A beekeeping topic.

[BilletHead]

             Goings on here in the BilletHead's bee yard updates. Still trapping a few swarms in traps here at home and in various places around the extended neighborhood. One of those is earmarked for a newly finished 20 frame layens.  It is in a shadier spot that may or may not be more suspectable to hive beetles, but I will watch it close when I get bees in it. 

    A new three gallon batch of Meade has been made and working. Nine pounds of honey went into it,

    

    Then a lousy deal. Pat got nailed twice near her eye. I was doing a check on all nine long hives in the front yard checking for laying queens. Just making sure the virgin queens that were in caught swarms had mated and had begun laying. Eight of the hives doing fantastic and frames full of brood plus wax being drawn. The last hive I checked pretty cranky. Inside found spotty brood and very little of that. Some supersede cells none with brood in them that I could see. They might be queen less. Well Pat had been taking notes from a distance from me. A couple bees were high pitching buzz and bouncing off my hood. I told her stay back as I picked up my gear but here she came to help me and she squealed and took off but not before she was hit. 

    Swelling down more each day but has not stopped her and today I pulled a frame of brood and eggs to put in the grumpy hive to see if they need to re queen or not and Pat helped.  We have extra bees and are about to pull traps and let the rest find homes by themselves. Keep tabs on adding frames but let our hives and bees do their own things until fall and see what we have honey wise.  

[jdmidwest]

Swarm Queens are usually the old queen taking flight to start a new hive.  They leave behind the swarm cells that make the new queen in the old hive.

I always wear protection when working around the bees.  Especially the head....

[BilletHead]

8 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Swarm Queens are usually the old queen taking flight to start a new hive.  They leave behind the swarm cells that make the new queen in the old hive.

I always wear protection when working around the bees.  Especially the head....

            I realize this JD. The three hives I came out of winter with have and did swarm multiple times and I seen swarm cells in them and knew it was all going to happen as nature requires. I let them do what they do and did not try to keep them from doing so. Now that they have seemed to get that all out of their system all hives have began to do normal summer stuff with the nectar flow. The grumpy hive in question with scattered to very little brood had some supersede cells you know the little peanut cells higher on the frames where they are trying to replace the queen that is not doing her job. I suspect this is what it going on and I gave them a frame of all stages of brood with eggs incase they need some help getting the replacement queen started. Trying to stay ahead of the game and not let the hive go to the point of not getting back to normal. Still lots of bees in there at the moment.

   Am I getting my thoughts across making sense?  

[jdmidwest]

Adding a frame with eggs will help that one.

[jdmidwest]

June update.

The goofy tree swarm finally moved off to a limb and I dumped it into a box.  The bees in the hole in the trees left too.  I added a few frames of brood and honey and will let it try to become a new hive.  Don't know if there was ever a queen, but they were the strangest bunch of bees I have encountered..

[jdmidwest]

Sunday was delivery day of one of the swarms I caught back in May.  A friends son wanted to keep bees for a few years, bought the equipment and tried to catch swarms.  I took him a hive and we installed it in his equipment.  They should do well.

10 years of bee keeping this year and I have made several new bee keepers thru mentorship.  Keeping the tradition going .

Meanwhile, home at the yard.  The high temps have them outside bearding and creating an airflow to dry the moisture out of the honey they have been storing.  Honey pull will be on July 4 weekend this year, weather permitting.  I have no interest getting out and seeing the crowds in a boat that weekend.

[fshndoug]

you sure u didn't pop Pat in the eye Marty

[BilletHead]

9 minutes ago, fshndoug said:

you sure u didn't pop Pat in the eye Marty

    No Douglas I didn't but after her second stunt I thought she needed some sense knocked into her. She got blasted again. She decided to weed eat around the hives. I said you shouldn't. Next thing I know she did behind all hives. Then proceeded to the fronts. I was out there and said no. Oh I'll watch close. About that time she got tagged. Then she put on her bee suit and finishes surrounded by a bee tornado. Ended up getting a steroid dose pack and the doctor wrote her a script for an EpiPen. Just in case. She isn't a bad kid just sometimes a dumb kid. 😂😂😂 Above right eye but both went to slits for a day. 

[BilletHead]

              Another pretty good swarm caught here at home. Not sure where it came from just showed up but not from one of our hives. I am thinking with the hives we have we are a bee magnet. This swarm trap is where I put them and then taken five miles from here to simmer. This weekend will be bringing them home and introduce to a new home.   

 

 

[BilletHead]

                    Bearding here too JD. Today was better the three days before today really thick outside.