A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[sgtmom52]

We need to arrange for an inspection. The inspector guy was not too keen on inspecting a new hive, and wanted us to wait. Both brood boxes are on now, so It should be established enough.
(I weeded and planted more flowers in my bee garden and mulched. It looks really nice.
I want the guy to think we are responsible bee owners.)


How do you get the number tag on the queen?
It looks like a cap. glue?

I don't think I have the dexterity for something like that with those big old gloves on. I'd glue them all together. It would be a disaster.

We get inspected twice a year now as we are licensed to sell nucs and queens. Before we only were inspected about every 2 years.

The green dot on the queen is from a paint pen. I use Elmers Painters in neon colors. I follow the International marking system for colors. This enables me to tell how old the queen is and if she is marked I will know if she is superceded or if the hive swarms.

This is pretty much how I mark my queens.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My queen is yellow, and I agree, it's hard to spot.

 

[3goodeggs]

Thank you! We have a very friendly easy going hive. I like our queen's genes.

I will look for the Elmer's pens. I do not have a queen picker-upper or a queen holder doo-hicky, but I think I can rig something up to hold her.
Or.. aim fast . If I miss and hit a worker, they will 'work' themselves out of the hive soon enough right?

 

[sgtmom52]

Thank you! We have a very friendly easy going hive. I like our queen's genes.

I will look for the Elmer's pens. I do not have a queen picker-upper or a queen holder doo-hicky, but I think I can rig something up to hold her.
Or.. aim fast . If I miss and hit a worker, they will 'work' themselves out of the hive soon enough right?

I highly recommend practicing marking on drones before marking queens. You need a soft hand when pushing them in the marking tube so you don't squish them. My first year marking I had a few marked drones wandering around.

You can get a pack of the Elmers pens on Amazon for around $11. It has 4 of the 5 colors.
http://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Painte...5625&sr=8-2&keywords=elmer's+painters+markers

 

[3goodeggs]

Thank you for the link.

I think I will play with making contraptions and marking grasshoppers first, then I will move to drones.

Is the tossing out of the drones and baring them from the hive a day length thing, or a temperature thing, or a food availability thing? Maybe I need to get on it before they all get the shove.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Is the tossing out of the drones and baring them from the hive a day length thing, or a temperature thing, or a food availability thing? Maybe I need to get on it before they all get the shove.

My understanding is the Drones get booted for winter, so they don't have to feed them.

 

[sgtmom52]

Thank you for the link.

I think I will play with making contraptions and marking grasshoppers first, then I will move to drones.

Is the tossing out of the drones and baring them from the hive a day length thing, or a temperature thing, or a food availability thing? Maybe I need to get on it before they all get the shove.

Here in Pennsylvania almost of the drones have been kicked out. I'm not sure how it works in Florida.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Checked on my hive this morning. My plan was to get the following accomplished:

remove honey super
remove queen excluder
treat for mites (I've been procrastinating)
check on overall health of the hive

First, I looked at the entrance and I was shocked to see them still bringing in pollen. I have no idea what could be blooming right now, but they are finding something.

I got the honey super off with 2 partially filled frames and put them in a bag to get them in the freezer. I put in the sheet for my screened bottom board. Then, I removed the queen excluder and put it at the side/front of the hive for the bees to find their way back into the hive. I started digging in the upper deep box, and it's packed with bees! I saw that they have very good honey storage for winter - but still an empty side on the far outer frame. Then a few frames in, I saw some brood at various stages. By about the 4th frame, they were not liking me messing with them, so I put the frames back in, put the empty super box back on, and put the Apiguard on top of the frames - then closed it up.

So, with my hive so packed with bees, it looks like I need to start researching splits and when to do them. If my hive starts spring with this many, I'll have a swarm for sure next year. Maybe I'll try to get the beekeeper I bought my bees from to come show me what to do.

All 10 honey frames are in my freezer right now. However, we are due to get a hog soon, so they can't stay there all winter. How do you store your empty super frames? The 2 partially filled ones can stay in the freezer, I should have room for them.

 

[3goodeggs]

The entrance to our hive is now yellow from them wiping their feet from all of the pollen.
We still have a lot of composite flowers blooming.

I do not have supers on yet, but next fall I expect to have ragweed honey. Maybe my allergies will improve.

 

[1muttsfan]

Even up here on the verge of winter we still have a few hardy flowers blooming. It
has been very wet, though.