I GOT TO POKE BEEEES TODAY!!

poka-bee · February 17, 2008, 11:14:07 PM

:-D :-D :-D
Sean Kelly graciously invited me over to watch while he checked his hives!! The girls were no where as angry as I had imagined they would be. I could see the difference in the two hives, one was not as "organized", bees were kinda running all over. He thought they might not have a queen. The other was "industrious"..they hardly noticed we were poking around. I got to see eggs & larva, the bees were clumping together I forgot what he called it, was a fun type word. Anyways he said they were happy bees! There were bees bringing in pollen, looked kinda greenish..I could go on forever! Now I'm counting the days till I get my bees!! My Hubby thinks I'm crazy..scampering out of the house singing "I'm just a little black raincloud" with my bee protection in hand! Happy camper here!! Thank you again Sean!!

Jody :-D :-D :-D

the kid · February 18, 2008, 12:25:43 AM

lucky stiff ,,,,,, here we just get to lift the lid alittle to put candy in .... to cold to do any thing else .. we can only dream of working the girls ... sounds like your addicted to bees just like the rest of us ...
welcome to the bee addiction .
the kid

Sean Kelly · February 18, 2008, 07:10:03 AM

I had a great time and it was nice to finally meet Jody! It's really cool to put a face to folks from our forum!

I am afraid that the first hive we checked is queenless since the population was smaller, they were fairly aggressive, and no brood or eggs. Plus they barely touched the pollen patty I put in there last week. Compared to the other hive (now I know why everyone says you need at least two hives) which has lots of capped brood, larvae, and eggs in a nice neat tight pattern. Plus their pollen patty was completely gone (including the wax paper)!

The bees in the good hive were very calm, didn't have to use much smoke, and were hanging in small chains when I removed the frames from the brood chambers (the fun word you were looking for Jody is Festooning).

I replaced the pollen patties and that was all I was able to get done. The frame of eggs that I transfered over 4 days ago to the poor hive were still just eggs. That made me nervous. Dont they usually hatch after 3 days? If the weather is nice tomorrow I will move a frame of capped brood over to help keep the populations up.

When can I requeen? Is it still too cold? Are queens even available in Feb? During the day it's been in the 50's and at night, below freezing.

Man I can't wait until spring! I just assembeled my 3 new inner covers and telescoping covers for my new packages coming in April. Went to Home Depot and got some "Copper Green" wood preserve and a bucket of Oops paint. And I'm waiting for our "Economic Stimulas Package" to come from uncle sam so I can order bee stuff!

Blessings,

Sean Kelly

CBEE · February 18, 2008, 10:31:29 AM

It's great that poka bee got a little hands on. :-D
Sean, What are your day and night temps right now ? Maybe its still to cool at night to meve brood around into a weak hive.. someone move knowlegable will have to give that answer.

Cindi · February 18, 2008, 10:38:26 AM

Sean, those eggs have probably hatched now. I couldn't imagine why they would not have hatched, unless they were too cold and died before hatching, be patient.

I don't think there is anywhere that you can get a queen yet, unless imported from a southern warm place. You are not too far south from me, the only problem right now with the bees raising their own queen might be the fact that drones aren't likely even being raised yet. That queen raised could not be mated. The bees are not raising drones yet, they are focusing on worker brood to make their colonies big in numbers to look after the babies, they are not thinking of drone raising yet. I don't want to sound negative, or to burst your bubble, but you can't get your hopes up too high, that could be a disaster for this colony.

Maybe you will have someone on our forum that will tell you something more positive, I hope so, for your own peace of mind.

In all honesty, right now, I would combine that queenless hive with another one. That would increase numbers significantly and then you could still do a split later on when the weather warms up. It is only the middle of February, it is still very early in the year. Combine the hives. Have a wonderful and great day, love our life we live. Cindi

Kathyp · February 18, 2008, 12:07:04 PM

i am with cindi. even though we have had some great days, the nights are still cold and we are in for more wet. if you combine and split later, they'll probably have a better chance.

i got to play with mine a bit yesterday also. i had one that was bit testy, but all look good. didn't pull frames since it was so windy, but took a flashlight to them and fed during the day.

come on spring!!!!!!

Brian D. Bray · February 19, 2008, 09:47:46 PM

My bees have been going bonkers the laast 2 days. Clear and Sunny with temps into the 50's F. They are packing pollen back by the bucket full. Seems like every bee returning to the hive has both leg sacs full of pollen. All 4 hives going great.

I thought about going in a taking a peak but decided to finish building my new hive stands as I need to transfer the nucs into 8 frame boxes and re-orientate the hives from south to east so they don't have as much wind exposure. The bees made it despite the southerly winds blowing straight at the entrances. I also need to build som top entrances for the hives being changed out of the nucs. I'll get every thing ready and in place for the changes then go in and do everything at once.

From what I see of the bees from the outside of the hive I'm pretty sure things are as they're suppose to be, my 50 years experience says so. Can't wait to get my queen program going late next month.

Sean Kelly · February 20, 2008, 06:02:06 AM

Brian,

Let me know when you get your queens going! I might need one.
My bees were trucking in TONS of pollen the last couple days too. Do you know where the pollen is coming from? I haven't seen anything in bloom so I've been sorta confused. We're not far from each other and figured the sources should be similar.

I finally finished my fence expansion for my bee yard for the 3 new hives. Looks great and I can't wait!!!

Jody,
I think you left your sunglasses at my house. I thought they were my wife's but she said she's not sure where they came from. Gives us another excuse to have you over to help with the bees again. This time I'll make sure Amanda and Grace will be home to meet you!
Two more weeks until the next Pierce County Beekeeper's Association meeting, you going? Think we can carpool if you are?

Sean Kelly

Cindi · February 20, 2008, 09:52:28 AM

Sean, the hazelnuts catkins are producing pollen here, probably are around you too. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, Cindi

Sean Kelly · February 20, 2008, 06:18:29 PM

Brian mentioned in another post that Alders are making pollen right now. I'm pretty sure that's whats coming in since we have alders here like mad.

Sean Kelly

Brian D. Bray · February 20, 2008, 10:31:34 PM

I am re-organizing my bee yard. I've set it up with 3 row of 3 hive stands each. I only plan on keeping 5 hives plus my queen setup but have the other stands for swarms and splits that I will offer for sale. I did the re-arranging because I'm thinking of giving free lessons in beekeeping in my small apiary and the way I've re-organized it makes it great for teaching more than 1 person at a time. Also I have 4 subspecies of bees so any students will get a chance to compare 1st hand. My students (if and when I get any other than my daughter) won't even have to own their own hive they can get their feet wet before spending any money. I also figure the 3 extra stands will allow me to sell those hives to the students.