Hive Two

Hive Two (14×12) – Record Card

26th September 2014

  • All syrup had gone
  • Fed another 5Kg sugar as syrup (total = 20Kg)
  • No plans to continue feeding
  • Related Post: Roger’s 15 Minute Meals

9th September 2014

  • All syrup had gone
  • Fed another 5Kg sugar as syrup (total = 10Kg)

7th September 2014

  • Removed Apiguard
  • Fed colony 5Kg sugar as a Thick Syrup using Jumbo Feeder (green).

4th August – PM

  • Gave capped supers plus cappings back to bees
  • Will now leave for a few weeks as they don’t need Apiguard (0 varroa)
  • Note: Hives 1 and 2 have gentle bees

4th August – AM

  • Removed supers of honey (provided about 8lb honey – felt like more though)
  • Related Post: Honey Harvest 2014

3rd August

  • Inserted clearer board

26th July 2014

  • Had 3 supers on by end August
  • Did varroa count – 0 … yes 0 varroa on board over 7 days
  • The varroa calculator couldn’t use the number 0, so I put in 1, which says the following:
    • Average Daily Mite Fall = 0.1 varroa mites
    • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 5
    • Treatment is recommended in about 7 month(s) time (counting from day of first monitoring).
  • Hence, I presume a count of 0 varroa means estimated number of varroa = 0 (hard to believe)

20th July 2014

  • Saw eggs – so mated 2014 queen!

18th July 2014

  • Added varroa board

6th July 2014

  • 20C, sunny
  • Bees calm
  • Saw eggs and larvae – so there’s a laying queen in there
  • Did not find Queen (again) – very elusive
  • BUT I SAW A QUEEN HATCH OUT OF ONE OF THE 7 SWARM CELLS!! Is this supercedure?
  • Brood box full of bees on 8 out of the 11 frames
  • Like last time, I manipulated frames so that some drawn, empty frames are now next to the frames with eggs. Fingers crossed they don’t swarm (they hadn’t by the end of the day).
  • 2 supers both half full of honey

28th June 2014

  • 20C, sunny
  • Bees calm
  • Saw eggs and larvae – so there’s a laying queen in there
  • Did not find Queen (again) – very elusive
  • Brood box full of bees on 8 out of the 11 frames
  • Again, found capped swarm cells. My thinking is that the queen/bees are a bit trapped in half the brood box as a frame in the centre of the brood has is full of stores; or are these supercedure cells (but it’s a new, 2014 Queen); or are they planning to swarm – but they normally swarm when cells are capped? Again, I manipulated frames so that some drawn, empty frames are now next to the frames with eggs. Fingers crossed they don’t swarm.
  • Bees started venturing into 2nd super

21st June 2014

  • 20C, cloudy
  • Bees calm
  • Saw eggs and larvae
  • Did not find Queen
  • Brood box full of bees on 8 out of the 11 frames
  • Found 1 swarm cell at bottom of frame and 1 swarm cell in mid frame – both were capped. My thinking is that the queen/bees are a bit trapped in half the brood box as a frame in the centre of the brood has is full of stores; or are these supercedure cells (but it’s a new, 2014 Queen); or are they planning to swarm – but they normally swarm when cells are capped? I manipulated frames so that some drawn, empty frames are now next to the frames with eggs. Fingers crossed they don’t swarm.
  • Plenty of stores and stores in super
  • Super half full of nectar
  • Added a super (so now has 2 supers)

14th June 2014

  • 21C, sunny
  • Bees calm
  • Saw eggs and larvae
  • Hence – the test frame from Hive 5 which had eggs and larvae was obviously not required – there must have been a queen in the hive
  • Did not find Queen
  • Plenty of stores and stores in super
  • Super half full of nectar
  • Brood box full of bees on 8 out of the 11 frames
  • Lesson – it took 4 weeks from swarming for me to find eggs and larvae

