rookie questions - package installation April 20th on Long Island in NY

BeeMaster2 · April 26, 2019, 12:20:50 PM

Same here.

saltybluegrass · April 27, 2019, 09:41:31 PM

I?m new but I would use a bigger entrance on the white box- they are stacking up pretty good

incognito · April 28, 2019, 12:50:23 PM

We briefly inspected both hives yesterday. Overcast and near 50 degrees. Almost no activity outside of the hives.

We saw for the first time that the queen cage in hive 2 was empty, I knew that she was out a few days ago on hive 1. The comb built to date was orderly. No ill impact of putting the queen cage between frames of new foundation. The comb was the most built out on the foundation near the queen cage.

The frames were packed with bees and I elected to leave them alone as to not disturb their comb building, sacrificing getting a better look inside the cells. I thought that the queen would not yet be laying eggs, waiting for the comb to be built up more, so I did not search for eggs.
Things seem to be progressing well since we installed the packages last Saturday afternoon.

How long do I wait before going back in and doing a comprehensive inspection? Do I give them enough time to cap brood before going back in?

BeeMaster2 · April 29, 2019, 01:46:28 PM

I would give her at least 2 weeks to get established. This will allow you to see the capped brood pattern.
Jim Altmiller

incognito · April 29, 2019, 05:21:24 PM

Thanks Jim, and others for your replies
When looking at the videos my daughter took, we see eggs/larvae in two, maybe three cells from hive 2. Unfortunately one cell has 3 eggs/larvae in it. Let's hope the queen is just getting into her routine and the workers will take care of the isolated issue.

Today there was a pile up at the entrance on hive 1. I went there and saw the same thing a few hours later along with lots of pollen coming in and some orientation flights going on. The ladies finally found some deep orange/golden pollen along with the white pollen they had been harvesting.
I temporarily switched to the larger opening and within minutes the backlog cleared. I switched back to smaller opening shortly thereafter when I saw two bees tumble to the ground in a death match, presumably one of them an unwelcome guest.

BeeMaster2 · April 29, 2019, 05:29:23 PM

Tom,
Looks like a good start. Good looking hive stand.
Jim Altmiller

incognito · April 29, 2019, 05:33:28 PM

Quote from: sawdstmakr on April 29, 2019, 05:29:23 PM
Tom,
Looks like a good start. Good looking hive stand.
Jim Altmiller

Thanks. It is intended for 2 hives and work space in the middle. Time will tell if I should have dug the corner posts in a tad deeper.

I have another 10 frame hive assembly that I will put out as a swarm box this week. I want to prevent a swarm from my hive nesting in my Mom's house/shed/garage so I don't lose my apiary lease. LOL. Should I place it on the stand or in another corner of the yard about 80 feet away?

incognito · April 29, 2019, 05:44:11 PM

never mind

BeeMaster2 · April 29, 2019, 06:13:55 PM

That is a good question. I would put it somewhere else at about 5 to 7 feet high.
Jim Altmiller

incognito · May 01, 2019, 09:53:02 PM

Hive 2 has been consistently consuming more syrup than hive 1. Since Saturday afternoon, hive 1 consumed about 1/2 quart of syrup (from a 1 quart glass jar) while hive 2 consumed 1 1/2 quarts of syrup (from a 2 quart plastic jar). The difference has been driving me nuts trying to figure out why - leaking or robbing were my two main fears. Remember, hive 2 has a shorter entrance than hive 1 but no entrance reducer. Hive 1 has the entrance reducer set to the smallest opening.

I lifted the inverted jar off of the inner cover on hive 2 to see if there was a sticky mess below and saw bees packed shoulder to shoulder vertically in the round hole almost the size of the jar lid reaching up for the syrup. I only saw their dry heads.

I then lifted the jar off of the inner cover on hive 1 to see less bees in the oblong hole and one clinging horizontally to the jar lid, the oblong hole in hive 1 providing way less access to the round jar lid than in hive 2.

