Late swarm

Got a call yesterday from an fellow beekeepers wife. They had a swarm on their fence and they didn't want it. He's been threatening for years to "get out of the business". I grabbed an empty box and went to get them on my lunch break. They were on a low weed. The old beekeeper gave me his old swarm catching box to use. It was a lightweight box with 1 frame in it and screened windows on all 4 sides. I was able to cut the weed at the base and put it right in the box. I placed the lid on leaving it cracked open on the one side. The rest of the bees were on the ground and in the short weeds. They quickly started marching up the side of the box. I thought that by the time I got off work, they would all be inside the box. They weren't. Most were but there were many that were still clustered on the outside of the box on one of the screened windows. I dumped them all out of and off of the swarm catching box directly into my langstroth. Came back in a couple hours and they were all neatly inside.

I took them home to combine them with another weaker hive. The huge swarm I had caught a few months ago absconded after a few weeks and left a small number of bees (and some Ginormous combs). I placed the box containing the swarm on top of the other hive with some newspapers between.

I think I also figured out why the other colony absconded. I went out to check on these bees last night after dark. There were ants all over the hive. Huge ants. They were gone this morning when I looked. They must just come out at night. I'll have to remedy that and soon. It's curious that they were not on my other two hives (top bars) just a few feet away.

I got some pics and video of the swarm that I should be able to post later.

Also - I took 2 stings for this one.

More good - more bad

Checked on the Schampel TBH this evening. Very gentle bees. went through the whole thing. Found the queen. This is the first time I've been in this hive since her mating flight. She's laying like crazy! Eggs and larva everywhere. Very strong colony. Lots of stores pollen and capped honey above the brood. Also 2 bars (out of 10 fully drawn) were full and partially capped honey. I added 5 bars. 2 on the north (between straight bars) and 3 on the south.

Look in the cells at the bottom center of the picture.

Checked my other half of this split again. Found the queen again. Found many cells with multiple eggs in them. Not sure if she's just not laying or what. I decided to feed. Put a feeder on the other side of the follower board. Gonna check to see if I can find another queen. Not sure what to do with the laying worker. I've heard (or read rather) that they are hard to get rid of.

Also checked on the Perone style Langs tonight. The one on the Haddock farm is very active. Also very calm tonight. They are starting to build comb in the 3rd box but they are not using the top bars. They are building swirls up from the bottom. Not quite sure how to handle this.

The Perone land at the Prazen apiary is doing good also. Activity at the entrance has been slower than past weeks but it could be the weather. They've drawn out 6 bars now. Most of the way across the bars and about half way into the bottom box. Huge combs. Lots of nectar in the last 2. Couldn't pull out the rest as they were burred to the sides. With such new comb, I didn't want to risk separating the comb from  the sides to have a better look. Very gentle this evening. Didn't even wear gloves.

Good news and Bad news!

I got a chance at lunch today to peak in the hives at home (2 of them anyway).

The first was the TBH that was from a package at the end of April. Very strong colony. 9 bars drawn out and starting on the 10th. I added 3 more for them to work on (between some of the others to encourage straight comb). Didn't see the queen but did see eggs. Only looked at the first few bars. Took a sting to the arm  but for the most part they were very gentle.

Took a loot at the other TBH. Not so good. This is the colony that was split from the Schampel TBH a few weeks ago. I did see the queen and I did see eggs and larva and capped brood. Even saw bees that looked fresh from their cells. Not a whole lot of activity here. Saw a few dead larva. Didn't notice any foul smell. Not much by way of stores. Wondering if I didn't bring enough stores when I did the split. Might start feeding this one.

I've noticed that the activity at the entrance of my Perone style Lang has gone way down. Could be this crappy weather we've had. This colony has a large number of bees. Only had my veil on (shorts and tshirt) so I didn't want to open this one. They seem to take notice more than my TBH colonies.

Might suit up and peak in tonight if the weather holds out.

Bee drinking water

Surviving the heat (so far)

The last few days have been rather hot (mid 90s). This colony from a huge swarm has only been in the hive for 2 weeks now. I knew they were building large combs. I also knew they were filling them up as they were very heavy when I checked a few days ago. I was nervous that the heat might cause the heavy and very new combs collapse. The bees have been hanging out on the outside of the hive quite a bit during the heat of the day.

Hanging in the shade.

