good few minutes as I watched her surrounded by her attendants.  She's a graceful creature, she's so important.  Merging my two hives is now a thought from the past.  For the time being, both hives are doing fine.  This package colony is still very weak and hasn't had the numbers to build out the last frames on each side with comb yet.  Now that I can confirm that there IS a Queen maybe the hive will grow.  I'm going to see if I can't find a pollen patty to put in there and will also be putting in another baggie of sugar water to stimulate the colony.

Hive Check : Cell anomalies and bee births (May 25th check date)

On May 25th I did a check on my hives.  I wanted desperately to find the package hive's queen so that I could put this issue to rest.  I didn't find her, again.  What I did find were some anomalies in the cells.  The center of the top left photo contains a larvae that is not bright white an shiny like it's supposed to be.  It is somewhat shiny but it's not the right color. The top right photo has an unknown substance inside it.  The bottom right photo is of a frame that has drone cells all over it.  Drone cells are usually laid on the outer edge of a frame with worker cells in the middle.  The bottom left photo is another angle to illustrate the cappings.  I really wanted to reach out to my mentor but decided against it.  I want to learn all I can by observing and researching on my own.  The reason you don't see a lot of bees on the frames in these pictures is because I gently shook them off into the box (super).  I wanted to be able to take the photos with fewer obstacles in my way.

                 

There was good news this day though and all was not lost.  I got to see some more bees being born which is always such a fulfilling experience.  The one bee butt you see is probably from a bee cleaning out a cell.  Once they free themselves from their cell they are required to clean it out and prepare it for the next generation.