7th June 2014

  • 20C, sunny
  • Bees calm
  • No eggs, larvae or Queen
  • Plenty of stores and stores in super
  • Put in test frame from Hive 5 which had eggs and larvae – hope they will create emergency Queen

31st May 2014

  • 15C, humid
  • Plenty of stores in super and brood
  • Did not see eggs or larvae but it has only been 12 days since hive swarmed and the weather has been rubbish, i.e. queen might have hatched out 5 days ago but weather not good enough to mate

24th May 2014

  • I thought I had left varroa board in hive for 1-2 weeks, turns out it has been 25 days
  • Saw only 1 varroa (wow). The calculator says:
    • Average Daily Mite Fall = 0.0 varroa mites
      Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 1
      Treatment is recommended in about 9 month(s) time (counting from day of first monitoring).
  • Perhaps I have low varroa count as I culled the drone brood on 3rd May (see photo below and Varroa Management)
  • I saw lots of glass-like scales on the varroa board and was worried it was European or American foul brood. I googled and found they were just wax scales. Phew. See photo below.
Foul Brood Scales On Varroa Board? No. Just Wax Scales.
Foul Brood Scales On Varroa Board? No. Just Wax Scales.

18th May 2014

17th May 2014

  • Phew – just inspected in time before they swarm as found about 5 capped queen cells
  • Sunny, 18C
  • Hive feels busier
  • Saw Queen (photo below)
  • Eggs, larvae, capped brood on 9 of the 11 frames
  • Some liquid stores on frames
  • 5 queen, swarm cells (photo below)
  • 1 frame of stores in super
  • As did not find Queen or eggs in Hive 3 and Hive 4, I removed the frames with Queen cells from Hive 2 and placed in those hives
  • Related post: Bee Inspection: Swarm Cells & No Queens
Marked Queen
Marked Queen – Blue Dot – 2cm South East Of Centre Of Photo
Queen Swarm Cell (Out Of Focus)
Queen Swarm Cell (Out Of Focus)
Bees After Inspection
Bees After Inspection

3rd May 2014

  • Sunny, 15C
  • Hive did not feel busy
  • Saw Queen (on first run through, but not second, hope didn’t squash her)
  • Eggs, larvae, capped brood on 9 of the 11 frames
  • Some liquid stores on 2 frames
  • No queen, swarm cells
  • Lots of drone on the comb under the 3 standard frames (as I use 14×12 brood box)
  • Removed drone comb from these 3 standard frames
  • Uncapped some of this drone brood and did not see any varroa
  • No stores in super
  • Ants on crown board and some in super
  • Photo below of drone brood cut out
Drone Brood
Drone Brood

29th April 2014

  • Added varroa count board

26th April 2014

  • 14C, sunny, bees bringing in pollen
  • Bees calm
  • Saw queen, eggs, larvae brood
  • No Queen swarm cells – great!
  • Every frame had eggs to capped brood (not bad for a 3 year old Queen)
  • Some stores (capped and uncapped) in brood box but not loads
  • No stores in super
  • Hive was not bursting with bees but anticipate lots of bees over the next 4 weeks as all the brood hatches

13th April 2014

  • 16C, sunny
  • Removed top brood box, added queen excluder and super
  • Found queen, eggs, larvae – but hive not bursting with bees – seems three year old Queen is losing her egg-laying power
  • Not much stores as gave to the two new colonies. Forecast for next 5 days good, so hope plenty of forage which they store
  • Relevant post: Bees For Free

30th March 2014

  • 16C, sunny, bees flying
  • Saw Queen (the 3 years old marked queen), eggs, larvae, capped brood
  • Approx. 4 frames of eggs and brood, including in the top brood box
  • Top brood box still heavy with stores and largely uncapped
  • Bottom brood box has stores too but not as much
  • Not loads of bees in the boxes but I did inspection at 2pm, so hopefully bees mostly out and about
  • Relevant Post: First Inspection Of 2014