Early on they had (for whatever reason) decided to seal of 1 of they 3 entrance holes with propolis (far left hole - hard to see in picture). It was comical to sit and watch them during the day. The foragers would return with pollen or nectar and since the left hole had no bees around it, they would invariably try that entrance first. After finding it blocked on the inside, they would then crawl over to the middle hole to enter the hive. Last evening I poked a hole through the propolis with a stick and today they have cleaned it all up. They now have 3 fully open entrances. I don't have any other entrances to this hive. I am also worried about proper ventilation. My plan is to build a screened bottom board to replace the solid one that is in place now. I do not want to use a bottom entrance because of a theory I have about mites hitching rides back up into the brood nest after they drop. Hopefully I can get this built in the next couple of weeks. It's supposed to cool down again this weekend.

I peaked into the hive tonight to make sure none of the new comb had collapsed. It hadn't. whew! I had many aggressive bees come after me. Probably due to the time of night (dark) and the fact that all bees were home. There's no gentle way to open this hive up. I've poked my head in my KTBH at night and they barely seem to notice me.

They were not happy with me tonight. I find that I don't like the way this hive closes up. Seems I squish a few every time I put the lid on. I guess once I put the other supers on (like a true perone) I won't be in it as much (if at all) and it won't be an issue. I'm still amazed at the size if this comb. 

Crazy builders!

I knew the swarm I caught last week was big. I also knew they were busy just by observing the entrance. Interestingly they've propolized one of the entrance holes shut. I've got 3 3/4" holes on the front of the bottom box (no bottom entrance). I was amazed at how much comb they have built. 5 bars so far. About 80 percent of the length of the bar and down to the middle of the bottom box. Way cool. Never seen such huge combs. I was nervous about breaking the new comb as it was very heavy with nectar and pollen. I didn't take the time to look for the queen or even for eggs. The first 2 bars are a bit bur combed together. Also bur combed to the side. The next three are perfectly straight and not attached to the sides at all.
I had just visually spaced the 1" bars leaving a bee space between them. The ends of the hive a re a bit warped and the bars are only just long enough to reach. I wish they were 1/4" longer. It's possible they could slide 1 direction or the other and fall into the box. I guess once they propolize them in place, it won't be an issue. Happy bees. Happy beekeeper!

Castledale Bee Tree

Had a chance to find the bee tree I'd heard about in Castledale (30 mins South of me) over the weekend. We were in the area and took a small detour to look for it. It wasn't hard to find. I had heard that the bees were very aggressive and that anyone walking near the tree was attacked. I didn't find this to be the case at all. I did see evidence though that someone (damn kids) had been throwing rocks at the entrance. And they wonder why the bees get ornery?! I should have asked the neighbors how long the bees had been living in the tree. Aside from the fact that there are bees living in the tree, it's quite an impressive plant all by itself. Huge burls all around. I'd love to get a few chunks off that tree when she finally comes down.

It's official

I am now a Utah State licensed beekeeper. The license came in the mail today. Wahoo. I had concerns about being registered. It cost me $10. After meeting the state bee inspector and getting a better understanding of her job, most of my concerns disappeared. I also decided that the benefits of being registered were worth it. Any one spraying in the area (pesticides on fields, mosquito abatement...) must, by law, notify me before they do. Also with more registered beekeepers in the area, we are entitled to more help from the state level.

Long live the queen!

I inspected the Schampel TBH today. It's been a week since I put the new queen in and I wanted to see if they've released her. More importantly I wanted to see if they've accepted her.

I removed every comb looking for her but did not see her. The cage was empty so I know she was released. I saw no eggs and no larva. There were still quite a few capped brood cells. All other queen cells had been opened up from the side. I took this as a good sign that the queen had been accepted and had removed all rival queens. After going through all 7 combs and not seeing her, I decided to have another go as I put them all back into place. Found her on the 4th bar. Busy crawling around.  I'm assuming she hasn't taken her mating flight yet. She is only 1 week old. I'll check back in another week and I expect to see eggs.

Haddock Farm Hive Oscar

Inspected the Oscar hive at the Haddock farm tonight. Took the queen encluder off. Inspected the combs and about 6 of them are completely packed with capped brood. Eggs also. I saw the queen. These Carniolan queens are sure attractive bees. The girls are extending the combs down into the bottom (empty) box. Slightly off center but still removable I added bars to the top of the 3rd box (with waxed wooden comb guides) for when they decide to move up there.  I also removed the empty food can and old queen cage. Good laying pattern. Pretty calm bees overall.

