May inspections

Got a chance to check on all my hives today. I no longer consider the hives at Jared's mine. He kind of does what he wants with them. I find it harder and harder to get over there.

Schampel TBH
Doing great! Just over a week since the swarm left. Lots of capped  brood and larva. Harvested 2 partial bars of capped honey. Found the queen. Not sure if she's mated yet. Not sure how to tell. Lots of drones around and lots of capped drone cells. No sign of mites. Did not open drone cells to check. Some of my comb guides have fallen out of the bars again with the weight of the honey or brood. I must remember to glue all guides. The wax doesn't hold the weight. Took one sting (while shaking them off the comb I was harvesting).

Schampel Oscar
Hanging on. Found the queen. Still just a small brood area. A Little bigger than last time I checked. The honey stores are more than last time also. There are multiple eggs in some cells. All eggs are on the bottom of the cells though, so I think it's the queen (not a laying worker). Will continue to let them hang on and see how they do. I left the bottom board on but think I'll remove it tomorrow.

Peczuh TBH
First week since catching this swarm (from Schampel TBH). They are booming. The 1st comb (old comb that I gave them was mostly full of nectar and very heavy. The next bar was completed new comb. The next was an old comb again also full of nectar. The next two bars were complete new comb the next two were partial new comb. It's amazing how much they can build in such a short time (just over a week).
All comb perfectly straight. I left the bottom board on.

Rosier TBH
This is by far my most gentle hive. Did not even wear the veil for most of the inspection.
Harvested 3 bars, half full of capped honey. Removed several empty honey combs on account of they were very fat and very crooked. Girls have lots of capped honey above the brood on most of the bars.
Found the queen. Very dark (see pics) Very pretty. Follower board on South of hive is broken in half. Bottom half is sealed in place with propolis. Did not see any queen cells. Only a few drones and not very many drone cells. Some comb attached to sides, but most perfectly straight and easy to inspect. I removed the bottom board for the summer as the weather is nice (nicer) now. On inspecting the debris on the bottom board, I found wax cappings, pollen, and a very small bit of mold. No evidence of mites or mite carcasses. :)

Dark queen (dead center)

Catching a swarm

May 12, 2011.

After their "practice swarm" the day before, I was nervous that they'd really swarm and I'd miss it. I was about to return to work from my lunch break and I was explaining to my wife what to look for so she could call me if they swarmed. As I was explaining this, they swarmed. Poured out of the hive as we were watching. I grabbed the camera and caught it on video (see below). They flew around the yard for a while and then headed north west over the fence and down the hill. I was in hot pursuit. They decided to settle on a small chinese elm tree about 100 yards from their hive. I grabbed my bait hive (with a couple bars of empty comb), vail, camera and tripod and went after them. I managed to catch the swarm and they are now settled in a TBH out at the Peczuh farm. They whole process, aside from moving them to the farm, took about an hour. I managed to capture most of it on video.

I love swarms!

I did not take even one sting while catching the swarm, however I made up for that when transferring them into their permanent home. I transferred all the bars (full of bees) to the top bar hive and then shook the rest of the bees out into the hive. Some of them fell on the ground and as I proceeded to put the hive back together, these bees crawled up my legs trying to get back to the hive. Most were on the outside of my levis and I was able to brush them off. Several were inside my levis and I took 3 stings. The first sting was a result of me intentionally squishing a bee against my inner thigh to prevent her from crawling further up my pant leg. The other 2 were a result of me trying, unsuccessfully, to shake the rest out of my pant leg. Live and learn, right?

Practice Swarm

On Wednesday, May 11 my bees went nuts. I thought they were swarming (see video below).

After about a half hour of this, they all went back into the hive.

There were 10 or so drones crawling around in the grass in front of the hive as if they were stuck. not sure what that was about. Apparently the queen didn't come out (I've since learned this happens occasionally)

Small Hive Beetle?

While watching one of my weaker hives this morning, I noticed ants carrying off wax cappings. It appears they have their colony directly beneath my hive in a crack in the cement. While watching the ants, I noticed a small black beetle walking around on the cement. I caught the beetle and placed it in the underside of a frisbee so I could watch it. It could not crawl up the sides of the frisbee. It looked like a small hive beetle. I took it in the house to look up pictures on the internet and compare. It was the same size. It was black. It was the same shape. It has the clubbed antennae. As far as I can tell it is a Small Hive Beetle. I have not heard of SHB in Utah. I grabbed a bottle to put it in but then noticed that it was gone. I looked all over the computer desk and the floor around it. Nothing. I had my wife help look for it telling her that it couldn't have gone far. She says to me "don't they fly?". Duh. Why didn't I think of that. I was gonna see if I could have someone with the state ag dept identify it for me. I guess I can't now.

I'll open that hive this week to see if there is any evidence of more.

It's possible that it could have come to the area in a package or nuc. Most beekeepers have recently purchased their new bees as packages or nucs and these come from out of state. Could they have brought the beetle with them? Can they survive here?

A Sting for breakfast.

I was watching my hive (Schampell TBH) this morning (like I always like to do). Just crouched near the entrance watching how much pollen was coming in. I had a tulip in one hand and a frisbee (for the dog) in the other.
One of the girls got stuck in the tulip and started to panic. Immediately a bee was frantically buzzing in my face. She focused on my mouth area for a minute as I calmly stood and walked away but then she moved to my eyes (which were shut). I took a sting near the right eye. After I brushed her offm with her stinger still pulsing in my cheek, she (or perhaps one of the others) proceeded to chase me all the way to the house.

Not sure if the bee stuck in the tulip was sending panic messages to the others.