Hive Inspection Results

Decided to look at all three hives today. Rain is forecasted for the next few days. Hive #1 is doing fine, medium super that was added last week is being worked. Still have 4 open frames with little activity taking place. This hive has no sugar water on it.

Second hive is not doing as well as I had hoped one frame had a capped supersedure cell on it. I did find the queen, she is easy to find because see is marked. Did see some developing larva so for now will just watch this hive. Did not remove the queen cell. I am thinking the workers may have built this cell when the queen was delayed in her release.

The third hive is growing fast which is to be expected for a nuc. Added a medium super with nine frames of drawn comb. Also need to add more sugar water tonight to hives #2 and 3.

Third Hive and Chicks

Got a third hive started yesterday. Hope is if I can get four hives strong this season then there is hope of getting a couple of hives through the winter. But as I learned in a recent real life experience you can't count your chickens till they hatch.
Four of the six eggs hatched out. One egg had been pushed out of the nest by the hen. More than likely this was an accident on her part as she was turning them. The other did not survive the hatching out process. Think the hen smashed her.

Argos at 11 Weeks

Pup is getting big. He is almost out of his biting stage. Not chewing, he still does that with abandon!

Eric has been working well with him. Seems to mind him better than me but it’s a close second.

Chicks

Chicks have arrived a day earlier than I thought they would. Eric and I modified the coop so they can get outside and be separated from the older hens and rooster. Not sure the mother hen could defend her brood from all the other hens.

This picture was taken Easter Sunday Abby loves to see the chickens every time they come over. I sure am a blessed man!

Beekeeping vs. Beehaving

Bill and I had a very instructional day yesterday. His blog explains it very well.
After the class we inspected the second hive to see if the queen had been released, she had not. Only about 10% of the candy plug was remaining so I released her manually. She is a marked queen with a blue dot. Also added a medium hive to the first super. Both of these hives are very gentle. Not one sting from either of them yet.

Second Hive

Bill and I installed a second hive yesterday. Picked up this package of bees from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm. By late yesterday they had cleared the package box and several hundred bees were doing orientation flights.
We also looked at the first hive and the queen was laying good solid brood patterns on several frames.


First hive should to hatch out later this coming week. Will need to add another super soon.

First Hive

Checked the first hive again today due to the very warm days we have been having. Saw lots of larvae on the frame from the middle of the brood box.

Decided that I did not need to look any further. I expect these new bees to hatch out in 16-17 more days at which time the hive should explode with activity, at least that is what is hoped for. The female bees take 21 days to develop,whcih is what a queen will normally lay in the middle of the frames. Seven of the ten frames were being worked and appeared to be covered with bees so I will need to keep any eye open for signs of swarming.

Bill's Bees

My beekeeping buddy Bill is on vacation in Florida this week. We have been having some very warm weather this week so I told him I would look in his two hives and feed them. When we last looked at the hive at his house they where in very poor shape. Upon inspecting them today found they had dwindled to less that a few hundred bees. Oddly enough I found the queen. She had not laid any eggs.
I took the remaining bees to his second hive which is at a friend’s house next to our church building. Upon inspecting this hive found it was doing better though not as populous as we had hoped it would be. Found the queen right away and saw good signs of brood and developing larva. Killed the old queen from his house hive and combined the two hives using a sheet of newspaper between the two boxes.
Put some medicated sugar water in the top feeder. Bill and I should try to inspect this hive again in ten days time. Hoping for the best and a lot more bees.