New queen for Schampel TBH

Got a queen from my friend Paul tonight. We were out at his apiary collecting some brood combs for a queen rearing box he's building. We found lots of capped queen cells in one of his hives. He took one off and handed it to me telling me "here's your queen!". He knew that I have a queenless colony. I could feel her moving around inside the cell. As I examined it closer I could see that she was chewing the cap off. I watched as she hatched out right in my hand. Way cool! We found an old queen cage lying around and placed her in it with a few worker bees. After finishing up at his place I drove to Shampel TBH and hanged her on an empty bar placing it between bars 2 and 3. I had used a marhmallow to plug the entrance to the queen cage hoping to keep her in for a while. I found 2 capped queen cells in this hive but left them there. She's a Minnesota Hygienic mix of some sort (just what she's mixed with - who knows). I'll check on her again in a few days to see if she's been released. Still a lot of capped brood and larva on these 6 bars of comb.

Swarm catching

I got a swarm call about 3:30 this afternoon. There was a swarm in the backyard of a friend of a friend and they wanted them gone. I took off immediately (I love my boss) and went home to get my stuff. All of my TBH hives are occupied so I grabbed an empty lang. I've decided to manage it Perone style.

The bees were about 4 feet off the ground in an apple tree. I had permission to prune the tree but decided a good shake would work and I wouldn't have to do any cutting.

I placed some landscaping paver stones under the tree to set the box down on after shaking the bees into it. I held the box in my right hand and vigorously shook the branch with my left. I took one sting on the right arm as the bees fell. Most of the bees went in the box and the rest were on the ground in the grass around the stones. I set the box down and placed the lid on it, leaving it cracked. I did not remember however to put in my top bars until several minutes had gone by and the bees were already beginning to cluster on the lid. I placed the bars all on the one side (1 inch bars - with waxed wooden strips for guides) and closed the lid completely, knowing that I'd have to reposition the bars when I put the hive in it's final place at home.  I shook the branch again as there were bees starting to cluster again in the tree. I took another sting, this time to the face (first face sting - ever). Within just minutes you could see the bees in the grass begin moving towards the hive, climbing up the bricks. Many were waving their nasonov around at the entrance so I knew I had the queen. It was so cool to see them "marching" up the bricks and into to the hive.

The weather was rather nasty. Cold and windy.

I left the hive there and went back to work (3 blocks away), telling the homeowners that I'd come back to get it later. After work there were still many bees in the grass and a few still in the tree. I decided to leave it until after dark. Even after dark, there were quite a few bees left in the grass, showing no signs of moving into the hive. I ended up leaving them there as I wasn't sure how to get them into the box. I took another sting on the leg while rearranging the top bars after getting them home. She had crawled up my pant leg.

Note to self: get a sheet and keep it with my stuff. It would have made my job (and the bees job) much easier if I'd had a sheet spread out under the swarm instead of letting them fall in the grass.

The homeowner told me that they had been in the tree for at least 3 days. His little girls had been telling him about the bees in the tree and he didn't think much of it. Figured they were just wasps. When mowing his lawn yesterday, he finally saw for himself what the girls had been trying to tell him.

Three stings and a bit of time for a large bunch of bees (10 lbs?). Not bad at all. I figure the weather and the amount of time they had been there already contributed to their grumpy mood. Had I known they had been there that long, I might have suited up.

Bait Hive Check

Well the girls haven't found my bait hive yet. It's only been a weak. I guess I can't expect much. Perhaps they have found it and are just waiting for the weather to cooperate.
It's a good hike anyway and the  company was great!

I can't get my head around to peek into the tree but I can reach around with the camera and take pics. You can see comb in this first pic (towards the top). I'm so curious about the size of the tree cavity. The tree doesn't even look that big.

A little tidying up

I opened Prazen TBH1 tonight and inspected all the comb. 7 bars so far (with three emptys). I removed the queen cage that I had left in there. I saw the queen. Very dark. I took a picture of my fallen comb guides. The girls have drawn comb from the bars down to the comb guide, making it one sturdy comb. Not sure how to remove the guide at this point so I'm leaving it there. Two bars are like this. I did prune the ends of the guide strip back so they aren't tempted to bur comb it to the side of the hive.