15th March 2014

  • 13C, sunny and bees flying
  • Did Varroa count based on 5 mites on board over 14 days. Calculator says:
    • Average Daily Mite Fall = 0.4 varroa mites
    • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = between 17 and 140
    • Treatment is recommended in about 3 to 5 months time
  • I still plan to use Apiguard when it gets to 15C

8th March 2014

  • Sunny, 13C
  • Bees bringing in pollen
  • Plenty of stores
  • Removed mouseguard
  • Removed queen excluder which was separating the two brood boxes
  • Related post: The Bees Are Alive

19th January 2014

  • 8C and saw flying bees
  • Did Varroa count.  Over 11 days, 27 mite dropped on the varroa board. The Varroa Mite calculator, calculates the following:
    • Average Daily Mite Fall = 2.5 varroa mites
    • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 980
    • Treatment recommended in 3 months time
  • Conclusion: I was expecting a 90% reduction to about 340 mites. It looks like I have achieved a 40% reduction.  Will apply Apiguard in April and undertake drone culling.

21st December 2013

  • Saw a few flying bees
  • Cluster of bees over 4-5 frames
  • Frames heavy with stores
  • Todays temperature: 10C
  • Applied Oxalic Acid (read my how-to guide).
  • Did varroa count.  Over 4 days, 17 mite dropped on the varroa board. The Varroa Mite calculator, calculates the following:
  • Average Daily Mite Fall = 4.3 varroa mites
  • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 1700

8th December 2013

Just undertaken a varroa count.  Over 8 days, 40 mite dropped on the varroa board. The Varroa Mite calculator, calculates the following

  • Average Daily Mite Fall = 5.0 varroa mites
  • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 2000
  • Treatment is recommended as soon as practically possible

The varroa count on 24th August 2013 came out as a low 290 mites in the colony.

27th October 2013

  • Added mouse guard.  Rationale: despite the temperature still being 15C and lots of bees coming and going on warm days, it’s the time of year to add mouseguards and the great storm of 2013 is forecast for tonight, so maybe some mice might look for refuge in the hive.  Also, seeing a rabbit in the allotment, focused my attention on little furry mammals
Mouseguard
Mouseguard

5th October 2013

  • Great news: all the dead bees from Hive One have been removed and dropped outside the hive (photo below)
  • Syrup has been stored in the Hive One brood box – so will leave there until later in the year or next year
  • All the syrup has been taken down: 19.5Kg (that does not include water, i.e. 19.5Kg of dry sugar).  I’m not planning on giving them anymore, as it is now stored in the upper brood box
  • Was stung behind the ear (the stitching has come loose on my bee suit and it found a way in)
  • In the panic lost my hive tool (and then found again)
Dead bees removed from hive
Dead bees removed from hive

30th September 2013

  • Not much syrup had been consumed since yesterday
  • Fed 2.5Kg syrup
  • Some bees in the brood box I put on top of for them to clean out.  But they have to get over a super with the feeder
  • Put brood box one (with dead bees) directly on top of main brood box to see if this accelerates cleaning it out. Placed super and feeder on the top
  • Brood box with dead bees did not smell great but hope this does not put the bees off
Brood Box With Dead Bees On Top Of Healthy Brood Box
Brood Box With Dead Bees On Top Of Healthy Brood Box

29th September 2013

  • Lovely day – sunny, 20C
  • Amazed the bees had consumed all the syrup (15Kg of sugar so far) and fed them another 2Kg
  • Undertook quick hive inspection and found larvae
  • Moved a frame that they had started to draw out from the outside to nearer the middle, in the hope they complete drawing and store honey (there was a lot of bees in there, hope it does not confuse the bees in the middle of Winter?)
  • Placed brood box from Hive One on top of the hive in the hope they clean out all the dead bees (so it now looks like: brood box, super containing feeder, brood box)
  • Bees calm
Hive Two With Brood Box For Cleaning On Top
Hive Two With Brood Box For Cleaning On Top

