What did you do in your Apiary/Bee yard today?

[The15thMember]

I finally figured out what that grape-tasting honey is that I get early in June every year!  It's elderberry!  I pulled a frame of honey on Friday that was labeled 6/10, and when I crushed it up today was that grapey stuff.  So I cross-referenced it with Follow the Bloom, and that has got to be it.  We had a great elderberry bloom this year, and the stuff crystallizes so it's not from a tree.  It wasn't grape I was tasting though, it was berry flavor!  I'm so excited because I'm now fairly confident that I have identified all the main types of honey I get every year.       

[Ben Framed]

I?m impressed!! Good job!!

Phillip

[Terri Yaki]

Man it's muggy out there.

First up was my recently made nuc. Observations have been that they are bringing in pollen hot and heavy. Hive is healthy and has eggs, larvae, and capped brood. Eggs are dead center in the cells and the capped brood is all workers, not a single drone cell yet. But they have added drone comb to the bottom of the medium frame that I have in there. I was unable to find the queen but I am confident that she is in there. Next week I'll check to see if all of the larvae are drone but they are laid in worder cells so my understanding is that that is doubtful. And they were very calm with no need to smoke them.

Since the nuc inspection went quickly, I dove into the swarm hive and all is pretty good in there and I got eyes on the queen. Apparently, some of my 'pre-waxed' frames are not the most beloved and they are building comb in the center only. Those only have nectar in them. I'm thinking I should wax up more foundations myself and replace those that are only center-built. I think I picked up that if I stick them in the freezer first, that comb should come right off of the foundation, is that right?

My hive #1 seems to me to be light on activity and I'll look at it tomorrow morning, it's supposed to be cool tonight so I won't sweat to death. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's my imagination and not because they swarmed on me.

And I just noticed that when they dump their pollen baskets, they must turn them inside out or something as I'm seeing the discs in the cells before it gets processed. I still see no signs of SHB or wax moths but I could just be missing them.

[The15thMember]

That's awesome that the nuc got their queen mated.  Now if something has gone wrong in hive #1, you can just combine the nuc with them and they'll be right back on track.  These are the perks of keeping a nuc or two around. 

Apparently, some of my 'pre-waxed' frames are not the most beloved and they are building comb in the center only. Those only have nectar in them. I'm thinking I should wax up more foundations myself and replace those that are only center-built. I think I picked up that if I stick them in the freezer first, that comb should come right off of the foundation, is that right?

I'm not sure, since I don't use foundation, but this pattern of building could just be an indicator that the flow isn't strong, and the bees are preferring to just build out of the center of each frame to create access to honey across the width of the hive for their own efficiency, so that any bee can travel up and reach honey and not have to go up and to one side.  This would be critical for winter survival, since the bees want to be sure that when the cluster moves up into the super, there is honey everywhere and they don't have to search for it.  I've seen them do this on foundationless frames too when there is a weak flow, where the bees will draw little scoops of comb on each frame instead of fully drawing out one or two. 

And I just noticed that when they dump their pollen baskets, they must turn them inside out or something as I'm seeing the discs in the cells before it gets processed.

Honey bees and bumble bees carry their pollen "wet", meaning they moisten it with a little bit of nectar so they can pack it tightly into their baskets and not have any grains fall out.  So when the foragers scrape their basket clean to empty it into a cell, the pollen stays in little pellets.  The house bees will then come along and tamp the pellets down to tightly pack the cell, and once it's full they will seal the top with a thin layer of honey.  This keeps any air out of the pollen which allows it to anaerobically ferment, keeping it preserved.  Here's a picture of a jar of pollen from my pollen trap.  Pollen traps force the bees through a small opening or screen which knocks one or both pellets off their legs and into the drawer for collection. 

[Terri Yaki]

That's interesting and I thought pollen traps just knocked the loose stuff off of their hair and bodies on the way in. I wonder what they think when they go to empty them and they're already empty. "Hey man, where did all my pollen go?" In Tommy Chong's voice.

[iddee]

I have never had brood cells on the bottom of a medium frame in a deep box. It has always been drone cells. I don't use plastic foundation frames, so can't help you there.

[BeeMaster2]

Adding to what Reagan said, the nurse bees use their heads to compress the pollen balls in the cells. They also add some honey to help the fermentation process. Bees cannot properly digest pollen without the fermentation.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

Yes true as some newer beekeepers may not  know, pollen is a very important and vital asset for the development of the hive. (Unless we feed pollen substitute) of course:

Terri are you still feeding sucrose?