The Split

I inspected Schampel TBH1 today. All is very well. 10 bars of brood and eggs. Good laying pattern. Drones present. Whatever was in before that I thought might be EFB is cleaned up and gone. I personally think it was partially rehydrated crystalized honey. I pulled out all the empty (and crooked) honey comb.

Look at how fat some of those combs are!

Also pulled out the 3 bars of honey on the other end since they were severely cross combed.

I took the 4 bars that were fused (due to the girls drawing their comb out between the bars rather than centered), put them in a nuc box and brought them home (with the queen). This leaves 6 full bars of brood and eggs in the hive. Can't decide if I should let them grow their own queen or order a new one  (A russian perhaps).

All in all they were very docile considering how invasive this visit was.

The nuc box had the comb that was centered between bars. I used strips of aluminum (printer plates) as straps to hold the comb centered under the bars after I cut it off and adjusted it. Saw the queen. Also saw many eggs and capped brood. Left the 4 bars of brood and eggs with an empty comb between them and 3 empty bars on the side. Also left some of the honey that I had removed from the Shampel TBH on the other side of the follower board (with a hole in it) for them to feed on if they need it.

Got the remaining honey comb crushed and straining right now.
Also melted down all of the wax (plus other wax that I'd been sitting on.) I put the wax in a pot of water and bring it to a boil. I then poor it through a paint filter into another large pot and let it cool. The wax floats to the top and hardens.

Bee Lining (without bees)

I had posted a month or so ago about some dark bees that were cleaning out some honey from some old combs. See previous post here. Now that there is plenty of natural forage everywhere, I can't get them to come back to a bait station.

They had flown off in a South West direction when they left before. I checked with the land owner of the first farm in that direction and got permission to tromp around looking for bees. Plenty of huge old cottonwood trees (some of them dead) that I thought might be perfect for a feral colony. My search turned up nothing. I even spent some time at the pond looking to see if I could catch some drinking and follow them home from there. Not a single bee.

It turns out that the next land owner in that direction used to keep bees commercially (at least his dad did) about 25 years ago. He gladly gave me permission to tromp around on his farm and instructed me that, should I find any bees living in the trees, I should "box them up and take care of them." He then gave me a bit about wild bees left to themselves would just get (and spread) disease.

Before leaving his house to check out the farm, he pulled apart an old bee box by the fence (3 deeps) that had been sitting empty in the back yard for years apparently. There was not even a bit of paint left on it. The bottom box had obviously housed mice for who-knows how long. All three boxes housed wasps. He offered me the frames if I was interested and then pointed out some cells that he said contained foul brood and said it might be best not to take them. He'd "hate to pass on the disease to my bees."

I didn't see a single bee on his farm either. Though I did find this:

And this:

Stacks and stacks of old hives, some of them complete with frames and comb.

Many had been mouse infested. Saw no sign whatsoever of bees.

I found it curious that he was worried about the diseases that the "wild bees" would have but he wasn't concerned at all about what diseases all this old equipment might be spreading. Especially when he knows the one hive had foul brood. I know of at least three of us beekeepers within a one mile radius of his farm. 

Very nice fellows, both of them. Gave me open permission to tromp around whenever I'd like. The weather wasn't the best on the 2 days I looked and it was rather late in the day so I might try it again on a nicer, calmer day and try to go out mid day rather than in the evening. Perhaps they were all at home just quietly buzzing in their colony somewhere and I missed them.

I still want to find those dark bees!

Bait Hive and Bee Tree

I placed a bate hive the other day in the vicinity of a bee tree. The tree is miles away from anything civilized. You wouldn't think it could even house a colony of bees by looking at it but they are there and have been for quite some time. The tree is perched on the edge of a rock outcropping several hundred feet from the bottom of the canyon. I could hear the buzz of the bees from the bottom of the canyon before I started my climb.

There was a lot of activity in front of the hive. There were many drones around the entrance and also on the ground below the tree. Many bees bringing in pollen.

Look at all those bees!

Drone

View from directly above (don't look down)

When I was approaching the tree, the breeze was in my face and I could smell the sweet smell of the colony from about 12 feet away. Most of the bees (all except for one, in fact) couldn't care less that I was there. The one was not menacing, only curious I think. buzzing around checking me out and then returning to the tree.