24th September 2013

  • Fed 2Kg Thick Sugar Syrup (they hadn’t consumed about 2Kg from previous day)
  • Bees aggressive
  • Read Feeding Bees for more information on this process

23rd September 2013

  • Fed 3Kg Thick Sugar Syrup (they had consumed all food from previous days)
  • Bees on wall of super containing the feeder.  Appear to be lots of bees
  • Bees aggressive

22nd September 2013

  • Fed 1.5Kg Thick Sugar Syrup
  • Bees aggressive

21st September 2013

  • Fed 2Kg Thick Sugar Syrup
  • Bees aggressive

20th September 2013

  • Fed 2Kg Thick Sugar Syrup
  • Bees aggressive. Was stung once on wrist (hand and arm swollen by 20%)

19th September 2013

  • Fed 2.5 Kg Thick Sugar Syrup

18th September 2013

  • Found bees starving in Hive One where they were mostly dead
  • I removed Apiguard and fed with 2Kg Thick Sugar Syrup
  • I wrote a post called: Starving Bees.

30th August 2013

Marked Queen
Marked Queen

24th August 2013

  • The bees have totally, 100% cleaned the wax cappings and the super I put on
  • I removed both of these and added the Apiguard
  • I also did a varroa mite count.  The varroa calculator reported as follows
      • Average Daily Mite Fall = 7.1 varroa mites
      • Estimated number of adult varroa mites in the colony = 290
      • Treatment is recommended in about 9 month(s) time (counting from day of first monitoring).
  • Plan: Add Apiguard in two weeks and feed mid-September
Hive Two Varroa Board 24 August 2013
Hive Two Varroa Board 24 August 2013
Hive Two - Cleaned Wax Cappings
Hive Two – Cleaned Wax Cappings

And if you want to see how dry these cappings are, watch the video below:

I threw the bees from the super which they had cleaned in front of the hive.  Ten minutes later it still looked like this.  They should be all in by the time I have written this.

Hive Two 24Aug13 - The Aftermath
Hive Two 24Aug13 – The Aftermath

 18th August 2013

  • Removed super
  • Harvested 13lb of honey (25 jars) – whoop!  Aromatic and delicious.
  • Put harvested super back on hive plus cappings which I placed in feeder on top of the super
  • Will add photos soon

16th August 2013

Ooops. Somehow 4 weeks has passed since the last inspection.  My worry was that with the rain of the last week they might have started eating their honey stored in the super, but it looks OK.

  • Queen present (but did not see her. Remember this is Pete’s 2011 Queen)
  • No Queen cells
  • Found eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen and nectar stores
  • Brood covering 8 frames (one more than last inspection)
  • 1 frame of stores
  • Room for brood on 2 frames
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa (assumption based on varroa from original hive)
  • Bees feisty – banging off my headgear – but no sting (6/10)
  • Bottom super – capped honey
  • Top super – they had started to draw out the foundation
  • Added crown board with 2 porter bee escapes just below the bottom super in the hope this clears the supers
  • No feed
  • Did not manipulate brood or supers
  • Weather: 22C, sunny
  • Added varroa count board
  • Plan: Remove super on Sunday.  Add Apiguard at same time as Hive One (hopefully Sunday), apply this for 4 weeks (until mid-September) and then feed; let colony build and move the standard brood frames towards the ends of the hive; Move 1-2 standard brood frames to the sides and then out; keep adding supers; take out old Queen and create a nuc from this hive in June 2014 so that new Queen created in the main hive
Hive Two - Frame Of Honey - 16 August 2013
Hive Two – Frame Of Honey – 16 August 2013

Please watch the clip below – very noisy bees and they keep attacking the camera!

21st July 2013

  • Same notes as per last week – all good
  • The first super is dripping with nectar – every cell is glistening and bees are covering all 10 frames
  • The second super probably had no more than 20 bees in it.  Not sure why they aren’t drawing it out – am sure we still have a nectar flow
  • Weather: 27C, sunny
  • Plan: Move 1-2 standard brood frames to the sides and then out; keep adding supers

My mate Antony joined me for the inspection.  He is still fearless in this photo … and then he got stung and left the scene despite my pleas for him to return:

Roger & Anthony
Roger & Anthony

For an update on the other hive and another photo of Antony and I before we inspected the bees, please see notes on Hive One.

