Report on new hives

mick · December 08, 2007, 10:53:32 PM

I had a good look at the 2 new hives today. The one in the sun, the one that appears weaker certainly is. I saw eggs, so there mus be a queen in there, but not many bees and not many stores. I saw what was most likely a queen cell, so maybe they requeened emselves? I dont think the bees were all out gathering as theres no evidence of their work on the frames. It does look like they have been cleaning the drawn frames I put in with them. Also two huge wood louse in there, big black flat things, I dont think they are doing any harm, Ive been kicking these two out of the boxes for months, they keep returning. They live on leaf litter I think and probably sleep in the hive during the day.

The hive under the tree is busting. It has had more traffic from day one. Thousands of bees compared to hundreds. Lots of pollen and nectar. The built bridge comb under the lid when they had no need to. had a suck on it, nice and sweet. These had also cleaned out the drawn frames and have started storing nectar. Lots of eggs as well. Didnt spot the queen. I will put another super on it this week. Just incase they are inclined to store upwards. Also removed a huge black spider that was living on one of the walls. had a bit of sticky web on the side and maybe hes been having a snack? I will check to see he doesnt move back in. I think they might have been keeping clear of the frame he was next to. Very fiesty these bees compared to the other hive.

Cindi · December 09, 2007, 11:50:25 AM

Mick, good you have some new colonies. Take this information as what I would do.

You need to equalize these colonies somewhat. Having a weaker colony near a strong colony is not good. Can you take a frame or two of capped brood (along with adhering bees) and give it to your weaker colony? This is so important. The large colony will not suffer and the smaller, weaker colony will boon with this addition. One frame of capped brood equals 3 frames of bees when they emerge (approximately, or is it 5 frames of bees? Correction here if I have the numbers inverted, forum members, please). So Mick, you can see that when this frame/frames of brood emerge, the colony is strengthened alot, this is a lot of bees.

The adhering bees will mostly be nurse bees and will stay in this colony, many will be foragers so they will return to the original hive. You can also take a shake of bees from the strong hive and shake inside, this will make up for the numbers of bees that will return to the original hive when you place brood frames within.

Hopefully you will hear more comments from more seasoned beeekeepers, but listen, important for colony equality in numbers.

It is hard to imagine your being in summertime now and we in winter, that throws a kink into my mind set of how life is down where you live. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, great life. Cindi

sean · December 11, 2007, 09:16:43 AM

in conjuction with giving the weak hive a frame of bees, you could also swap the positions(put the weaker hive where the strong one was and vice versa) this would ensure that food starts coming in.

Finsky · December 11, 2007, 02:44:25 PM

Quote from: mick on December 08, 2007, 10:53:32 PM
. I saw eggs, so there mus be a queen in there, but not many bees and not many stores. I saw what was most likely a queen cell, so maybe they requeened emselves?

The queen may have for example nosema., leg broken or something. It is a big mistake if they do a daughter from sick queen.

You may bye a new queen and then take a frame of emerging bees from the big hive.
After 2 weeks take another frame. So you have a new hive and soon box full of bees.
One full brood frame gives 3 frames of bees.

If it is nosema, you can sterilize combs with ice acetic = 90% acetic acid. Put frames in plastic sack and put there acid. It gasifies and sterilizes frames in a week.

Finsky · December 11, 2007, 02:49:44 PM

Quote from: sean on December 11, 2007, 09:16:43 AM
in conjuction with giving the weak hive a frame of bees, you could also swap the positions(put the weaker hive where the strong one was and vice versa) this would ensure that food starts coming in.

That is not wise. It does not help a bad queen but it destroys the good development of big hive. It destroys the yield too.

It is bad habit to split good hives. I prefer to put 2 medium hives together. Making nucs is absolutely easy, but not do it too early.

Zoot · December 12, 2007, 12:22:32 AM

Finsky,

What do you mean by "too early"? Too early in the spring?

mick · December 12, 2007, 02:03:21 AM

Thanks for the input and good to hear from me old cobber!

I will make a more detailed inspection this weekend, take pics of each frame and have a decent look at the state of things.

Both Nucs were purchased about a month ago, created by one person, so same source of queens, frames etc. I dont recall seeing a full frame of eggs, larvae or anything else, more like a few frames of half done everything, so I dont expect any swapping of frames is possible anyhow.

I will get back to you all over the weekend.

Oh BTW Finsky, should I start feeding sugar water??