I placed the bait have a hundred or more feet away in another tree. It's concealed pretty well and I hope no one will bother it. It's also scented with a couple drops of lemon grass oil. It's got 10 bars in it with waxed comb guides.

You can't even see it can you?

My plan is to check it in a couple weeks to see what I've caught. And if nothing, then to add a couple more drops of lemon grass oil.

I someday want to spend time looking for other colonies in this canyon. I find it hard to believe that this is the only one. Especially since I know it's been there for years.

A Proper Apiary

I had my empty hives in another part of the yard. Setup, ready and waiting. I put a couple drops of lemon grass oil in each one today hoping to attract a swarm. I then decided that if I do catch a swarm I don't want the hassle of moving the colony so I repositioned the hives into the locations I would have them  if they were occupied. I also replaced all the top bars with bars that have guide strips securely attached.

Bring on the swarms!

Dropped guide strips

I pulled out all of the top bars with strips that hadn't been glued or waxed into place and replaced them with  top bars that have strips that are glued or waxed into place.

There are 2 combs that have dropped with the guide strip (see drawing). There are 3 other combs that are still in place but that also will be drawn out more and become much heavier. The 6th bar that they had started had fallen and since it only contained pollen and nectar, I removed it. They have 5 empty bars to work with. 

The two that had fallen are filled with eggs and brood (some capped) and I don't dare remove them.

The girls are busy drawing out comb now from the top bar down to the guide strip (see drawing). Perhaps they'll connect it all together and It'll be fine. I'm worried about them attaching it to the sides. At least it's straight comb. Perhaps it won't be too bad.

Good Idea - just not thought out.

Had a chance to look into the Prazen TBH today. They are starting on the 6th bar of perfectly straight comb. Very gentle bees. Except for the one who got to close to Ibrahim and got swatted at. I had told E not to move quickly or swat. It's hard not to, even for me. The swatting pissed off the bee and she got him. Right on the ear. I felt terrible. He seemed so interested watching me pull the combs out and look at the bees.

With my experience with cross comb last year, I had made up my mind to give them some comb guides this year. I had cut strips of wood 3/4" tall 1/8" wide and about 13" long. These strips slid perfectly into the 1/8" kerfs I had sawed into the top bars. Most fit snuggly so I didn't glue them. I hadn't figured on the weight of the comb. I assumed that the bees would glue it all together with wax when they drew their comb out. As it turns out the bees are just hanging their comb on the bottom of the strip. The 2 most drawn out (and full of brood) combs have detached the strip from the top bar They had fallen into the hive and are dangling by the ends of the strip. The weight of the comb is keeping the bar straight however I'm afraid that the comb might be soon bur combed to the sides. Not sure what to do about it at this point. Thought of tying the strips back to the top bars but I don't know.

I will certainly replace all unused top bars with top bars that have had the strip secured with wood glue or bees wax. I finely grated some wax and put the grated wax on the joint between the top bar and the strip of wood. Using a lighter I was able to melt the grated wax until it ran down the seem hopefully securing the two together.

As I had seen both eggs and capped brood, I removed the queen "includer".

Oscar Update

Had a chance to check on Hive Oscar today. Just peaked under the lid into the top (empty) box. The bees were  all down in the frames. The queen is released. The queen cage is propolized to the top of the frames. There was still some sugar water in the can so I left it there. There's a small gap between the bottom 2 boxes. I was able to peek between and see that they were drawing out comb down into the bottom box. Didn't have time to inspect for eggs or larva. Left the queen "includer" on for now.

Prazen TBH

The weird cluster is now gone. It was about half the size on the 2nd night and it's completely gone last night. Not sure if they decided to join the rest of the girls inside or if they flew off somewhere. Also, I peeked up through the bottom last night and could see that the candy plug has been eaten from the queen cage. She's been released. Once the weather gets a bit better, I'll open up the hive and see if she's laying.

Weird mini cluster

While watching the bees in my newly installed TBH, I noticed that the bees had formed a small cluster on the bottom of the hive (under the screened bottom). Last night before I went to bed I shone a light up through the screen and saw most of the bees clustered in the area where I had hung the queen cage. There was also a small group of  bees clustered at the far side of the hive. Could it be the same bunch of bees has now moved to the bottom of the hive? Could there be a second queen? Why would they be there? There were also several bees tonight that seemed intent on driving me away from the hive. They didn't sting or even head butt me but they got in my face and stayed there until I walked away.