14th July 2013

  • Queen present (but did not see)
  • No Queen cells (but only looked at 3 combs as got stung and was with Claire)
  • Found eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen and nectar stores
  • Brood covering 9 frames (one more than last inspection)
  • 1 frame of stores
  • Room for brood on 2 frames
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa (assumption based on varroa from original hive)
  • Bees pretty calm though I got stung
  • The super I added 8 days ago had bees on 7 (of the 10) frames which were now fully drawn and filled with liquid stores. Manipulated so that empty frames put in centre.  Hope bees cap the frames I moved to the edge
  • Added 1 super (total: 2 supers) – Will I be able to add a super a week for the next 4 weeks?
  • No feed
  • Did not manipulate brood as only inspected 3 of the frames
  • Weather: 27C, sunny
  • Plan: Move 1-2 standard brood frames to the sides and then out; keep adding supers

6th July 2013

  • Queen present (but did not see)
  • No Queen cells
  • Found eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen and nectar stores
  • Brood covering 8 frames (same as last inspection, but bees laid in this hive would only have started hatching out for the last week)
  • 1 frame of stores
  • Room for brood on 3 frames
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa (assumption based on varroa from original hive)
  • Bees pretty calm
  • Added 1 super (total: 1 super) – Has the season been delayed a few weeks enough to get me some honey?
  • No feed
  • Manipulations: moved along one of the standard brood frames a bit further to the edge
  • Weather: 23C, sunny
  • Plan: Move 1-2 standard brood frames to the sides and then out.

I have a 14×12 brood box but have a few standard frames in there at present – hence, the bees are producing wild as in photo below:

Hive Two 6th July 2013 - Wild comb below standard frame
Hive Two 6th July 2013 – Wild comb below standard frame

29th June 2013

  • Queen present (but did not see)
  • No Queen cells
  • Found eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen and nectar stores
  • Brood covering 8 frames (they were only on 3 frames at last inspection)
  • 1 frame of stores
  • Room for brood on 3 frames (Whoa – they might need a super in the next couple of days)
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa (assumption based on varroa from original hive)
  • Bees pretty calm
  • 0 Supers
  • Did not give any more feed
  • Manipulations: separated the standard brood frames with 14×12’s to reduce unmanageable wild comb
  • Weather: 19C, sunny with a bit of cloud
  • Plan: Inspect on 7/8 July to consider adding super.  Be braver in moving the standard brood frames to the sides and then out.

20th June 2013

  • Bees attacked me (perhaps due to thundery weather?) and I got stung through my suit – must wear long sleeved shirt under the bee suit
  • I did not carry out any inspection due to aggressive behaviour of the bees
  • Removed feeder – they had taken it all down
  • Weather: 18C, balmy/ thundery

16th June 2013

  • I saw the Queen (note: she is a few years old and Pete thinks she is failing)
  • No Queen cells
  • Brood covering 3 frames
  • 1 frame of stores
  • Room on 8 frames
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa
  • Bees very calm
  • 0 Supers
  • Did not give any more feed
  • Weather: 20C, sunny

9th June 2013

  • Transferred 3 frames of brood and eggs from Pete’s hive
  • Could not find Queen
  • No Queen cells
  • Eggs seen
  • Brood pattern OK
  • Brood covering 3 frames
  • No stores
  • Room on 8 frames
  • Health OK
  • Medium level of varroa
  • Bees very calm
  • 0 Supers
  • Fed with 2 litres sugar syrup (1:1)
  • Weather: 20C, sunny
  • Plan: move the 3 standard frames to the sides and remove by the end of the season
  • Post related to this inspection: The Bees Are Back In Town

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