[Michael Bush]

>Yes true as some newer beekeepers may not  know, pollen is a very important and vital asset for the development of the hive. (Unless we feed pollen substitute)

Actually pollen is very important and vital asset for the development of the hive and pollen substitute is a poor substitute for pollen.

[Terri Yaki]

Yes true as some newer beekeepers may not  know, pollen is a very important and vital asset for the development of the hive. (Unless we feed pollen substitute) of course:

Terri are you still feeding sucrose?

I am still feeding the swarm hive because they are guzzling it. I might need to buy a sugar refinery. And I?m trying to figure out how to feed my little nuc to give them a head start for winter. I don?t have another nuc box but I?m not ready to move them into a ten frame box.

[NigelP]

Could try a frame feeder, or pour syrup over  drawn comb.

[Ben Framed]

I might need to buy a sugar refinery.

lol 

Could try a frame feeder, or pour syrup over  drawn comb.

Good advise as a frame feeder should reduce the odds of robbing in a time of dearth... Im no so sure about pouring in over frames this time of year? (dearth season).

[Terri Yaki]

I just saw a comment on our local club page that our dearth is not here yet. There was thistle and some kind of Japanese plant supposed to be coming in now.

I went through hive #1 on this cool and breezy morning and report being a very happy beek right about now. But let's see how long that lasts. I thought I was seeing less activity and was worried that my queen had taken flight with half of my colony but that has not happened. I found her and evidence that she is still working hard. I did not notice any drone brood but I wasn't really looking for it either. I did find a couple of drones strolling around, one was above the queen excluder. I'm going to guess that they are too big to make it through and he was one that hatched up there and couldn't get out. I also found a couple of workers caught in the excluder and knocked them loose. I have two supers on with the bottom one being almost full and the top one only full on the outside frames, which I placed there from the lower one when I added it. Should I move the empty super down below the full one at any point? It sounds like a logical move to me but I don't really know. I am finding practice swarm cups but I didn't bother to remove them, is that a mistake? I pulled the QE off so I can see first hand if it makes a difference. I don't think it should at this point.

I am in the process of uploading videos of the inspection but there's not much of interest in it, IMO (except the music ). But I'll post the links to it in the event anyone wants to check on my progress and give me any suggestions.

[The15thMember]

I just saw a comment on our local club page that our dearth is not here yet. There was thistle and some kind of Japanese plant supposed to be coming in now.

Mimosa maybe?  I'm not sure how much nectar the bees get from that.  Ours tend to come in right before the sourwood.  Could be the golden raintree too, we had that blooming a few weeks ago. 

I have two supers on with the bottom one being almost full and the top one only full on the outside frames, which I placed there from the lower one when I added it. Should I move the empty super down below the full one at any point? It sounds like a logical move to me but I don't really know. I am finding practice swarm cups but I didn't bother to remove them, is that a mistake? I pulled the QE off so I can see first hand if it makes a difference. I don't think it should at this point.

If you removed the excluder, I would absolutely NOT switch the supers around.  You want that full super to act as a barrier to keep the queen out of the honey.  Queen cups aren't a big deal in my mind, I usually leave them.         

[Salvo]

Hi Folks,

Japanese Knotweed is a good source for nectar in Eastern Massachusetts in September. Perhaps it blossoms earlier farther south.

It's an interesting source for honey around my area. The ripening nectar has a distinct odor. It's fun to talk about this smell to newbees.

Sal

[Terri Yaki]

And my videos are up if anyone wants to see how things are going. I only have one question and it's in Part II at about the 3:00 mark. The frames aren't all built out and they're building the honeycomb out farther because there is no opposing comb to hold it it check. What's the remedy for this, if any?

Thanks for the help.

Part I
https://rumble.com/v54w30w-july-1-2024-hive-inspection-part-i.html

Part II
https://rumble.com/v54wfqt-july-1-2024-hive-inspection-part-ii.html

[animal]

I would like to know the answer to that one as well. They don's seem to respond to threats and cursing. I'm trying ... cut it out and sticking a frame with comb next to it to "block"... dunno if it worked yet.

[iddee]

Place a frame of drawn comb, empty or full, next to it. Leave less than bee space between the combs. They will reduce the wide comb to fit bee space.

[The15thMember]

I agree with iddee, and animal, I'm assuming this is basically what you are doing.  Move things around so the comb they want to make too wide is next to the wall or a frame that is fully drawn already.  If this isn't possible, then you could also put 9 frames in the super, evenly spaced, and just let them make it all fat.           

[animal]

WOW ! you mean I didn't screw up ??? 
sweet