I've got video too but am unable to remember how to post it.

New packages

Installed 2 packages yesterday. Purchased both from Knight Family Honey in Lehi, UT. Both were 3 lb packages with Carniolan queens. Installs both went smooth. Had my little helper with me.

Notice the bees on the queen cage and he's still not afraid (way cool).

The first package went into a new TBH in the back yard of our current rental. I had hung the queen cage (with candy plug) directly beneath the 2nd top bar on the left and I had arranged the follower boards to allow them 9 bars. The bars were fitted with guides made from strips of wood secured into the kerfs on the bars. The strips were then rubbed with bees wax. The follower on the right side has a 3/4 hole in it allowing the bees to move through to a feeder area where I placed the remaining sugar water that came with the package.

A queen excluder (includer) was placed over the open entrance. I've read about a lot of packages absconding and wanted to prevent this. The includer will be removed once I see that she is laying.

The other package was installed into a hive I will attempt to manage somewhat like an Oscar Perone.

It has 2 deep boxes with bottomless frames only in the top box (these frames happen to be old drawn out comb - she should be able to start immediately laying eggs upon release from the cage). This allows for a more natural and huge brood nest. The next deep box will be for honey storage for the  bees only. These 3 boxes are never to be messed with (Oscar uses 4  boxes). The boxes above these three will contain frames for honey that I will harvest. We'll see how it goes.

I set the queen cage (with sugar plug) directly on top of the frames in the 2nd box (top box is currently empty) and dumped the remaining bees in. I set the can of sugar water also on the frames where they can get to it.  Also used a queen includer on this hive. Afterwards I thought it might have been best to hang the queen from the bottom of the frames in the middle box. Also closed the entrance on the hive base and drilled 5 3/4" holes in the center of the bottom box. I'm starting to think that not having a bottom entrance might have an affect on mites. The reason that I say this is because out of the 3 langstroth hives that we had managed, only the colony that refused to use the bottom entrance survived the 2nd year.

My little helper

Had a little help painting up the new (and repainting the old) boxes today. He loves to help.

Bait Station Bees

Ok, so it's not a real bait station, but it worked the same.

I had some old frames with some crystalized honey in them. Not knowing how to get it out, and not wanting to throw it away, I set it out for the bees to clean up. It's still early spring and not much is blooming yet. I figured whatever bees were out and about might appreciate a little extra for their srping buildup.

I have no bees currently at my house (this will change Saturday!). I don't even know where the nearest hive/colony is. It didn't take long for these girls to find me.

There were many that were black. Not dark. Not mostly black. Black!

I watched where they were going after they got their fill and their colony is West/SouthWest from my house. There are some farms out that way and also some very large groups of cottonwood trees. I plan to beeline them one of these days to learn where they live. I've never seen such a dark bee. Beautiful!

I also have a couple bait hives set up in the yard. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll just move in!

Peczuh TBH cleanup

I had moved the TBH from the Peczuh farm to my house to clean it up. If I can get another swarm, I'll put it back out there. I've seen several scouts checking it out in the last couple days in the back yard. I took 2 bars of empty comb (relatively straight) and placed it in my bait/swarm catching hive. I cleaned up the rest of the comb leaving 4 semi straight comb and removing the rest to be melted down. Some of the comb had starved bees in them that I didn't want to mess with removing. Those combs were chucked. Cell size on most cells was 5mm (5 cells to an inch). The bees were still soft and pliable. They hadn't dried out (do bees get rigormortis?) yet. This makes me think that they had only just starved. I might have been able to save them even a week or two ago if I had known they were out of stores. Dead mites on the bottom board. A bit of mold on the bottom board also but none anywhere else in the hive. I've left 4 frames of comb and divided the hive into 2 separate spaces (2 combs in each). Going to leave it in the yard and use it as a bait hive for now.

Hive3 Inspection

Worried about honey stores, I decided to check on Hive3 (langstroth) today and see if I should start feeding them. The weather was warm enough but slightly breezy. Several bees flying in and out of the hive. These girls have always been upside down. Using the top entrance exclusively. This hive wintered with 3 boxes. As soon as I cracked the lid, I was bombarded by about a dozen bees. I wasn't completely suited up (had my vail and gloves) so I decided not to dig further. Funny that both the girls from this hive and the girls from the Schampel TBH attacked the dark gray draw string on my white pants.