Assuming that the jar lids have approximately the same number of holes in them - the bees in hive 2 have more access to the jar lid than in hive 1. The bees were not flying much due to chilly damp weather, so I don't think I saw robber bees in hive 2.
So now I am wondering if the bees in hive 2 are putting the syrup to good use or are they just storing it in cells on new plastic foundation which could be better used for pollen or brood. Or are the foragers in hive 1 bringing back more nectar than pollen. Remember that hive 1 was bringing in way less pollen than hive 2 until a few days ago.
I can't wait to compare the two hives upon the next inspection to see which has put its resources to better use.

ed/La. · May 01, 2019, 11:10:33 PM

Put some dye in the syrup. You will see if they are storing it . Are they producing comb equally? You might be over thinking this. 1 hive might have a better nectar source located.

incognito · May 01, 2019, 11:20:29 PM

Quote from: ed/La. on May 01, 2019, 11:10:33 PM
Are they producing comb equally?

That is partly what I am curious to find out at the next inspection.

Donovan J · May 02, 2019, 11:45:27 PM

Quote from: ed/La. on April 21, 2019, 08:33:17 PM
It would be nice if you had some drawn comb. Can you get a few frames from bee friend or club member? Queen will have nowhere to lay. A lot of work for a package. Nice to give them a jump start. A frame of brood would be best.

I installed a package on Monday and checked them yesterday on Wednesday to get the queen cage. I got the cage out and checked one of the frames. It was well drawn out with comb and they were storing syrup and pollen and i think i saw eggs. The comb situation should be fine as long as they have some light syrup.

ed/La. · May 04, 2019, 10:07:53 AM

Eggs are hard to see in new comb. White on white.

incognito · May 06, 2019, 02:00:00 PM

We did inspections on Saturday, day 15 - the packages were installed two Saturdays ago.

Ten frame deep hive 1 with the entrance reducer on the smallest opening is progressing nicely. Capped brood on a few frames. The bees were heavily concentrated on three frames. Some minimal comb building outside of the core. The bees are working 3 seams.

Eight frame deep hive 2 with no entrance reducer is progressing much faster. There is about the same amount of capped brood as hive 1. The brood is more vertically spaced across more frames than horizontally spaced on fewer frames. There is much more comb building, on at least 6 of the 8 frames. The bees are working 5 seams but have not filled the bottom and bottom corners of the frames with comb. Hive 2 has an inch or two of white wax capped stores on the top rows of a few frames. Hive 2 has been consuming two to three times the amount of syrup as hive 1.

I think I am going to need to add another 8 frame deep brood body to hive 2 soon. I was told to add another box when the bees are working 5 seams. My son wants to add the next deep below the existing brood next weekend because he does not want to disturb the configuration working so well right now, thinking that they will find the room if they need it and then moving the new deep above the existing brood box the following week. I think there is no reason to decide that until we see what is happening in a week. I am under the impression that the new brood bodies should always be added above the existing brood - that bees generally work upward and not downward. I am concerned that the bees will feel like they are running out of space and may swarm. The first of the brood should not be emerging until next Tuesday or so.
My plan was to leave all the honey stores for the bees this winter, not using honey supers at all.

Any thoughts?

incognito · May 12, 2019, 01:41:31 PM

Are both colonies within the range of acceptable progress?

Do I need to make some adjustments to hive 1?

Or is hive 2 exceptional?

Day 22 inspection was done on Saturday. The first batch of brood should be emerging this week.

We added a second brood chamber to hive 2. There is little space left to draw comb on the first 8 frames. This hive is still consuming two to three times the amount of syrup as hive 1 - and it shows.

Hive 1 seems okay. Hive 1 does not appear to be storing syrup or nectar like hive 2. There are some cells with dark liquid in the hive. Do you guys see anything out of the ordinary? Should I change the feeder on hive 1 (the cap on the inverted jar feeder has much smaller holes than on hive 2, and less holes are exposed through the inner cover)? Hive 1 has way more small ants, hive 2 has hardly any at all.

We spotted the queen in both hives, hive 1 when more slowly going through the frames, hive 2 when reviewing the video.