Long Live the Queen

I did a quick hive inspection on Zander's behalf of the weaker hive and confirmed that the Queen lives.  She might be royalty but I think it is fair to say that she is a bit of a slacker when compared with the queen in Zander's second hive.  Here is a picture of her:
 

Her Royal Highness

While inspecting the frame I heard a strange high pitched buzzing like cross between a bee and a mosquito and then noticed that there were a couple of bees emerging from their cells.  The other bees seemed to be helping them out.   

Baby bee emerging

We also spotted a bumble bee on a nearby flower.  Good to see them around as well.

Bumblebee

Catching up on other news, Zander and I attended the Minnesota Honey Producer's conference a couple of weeks ago in Walker, MN.  We had a good time and Zander especially liked the tour of the Mann Lake facility and the presentation from the U of M's Raptor Center.

Zander with his new clock from Mann Lake LTD.

We have been busy and haven't been able to post for awhile.  There is a lot of news to tell.  The bees in the hive farthest away from the cabin swarmed while me and my dad were at camp.  Once I got home we contained the swarm and got rid of the queen cells.  They swarmed into a tree about 30 feet away and 6 feet in the air.  The swarm measured about 1.5 feet long by 1 foot deep by 6 inches wide.  There was probably around 8000-9000 bees in the tree.  

My mom and another local beekeeper caught the swarm because me and my dad were at a camp in Wisconsin (Tomahawk).  They found an empty super and then mom cut the branch while the beekeeper shook the bees into the super.  They left them below the tree until we got back.

My bees swarmed in a tree

Then we carried the supers full of the swarmed bees over to the hive that they swarmed from.  We had to decide if we were going try to move the swarmed bees to a new hive or try to put them back in there old hive.  We decided to put them back in their old hive because the swarmed bees wouldn't have enough time to gather honey and pollen before winter and would likely not survive the winter.  Also we didn't have any extra hives and we would have had to buy more.  

Dad bring the swarmed bees back to the original hive

When we brought the swarmed bees back to their old home we put a piece of newspaper between the two hives to prevent them bees from fighting.  This turned out to be a bad idea because the bees would just tear through the newspaper.  Once they saw the queen cells in the old hive they would probably swarm again.  We called Jim from Nature's Nectar to ask how he would do it.  He was very helpful.  He suggested that we combine the bees back into the same hive.  To do that we needed to switch the newspaper with plywood to keep the bees separated.  He also thought we should turn the hive around to try to fool the swarmed bees into thinking that they were in a new hive.  

Our first attempt at bringing the swarm back to the old hive.

Then we were to leave the swarmed bees on the plywood and give them an entrance facing the opposite way.  Dad made up a couple of boards to lift the hive so that they have could come in in and out.  About a day later we replaced the plywood with paper to to slowly unite the hive.  The paper had a small slit in it to let the bees go into the old hive.

Swarmed bees are on top of the old hive

Slit to let the bees into the old hive

Before we could put the swarmed bees on the newspaper we had to go into the old hives and look for queen cells and destroy them.  If we didn't the bees would probably swarm again or the new queens would come out and fight and kill the good queen.  There can been only one queen in a hive.

This is a queen cell on one of the frames.  The workers feed a larvae royal jelly to turn it into a queen.

More queen cells.

Jim from Nature's Nectar thought the reason the bees swarmed is probably because they were hot in there hive so we made them a bigger entrance by taking out the entrance reducer.

Taking out the entrance reducer

Bees coming and going from the old hive that swarmed

Hopefully the bees won't swarm again.  When the bees swarm they gather in huge numbers outside of the hive.  They also pig out on honey before they leave the hive to hold them until they find a new home.  That means less honey for me.  It also could mean less honey for the bees for over wintering.

Catching up - June 9th

We didn't get a chance to post the pictures from last weekend.  Posting them now to catch up.  Bees were doing good.  Queens were laying eggs and brood was developing.  Each hive still had 3 frames not built out.  Not quite ready to add another deep hive body.  We will do that next weekend.