Schampel TBH

Took a peak in the Schampel TBH today. I was worried about honey stores as the Peczuh TBH had starved. There were plenty of bees coming and going. Again the gray polen. The honey combs on the south end of the hive were gone. There were still 3+  bars full of honey (cross combed) on the North end.
The brood nest is very cross combed and I didn't really want to get into it anyway. I did pull out one bar (see photo) and noticed some white junk in several of the cells. Looked like cottage cheese almost. Not sure what that is. Disease? The bees were rather ornery (I think it was the breeze) so I closed her up (but not without taking a sting to the back of the right hand). I pulled the bottom board and found a bit of mold and also many dead mites. The mold isn't too bad and I didn't see any mold in the hive itself.
Left happy that they wouldn't starve.

Alive

Nervous about the fate of my Peczuh farm TBH I checked on my other TBH this afternoon.
50 degrees or so. Sunny. Very slight breeze. There were bees coming and going quite frequently. Many bringing in pollen also. (light grey color pollen). I'm not sure where they are getting it, but I was happy to see they had it. Couldn't slide the bottom board out without jarring the hive too much. I'll go back in the night and peak up through the bottom.

Starved

Stopped by the Peczuh farm last night to check on the hive. Had noticed before that the cows had knocked it a bit (The corners of the coruplast roof were bent and the legs were off of the bricks I had them sitting on). I figured a calm night might be a good night to move the have back into place.
As I moved it I did not notice the expected hum from within. I took a flashlight and removed the bottom board to look up through the screen (the board was covered with wax bits and also dead mites). The screened bottom was completely covered with dead bees. I could hear nothing. I opened the top and inspected the hive. It's all lost. They have starved. All the stores were gone. Only 3 weeks ago they were making their cleansing flights in the warm weather. There is nothing yet for them to harvest. I should have looked inside then to check the level of honey so I could start feeding. I'll need to go check the other hives to make sure they don't starve as well.

Bummed!

Cleanup of dead hives

I gathered all the boxes from the Haddock's place today so I could take them home and clean them up.
Hive1 had died at the end of last summer. The other (Hive2) died over the winter. They did not starve and they did not freeze. Mites? I know they had mites. There are still many dead mites on the bottom board of the hive.

As I got there, knowing that both hives were dead. I was surprised to see bees flying out of Hive 2. Lots of them. There were also about 50-60 bees flying around the entrance of Hive 3 (caught swarm). It took me a few minutes to figure out that the bees in Hive 3 had discovered the stores in Hive 2 and were robbing it.

I didn't have time to open Hive 3 to determine the level of their stores. Perhaps early next week I'll get a chance.

Also was able to order 2 packages of bees from Knight Family Honey that I'll be able to pick up on April 24th. Wahoo!

Spring is here!

I was at the house (fairgrounds road rental) today at lunch and saw a honey bee flying around checking things out. There's absolutely nothing in bloom right now. In fact there's very little green anywhere still. It's about 40 degrees and with no wind, it must be a great day for flying. I'm not sure where the closest hives are. I haven't even seen any since moving here. Plenty of farm land though so a colony could be anywhere. It's exciting to see them out flying.

Schampell Park TBH is alive

Dropped in on the Walters at our rental house to check on the TBH in the back yard. Plenty of signs of cleansing flights. Actually got to see a few of the girls out and about around the hive. As if my spring fever wasn't bad enough already!

TBH at the Peczuh farm is alive

Dropped by the farm this morning while I was out and about to check on the hive. Haven't been out since December. It was too early and cold for any activity but there were plenty of dark poop spots around and on the hive so I know they've been taking their cleansing flights. A good sign!

Signs of life

Checked out the langstroth hives at the Haddock's place today. There were actually 2 girls out flying around Hive3 and plenty of brown marks on the hive and in the snow. The temperature is in the 40's.
The other hives (Hive1 and Hive2) showed no activity whatsoever. Hive died last year after some really bad nosema and several attempts at growing a new queen. Hive2 must have gone over the winter. I opened up the top and there were bees everywhere - just dead. Didn't pull out any frames to inspect.