🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[drstratton]

Well, I think we dodged a bullet. I don't know how, but our hive is still queen right. We went in again today and found both eggs and larvae this go around. I looked at every frame the last time we were in and there were no eggs, just larvae that was about 7 days old. I'm good at spotting eggs and larvae. Such a relief. The bottom box still has empty drawn comb. Hopefully the queen will move down and start laying in them. The pattern of the capped brood is still really good. I'm trying to decide if we have a new queen, but have never seen a queen cell in there. Just that smaller acorn shaped cell. The timing just doesn't seem right. I'm very perplexed.

Tuesday we will go through the package and swarm hives to see what they are looking like. Still watching the grandbaby's so can't finish today.

We pulled off 11 more frames to extract. We will be leaving on Wednesday for 9 days, then home for 2 and gone for another 4. So, we won't extract until October when we are back. At that time we will pull off the remaining honey frames and supers from the current flow and start feeding the bees again. Dale is putting together some more honey super frames to fill space where we removed the capped ones, we need 3. Those will go in today.

Well, grandpa's on duty and I have to go out and wax foundations.

 

[drstratton]

We will be doing our 9th OAV tonight.

My counts from the last treatment were messed up as they boards got knocked on the ground. I did see 13 on the package hive and I think 4 on the swarm.

The last treatment will be on Tuesday. Then we'll test when we get back home on the day we remove the supers. If the mite count is low we will just keep the OAE pads on, if it's high, we will probably treat with Apivar.

 

[Apis mellifera]

I'm trying to decide if we have a new queen, but have never seen a queen cell in there. Just that smaller acorn shaped cell. The timing just doesn't seem right. I'm very perplexed.

Great news!! Thats a new queen from the acorn shaped cell. They don't always completely tear them down right away that's why they can look a bit odd. The timing for the virgin queen to emerge and start laying is right. Sometimes the mother queen is still in there, but most beekeepers stop looking after they see one. The mother queen will be escorted out before winter if she is still there. Don't worry about the queen moving down they do just fine in the top box. Just make sure to feed 2:1 syrup soon so they have enough stores for winter. You can do 1 OAV treatment now if you want while they are light on capped brood.

 

[drstratton]

Great news!! Thats a new queen from the acorn shaped cell. They don't always completely tear them down right away that's why they can look a bit odd. The timing for the virgin queen to emerge and start laying is right. Sometimes the mother queen is still in there, but most beekeepers stop looking after they see one. The mother queen will be escorted out before winter if she is still there. Don't worry about the queen moving down they do just fine in the top box. Just make sure to feed 2:1 syrup soon so they have enough stores for winter. You can do 1 OAV treatment now if you want while they are light on capped brood.

Awesome, thank you. I've been scratching my head about this. We are doing a treatment tonight and one more before we leave for 9 days. There is still a lot of capped brood in there. The crazy thing is that it's such a strong pattern, I don't understand why they replaced the queen. Bees are gonna do what bees are gonna do.

The 4 frames on the outside of the 2nd deep are full of honey and bee bread. I'm hoping she will lay more eggs in the bottom deep, just to increase the numbers, winter is coming...lol

If she doesn't do that we will remove that deep and leave a full super on for winter. We were hoping for 2 deeps with plenty of resources and then feeding sugar water and eventually using candy boards. Which we will still do.

Thank you again for the information.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Last medium on the shooting bench for cleanup. It's coming into fall as the bees are really aggressive towards each other. All 3 hives are scrambling for the leftovers and are fighting for it. Numerous dead and dying bees on bench and a lot of fighting. Pheromones from the original owners of the comb I suspect. Drones are getting their walking papers. Pulled the excluders, queens will stay low as there is emerging brood, room for more laying and will probably slow down, lots of bees in all 3 hives, no room in top deeps as they are wall to wall solid with honey. Will start supplemental juiced 2:1 syrup as long as night temps stay above freezing. Then the solid sugar blocks for moisture absorption and emergency feed if needed. Break out 2" foam for under top cover and 1" foam panels painted black around the supers early November depending on temps. Now there's no need to go in the supers till late Feb early March. Still have 12/13 gallons fall honey to bottle. Another average yr give or take.

 

[Apis mellifera]

I'm hoping she will lay more eggs in the bottom deep, just to increase the numbers, winter is coming...lol

They should be fine, large numbers going into winter doesn't always equal winter success.

If she doesn't do that we will remove that deep and leave a full super on for winter. We were hoping for 2 deeps with plenty of resources and then feeding sugar water and eventually using candy boards. Which we will still do.

A full super would be plenty, and you can leave the bottom deep on. As spring approaches, they will move down.

 

[drstratton]

They should be fine, large numbers going into winter doesn't always equal winter success.

A full super would be plenty, and you can leave the bottom deep on. As spring approaches, they will move down.

So, no need to worry about the extra space with the wax moth larvae we found? That bottom deep is not full of bees. But there are a lot more on the way and once that capped brood hatches it will also add a lot.

 

[Apis mellifera]

So, no need to worry about the extra space with the wax moth larvae we found?

No, they will take care of them. Wax moth season is coming to close soon anyway.

That bottom deep is not full of bees. But there are a lot more on the way and once that capped brood hatches it will also add a lot.

Yes, and if it does go into winter mostly empty its fine. No one is removing lower comb in a tree.

 

[drstratton]

No, they will take care of them. Wax moth season is coming to close soon anyway.

Yes, and if it does go into winter mostly empty its fine. No one is removing lower comb in a tree.

That makes it much easier. Hopefully they will start to store the buckwheat nectar in the lower frames. There's not much room left in the one super that's still on top. We should still have about 2 weeks before they harvest.
Thank you for putting my mind at ease. I truly appreciate it.

 

[drstratton]

Last medium on the shooting bench for cleanup. It's coming into fall as the bees are really aggressive towards each other. All 3 hives are scrambling for the leftovers and are fighting for it. Numerous dead and dying bees on bench and a lot of fighting. Pheromones from the original owners of the comb I suspect. Drones are getting their walking papers. Pulled the excluders, queens will stay low as there is emerging brood, room for more laying and will probably slow down, lots of bees in all 3 hives, no room in top deeps as they are wall to wall solid with honey. Will start supplemental juiced 2:1 syrup as long as night temps stay above freezing. Then the solid sugar blocks for moisture absorption and emergency feed if needed. Break out 2" foam for under top cover and 1" foam panels painted black around the supers early November depending on temps. Now there's no need to go in the supers till late Feb early March. Still have 12/13 gallons fall honey to bottle. Another average yr give or take.

Sounds like a great year to me. I wonder how much more we'll pull off.
You are a few weeks ahead of us. However we did have a lot of bees following the frames we pulled from the supers.