Making a larger entrance for the bees by turning it.  Bees were waiting their turn to get in and out of the hive.  This should help them bring more pollen and nectar in.

Opening up the second hive with the hive tool.  Bees are clustered where the feeder pail was.

When we took out one of the frames we found some comb the bees had made.  We think they did this because we left too much space between the frames and the bees filled it in.

In this picture you can see that the queen is doing a pretty good job.  We have a nice brood pattern.  If she was weak or wasn't good, there would be a lot more empty cells.

We spotted a Drone on one of the frames.  He is the one with the big eyes.  Drones don't do much.

Mom took a picture of one of the bees gathering nectar from a dandelion.

2nd Hive Inspection

These are the latest pictures as of 5/27/2013.  I did my 2nd hive inspection.  Bees are looking good and working hard.

Bees bees and more bees

The camera cut off the feeder pail, but I'm lifting it.

Bees and wax.  The frame is heavy.  This is a new hive and the bees need to build out the wax foundation.  They need lots of syrup to help them build faster.

If you look close you will see larva in the cells.  They are white and shaped like a  "c".

Marking the Queen haven't named them yet.  Other bee's kept jumping on the marker.

Lifting inner cover.

Prying inner cover off.

Frames with bees

It's the Queen (-: She's fast.

1st Hive Inspection

Hello, here are some pictures of the latest check on the hives.  I hope you like them!

SO MANY BEES!!!

Smoking the hive

Dad lifting feeder pail

Using hive tool to pry the frames

Lift frames

Comb! : )

Left space in middle of frames so bees built comb

Eggs (camera person thought we were talking about the pollen )
not the best pic eggs hard to see

Bees with comb

Pollen , sugar water, and comb

Interesting article in the Startribune

Here is an interesting article about the disappearance of honeybees.   It is hard not to be fascinated by the bees and all that they do.  Even if you can't stand bugs and feel that the honeybee is just another bug, it is hard to argue their worth to society.  They pollinate much of our food and help keep our ecosystem in balance.  If you have read Zander's blog you can probably tell that he is passionate about insects and wants to do his part to help ensure the honeybees don't disappear completely.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released a study about what they think is leading to the significant decline in honeybees.  That study states that there are multiple reasons for the decline and oh by the way pesticides are way down the list.  I can't help but disagree.  The food system in the U.S. has some significant problems.  It is tremendously productive but it is not sustainable.  If you travel to any rural area of the country you will find very little diversity in crops.  Lots and lots of "monoculture".  Corn as far as the eye can see.  All the seed for that corn produced by one or two companies.  Finding corn seed that isn't covered in neonicotinoids is nearly impossible.  Unlike traditional pesticides, these fine chemicals stay in the plants throughout the life of the plant.  Great for keeping pests away but bad in the long run you you and I.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/206997751.html

Please give it a read...

Both queens have been released

We went out at 1:00 pm to check on the 2nd hive.  That went smoother then the first hive.  We had opened up the entrance to the 2nd hive earlier.  I checked and there were lots of bees under the feeder pail.  This time we didn't drop the queen cage but she hadn't been released yet.  It had been 24 hours and they still didn't release her.  I got a nail and pulled a little of the marshmallow out so it was looser.  Then I closed up the hive and came back at 4:00 pm and they had finally released the queen.  I closed up the hive and let the bees do what bees do.

Gary and Gail came over and I showed them the bee yard and showed them how the bees come in a package and how you release them.  They were afraid of getting stung so they left.  

Dad went to the hardware store and got a cheap electric fence tester.  He couldn't get it working so he thought the fence wasn't working.  He touched the fence and found out that it was working fine.  I think Dad will buy a more expensive tester next time.

Here are some pictures of the hives...

My bees getting their orientation flights in.

Both packages of bees are in.

Another picture of the bees flying back to the hive.